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So, I want you to take a second and think about what you’re doing to prepare for your birth... What does birth prep entail?… What comes to your mind? 

As an online birth coach, birth doula, and childbirth educator… one of the things that absolutely BLOWS MY MIND is how certain birth topics are just NOT talked about… like AT ALL! 

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Find @theautonomymommy on IG!

Want to be on the podcast? Click here!

Pregnant and wondering how the hell you can start preparing for birth? Or want to know my secret to the way I prepared? Click here!

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↓ Click below for the full transcription! ↓

Today I am talking about one of the biggest fears of childbirth… pain. What is pain? Why does it scare us? And what are some practical tools that you can use right away to begin shifting your relationship with discomfort?

Click HERE to take my quiz and get the perfect birth prep strategy (mindset style) for you!

Find @theautonomymommy on IG!

Want to be on the podcast? Click here!

Pregnant and wondering how the hell you can start preparing for birth? Or want to know my secret to the way I prepared? Click here!

Don’t forget to rate, review, & subscribe on Apple Podcasts

↓ Click below for the full transcription! ↓

Click here to check out the Third Trimester Checklist

After decades of undiagnosed endometriosis, Lacey beat the odds and conceived her baby just one month before slated to start her IVF journey. It’s a remarkable story that is sure to inspire you no matter where you are in your own motherhood journey.

If you or anyone you know has struggled with infertility, you need to listen to this episode!

You can find Lacey on IG at @CountryWifeChronicles

or Click HERE to visit her blog.

Click here to check out the Third Trimester Checklist

Want to be on the podcast? Click here!

Pregnant and wondering how the hell you can start preparing for birth? Or want to know my secret to the way I prepared? Click here!

Don’t forget to rate, review, & subscribe on Apple Podcasts

↓ Click below for the full transcription! ↓

Click here to check out the Third Trimester Checklist

Tiffany shows us that you're never too young to take charge of your own birth. She started by sharing what it was liking getting pregnant at 18, and how she felt dismissed by her care providers in pregnancy, (can you relate?)... she was always waiting for her doctor and felt rushed through her appointments when she actually made it into the exam room.

She always had a homebirth in the back of her mind, but felt pressure to 'give birth the normal way' the first go-around... but when she got a devastating FALSE positive from her care provider after prenatal bloodwork.. she knew she deserved better care and finally made the switch to a homebirth midwife.

Now, Tiffany is starting her own doula business and wants to help young moms know that they are never too young to learn their options and to stand up for themselves and the birth that they want.

If you are a young mom and/or struggling with the idea of having a homebirth, you need to listen to this episode!

You can find Tiffany at @ms.tiffanydaniela

Click here to check out the Third Trimester Checklist

Want to be on the podcast? Click here!

Pregnant and wondering how the hell you can start preparing for birth? Or want to know my secret to the way I prepared? Click here!

Don’t forget to rate, review, & subscribe on Apple Podcasts

↓ Click below for the full transcription! ↓

Click here to check out the Third Trimester Checklist

Gina walks us through her first three births, which were all unmedicated and low intervention at the hospital. Of those first 3 births, she shares how the third was the hardest because she couldn't fully surrender, causing her labor to be hard and seem like it almost violated her in a way, leading her to have a really hard time processing the birth.

Gina also dives in to her 4th pregnancy, where at her 20-week scan she found out that there were mystery medical issues surrounding her baby and pregnancy. She shares about how she processed that news, and what it was like going into labor at 26 weeks and losing her baby. She even admits that in her eyes, her stillbirth was better than her third birth, and how the healing that she did after her 3rd birth made the processing of her loss easier.

I promise this episode is life changing, and not nearly as heavy as it seems. Gina has such a wise soul, and a lightness about her that we could all learn from.

In todays episode:
- Gina shares what it was like to have truly supportive care in her first two hospital births...
- Learn what Gina hated about her 3rd hospital birth, and how the fact that she was mentally unprepared had some lasting effects beyond birth...
- Hear Gina's awe-inspiring perspective on what it was like to lose a baby at 26 weeks, and listen to her dive really deep into how we can do better to support moms going through the same thing...
- Gina tells us what she's most looking forward to in her upcoming homebirth: not having to get into a car while in labor, and not feeling like she's being held hostage at the hospital the days after birth.

Gina's story is the perfect example of why the health outcomes of mom and baby aren't what determines if a birth is 'good' or not.

Click here to check out the Third Trimester Checklist

Want to be on the podcast? Click here!

Pregnant and wondering how the hell you can start preparing for birth? Or want to know my secret to the way I prepared? Click here!

Don’t forget to rate, review, & subscribe on Apple Podcasts

↓ Click below for the full transcription! ↓

Click here to check out the Third Trimester Checklist

This week you'll hear all about Alex's journey with tokophobia.

What started as a debilitating fear of childbirth (so bad that she was questioning if she even wanted to give birth to her own children), led Alex to research all about pregnancy and birth and understand that birth is natural and sacred. She realized that her fear was never actually about the pain of birth, but of losing control at the hands of medical providers.

Now, she's already building her support team, so when she does get pregnant, she's ready to put in the work to continue working through her fears so she can have an empowered and maybe even unmedicated birth.

Alex also shares with us her journey of trying to conceive, after a decade of hormonal birth control left her with a condition called hyperprolactinemia, causing problems with ovulation and causing her cycle to be much longer than usual.

Her doctor never mentioned the possible risks of long term use of birth control, which made Alex realize that doctors aren't always sharing all of the risks with their patients. Grateful for her experiences, she realizes that if these hardships never happened to her, there's a chance she would never have realized just how important it is to educate ourselves about our bodies, especially in birth.

If you've ever felt alone in your fear of birth or in your struggles with trying to conceive, you need to listen to this episode!

Click here to check out the Third Trimester Checklist

Here is a sneak peak into the episode:

→[02:34] Alex decided to stop birth control, and quickly realized something was wrong with her cycle...

→[07:42] What your options are for birth control besides the hormonal options, and why it matters to know how to track your cycle...

→[10:29] The community support Alex found through social media groups...

→[15:40] How her history with medical providers is intertwined with her tokophobia...

→[20:53] Alex shares about the support team through therapy, her doula, husband, and even her new OBGYN.

Want to be on the podcast? Click here!

Pregnant and wondering how the hell you can start preparing for birth? Or want to know my secret to the way I prepared? Click here!

Don’t forget to rate, review, & subscribe on Apple Podcasts

↓ Click below for the full transcription! ↓

What if I told you that you could go from an uninformed people-pleaser to feeling so confident in yourself and your body that you don't give a flying f*ck who is standing inbetween you and the birth of your dreams?

Well, that's exactly the journey you'll hear in today's episode...

Natalie's describes herself at her first birth as uninformed, as she trusted her care providers to make decisions for her in her best interest... She didn't see anything wrong with her first birth until years later...

At her second birth, Natalie wanted a different experience, but admits that she didn't put in the work for that to actually come to fruition... It wasn't until years later at a childbirth convention that she realized her second birth was in fact traumatic...

Follow along as Natalie shares her journey to giving birth to her third baby, in her own home, completely in-charge and one hundred percent in her power.

In todays episode...
-There's laughter, tears, and raw, unfiltered stories of reclaiming our power as women and mothers, in both birth and life.
-We dive into how important it is to trust our intuition, and how a mother's intuition is never wrong.
-Natalie shares a big truth bomb => The only person EVER standing in her way was HER.

Natalie is a birth doula in Queens, and the owner of Birthing You Doula Services. She is honest about the fact that each of her 3 births completely transformed her into not only a new mother, but a new person all together.

>>You can find more about Natalie and the services she offers HERE.

