Healing Birth

Ariana shares the story of her daughter's birth, a planned homebirth that ended in a cesarean.

Recorded at only four months postpartum, she shares some of the insights she's already gained from this experience, and reminds us that's its okay to feel it all - happy that you have a healthy baby, and perhaps, sadness or other complicated feelings about how the birth itself happened.

This is exactly the kind of story that I needed to hear, years ago when I went through a very similar experience with my own first baby, and her story is still medicine for me, today.

You can follow Ariana @arianafotinakis on instagram, and via her website www.arianafotinakis.com

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I love stories that illustrate how the births of our first babies (maybe every baby?) often prompt us to change and shift our lives, and this is definetly one of them.

Christine shares the story of free birthing her son in Canada. There are so many juicy elements to this one - making love during labor, having a psychedelic, out of body experience, spirit baby communication, just to name a few!

Christine also shares how, after such a powerful birth, she felt alone in the postpartum time. This prompted her to shift her life to now live in a conscious community.

Christine supports other mothers as a radical birth keeper, and you can follow her on Instagram @wildwomanmothering

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Victoria's first birth was unmedicated, in a hospital, and although everything went "right" it left her feeling like something wasn't quite right. Her postpartum experience with that baby was very challenging, and she later connected the challenges postpartum with some of the disempowering things that happened during the birth.

She shares the experience of miscarrying at home after that hospital birth, and how that miscarriage helped her realize that her body was completely capable of birthing without anyone's help or interference (this is something I have heard often and am so fascinated by - that pregnancy loss, though never easy, can be healing).

Her third baby was born at home with a very hands off midwife, an experience that set her up for a totally different and easeful postpartum time.

Victoria now works to support other mothers postpartum. You can connect with her on instagram @the_motherbiome.

During the interview she mentions her epic birth playlist! You can listen to it here:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1EROuluKp3kEwtTq642UM8?si=UDxFsyj4TeuE0uI6l4AHtA&utm_source=copy-link&nd=1

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If you love the show, please consider supporting us on Patreon! www.patreon/healingbirth

Jenna, a spiritual life coach for moms (and friend of mine!), shares her two birth stories. One, midwife assisted at a birth center, and the second, a very consciously chosen free birth.

Guiding her through her pregnancies and birth experiences was Jenna's strong intuition and willingness to trust herself.

She also shares much about the always unfolding lessons of motherhood, and has a special message for anyone who is struggling to process a birth experience that left them in pain.

She's funny, wise, and spiritual, I loved every second of this conversation!

If you would like to work with Jenna, you find her at www.jennawalenga.com and on Instagram @whole.heart.mama

JOIN OUR ONLINE MEMBERSHIP HERE! https://www.healingbirth.net/membership

If you love the show, please consider supporting us on Patreon! www.patreon/healingbirth

In a heart wrenching and raw interview, Ashley shares the story of the unnecessary cesarean birth of her first child.

From showing up in labor and being misidentified as a different patient, to having her doctor rush her labor process due to his golf tournament, her whole story is infuriating and deeply sad, most of all, because it's simply so common.

Many times during this conversation, I had to mute my mic and take deep breaths, because so much of her story was personally relatable to me.

I believe that as long as women are being brutalized during the most sacred thing we participate in and through, we have a moral imperative to share difficult stories like these.

If you have experienced a cesarean you feel was unnecessary, or simply found the countless indignities and traumas of industrial birth within the machine just wrong, this episode is for you.

You are not alone.

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Margeaux, a therapist who works in maternal mental health, went into her first pregnancy having heard first hand the many ways that a birth experience can leave us traumatized. Unfortunately all that knowledge was not enough to prevent her from being coerced into an induction that left her in the kind of pain she counsels her clients through.

After the first year postpartum, a series of beautiful, magical synchronicities, and a deep connection to her inner voice, led her to become pregnant again. She was guided that she would have a baby girl, and that this time birth wouldn't hurt her, it would heal her.

As she said to me after this interview, it feels so good to be on the other side, and be able to share this redemptive story!

You can follow Margeaux on Instagram @margeaux_gibson_therapist and at www.margeauxgibson.com

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www.healingbirth.net

Elizabeth shares two very different home birth stories with us today. This first, included almost every traumatic thing I can think of that can transpire at home, including a postpartum hospital transfer for blood loss. After that experience, she says she never wanted to give birth again.

But when she had healed enough from that experience to become pregnant and birth again, that birth was so powerful and blissful she wanted to experience it over and over.

You will not want to miss her description of dancing through labor, in the wake of her father's just having passed over, calling on her ancestors, and feeling him there with her.

Or her describe that sacred moment after birth holding her daughter, basking in the feeling of elation and joy.

Elizabeth mentions a few resources in this episode that I'd like to link to below:

- The "dancing doula" instagram page is @doulawombwork.

- the meditations that were so helpful for her can be found at www.hypnobirthinghub.com.

You can follow Elizabeth on Instagram @dr.elizabethwade and at www.drelizabethwade.com

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www.healingbirth.net

Charlotte shares her three birth stories with us - one cesarean (the reason for which is definetly the most unique one I have ever heard!), and two home birth VBACs.

Her entire journey is so beautiful, she has so much wisdom to share, and now has stepped into working with other women who want to birth in sovereignty.

You can follow her @the_vbac_coach

JOIN OUR NEW ONLINE MEMBERSHIP HERE! https://www.healingbirth.net/membership

If you love the show, please consider supporting us on Patreon! www.patreon/healingbirth

On March 15, 2020, I recorded a bonus episode with my thoughts about the then currently emerging global situation. It was fun for me to go back, almost two years later, and listen to what I had to say!

Largely I asked us all to stay out of the fear. And, I still feel that way.

I hope you guys enjoy this and I'd love to hear your thoughts!

www.healingbirth.net

IG: @healingbirth

JOIN OUR NEW ONLINE MEMBERSHIP HERE! https://www.healingbirth.net/membership

If you love the show, please consider supporting us on Patreon! www.patreon/healingbirth

Andrea's first birth experience is a perfect example of what it can look like when your midwives work for the state, not you.

After a traumatic cesarean birth, she was determined to birth her second baby at home.

Unfortunately (or maybe, fortunately?) no one in her province you could offer her the kind of support she needed, so she birthed that baby with just her partner as support.

That birth was a firewalk, but in it, she found the connection to her ancestors that wasn't present the first time when she called on them for support. She could feel them witnessing her in this powerful act of reclamation.

Around the one hour mark, Andrea mentions a few resources that were really helpful along her journey to free birth.

1. Christine Murphy - you can find her on instagram @wildwomanmothering

2. Yolande Norris Clark - www.freebirth.ca and on instagram @bauhauswife

3. Freebirth Society's The Complete Guide to Freebirth online course - link

JOIN OUR NEW ONLINE MEMBERSHIP HERE! https://www.healingbirth.net/membership

And, if you love the show, please consider supporting us on Patreon! www.patreon/healingbirth