Down to Birth

In this special New Year's Day episode, we’re giving you an exclusive peek into one of our private Patreon Q&A gatherings. Originally recorded in October, this off-the-record session features 18 thoughtful questions from our Patreon community, covering a wide range of topics related to birth, breastfeeding, pregnancy, and postpartum. We've only removed a few of the highly personal questions from our participants and the voices of any women who spoke directly to us on screen during the event.

If you’ve been curious about joining our Patreon community, this episode gives you a glimpse of one of the benefits you can enjoy. Our private Q&As are a chance to connect, get your specific questions answered, and dive deeper into the topics that matter most to you. Plus, we always make a commitment to answering all the questions of our live attendees -- so you can be certain your questions will always be answered on the spot when you attend live, and if you cannot attend live, you can always submit your questions beforehand and watch the video replay in your Patreon feed.

Make 2025 the year you invest in your birth and parenting journey—signing up is easy, and the support is invaluable! Go to our Patreon page here to join at Patreon.com/downtobirthshow. We wish you all a healthy, happy and fulfilling 2025 and we'll see you next week!

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Our sponsors:
Silverette Nursing Cups -- Soothe and heal sore nipples with 925 silver nursing cups.
Postpartum Soothe -- Herbs and padsicles to heal and comfort.
Needed -- Our favorite nutritional products for before, during, and after pregnancy. Use this link to save 20%
Use promo code: DOWNTOBIRTH for all sponsors.
DrinkLMNT -- Purchase LMNT with this unique link and receive a free 8-day supply. 

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Access our workshops: Have a Physiologic Birth in the Hospital and Ultrasound: The Research vs Rhetoric

Needed <-- for 20% off
DrinkLMNT <--  for FREE 8-day supply
Primally Pure Skincare: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
Postpartum Soothe: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
ENERGYBits Superfood<--for 20% off
Join Patreon here
IG @downtobirthshow

Call 802-GET-DOWN.
Watch us on YouTube! Please note we don’t provide medical advice.

For this December Q&A, we kick it off, with a follow-up conversation based on one listener's response to  episode #188 on RhoGAM. Next, we jump into our questions discussing the actual risks of going past 24 hours or ruptured membranes without contractions and how you can mitigate those risks. We break down why meconium becomes more concerning after 42 weeks gestation and what those actual risks are. One mother who has the flu in the third trimester wonders if this is harmful to her baby and what she should do about it; another mom is curious if it is more helpful or hurtful to use assistance to birth her placenta and questions if a hep-lock or IV port is really necessary in labor. Furthermore, is vitamin D supplementation truly necessary for breastfed babies? Also, we discuss how to accurately calculate your due date based on your specific menstrual cycle, not the average cycle. We discuss delayed cord clamping and where to clamp the cord, two-vessel cords and the implications for induction and the safety of home-birth with midwives who have restricted access to emergency medications.

Additionally, we have a great quickies segment on pregnancy headaches, aging placentas, newborn rashes, breast changes in pregnancy, cold-plunging postpartum, water birth and infections and whether or not sleep training babies is really needed.

Remember you can hang with us twice a month during our interactive and educational livestream for our Patreon community members!

Thanks for joining us, and remember you can call our phone line with your questions 24/7 at 802-GET-DOWN. (That's 802-438-3696)

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Our sponsors:
Silverette Nursing Cups -- Soothe and heal sore nipples with 925 silver nursing cups.
Postpartum Soothe -- Herbs and padsicles to heal and comfort.
Needed -- Our favorite nutritional products for before, during, and after pregnancy. Use this link to save 20%
Use promo code: DOWNTOBIRTH for all sponsors.
DrinkLMNT -- Purchase LMNT with this unique link and receive a free 8-day supply. 

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Access our workshops: Have a Physiologic Birth in the Hospital and Ultrasound: The Research vs Rhetoric

Needed <-- for 20% off
DrinkLMNT <--  for FREE 8-day supply
Primally Pure Skincare: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
Postpartum Soothe: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
ENERGYBits Superfood<--for 20% off
Join Patreon here
IG @downtobirthshow

Call 802-GET-DOWN.
Watch us on YouTube! Please note we don’t provide medical advice.

Catherine Watson Genna is a renowned International Board Certified Lactation Consultant in private practice in New York City and author of Supporting Sucking Skills in Breastfeeding Infants. She specializes in teaching professionals around the world how treat to babies with anatomical, genetic and/or neurological issues. Today, she joins us to discuss the controversial topic of tongue tie. The research indicates 5-10% of babies suffer from feeding difficulties that require a surgical procedure known as a frenotomy, however far more than 10% are being diagnosed with tie-tongue and are treated for it. That means a majority of babies with tight frenulum may simply need latch support or muscular-skeletal work to improve their feeding function. 

