I know I know, if you’ve been listening the last 2 weeks you are now expecting no 4!

And no 4 is epic! 

It’s called “The Wisdom of Letting go and Lean into the Pain in Birth” with Stephanie. But I couldn’t retrieve the video recording of it and because the poddy is now on YouTube as well I decided to not share it.

But YOU can go to thenaturalbirthpodcast.com to find it at no 4 of the top 10 episodes of all time (meaning since 2020).

BUT don’t get too disappointed because this is truly one of my favs.

I interviewed Aimee just as I was about to start the first round of the Sacred Birth Worker Mentorship in 2023.

I didn’t know it was going to be called that at the time and used the working name the spiritual midwife program as I was still known as The Spiritual Midwife.

Anyway, today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Aimee Aroha.

Aimee is originally from New Zealand, today living in Australia and she is a Wild Mother and Transpersonal Birth Mentor.

She generously takes us through her first hospital birth at the young age of 24 and her initiation into motherhood.

We then dive into red threads, birth imprinting, rites of passages and women’s power in her rites and birth.

Aimee continues to share how her life took a turn as she moved from the big city smoke of Sydney into nature in Northern NSW, meeting a new partner and then becoming pregnant again and how this time she made very different choices.

She employed an independent home birth midwife for her second pregnancy but ended up birthing before her midwife arrived, and when she became pregnant a third time she decided for a fully wild pregnancy and free birth with just her family.

Curious about Aimee? Find her on instagram as @aimeearoha

Want to work with Anna or join The Sacred Birth Worker Mentorship?

Find Anna’s Website, about her Mentorship & How to Work with Her, as well as all Links & Resources she mentions in the episode here:⁠www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

So you might be wondering why I’m not sharing our top 2 today but out top 3?

That’s because our top 2 is A Midwife's Top Tips on How to have a Natural Birth and I think its just time that has brought this episode up so high on the rankings. 

My more recent Anna Solo Episodes are so much better than this first one which I shared in 2020 just a couple of months after starting out as a podcaster. 

But if you wanna hear baby podcaster me sharing my midwifery tips back in the day, then head on over to thenaturalbirthpodcast.com to listen in.

Oh yeah, I have a new website for the poddy!

You can see and listen to the top 10 podcast episodes there, as well as all previous episodes of course!

Anyways, Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Kemi Joy Johnson which is our no 3 most loved episode.

The OG episode was called “6 Steps to a Natural & Empowering Birth with Kemi & Anna”.

Kemi is a Mother and a former registered Midwife turned Birthkeeper & Birth Activist.

She de-registered as a midwife a few years back and is now a Whistle Blower, Truth Speaker & Teacher.

And we are coming on the podcast today together to have an honest conversation about the reality of our current maternity system and what you need to know and the steps you need to take to optimize your chances of having a Natural and Empowering Birth Experience whether it is in the hospital, birth center or at home!

Get ready for some edgy talk and truth bombs.

To have a Natural & Empowering Birth in our modern world means taking full responsibility and claiming your rite of passage!

You can also download the 6 Steps that we talk about in the episode in a handy PDF to refer to as you prepare for your upcoming birth!

Find it in my free resources via the link below.

Curious about Kemi? Find her on instagram as @kemibirthjoyjohnson

Want to work with Anna or join The Sacred Birth Worker Mentorship?

Find Anna’s Website, about her Mentorship & How to Work with Her, as well as all Links & Resources she mentions in the episode here:www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Hi my loves!

I have something special planned for you for the next 3 weeks as I am stepping out of the podcast studio and into the Sacred Birth Worker Gathering here on my land. Tomorrow the first mentees and graduates fly in or drive on in to my land and for the next week we are going to have so much fun!

We are going on excursions to sacred sites and historical places I love and then spending the weekend in deep ceremony and sisterhood on my land.

I can’t wait!

And after the gathering I am taking a couple of weeks off to go to a spa with my best friend and then heading away for a midwifery conference in the south of Sweden.

But!

Do not despair! I’ve got you covered!

I thought I’d bring back some oldies but goldies!

I looked through my top 5 episodes of all time and thought “These are too good to not reshare!”.

So we are starting out with no 1, Ellen Fisher’s 5 Home Birth Stories.

If you don’t know Ellen, she is a mama of 5 living in Hawaii. She is a home birthing and home schooling mama who loves growing her own food and is a vegan of 18 years.

