Today we bring you Laura’s incredible birth story. Laura and her partner Mikey live in Homer, Alaska with their daughter Hannah. 

I honestly don’t know the best manner or order to present all of the awesome elements of this story, so I’ll do my best to share it all as it hits me.

First of all, Laura is an incredibly strong young woman. She experienced 4 miscarriages over the course of 2 years, as well as the miscarriage of an adopted baby. After ending her marriage, she packed up her life and moved to Fairbanks, Alaska. She eventually met her partner Mikey and they became pregnant shortly after dating. Not knowing if she’d be able to carry a pregnancy to full-term, along with the new relationship, a lot of things seemed uncertain. 

But as love and life would have it, Laura did carry to term. She gave birth to their daughter Hannah in a cabin (with no running water!) on a day when the temperature was twenty degrees below zero!

Laura describes her birth as a dream come true. She’s also a birth doula, postpartum care specialist, placenta specialist, and certified lactation counselor - so as a fellow birth junkie, she had lots to share!

Listening to Laura’s story gave me goosebumps - it gave me warm and fuzzies - it made me tear up - it made me grateful - it made me hopeful. 

We’re so thankful for Laura and her tenacity and willingness to share with us. Oh and major PS - she straight up ate part of her placenta after giving birth. Like, her midwife cut off a piece and she held it in her mouth for a few minutes before eating. Total badass.

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Warning: this is an amazing episode. Full of conversation around pleasurable, joyful, ecstatic birth. It may cause you to feel empowered and excited around birth. There, we gave you a heads up!

But seriously, we are so honored to have Debra Pascali-Bonaro join us on the show. She’s another one of the powerhouses of the birthing community that we’ve been anxious to meet and chat with. She is the creator and director of the documentary, “Orgasmic Birth: The Best-Kept Secret.” She’s also the co-writer of “Orgasmic Birth: Your Guide to a Safe, Satisfying and Pleasurable Birth.” Oh and also a Lamaze International childbirth educator,  birth and postpartum doula trainer with DONA International. And the Founder & President of the revolutionary online childbirth class Pain to Power, which prepares expectant mothers, fathers, and partners to be positively prepared for birth and focuses on the intimate and sacred nature of birth.

In our interview, we talk about her path to being obsessed with birth, learning from her own birth story. We also chat about the concept for the documentary and where it came from. We explore themes from the documentary and the impact it’s had on the conversation of birth. Plus we talk about other cool projects that Debra has her hand in, and a surprise for any of those interested in checking out her online childbirth class “Pain to Power.”

Thank you to Debra for her knowledge, passion and tireless effort to serve and inspire!

Links From This Episode:

Orgasmic Birth: The Best-Kept Secret - https://www.orgasmicbirth.com/

Orgasmic Birth: Your Guide to a Safe, Satisfying and Pleasurable Birth - https://www.orgasmicbirth.com/products/books/

Pain To Power Childbirth Class - https://www.paintopowerchildbirth.com/

Happy Healthy Child - http://www.happyhealthychild.com/

Eat Pray Doula - https://www.eatpraydoula.com/

Sign up for 3 Free Videos on finding your power and pleasure in birth:  http://www.paintopoweroptin.respond.ontraport.net/optin

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In today’s episode we’ve got the whole family on the phone - Meggie and Steve Andrews join us, along with their baby William, or Liam as they refer to him.

Meggie reached out to us during her pregnancy, thanking us for what we’re doing on the show and sharing how helpful it had been for her as she planned for the home birth of her first child with her husband Steve (we’ve copied her original email below). And interesting fact - they weren’t planning on having children. But, surprise!  So they worked through some of the mental and emotional adjustments that come with this huge unexpected life change.

Meggie happened to have a friend who birthed at home, so after speaking with her and watching Business of Being Born, they explored the midwifery model of care. And then one of the biggest things throughout the pregnancy - they decided to move from Virginia to Michigan. So that meant finding different midwives, who could collaborate with each other and support Meggie and Steve as much as possible in making the transition and keeping up with the best prenatal care and birth planning as possible. Another interesting fact - they had their home birth in the same house that Meggie grew up in!

So listen in as we talk about some of the interesting questions and comments you get when you have a home birth like, “Is that witchcraft or something?” and advice for those home birth dads and birth partners.

Added bonus of Liam’s presence in the interview. We love having newborn coos in the background! 

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In this episode, we get to speak with both mom and dad! We love when we get to chat with a home birth couple and hear both perspectives from the decision-making process to the experience itself. So we’re chatting with Jarmar and Jonnelle Dupas. 

They live in Austin, Texas with their 4 children. Their switch to home birth happened with their most recent baby, Jase. For them, they were interested in something different and evolving from some of the coldness they noticed in the hospital setting. They had always used midwives with their births, so transitioning into home seemed like the next step. 

Jarmar and Jonnelle both described their home birth as much more peaceful. Basically, a thousand times better and something they would’ve done sooner had they known. 

A highlight from their story is that “divine connection” with their midwife Afua. We certainly know the difference that the level of care can make, and how important it was for us to feel connected and have a deep sense of trust with our midwives. 

And get this - they are a podcasting couple as well! Their show “Get Your Money Right” is all about financial well-being. We can dig that (since babies aren’t cheap!).

Listen in and enjoy as we get to know more about Jarmar and Jonnelle, their family and their magical home birth!

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Lindsay Bonnar was one of the first moms we spoke with when we started doing interviews back in the day. In our part 1 with her (episode 20) we talked about the birth of her daughter Charlie, whom she originally planned to birth at home, and eventually transferred to a birthing center to have an awesome birth experience. At the time, she was pregnant with baby number two and planning another home birth.

Now, our part two (and episode 85!) with Lindsay is about the birth of her son, Linken. Spoiler alert: they did it at home! Linken was born at home, surrounded by love and support.

There were a few curve balls during the birth. Lindsay would later learn that some cord compression was occurring and it was causing Linken’s heart rate to drop. At one point, Lindsay’s midwife thought they might have to go to the hospital. Paramedics were called and as if orchestrated, Linken made his entrance just as the responders arrived at their home. Everyone was healthy, safe and did not need to be transported.

With the concern of the cord compression, this meant Lindsay had to push baby out efficiently and in a short amount of time. She told us how she pushed him all the way down the birth canal in less than 10 minutes. She cannot emphasize enough how important it is for mamas to do their squats in preparation for birth!

Lindsay’s part 2 is really a testament to stellar care in the form of her midwife, a loving, safe environment to support her and the incredible tenacity and power that is the birthing woman.

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We love the little synchronicities that the universe throws out there. Like publishing this episode right after our previous episode - completely unplanned. If you missed our last episode, we spoke with Jessicca Moore, the creator of the documentary, “Why Not Home?” a film that explores the decisions of hospital birth care providers (nurses, doctors, midwives, etc.) who chose home birth. 

Well in this episode, we have Alyssa’s story. The synchronicity that we mentioned? Alyssa is a registered nurse, with most of her experience in the postpartum and nursery units. Our conversation with Alyssa is the perfect follow up to our interview with Jessicca last week, where we talk about birth professionals choosing home birth. Alyssa is this person! How awesome is that?

And Alyssa is super knowledgeable. We were just in awe of all the information she has and can rattle off. There’s so much that we included parts of her emails and additional resources in the extra notes with the episode on our website. 

Alyssa shares her passion for birth with us along with her journey of pregnancy and birth for her daughter Zoey with her husband Chris. They actually switched over to a home birth plan and midwifery model of care in the third trimester (so it’s never too late for you to use the care provider that aligns best with you!). Like many of our guests, Chris and Alyssa watched “Business of Being Born.” Chris’s response, “We can do this. Let’s just do it at home!” We like his style!

Alyssa has firsthand experience of what it feels like to choose home birth, when you work in an environment that does not typically support it. Fears, reactions and judgements from friends, family, co-workers come up in our talk. Also what evidence-based practice is about, the details around informed consent and why birth is not a pathological process. Alyssa’s amazing birth experience and fascinating perspective given her profession make this a must-listen episode!

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Today we have the honor of speaking with Jessicca Moore, a family nurse practitioner and a filmmaker. She is the creator of the documentary film “Why Not Home?” which explores why labor and delivery medical professionals are choosing to give birth outside of the hospital, in this case - home!

The documentary itself is amazing. And there’s no better time to watch it than right now. For one thing, today is Labor Day! And also, they’re launching the film in both iTunes and Amazon today, so plenty of platforms and opportunities for you to check it out.

In our conversation with Jessicca, we talk about her own decision to choose home birth, and through that process how she picked up on the trend of colleagues of hers making the same choice. What would it look like to dive further into the pattern of health professionals, who understand most of the risks, procedures and protocols, and yet are looking to experience birth outside of the general atmosphere where they provide their services? 

So Jessicca felt pulled to document this. We talk about some key subjects in the film, themes and topics it brings up that were particularly impactful for Matthew and me. Like some of the mind-blowing statistics around birth and a lot of the misinformation that is spread throughout the birth community. 

We even address some questions from listeners about the documentary.

If you are considering or planning a home birth, “Why Not Home?” needs to be on your list of resources. Thank you again to Jessicca for seeing her vision through and for taking the time to hang out with us at Doing It At Home!

Notes From This Episode:

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In today’s episode we’re chatting with Thea. She and her husband Alex planned for a home birth for their daughter Harley. They envisioned a peaceful, serene environment and she knew she wanted water. 

The decision to home birth was influenced by an awesome naturopath that she had been working with. 

Health and wellness is big for Thea - having her masters in integrative health and healing. So it was important that she have the type of care and plan that aligned best with her wellbeing. 

In addition to her birth planning and story, Thea shares part of her journey of a miscarriage before having Harley. She was firm on experiencing a natural miscarriage. We talk about how to support someone with a miscarriage, an area that a lot of people don’t know how to approach or handle, despite great intentions and desire to help.

Thea’s labor was long and tiring. She eventually made the decision to transfer to a hospital. She reminded herself, “I chose to be here.” And with that awareness, she was able to stand in her power and advocate for herself to still ultimately have the experience she wanted. She ended up at peace with the decision and was not disappointed. And we can understand - because when you see baby Harley, you’ll get it!

Thank you to Thea for being another beautiful tale in our collection of home birth narrative - showing that every experience is so unique, beautiful and powerful in its own right.

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In today's episode we're talking about all of the amazingly helpful resources we used when planning our home birth: from Ina May Gaskin books, to the Hypnobabies audio course, to The Business Of Being Born documentary, to conversations with our amazing midwives.

We go through the home birth resources that we personally used, along with pregnancy and birth planning resources we intend to use for baby #2.

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In today’s episode we’re chatting with Jessica Thomas to hear about her empowered birth choice to deliver in a hospital.

Her story is beautiful and it's almost like she had a home birth experience in a hospital!

Enjoy :)

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