Brittany described herself as a “good country girl” when pregnant with her first child. Her wishes for that birth were to merely make it out alive with her baby, and she completely deferred to her private care obstetrician when it came to the birth experience.

Now, pregnant with her third baby, Brittany is free birthing, on a cattle station in the middle of the Australian outback, miles from anyone. That’s how deep her trust in in her ability to birth goes!

This is part two of two - if you haven’t heard part one yet, go back one episode in the feed to hear her first two birth stories.

Do you have a story you’d like to share on the podcast? I would love to hear from you! Email me via the contact page at www.healingbirth.net.

You can find our new e-book, “Did I Really Need a C-Section?” on our website at www.healingbirth.net/shop

Intro / outro music: Dreams by Markvard

Transition music:   What Did You Name Your Island by Aardvark

Brittany describes herself as a “good country girl” when pregnant with her first child. Her wishes for her birth were to merely make it out alive with her baby, and she deferred to her private care obstetrician when it came to the birth experience.

In this part one, she shares her first two births within the Australian medical system, one with OB care, and the second time, with midwives.

These two stories set the stage for why she choose a completely different route with her third baby. Stay tuned next week for that story!

Do you have a story you’d like to share on the podcast? I would love to hear from you! Email me via the contact page at www.healingbirth.net.

You can find our new e-book, “Did I Really Need a C-Section?” on our website at www.healingbirth.net/shop

Intro / outro music: Dreams by Markvard

Transition music:   Crushing by Reveille

After a pregnancy loss, and a history with an eating disorder, Kelly was not in a relationship of full trust in her body when she gave birth to her first baby. She agreed to be induced when her obstetrician pressured her into it, feeling that, her baby was safer outside of her body.

Kelly went on have her next two babies at home. Both experiences showed her how trustworthy, indeed, perfectly designed, her body was to give birth.

Do you have a story you’d like to share on the podcast? I would love to hear from you! Email me via the contact page at www.healingbirth.net.

You can find our new e-book, “Did I Really Need a C-Section?” on our website at www.healingbirth.net/shop

Intro / outro music: Dreams by Markvard

Transition music:   Waiting by LNDO

In her former role as a newborn photographer, Laura had witnessed plenty of births before having her own. She intuitively felt that something about the experience, as it occurs for most women, was wrong.

When it came time for her to have her own first baby, she chose to have a wild pregnancy and free birth, deep in the Peruvian jungle with only her husband present.

Recorded at just four months postpartum, you will be be able to hear her joy and elation about her experience, as well as her huge passion for all things birth, babies, and motherhood.

You can follow Laura on Instagram @natural_lau

Do you have a story you’d like to share on the podcast? I would love to hear from you! Email me via the contact page at www.healingbirth.net.

You can find our new e-book, “Did I Really Need a C-Section?” on our website at www.healingbirth.net/shop

Intro / outro music: Dreams by Markvard

Transition music:   Take me Back by Strength to Last

Have you, or someone you know, conceived a baby during a time in your cycle that didn’t fall within the normal, ovulatory window?  As someone who listens to a lot of birth stories, I’ve heard it happen many times. I always attributed those occurrences to the inherently mysterious nature of pregnancy and birth.

But what if there is another explanation?

Medical astrology has been in development for thousands of years, greatly predating our modern understanding of medical science. And through years of study it’s been discovered that women experience fertility during the phase of the moon under which they were born, that the sign the moon is in during the conception influences the sex of the baby, and that the placement of celestial bodies can impact the outcomes of a pregnancy and birth.

Whether you are currently trying to conceive a baby, or preventing conception, this episode contains truly mind blowing information that I believe is next-level body literacy.

Athena’s website: https://www.wildwillingwisdom.com/

Athena’s Substack & Podcast: https://wildwillingwisdom.substack.com/

Follow Athena on social media: @wildwillingwisdom

Do you have a story you’d like to share on the podcast? I would love to hear from you! Email me via the contact page at www.healingbirth.net.

You can find our new e-book, “Did I Really Need a C-Section?” on our website at www.healingbirth.net/shop

Intro / outro music: Dreams by Markvard

Transition music:   Afterlight by Jessie Villa & Strength to Last

Milena, the daughter of a licensed German midwife, grew up around babies, pregnancy, discussions about birth, and even attended births with her mom.

When it came time for her to give birth the first time, she chose a midwife assisted home birth. But the second time she became pregnant, she was strongly drawn towards having a wild pregnancy and to freebirth.