She’s also a podcast host of her own podcast called The Ellen Fisher Podcast.

In today’s episode you get to hear about each of her 5 natural and empowering home births. She dives on into the pearls of wisdom she gained from each and every one of them and the difference between them. 

Being our no 1 this episode is not to be missed!

Curious about Ellen? Find her on instagram as @ellenfisher

Want to work with Anna or join The Sacred Birth Worker Mentorship?

Find Anna’s Website, about her Mentorship & How to Work with Her, as well as all Links & Resources she mentions in the episode here:www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Cassie.

Cassie is a birthkeeper, homeopath, yoga teacher, and devoted mama of two, based in the Midlands, UK. 

With deep roots in holistic care and over a decade of experience, she supports women, children, and families through every season of life — offering homeopathic medicine, the frequency embodiment method, and powerful, intuitive birthkeeping. She's the only person in the world trained in all three disciplines.

Cassie’s path was forged through personal transformation. After a traumatic, medicalised first birth that left her with PTSD, postnatal depression, and breastfeeding grief, she committed to deep healing. 

The first part of this episode explores this first traumatic birth if you don’t wish to listen to that part in your birth prep.

It is filled with wisdom packaged in beautiful story telling but if you want to prime your subconscious with just the redemptive positive home birth story then go ahead and listen in at around the 30min mark.

Her healing journey that she took between her first and second birth led her to reclaim her power and go on to have a completely sovereign, supported home birth with her second baby despite a broken maternity system and a difficult NHS experience up until 37 weeks when she chose to discharge herself and find a radical independent midwife.

Now, Cassie helps other women by guiding them to trust their bodies, reclaim their autonomy, and create deeply aligned, sovereign birth experiences.

Curious about Cassie? Find her on Instagram as @cassierosedudgon 

Want to work with Anna or join The Sacred Birth Worker Mentorship?

Find Anna’s Website, about her Mentorship & How to Work with Her, as well as all Links & Resources she mentions in the episode here: www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Jenna

Jenna is a stay-at-home mom of two who finds joy in motherhood, creativity, and the beauty of everyday life. 

With an English degree and a passion for writing, she explores themes of romance, faith, and family through poetry and storytelling. She hopes to one day publish her poetry and create short films that bring her words to life.

 When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading, exercising, and spending time outdoors with her family and two dogs. 

Through her work, she seeks to inspire and connect with others on the journey of motherhood and beyond. You can find her on WordPress at findingmatrescence.wordpress.com

Today she shares her two birth stories. One a hospital birth after navigating prodromal labour and coached pushing with her baby aspirating meconium (or so she was told) to a her dream birth that she had visualized - a day time home water birth.

Here are Jenna's pearls of wisdom for you.

Want to work with Anna or join The Sacred Birth Worker Mentorship?

Find Anna’s Website, about her Mentorship & How to Work with Her, as well as all Links & Resources she mentions in the episode here:⁠ www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Debra Pascali-Bonaro, the globally renowned speaker, filmmaker, author, doula trainer and host of the Orgasmic Birth podcast, where she opens door to exploring love, intimacy, and pleasure in the transformative journeys of birth and parenting.

Debra is a mother, grandmother, and a sought-after expert featured in parenting publications and media worldwide. 

She serves as Co-Chair of the International Childbirth Initiative and Chair of the International MotherBaby Childbirth Initiative, advocating for safe, respectful and equitable  maternity care.

A Lamaze International childbirth educator and DONA International birth and postpartum doula trainer, Debra directed the award-winning documentary Orgasmic Birth: The Best-Kept Secret and co-authored the book Orgasmic Birth: Your Guide to a Safe, Satisfying and Pleasurable Birth. 

She teaches online classes for parents and advanced workshops for doulas and midwives and also leads the transformative Eat Pray Doula Retreats in Bali each year with Midwife Robin Lim, inspiring doulas, midwives and birth professionals worldwide to support and embrace the power of birth.

And today ladies and the 5% of gents listening to this poddy here is “The Orgasmic Birth Lady’s” Birth Stories.

Curious about Debra? Find her on instagram as @orgasmicbirth

Want to work with Anna or join The Sacred Birth Worker Mentorship?

Find Anna’s Website, about her Mentorship & How to Work with Her, as well as all Links & Resources she mentions in the episode here:⁠ www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Megan.

