In this special episode of Holy Wild Birth, we’ve gathered clips from our recent live coaching event where birth workers brought their deepest questions and tender crossroads to the table. Together, we explore what it means to follow the call into birth work—whether as a doula, midwife, or mother balancing both roles.

You’ll hear honest conversations about discerning if this path is right for you, navigating the tension between mothering and serving, and practical guidance on topics like what a doula should charge. These coaching moments are raw, real, and full of the kind of encouragement that reminds us we’re not walking this journey alone.

If you’ve been wondering about your next steps in birth work, this episode will meet you right where you are.

* Hearthmother Journey is a year-long path of mentorship, community, and practical training for women called to birthwork and embodied living. Learn more and join us at https://www.rootedineden.org/hearthmother-journey

🎙️ This Week on the Podcast

From Broadway to barnyards, baptisms to birth stories—this episode is a true tapestry of life.

✨ We cover it all:

• Hamilton and theatre in general

• Nesting chicks under a broody hen

• The tender work of holding space for suffering and dying animals

• The winding road to Brooke’s children’s baptism and the beauty of the moment

• Lauren’s string of unfortunate events (and the silver linings she’s clinging to)

• All the things Lauren dreams of doing while off call

• And, of course, how Brooke somehow ended up at another birth even when she was “off call” 😉

It’s raw, tender, and joy-filled—a snapshot of ordinary moments that carry extraordinary meaning.

🌿 Don’t forget: Hearthmother Journey is enrolling now through September 15!
👉🏼 rootedineden.org/hearthmother-journey

Introducing yet another "genre" or podcast episode here at Holy Wild Birth: The Community Hearth Call where we host a live coaching call in our community on Mighty Networks and take live "callers" on camera with us to talk through their questions and conundrums regarding their calling as birth servants.

On this inaugural community hearth call, you'll hear:

• Trandi and her quest to catch up with the call of her community to attend births, how she wants to shape her business and what sort of birthworker she wants to be (one who does "nothing"). At the end she receives a "kiss from the Lord" that's very sweet.
• Elizabeth wrestles with how to build a meaningful and supportive community with local midwives and doulas when the path she is walking is pretty different than theirs and what it means to harness rebellious tendencies for good.
• Jakota wonders whether being a birthkeeper is dangerous and hears Lauren and Brooke discuss the need to face the fear and follow God anyway because birth attnedants have never not been persecuted.

🥁HEARTHMOTHER JOURNEY IS OPEN FOR ENROLLMENT RIGHT NOW!!!

The fall cohort launches September 30th

Enrollment closes September 15

👉🏼 rootedineden.org/hearthmother-journey

Join the next generation of holy, wild birthkeepers

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SHOW NOTES “FOOTER”

Connect:

• Email us to say hi: [email protected]

• Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form

• Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: http://sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest

• Hang out with us and other Holy Wild Women in our private community (off Facebook): https://anointed-birth.mn.co/

• Become a holy, wild birthkeeper with us inside Hearthmother Journey

From Lauren:

• Instagram

• Midwifery consults: Email  [email protected]

From Brooke:

• Instagram

• Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)

• Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox

• Embrace Birth Journey - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)

• Sister Birth: The Podcast - short, beautifully scripted episode to encourage your along the way

Intro and Outra Music Credit -
Betty Dear By Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Stephanie always did things the mainstream way: she had her babies in the hospital, usually started with an induction and a couple of times with rushed cesareans before labor started. But for er 8th pregnancy -- a surprise that took some getting used to -- she and her husband took a hard pivot and chose the home birth route. Armed with faith in the goodness of God, a wonderful midwife, Embrace Birth Journey, and determination, they went on to have the best home birth she could have dreamed of.

In this episode, we cover:

• How a miscarriage opened up her hear to having children
• Her first 7 births in the medical system
• Gestational diabetes and induction 
• The twins that were NOT gender tie-breakers
• The “they know better than I do” phenomenon and how she overcame it
• Reasons for high blood pressure that aren’t pre-eclampsia
• What made one of her cesareans more emotionally traumatic than the other
• Getting to acceptance and surrender regarding an unwanted pregnancy
• Being turned down by midwives before finding the right fit
• The vast difference between OB prenatal care and midwifery prenatal care
• Stumbling upon Embrace Birth Journey and recognizing it as exactly what she needed for her preparation as a Christian
• An IUGR scare and the value of a second opinion
• Does midwife’s brew work with only 1 tsp of castor oil in it?
• The birth pool set-up fiasco
• The contraction that wouldn’t stop
• Experiencing fetal ejection reflex
• Watching her husband rise to the occassion when he was needed
• Regrets about not making meals for postpartum
• Words for the mom considering her first home birth

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Restorative Roots (postpartum meal service) - use code SISTERBIRH to get $20 off your first order of $200+
• EBJ - sisterbirth.com/journey - use code STEPHANIE for $20 off
• Precipitous labors episode of Holy Wild Birth

You can connect with Stephanie on FB or IG (@MamaKamps)

BIRTH STORY DISCLAIMER:

The choices, beliefs, and opinions of the mamas sharing their stories are as individual as the storyteller herself and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs or recommended choices of Lauren and/or Brooke.