In addition to hearing her two birth stories, we talk about why there’s really no such thing as a “normal” labor pattern, and what it was like  for her to choose to free birth as the daughter of a midwife.

Do you have a story you’d like to share on the podcast? I would love to hear from you! Email me via the contact page at www.healingbirth.net.

You can find our new e-book, “Did I Really Need a C-Section?” on our website at www.healingbirth.net/shop

Intro / outro music: Dreams by Markvard

Transition music:   Take Me Back by Strength to Last

Stephanie shares her two birth stories, both of which took place in a hospital staffed only by midwives, in rural Australia.

Her first birth experience cracked her intuition wide open, and she says that it initiated her into the person she was meant to be.

Her second birth was a different kind of initiation, which included a complication at the end. During both experiences, she felt very cared for and supported by the midwives.

We also discuss how much our relationships shift and change when we first become parents, and how the surrender that birth requires of us is the perfect initiation into the next phase of the unknown - parenthood!

Do you have a story you’d like to share on the podcast? I would love to hear from you! Email me via the contact page at www.healingbirth.net.

You can find our new e-book, “Did I Really Need a C-Section?” on our website at www.healingbirth.net/shop

Intro / outro music: Dreams by Markvard

Transition music:   Together by Justhea

Nina was dropped by her midwives at the end of her first pregnancy due to high blood pressure, and had to give birth to that baby in the hospital.

The second time she became pregnant, she decided not to engage with the medical system at all. Her blood pressure remained elevated during this pregnancy, but rather than immediately pathologize it based on the numbers alone, she decided to tune into how she felt, and trust her body.

Her healthy, perfect baby was born after a whirlwind fast labor, in her home, with just her husband present. She says that this birth experience helped to heal the stories that she had carried from adolescence that her body was “broken” or “wrong.”

She remembered that she is in fact, perfect.

(A friendly disclaimer that I am not a medical professional, and nothing that I share on this podcast should be taken as medical advice).

Do you have a story you’d like to share on the podcast? I would love to hear from you! Email me via the contact page at www.healingbirth.net.

You can find our new e-book, “Did I Really Need a C-Section?” on our website at www.healingbirth.net/shop

Intro / outro music: Dreams by Markvard

Transition music: Letting Go by Hotham

After becoming pregnant through the intensely medically managed experience of IVF, Kelli planned to step away from that model of care, and birth her baby at home.

But after five weeks of exhausting on and off labor, she felt like something was wrong, and agreed to transfer her care to the local hospital. It was there that they discovered the reason for her confusing labor pattern was a previous, commonly performed, medical procedure to her cervix.

Despite how traumatic this experience was, Kelli says that it helped to facilitate generational healing, going back to her trauma from her own birth.

This story is such a great example of how often birth gives us, not always the birth we want, but the medicine that we need as we are initiated into motherhood.

Kelli Moore is the CEO and Co-Founder of Soulfire Productions, Host of the top-rated podcast: The Naked Mama, and Co-Host of the beloved relationships podcast, OK, Babe.

Follow Kelli @kellitmoore

https://kellimoore.co/

Do you have a story you’d like to share on the podcast? I would love to hear from you! Email me via the contact page at www.healingbirth.net.

You can find our new e-book, “Did I Really Need a C-Section?” on our website at www.healingbirth.net/shop

Intro / outro music: Dreams by Markvard

Transition music: Chill Night by Amine Maxwell & MICHAL

With raw emotion and beautiful vulnerability, Mallory shares her three birth stories, and the life circumstances that shaped them. Her first two births took place in a hospital - one quite traumatic, and one not. Her third baby was born at home, with just her husband present.

She says that it was this birth that catalyzed her transformation from maiden to mother. And that she wants to share her powerful story not to fix the system or change anyone’s mind, but in service to other mothers.

I want to share the verse below in full, which she references during our conversation, because it is so beautiful - and does remind me of birth!

Isaiah 43:2

When you pass through the waters,

    I will be with you;

and when you pass through the rivers,

    they will not sweep over you.

When you walk through the fire,

    you will not be burned;

    the flames will not set you ablaze.

Do you have a story you’d like to share on the podcast? I would love to hear from you! Email me via the contact page at www.healingbirth.net.

You can find our new e-book, “Did I Really Need a C-Section?” on our website at www.healingbirth.net/shop

Intro / outro music: Dreams by Markvard

Transition music: Oceanic by Aryll