Megan is a mama of two who’s had two hospital births. 

She really wanted a home birth but her husband was not comfortable with that and so she wasn’t either.

To have a natural birth in a hospital today is almost impossible, especially without a kick ass birth advocate by your side and lots of education beforehand. 

You’re stepping into their territory that pathologises birth with their interventions, policies and guidelines. This is just a fact.

To have a natural birth today you need to get lucky with who’s on shift, have a really quick birth or for the birth suits to be really busy so they have to leave you alone or have a birth support person there to advocate and protect your birth space.

It’s important to understand the reality you are choosing in order to make informed decisions. 

With this in mind, here are Megan's stories for all of you who are planning a natural hospital birth. 

Both Megan’s births were with midwives but in different states. One in Alabama and one in South Carolina. 

She shares that her first was empowering as it was vaginal birth after induction. And just because you have midwives does not equate a better birth outcome. It all depends on their birth philosophy, their education and experience as well as where they work and for whom.

Megan’s second birth was an even better experience because she got to labor and birth in the water. She did however agree to a painful membrane sweep and to IV antibiotics for GBS+ status, which we will dive deeper into for your knowledge as many women face this decision in pregnancy.

If you are, like many women, planning a natural hospital birth then please go and download my free ebook on the most common routine hospital birth procedures so that you can make a birth plan according to your wishes and that will help you optimize your chances of a natural birth.

Find it at sacredbirthinternational.com under free resources or via the link in the show notes.

Want to work with Anna or join The Sacred Birth Worker Mentorship?

Find Anna’s Website, about her Mentorship & How to Work with Her, as well as all Links & Resources she mentions in the episode here: www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Karina.

Karina is a mama of two from Australia and the creator of The Cosmic Mother Pregnancy Oracle.

After feeling disconnected during her first pregnancy, and ending up with a home birth transfer and a medicalized first birth, she sensed an opportunity for healing with her second.

She recognised in hind sight her disconnection and mind played a big part in her first birth experience.

So after doing the inner work during the second pregnancy and choosing an independent home birth midwife she really trusted her second was a 4 hour painfree birth experience. 

This experience opened her to a deeper connection with herself, with something greater, and with the mysticism of motherhood. 

The pregnancy and birth of her daughter became a return to inner knowing and a deep trust in both the experience of birth and her own capability.
Curious about Karina? Find her on IG as @cosmic__mother

Want to work with Anna or join The Sacred Birth Worker Mentorship?

Find Anna’s Website, about her Mentorship & How to Work with Her, as well as all Links & Resources she mentions in the episode here:www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Jessica

Jessica is a mama of one from Dorset, UK.

She is a first time mama who chose to have a wild pregnancy and a freebirth.

She has been obsessed with birth for about 4 years now after discovering she no longer wanted to have a relationship with the medical system and had to work out how to do that when it came down to pregnancy and birth.

She now works as a birth keeper and educator. Supporting mothers and educating them about physiological birth and helping them get their dream births. This work lights a fire in her belly!

Today we get to hear all about her undisturbed birth at home with just her partner. And she has a very interesting story about the birth of her placenta which I have never heard of before and I am curious to know if you have.

Pop into our FB natural birth podcast community and share your experiences! Join via the link in the show notes.

If you’re curious about Jessica. Find her on Instagram as @birthasdesigned

Want to work with Anna or join The Sacred Birth Worker Mentorship?

Find Anna’s Website, about her Mentorship & How to Work with Her, as well as all Links & Resources she mentions in the episode here: https://www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Jasmine

Jasmine is a mama of one from Auckland, New Zealand. She works as a HR Business Partner while studying law and she used to be a professional nanny which gave her a deep appreciation for caregiving and family dynamics .

She’s very connected to her spirituality, and that connection gave her the confidence to trust her body and have a home birth. It was the best decision for her and she is so proud of herself despite many opinions and comments made around her and to her during her pregnancy which continued post birth - the experience taught her many lessons and pieces of wisdom she wishes to share to inspire other women to chase their dreams as they can come true.

Curious about Jasmine? Find her on instagram as @mumwithnannywisdom

Want to work with Anna or join The Sacred Birth Worker Mentorship?

Find Anna’s Website, about her Mentorship & How to Work with Her, as well as all Links & Resources she mentions in the episode here: https://www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast