After two relatively routine hospital births, Shiloa's third baby was discovered to be breech late in her pregnancy. Her care providers presented her with no option other than a c-section, which came as a huge shock. The surgical birth left her feeling traumatized.

As a birth worker herself, Shiloa was also attending births during this time and had developed an unshakable trust in the birth process. She learned that some midwives were comfortable supporting breech births at home, viewing it as a variation of normal rather than an emergency requiring surgery.

For her fourth pregnancy, Shiloa planned a home birth with a midwife. Once again, the baby was found to be breech toward the end of the pregnancy. However, she didn't let the combination of a VBAC and the breech label shake her trust in the birth process. In fact, she had a strong sense that this baby was meant to be born breech for a reason.

Shiloa successfully birthed her breech, VBAC baby at home with her midwife, as planned. This empowering experience helped to heal the trauma from her previous birth.

If you love the show, I would greatly appreciate a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!

Follow me on Instagram @healingbirth

Do you have a birth story you'd like to share on the podcast, or would like to otherwise connect? I love to hear from you! Send me a note at [email protected]

Check out the website for lots of other birth related offerings, and personalized support: www.healingbirth.net

Intro / Outro music: Dreams by Markvard

Podcast cover photo by Karina Jensen @karinajensenphoto

Gina's first pregnancy was with twins, which limited her options for care to a hospital birth. During this labor, she faced immense pressure to receive an epidural, undergo various interventions, and was even made to give birth on the operating table in the operating room "just in case." Despite all of this and the atmosphere of fear surrounding twin births, she managed to deliver both babies naturally in the hospital, on that cold operating room table.

Her second pregnancy was with a singleton, so this time, a midwife could legally attend her birth at home, and Gina jumped at the chance. She found the perfect wise woman to walk alongside her during the pregnancy. This experience allowed her to heal some of the scars left by her previous, medicalized birth and to deeply reconnect with her Mexican heritage through cultural birth practices, such as using a rebozo, and having the maternal grandmother cut the umbilical cord.

Gina says that this birth experience deeply reconnected her to her lineage and inspired her to dive into learning more about the sacredness of pregnancy, birth, and postpartum.

If you love the show, I would greatly appreciate a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!

Follow me on Instagram @healingbirth

Do you have a birth story you'd like to share on the podcast, or would like to otherwise connect? I love to hear from you! Send me a note at [email protected]

Check out the website for lots of other birth related offerings, and personalized support: www.healingbirth.net

Intro / Outro music: Dreams by Markvard

Podcast cover photo by Karina Jensen @karinajensenphoto

Robyn describes her first birth as a 'weird, numb experience.' She was in the hospital, on an epidural, and slept through most of it.

However, a family car accident became a turning point for Robyn, prompting her to make holistic health changes for her family. As she began to explore ways to take charge of their healthcare more naturally, her perspective on birth shifted. By the time she was pregnant with her second child, she knew she would give birth at home, with a midwife. (In fact, the midwife she chose had been a former guest on this show!)

For her third birth, Robyn chose to give birth at home, unassisted.

In reflecting on her birth experiences, Robyn shared with me: 'I want to address the idea that a midwife or doula will save you during labor or birth, or somehow prepare you better than you can prepare yourself for birth. Instead, birth should be viewed as an opportunity to fully surrender and trust yourself.'

If you love the show, I would greatly appreciate a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!

Follow me on Instagram @healingbirth

Do you have a birth story you'd like to share on the podcast, or would like to otherwise connect? I love to hear from you! Send me a note at [email protected]

Check out the website for lots of other birth related offerings, and personalized support: www.healingbirth.net

Intro / Outro music: Dreams by Markvard

Podcast cover photo by Karina Jensen @karinajensenphoto

Over the course of having six babies, Kelly's beliefs about birth, pregnancy, and sovereignty changed drastically. She went from thinking that women who birthed outside the hospital were irresponsible and dangerous, to free birthing her last baby at 42, with only her husband by her side.

Kelly shares her entire journey with us today in the hope of encouraging other women to recognize that they are perfectly designed for birth and motherhood.

If you love the show, I would greatly appreciate a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!

Follow me on Instagram @healingbirth

Do you have a birth story you'd like to share on the podcast, or would like to otherwise connect? I love to hear from you! Send me a note at [email protected]

Check out the website for lots of other birth related offerings, and personalized support: www.healingbirth.net

Intro / Outro music: Dreams by Markvard

Podcast cover photo by Karina Jensen @karinajensenphoto

Chandani was a doula working within the system when she became pregnant with her first baby. Witnessing the trauma and high cesarean rate in the hospital, she knew she didn't want to give birth there and decided on a home birth.

Although she entered the pregnancy with extensive knowledge about birth and hired a midwife, her birth ultimately ended in a cesarean after her midwife transferred her during labor.

In the immediate aftermath, Chandani struggled to accept that this was her birth experience. However, as time passed, she began to reflect and realized that there had been red flags in her care, and her intuition had indeed been speaking to her. She also started examining other areas of her life where she wasn't being true to herself. By the time she was pregnant with her second baby, she was fully ready to step into her power and birth in a new way.

Rather than hiring another medical midwife, Chandani chose a non-medical birth keeper who also became a friend. She emerged triumphant from that birth experience, feeling as though she could do anything.

If you love the show, I would greatly appreciate a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!

Follow me on Instagram @healingbirth

Do you have a birth story you'd like to share on the podcast, or would like to otherwise connect? I love to hear from you! Send me a note at [email protected]

Check out the website for lots of other birth related offerings, and personalized support: www.healingbirth.net

Intro / outro music: Dreams by Markvard

Podcast cover photo by Karina Jensen @karinajensenphoto

Leisa Masters is a mother, an accomplished birthworker, and an experienced business manager. She has been supporting women through pregnancy, birth, and motherhood for over a decade.

Her own experience birthing her daughter in the Australian medical system became a classic cascade of interventions, ultimately leading to an unnecessary cesarean. However, being deeply committed to personal growth, Leisa chose not to simply blame the system. Instead, she realized that at a deeper level, her own people-pleasing tendencies had allowed the birth to unfold as it did.

In the years since that birth, Leisa has discovered a way to have revolutionary conversations with women, empowering them to own their birth experiences, their introduction to motherhood, and, by extension, their lives. As a sought-after voice in the global birth community, Leisa now helps other birthworkers recognize how to work with women in a truly life-changing way. She believes that women already possess all the wisdom they need inside them, and her role is to help them uncover that wisdom and build the confidence to trust in it.

Follow Leisa on Instagram @leisa.masters

Leisa's Website

Join Leisa's course Becoming a Birthworker

If you love the show, I would greatly appreciate a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!

Follow me on Instagram @healingbirth

Do you have a birth story you'd like to share on the podcast, or would like to otherwise connect? I love to hear from you! Send me a note at [email protected]

Check out the website for lots of other birth related offerings, and personalized support: www.healingbirth.net

Intro / Outro music: Dreams by Markvard

Podcast cover photo by Karina Jensen @karinajensenphoto

India was 21, and dancing without a care in the world at a festival in Nepal when she suddenly felt her water break. That was the moment she realized she was pregnant—and about to have a baby!

What followed, in one of the most incredible birth stories I have ever heard, was a four-day labor, supported by her Rainbow Gathering community, in a remote village in Nepal.

If you love the show, I would greatly appreciate a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!

Follow me on Instagram @healingbirth

Do you have a birth story you'd like to share on the podcast, or would like to otherwise connect? I love to hear from you! Send me a note at [email protected]

Check out the website for lots of other birth related offerings, and personalized support: www.healingbirth.net

Intro / Outro music: Dreams by Markvard

Podcast cover photo by Karina Jensen @karinajensenphoto

Returning guest Tiffany shares her powerful third birth story—a precipitous freebirth. Alone with just her partner, Tiffany navigated this intense and transformative experience following a wild pregnancy.

Tiffany's story also includes one of the coolest placenta births I've ever heard!

You can hear her first two birth stories, on her first appearance on the podcast, here.

If you love the show, I would greatly appreciate a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!

Follow me on Instagram @healingbirth

Do you have a birth story you'd like to share on the podcast, or would like to otherwise connect? I love to hear from you! Send me a note at [email protected]

Check out the website for lots of other birth related offerings, and personalized support: www.healingbirth.net

Intro / Outro music: Dreams by Markvard

Podcast cover photo by Karina Jensen @karinajensenphoto

Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) is a connective tissue disorder that presents differently in each individual. For Emily, it significantly affected her digestive system. During her first pregnancy, she struggled with severe hyperemesis, unable to keep any food down at all.

In this episode, Emily shares one of the most unique and challenging stories of pregnancy, birth, and postpartum I have ever encountered. Her journey is a powerful testament to the resilience of the mother-baby bond and her incredible strength.

Despite the hardships she faced, Emily has recovered and found joy in the small but profound moments of motherhood. She recalls the first time her baby smiled at her—a moment when her heart truly felt light for the first time.

Tune in to hear Emily's inspiring story of determination, love, and healing.

If you love the show, I would greatly appreciate a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!

Follow me on Instagram @healingbirth

Do you have a birth story you'd like to share on the podcast, or would like to otherwise connect? I love to hear from you! Send me a note at [email protected]

Check out the website for lots of other birth related offerings, and personalized support: www.healingbirth.net

Intro / Outro music: Dreams by Markvard

After two hospital births—one of which was extremely traumatic—Laura decided to homebirth her third baby.

During her 20-week anatomy scan, a velamentous cord insertion was discovered. Laura's main concern with this complication was the risk of intrauterine growth restriction. She chose to closely monitor her baby's size through ultrasounds, and by 35 weeks, it was clear she was carrying a large, healthy baby. Feeling confident, Laura moved forward with her plan to give birth at home.

Her birth experience was fast, powerful, and profoundly healing.

We close this episode with Laura reflecting on the unexpected grief she felt for her older children's birth experiences. She shares how she now recognizes the ripple effects of those births in their lives.

Listen to Laura's first appearance on this podcast, where she shares her first two birth experiences, here.

If you love the show, I would greatly appreciate a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!

Follow me on Instagram @healingbirth

Do you have a birth story you'd like to share on the podcast, or would like to otherwise connect? I love to hear from you! Send me a note at [email protected]

Check out the website for lots of other birth related offerings, and personalized support: www.healingbirth.net

Intro / Outro music: Dreams by Markvard

Podcast cover photo by Karina Jensen @karinajensenphoto