The Natural Birth Podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Fincha.

Fincha is a self proclaimed witch, doula, sound healer and soul coach, here to hold space for women as they step into their freest, wildest lives and reclaim their primal power.

I met Fincha through my online community the village and the natural birth course and as she took the business course for birth workers when she was pregnant with her second baby.

Today we get to hear about her two births, her first being a long hospital birth that ended in an epidural so her body could relax and open in an environment that wasn’t helping her to do so.

Her second pregnancy she knew she wanted something different for her and her family, and she gave birth to her second son at home, in a pool in front of the Christmas tree, surrounded by her partner, doula, mother and midwife. 

During her home birth, she had a vision of thousands of women standing around her, holding her. With her mother’s hands on her back, she encountered the Great Mother, and it felt like an initiation into her deepest truth.

‘Pain is the portal’ was the mantra she repeated over and over again during her home birth. And honestly, everything changed after that birth. She is truly transformed, yet somehow even more herself than ever.

Curious about Fincha? Find her on instagram @finchacarter

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

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Dr. Gertrude Lyon.

Gertrude is a mama of two from the US, also living in Malta and Ireland throughout her year.

She is a TEDx speaker, author, transformational coach, and host of the Rewrite the Mother Code podcast. 

Through her work, international women's retreats, and TEDx talk as well as in her feature in Oprah Daily, she challenges traditional narratives around motherhood and encourages women to reclaim their voices, trust their instincts, and make choices on their own terms.

Today we get to meet the young maiden Gertrude who became a mother of two daughters in her 20s.

She takes us on her spiritual and conscious conception journey to conceive her first baby. Involving travelling to sacred sites and doing ceremonies and prayers to call in her spirit baby and ending up praying in a Grotto in Ireland dedicated to Mother Mary and shortly falling pregnant after that.

Both her babies were born naturally at home, an experience that deeply shaped her passion for women's autonomy and empowered birth.

Curious about Gertrude? Find her on instagram @drgertrudelyons 

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

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Jaime.
Jaime is a mama of one from the central coast of NSW, Australia.
After being on the pill since the age of 15, when she got off it at the age of 21she didn’t get her period back for over a year.
When seeking the conventional help the answer was, “it has nothing to do with the pill and the answer is to get back on it” Like WTF?
Again in her late twenties she got back off it but this time seeked help from a naturopath and a TCM practitioner and ended up getting her period back after 3 months.
After marrying her husband they both thought they didn’t want babies, but as her 30s hit that changed.
And after having a fear of the pain of birth she prepared herself with coping strategies through listening to positive natural birth stories as well as diving deep into learning about natural birth and ended up coping with constant pain without fear and having her empowering natural home water birth with her husband Cian, her midwife and best friend by her side.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 Sofia.
Sofia is a Swedish mama of 6 kids living on the coast of France.
And today she joins us for the second time to share about her most recent free birth.
Her first episode is called “We birth the way we live and the way we are” covers her first home birth with a midwife and subsequent freebirths with her other 4 kids. All boys.
And this episode shares the story of her daughter's quick birth under an hour, alone at home with only her kids. The only help she had was by her 16 year old son who witnessed his baby sister be born in the bedroom.
Curious about Sofia? Find her on instagram as @la_sorcierebeach_

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 Lovisa.

Lovisa is a mama of two soon three as she just found out she is pregnant.

She lives in the north of Sweden with her family and works as a doula, coach and educator.

If you had asked her ten years ago about how she wanted to give birth she’d said “give me everything”. But as she became pregnant that all changed.

She desired a home birth for her first but her fears got the better of her in her first trimester and she cancelled her home birth midwife. When she later came into her second trimester she changed her mind but it was too late. The only midwife serving her area was already fully booked by then.

So she hired a doula and informed herself of the birth she wanted and succeeded in having a natural and positive hospital birth.

With her second she knew she was having a home birth and felt more calm than ever in her decisions, fully trusting her intuition and inner knowing.

She had a wonderful water home birth with her second.

And now, being pregnant with her third, she's planning yet another homebirth, one I hope she’ll return to share with us.

Curious about Lovisa? Find her on instagram as @inibubblan

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 Gina.

Gina is the founder of MamasteFit, an MS Exercise Science expert, author of Training for Two, birth doula, Army veteran, military spouse, and mother. She has supported 200+ in-person births and combines exercise science with hands-on birth experience to help women build strength throughout pregnancy, prepare for birth, and recover postpartum.
Her work is specifically centered on the idea that pregnancy does not mean losing strength and that thoughtful movement can help women prepare their bodies for pregnancy, birth, and postpartum recovery.
In this episode Gina shares about her 4 births. Her first being a standard hospital birth experience that left her feeling disempowered, to choosing home birth with her second and never looking back.
She shares how she prepared and moved through her 3 home births with the power of birth literally shattering a light bulb, birthing during a hurricane and finally having her longed for water birth , to the relief of her husband who was afraid she might want a 5th if she didn’t.
Curious about Gina? Find her on instagram as @mamastefit