SHOW NOTES “FOOTER”

Connect:

• Email us to say hi: [email protected]

• Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form

• Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: Holy Wild Birth Podcast : Guest Application

• Hang out with us and other Holy Wild Women in our private community (off Facebook): Rooted in Eden PMA

• Become a holy, wild birthkeeper with us inside Hearthmother Journey

From Lauren:

• Instagram

• Midwifery consults: Email  [email protected]

From Brooke:

• Instagram

• Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)

• Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox

• Embrace Birth Journey - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)

Intro and Outra Music Credit -
Betty Dear By Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

If you've heard these phrases spoken in relation to birth, you may have wondered what exactly these woo-woo words mean, what their origin is, and whether it's a Biblical concept.

In this episode we'll explore the meaning and etiology of "thin places" and "sacred space," why we feel that pregnancy and birth ARE these things, where we see this concept in the scriptures, and how to surrender to and facilitate the experience of them as mothers and as birth workers.

Resources referred to in this episode:

• birth is prayer IG post

• Anointed birth definition

• Sacred Ceremonies for Birth (get it in the shop OR as a freebie bonus you can access after going through the Faith-Filled Home Birth Challenge)

• Hearthmother Journey - attend our Open House on Mighty Networks August 18, enrollment for fall cohort ends September 15.

• • The Sacrament of Pregnancy
  • The Last Days of Pregnancy: A Place of In-Between (a must-read late in pregnancy!)

Connect:

• Email us to say hi: [email protected]

• Hang out with us and other Holy Wild Women in our private community (off Facebook): https://anointed-birth.mn.co/

• Become a holy, wild birthkeeper with us inside Hearthmother Journey

From Lauren:

• Instagram

• Midwifery consults: Email  [email protected]

From Brooke:

• Instagram

• Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)

• Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox

• Embrace Birth Journey - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)

Intro and Outra Music Credit -
Betty Dear By Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Welcome to a rambling conversation between friends on a range of topics so varied that thematically naming this episode became a real challenge!

You'll hear about:

• what's in our mugs

• a sad induction to knitter status

• Brooke's overthinking about light therapy

• our shared love of nature and water

• what we like about where we live and why we both love arizona too

• taking things slow with habit changes

• all the many births Lauren supported since our last cup of tea episode

• that time when we thought we could whip up a huge training program in a single week 😂

• the power of naming

• midwife husbands

• bougie espresso machines

• "cousinness"

• why Brooke is unexpectedly going back on call earlier than planned

• the value of community

  
  

  PS: Don't forget to join us in our Mighty Networks community so you can attend the upcoming FREE, live birth worker mentoring calls.

In this episode, Lauren is joined by traditional midwife and Hearthmother Journey graduate, Alisha Meyer, for a rich and reverent conversation about the design and rhythm of birth. Together, they explore the sacred balance between ancient midwifery wisdom and modern science—how the two can harmonize to support both physiological safety and the deeper, soul-level unfolding of birth.

Alisha shares from her lived experience, offering insight into the patterns woven into the natural process and the importance of learning to recognize and trust them. From the signals of early labor to the intuitive knowing that rises in both mothers and midwives, this episode invites listeners to consider what it means to co-labor with the design rather than manage it.

Whether you're a birth worker or a mother preparing for your own journey, this conversation will stir your confidence, sharpen your discernment, and remind you that honoring the innate is not only wise—it’s holy.

Want to connect more with Alisha? - Find her website, podcast, adn mentorship opportunities below:

Website: https://birthcultivated.com/

Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/birth-cultivated/id1805256067

Mentorship: https://birthcultivated.com/subscriptions/

⭐️ Learn more about Hearthmother Journey and Attend the Open House on August 18, 2025 ⭐️

Connect:

• Email us to say hi: [email protected]

• Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form

• Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: http://sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest

• Hang out with us and other Holy Wild Women in our private community (off Facebook): https://anointed-birth.mn.co/

• Become a holy, wild birthkeeper with us inside Hearthmother Journey

From Lauren:

• Instagram

• Midwifery consults: Email  [email protected]

From Brooke:

• Instagram

• Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)

• Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox

• Embrace Birth Journey - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)

Intro and Outra Music Credit -
Betty Dear By Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Because the Lord called her and her husband to move to other countries to serve as missionaries, Jamie had her 4 home births in 3 different countries. In each one, she encountered the beauty of midwifery care and the gifts of cultural differences and honorary grandmothers supporting them. Her story shows us how wherever God places us, He is trustworthy to provide a way.