Other topics we cover today include:

• How to know if it's really tongue-tie
• Torticolllis
• High or arched palates
• Upper lip ties 

...and, most important, we offer advice on how to get the best latch with your baby. 

Cathy Watson Genna

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Our sponsors:
Silverette Nursing Cups -- Soothe and heal sore nipples with 925 silver nursing cups.
Postpartum Soothe -- Herbs and padsicles to heal and comfort.
Needed -- Our favorite nutritional products for before, during, and after pregnancy.
Use promo code: DOWNTOBIRTH for all sponsors.
DrinkLMNT -- Purchase LMNT with this unique link and receive a free 8-day supply. 

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Access our workshops: Have a Physiologic Birth in the Hospital and Ultrasound: The Research vs Rhetoric

Needed <-- for 20% off
DrinkLMNT <--  for FREE 8-day supply
Primally Pure Skincare: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
Postpartum Soothe: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
ENERGYBits Superfood<--for 20% off
Join Patreon here
IG @downtobirthshow

Call 802-GET-DOWN.
Watch us on YouTube! Please note we don’t provide medical advice.

In this episode, we have Barbara Harper on the podcast with us. Barbara is a midwife, author, and the founder of WaterBirth International, which she founded exactly 40 years ago. She is a world-expert in birthing and to this day travels the globe educating obstetricians, nurses and midwives on physiologic birth.

Few mothers are given the opportunity to birth their placentas in the water, but is it really necessary to move women post-birth into a bed to complete the third stage (placental birth) of labor?  In order to explain whether this is the right choice for any mother and baby, Barbara walks us through the most common causes of postpartum hemorrhage, how to prevent it, and the critical understanding of newborn transitional physiology: what she says is literally the most important moment in any human being's life.

Is fundal massage necessary? When is the optimal time to cut the cord? What is the case for keeping the cord attached until the placenta is fully birthed? Is manual extraction of the placenta ever justified? These are some of the questions we answer in today's episode with Barbara.

Barbara Harper

Waterbirth International

#100 | The Benefits of Water Birth: Interview With Barbara Harper of Waterbirth International

#122 | Provider Green Lights: Interview with Barbara Harper on Holistic, Respectful & Supportive Birth Providers

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Our sponsors:
Silverette Nursing Cups -- Soothe and heal sore nipples with 925 silver nursing cups.
Postpartum Soothe -- Herbs and padsicles to heal and comfort.
Needed -- Our favorite nutritional products for before, during, and after pregnancy.
Use promo code: DOWNTOBIRTH for all sponsors.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Access our workshops: Have a Physiologic Birth in the Hospital and Ultrasound: The Research vs Rhetoric

Needed <-- for 20% off
DrinkLMNT <--  for FREE 8-day supply
Primally Pure Skincare: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
Postpartum Soothe: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
ENERGYBits Superfood<--for 20% off
Join Patreon here
IG @downtobirthshow

Call 802-GET-DOWN.
Watch us on YouTube! Please note we don’t provide medical advice.

For this November Q&A, please enjoy the full, extended version of one of our top Q&As from season 3, where we discuss: 

Weight loss after having a baby--can you lose too much too fast? What tests should be done if you've had multiple miscarriages? Can you give us the scoop on Evening Primrose oil for getting labor started--is it helpful or hurtful, and what does the research show? How do I handle my mother-in-law who keeps giving me keepsakes for the baby that I don't want? Is there a way to safely bed-share with your baby without investing in extra contraptions? What is the best way to create a stash of breastmilk without causing oversupply? And one of everybody's favorite topics: pushing in labor--when should you and when should you not?

Also: Trisha gives one woman the lowdown on all the types of "pain relief" options in labor. Another moms is experiencing some unusual physical symptoms at six-months postpartum and wonders if it means her period is returning. We discuss "failure to descend" versus failure to progress because one listener had a c-section and had never heard of that diagnosis before. We discuss a pregnant woman's high blood pressure questions as she's preparing for her home birth, and Trisha responds to a question about newborn feeding schedules as far as whether there's a time and place for using an alarm. We also discuss short cords, and resources for evidence-based info on induction versus waiting. 

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Our sponsors:
Silverette Nursing Cups -- Soothe and heal sore nipples with 925 silver nursing cups.
Postpartum Soothe -- Herbs and padsicles to heal and comfort.
Needed -- Our favorite nutritional products for before, during, and after pregnancy.
Use promo code: DOWNTOBIRTH for all sponsors.
DrinkLMNT -- Purchase LMNT with this unique link and receive a free 8-day supply. 