Here is a sneak peak into the episode:

→[02:15] Natalie tells the story of her first birth, a hospital birth at 20 years old, that left her tired beyond words, and with a sense that birth wasn't supposed to "be like that"...
→[07:25] Natalie shares the traumatic birth of her second baby, and tell exactly how she came to understand that her birth trauma was the cause behind her severe postpartum depression and anxiety...
→[22:15] Natalie gets 100% real and raw and shares the terrifying experience of her sisters birth, and how it taught her the biggest lesson she's every learned....
→[27:45] How her own BIG mindset shift lead her to reclaim her power, take charge of her birth, and drop all inhibitions.

WOW! This podcast is one of the greatest stories of a woman's journey to trusting herself that I have ever heard!

Want to be on the podcast? Click here!

Pregnant and wondering how the hell you can start preparing for birth? Or want to know my secret to the way I prepared? Click here!

Don’t forget to rate, review, & subscribe on Apple Podcasts

↓ Click below for the full transcription! ↓

... So much so that this might go down in history as one of my favorites of all time.

Calling all doulas, pregnant mamas, and post part depression survivors -> This one is for you!

Rivkah is a birth and postpartum doula (and childbirth educator) in LA. She is a late miscarriage mama and a homebirth mama x3. Rivkah LOVED her homebirths, and shares the vulnerable story of how much she DIDN'T love postpartum. This is a story that needs to be told, and I'm so excited Rivkah shares her wisdom with us today...

In todays episode:

- Rivkah talks about her PPD struggle, and what it was like having 3 kids by age 25...

- She dives deep into her first experience attending a birth in the hospital after her 3 homebirths...

- And we talk about the strides we've made in speaking our own truths and letting others live their own lives.

WOW. If you haven't listened to the podcast yet, this is your sign to start listening today!

Here is a sneak peak into the episode:

→[01:03] Having 3 kids by 25 years old, and why she resented it.

→[06:07] How she decided to have homebirths with her 3 kids.

→[09:14] The horror she witnessed at the first hospital birth she attended.

→[17:35] This is where we both get super vulnerable... talking about our own darkest moments.

→[24:10] Being a doula in a pandemic, and what it means to work in the online space. (Instagram, holding our tongues, cancel culture, etc.)

Want to be on the podcast? Click here!

Pregnant and wondering how the hell you can start preparing for birth? Click here!

Don’t forget to rate, review, & subscribe on Apple Podcasts

↓ Click below for the full transcription! ↓

EPISODE NOTES

"Maybe the reason birth was so easy for me, is because everyone told me it wasn't going to be... and I'm, like, so stubborn so I've gotta prove them wrong."

This week I got to chat with my own mother about what it was like supporting me at my homebirth. We go on to chat a little bit about what awesome birth support looks like and how a hands off midwife can be an amazing choice. I share with her my thoughts about unassisted birth, and though we don't agree on everything, she's honest about the fact that birthing in a hospital is the only kind of birth she knew until mine.

My mom, Caron, is a doctor who is definitely not new to having a daughter that is stubborn as hell.. (me). She shares how she wasn't surprised at me choosing a homebirth, because I've always done things my own way... and she shares the couple moments in my birth that made her a little nervous.

In this episode you'll get a little taste of our relationship. My openness to trusting my body without reassurance, and how she trusted my midwife's confident energy throughout my 9 hour homebirth.

If you're unsure who to invite to your birth, or how to talk to your mom about having a birth outside the mainstream medical system, you NEED to listen to this.

Links mentioned:

Maryn's podcast episode on Indie Birth

Dawn Rogula, my midwife (239) 601-4002, serving Marco Island to North Fort Myers

Here is a sneak peak into the episode:

→[01:02] Telling my mom I want a homebirth...

→[05:24] Why my mom loved my midwife...

→[09:52] Whats different in pregnancy compared to 30 years ago...

→[24:26] The part that scared my mom (hint* the bleeding)...

→[26:30] My pros and her cons to an unassisted birth.

Want to be on the podcast? Click here!

Pregnant and wondering how the hell you can start preparing for birth? Or want to know my secret to the way I prepared? Click here!

Don’t forget to rate, review, & subscribe on Apple Podcasts

↓ Click below for the full transcription! ↓