You can connect with Jamie Nunes in our private community (anointed-birth.mn.co) or on IG (https://www.instagram.com/mrsnewness/)

BIRTH STORY DISCLAIMER:

The choices, beliefs and opinions of the mamas sharing their stories are as individual as the storyteller herself and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs or recommended choices of Lauren and/or Brooke.

SHOW NOTES “FOOTER”

Connect:

• Email us to say hi: [email protected]

• Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form

• Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: http://sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest

• Hang out with us in our private community (off Facebook): https://anointed-birth.mn.co/

• Become a holy, wild birthkeeper with us inside Hearthmother Journey

From Lauren:

• Midwifery consults: Email  [email protected]

From Brooke:

• Courses

• Newsletter

Intro and Outra Music Credit -
Betty Dear By Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

In this short series, we're speaking with women who have been free-birthing long before it became trendy, back when it was called Unassisted Birth and there weren't very many resources devoted to it, let alone a society devoted to it.

Each of these women chose free birth for reasons that essentially come down to their faith.

In this episode, we’re joined by our friend Heather Meyers, a mama to 8 living children (5 - kind of 6? - of them born unassisted). 

Among other things, you'll hear about:

• First freebirth in 2012 - it was called unassisted then
• First were precipitous home births with hands-on midwives
• Twins were a freebirth in the hospital
• She herself was born at home and grew up around home birth culture, apprenticing with a midwife after high school
• Her husband’s roll in the decision to birth unassisted for the first time
• Off-grid camper birth
• Activist tendencies tempered by humbling experiences
• Why unattended births make sense for her personality
• Her second-trimester loss at home, unattended
• Not about performance, but presence
• The unassisted hospital birth of her twins at 26 weeks
• Freebirthing with helping friends and kids around vs. with just her and her husband
• How labor patterns aren’t predictable or “normal” after you have several babies
• avoiding adamant checklists or “shoulds” about a birth and just asking Him who’s supposed to be there and for the next steps
• When Jesus says “follow me,” and it means taking some gutsy leaps
• Her usual DIY prenatal care routines (And ways she broke from them when led to do so)
• How birth resets her bond with her husband and her confidence in him
• Times she has shown up to support other women in their births
• Why your “yes” is a responsibility and investment

Mentioned in this episode:

• Unassisted HomeBirth: An Act of Love

SHOW NOTES “FOOTER”

Connect:

• Email us to say hi: [email protected]
• Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
• Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: http://sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
• Hang out with us and other Holy Wild Women in our private community (off Facebook): https://anointed-birth.mn.co/
• Become a holy, wild birthkeeper with us inside Hearthmother Journey

From Lauren:

• Instagram
• Midwifery consults: Email  [email protected]

From Brooke:

• Instagram
• Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
• Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
• Embrace Birth Journey - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)

Intro and Outra Music Credit -
Betty Dear By Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

In this short series, we're speaking with women who have been freebirthing long before it became trendy, back when it was called Unassisted Birth and there weren't very many resources devoted to it, let alone a society devoted to it.

Each of these women chose free birth for reasons that essentially come down to their faith.

In part 2, we're joined by Rosalie Buist, a mom of 8 (5 of them free birthed) with a huge heart for the Lord.

Here's some of what we cover:

• Differences in birth by region (rural vs. city)
• Her prefered term for the kind of births she has
• The foundations our ancestors had, which we’d be wise to retain
• Why everyone should know how to give birth, even if they plan to have a midwife or doctor!
• Birth is an extension of the relationship with God and an extension of normal life
• “This is God’s baby”
• Pushing through moments of doubt and disblief that it will work
• Only God knows how to bring babies out (or put them in!)
• Her perspective on the risks
• Knowing the no-brainer emergencies that need assistance and think about them ahead of time
• Familiarizing yourself with the capabilities of hospitals in your area
• The necessity of trusting God and taking responsibility no matter what birth plan you have
• How birth choices are similar to educational choices for your kids
• Why she almost hired a midwife for baby #8
• How I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant show inspired her to make the birth choices she’s made 😂
• Why she has considered hiring a midwife again, even after several successful unassisted births
• Her advice for anyone considering a DIY Birth (it’s a GREAT list)

Resources:

• Your unique birth approach freebie
• Mark 4:26-27
• Kierra Blaser on walking through fears (A Heavenly Welcome) -
• Pygmy tribe births -
• Baby Designed by God (book)
• 
  

SHOW NOTES “FOOTER”

Connect:

• Email us to say hi: [email protected]

• Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form

• Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: Holy Wild Birth Podcast : Guest Application

• Hang out with us and other Holy Wild Women in our private community (off Facebook): Rooted in Eden PMA

• Become a holy, wild birthkeeper with us inside Hearthmother Journey

From Lauren:

• Instagram

• Midwifery consults: Email  [email protected]

From Brooke:

• Instagram

• Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)

• Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox

• Embrace Birth Journey - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)

Intro and Outra Music Credit -
Betty Dear By Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Creative Commons License.