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Access our workshops: Have a Physiologic Birth in the Hospital and Ultrasound: The Research vs Rhetoric

Needed <-- for 20% off
DrinkLMNT <--  for FREE 8-day supply
Primally Pure Skincare: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
Postpartum Soothe: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
ENERGYBits Superfood<--for 20% off
Join Patreon here
IG @downtobirthshow

Call 802-GET-DOWN.
Watch us on YouTube! Please note we don’t provide medical advice.

Lisa Hendrickson-Jack is the author of The Fith Vital Sign, a book detailing normal and abnormal parameters around menstruation and fertility and what your menstrual cycle reveals about your health. She refers to her period as "her secretary", who once per month brings her all the unfinished business in her life and plops it down on her desk to deal with. Most of us think of PMS as an annoying, unavoidable side effect of our monthly flow. Lisa challenges us to see it as a dutiful assistant encouraging us to face the pesky tasks, emotions, people, relationships, jobs, etc. that we tend to brush off or continually avoid during our less open, vulnerable weeks of the month.

Additionally, we discuss the abnormal societal normalization of period pain, what your cervical position can tell you about where you are in your cycle, and how your period flow volume can clue you in to your fertility health.

Finally, Lisa responds to your most pressing questions on whether or not you need to tailor your exercise routine to your cycle stages and what it might mean if your postpartum period is mysteriously absent.

You can learn more about Lisa on Instagram or her website Fertility Friday

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Our sponsors:
Silverette Nursing Cups -- Soothe and heal sore nipples with 925 silver nursing cups.
Postpartum Soothe -- Herbs and padsicles to heal and comfort.
Needed -- Our favorite nutritional products for before, during, and after pregnancy.
Use promo code: DOWNTOBIRTH for all sponsors.
DrinkLMNT -- Purchase LMNT with this unique link and receive a free 8-day supply. 

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Access our workshops: Have a Physiologic Birth in the Hospital and Ultrasound: The Research vs Rhetoric

Needed <-- for 20% off
DrinkLMNT <--  for FREE 8-day supply
Primally Pure Skincare: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
Postpartum Soothe: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
ENERGYBits Superfood<--for 20% off
Join Patreon here
IG @downtobirthshow

Call 802-GET-DOWN.
Watch us on YouTube! Please note we don’t provide medical advice.

At twenty-one years old, Lacey was pregnant with her first child. She was young and healthy and expected everything to go perfectly in her labor and birth. As a result of high blood pressure, she was induced for labor. When her son was born blue and unresponsive with an APGAR score of one, she knew something was off. She held her son for only a minute before he was whisked off to the NICU. Noticing that his ears seemed disproportionally small, her maternal instincts were alert. Five days later, she learned her son had Down Syndrome when a nurse inadvertently said, “This is the second baby with Down Syndrome this week,” upon entering the room. According to Lacey, how and when the news was reported to her and her husband was more difficult and painful than receiving the diagnosis itself.

Today, Lacey shares her mission to help parents understand the gift and beauty of raising a child with Down Syndrome.

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Our sponsors:
Silverette Nursing Cups -- Soothe and heal sore nipples with 925 silver nursing cups.
Postpartum Soothe -- Herbs and padsicles to heal and comfort.
Needed -- Our favorite nutritional products for before, during, and after pregnancy.
Use promo code: DOWNTOBIRTH for all sponsors.
DrinkLMNT -- Purchase LMNT with this unique link and receive a free 8-day supply. 

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Access our workshops: Have a Physiologic Birth in the Hospital and Ultrasound: The Research vs Rhetoric

Needed <-- for 20% off
DrinkLMNT <--  for FREE 8-day supply
Primally Pure Skincare: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
Postpartum Soothe: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
ENERGYBits Superfood<--for 20% off
Join Patreon here
IG @downtobirthshow

Call 802-GET-DOWN.
Watch us on YouTube! Please note we don’t provide medical advice.

You may remember midwife Lindsey Meehleis from episode #187 in our first off-the-record-style conversation. When we decide to interview Lindsay, we do so without a plan, knowing that whatever is on our minds will be a worthwhile and impactful conversation. In today's conversation, we chat about the problems with modern medicine, how midwifery has evolved over the years, what breech babies can teach us about our emotions, how Lindsey handles pregnancies that go beyond forty-two weeks, how to get your partner or family members on board with choosing home birth the first time, and we even dabbled a bit in the current political climate. Imagine you are sitting at the table next to us at a cafe, eavesdropping on our shop talk, and that's today's episode. Enjoy!

Lindsey Meehleis

The Business of Being Born

Why Not at Home

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Our sponsors:
Silverette Nursing Cups -- Soothe and heal sore nipples with 925 silver nursing cups.
Postpartum Soothe -- Herbs and padsicles to heal and comfort.
Needed -- Our favorite nutritional products for before, during, and after pregnancy.
Use promo code: DOWNTOBIRTH for all sponsors.
DrinkLMNT -- Purchase LMNT with this unique link and receive a free 8-day supply. 

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Access our workshops: Have a Physiologic Birth in the Hospital and Ultrasound: The Research vs Rhetoric

Needed <-- for 20% off
DrinkLMNT <--  for FREE 8-day supply
Primally Pure Skincare: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
Postpartum Soothe: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
ENERGYBits Superfood<--for 20% off
Join Patreon here
IG @downtobirthshow

Call 802-GET-DOWN.
Watch us on YouTube! Please note we don’t provide medical advice.

Welcome to the October Q&A with Cynthia & Trisha. What's the most absurd thing that you've ever heard said to a woman in labor or to you? Today, we kick it off by sharing your anecdotes and our responses.  In our regular episode, we answer:

If I am planning a free birth how do I know if I have a placenta previa and what should I do?
 
I am twelve weeks pregnant and have extremely sensitive nipples while breastfeeding my toddler. Will this get better or should I stop breastfeeding?

How often do home births transfer to the hospital?

Why do so many women planning unmedicated hospital births end up choosing to get pain medications?

In the extended version available on Patreon and Apple Subscriptions (always ad-free) we address the risk of uterine rupture after a VBAC for a planned home birth, what, if anything, can be done to avoid induction if you have Cholestasis of pregnancy, what gentle sleep training (or support) means, and if you can decline induction with well-controlled gestational diabetes.

In our Quickies segment: Is body odor postpartum is it normal? Why is a VBAC called a TOLAC? Should home birth midwives always carry oxygen? Plus caffeine in pregnancy, postpartum dryness, birthing the placenta in the tub, leaking and letdowns, infant percentiles, and how we take our coffee plus whether our own children appreciate the work we do in the world.

Ep #229 The Risk of Risk-Based Approach with Sara Wickham

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Our sponsors:
Silverette Nursing Cups -- Soothe and heal sore nipples with 925 silver nursing cups.
Postpartum Soothe -- Herbs and padsicles to heal and comfort.
Needed -- Our favorite nutritional products for before, during, and after pregnancy.
Use promo code: DOWNTOBIRTH for all sponsors.
DrinkLMNT -- Purchase LMNT with this unique link and receive a free 8-day supply. 

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Access our workshops: Have a Physiologic Birth in the Hospital and Ultrasound: The Research vs Rhetoric

Needed <-- for 20% off
DrinkLMNT <--  for FREE 8-day supply
Primally Pure Skincare: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
Postpartum Soothe: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
ENERGYBits Superfood<--for 20% off
Join Patreon here
IG @downtobirthshow

Call 802-GET-DOWN.
Watch us on YouTube! Please note we don’t provide medical advice.

Postpartum rage is a form of emotional upheaval that many mothers experience but seldom feel comfortable discussing. Today's episode aims to break the silence and offer a compassionate and supportive look into the real lives of two mothers living with these intense emotions. Corrine lost her own mother the day after her son was born. Angela, a mother of five with number six on the way, lost her sister unexpectedly in a car accident on her way to help Angela with childcare. In today's episode, Angela and Corrine, who never met before today, share the unexpected ways grief and rage impacted their postpartum experiences from never wanting to have another child to throwing and breaking things. This heartfelt episode brings you close into the minds of women suffering with grief on top of the classic postpartum isolation and overwhelm that all mothers can immediately understand.

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Our sponsors:
Silverette Nursing Cups -- Soothe and heal sore nipples with 925 silver nursing cups.
Postpartum Soothe -- Herbs and padsicles to heal and comfort.
Needed -- Our favorite nutritional products for before, during, and after pregnancy.
Use promo code: DOWNTOBIRTH for all sponsors.
DrinkLMNT -- Purchase LMNT with this unique link and receive a free 8-day supply. 

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Access our workshops: Have a Physiologic Birth in the Hospital and Ultrasound: The Research vs Rhetoric

Needed <-- for 20% off
DrinkLMNT <--  for FREE 8-day supply
Primally Pure Skincare: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
Postpartum Soothe: Use code DOWNTOBIRTH
ENERGYBits Superfood<--for 20% off
Join Patreon here
IG @downtobirthshow

Call 802-GET-DOWN.
Watch us on YouTube! Please note we don’t provide medical advice.