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 Bailee.
Bailee is a mama of 3 daughters from California.
I got to know Bailee through The Sacred Birth Worker Mentorship and was on her journey of wanting a third child at the same time as battling the reality of having a 25% risk of giving the child cystic fibrosis. A diagnosis her second baby got shortly after birth.
She prayed and left it up to the soul of her baby and universe to decide. She instantly got lots of signs telling her yes to a third baby but it took a long time and almost to the point of giving up before her spirit baby decided to come through.
In this episode Bailee shares about the reasons and the impact of having her first two C/S and the deep desire to birth naturally for her third which she consciously and unconsciously prepared so deeply for through taking the mentorship.
At the time of this recording her little bub is only 10 days old and she has had the most blissful postpartum recovery teaching her daughters not only about the normality of having a home birth but also how to care for a new mama postpartum.
One of the things Bailee told me during our clarity call for the mentorship was that she was doing this mentorship for her daughters. She wanted to help and guide them through their first rite of passage, their bleed, as well as all aspects of being a cyclic woman and eventually birthing babies in an embodied way and having the knowledge to pass down to them.
What a full circle moment this time in her life now is, having had her home birth and nourishing postpartum time really embodying and imprinting on them what a woman is capable of and how she should be treated. Goosebumps. So proud in this moment. Curious about Bailie?

Find her on instagram as @bailieemccusker

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

I'm finally sharing the secret I’ve been keeping… I’m pregnant! 🤰✨

In this very special and personal episode of The Natural Birth Podcast, I’m sharing my pregnancy announcement and taking you with me through the first half of my pregnancy, from conceiving on Valborg, the day before Beltane, the ancient celebration of spring and fertility, all the way to 20 weeks pregnant.

I’m sharing the week-by-week signs that made me feel pregnant, from progesterone headaches, breathlessness and a little nausea to the absolutely bone-deep exhaustion that became the defining symptom of my first trimester.

I talk about the brown spotting at eight weeks that had me bracing myself for a possible loss, the bloating that made me look six months pregnant almost immediately, the aches and pains, cravings, aversions and my least favorit pregnancy symptom.

I share what it has been like moving into the second trimester while still waiting for that famous burst of energy everyone talks about, feeling my baby become stronger and more present every day, turning 40, and suddenly reaching 20 weeks and realizing: I’m halfway.

I also share how I’m preparing for birth and postpartum, the care team I’m building around myself, my plans for a home birth, and my experience of stepping into the conventional maternity care system for the first time in this pregnancy.

And I talk about a decision that I know may be different from the path many women choose: so far, I haven’t had any prenatal screening or ultrasounds.

I share some of the thinking behind that choice, what information feels meaningful to me, and why I may still choose an ultrasound later in pregnancy.

This isn’t an episode about telling you how pregnancy should be done. It’s simply an intimate look inside how I am navigating mine as a midwife, a woman turning 40, and just simply a mother-to-be.

I am so excited to finally bring you along for the journey. ❤️

Want to join The Sacred Birth Worker Mentorship?

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/thesacredbirthworkermentorship

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

Are you curious about the Sacred Birth Worker Mentorship?In this special episode of The Natural Birth Podcast, I’m joined by four graduates of the Sacred Birth Worker Mentorship to answer some of the questions I receive most frequently from women considering joining us.And instead of just hearing the answers from me, I wanted you to hear directly from women who have actually walked this path, who have moved through the mentorship, experienced the teachings, been part of the community, and integrated what they’ve learned into their lives and work.Together, we answer:✨ What was the best thing about the Sacred Birth Worker Mentorship?✨ I’m pregnant or in my postpartum — is this the right time to take the mentorship?✨ I’m not sure I want to work as a birth worker, or even how I would use everything I learn. Is the mentorship worth taking just for myself?✨ I’m working or studying full-time. What is the workload actually like, and will I be able to manage it alongside everything else in my life?✨ I’m already a doula, midwife or birth worker. Will I actually learn something new?✨ And finally, what would our graduates say to anyone who is currently considering joining the Sacred Birth Worker Mentorship?This is a beautiful and honest conversation about what it’s really like to move through the mentorship, who it’s for, how it can fit into different seasons of life, and what our graduates have taken with them on the other side.Whether you already know that birth work is calling you and your searching for the right training, you’re an experienced birth worker longing to deepen your knowledge and practice, or you simply feel drawn to learn more about physiological birth, women’s wisdom and holding sacred space, this episode is for you.The next Sacred Birth Worker Mentorship begins on the 21st September.Come listen, meet some of our graduates, hear their experiences, and see if this journey might be calling you too. ✨Want to learn more about The Sacred Birth Worker Mentorship? Go to sacredbirthinternational.com to read the full curriculum, listen to more testimonials and apply for the next round starting on the 21st of September!

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Stephanie

Steph is a first-time mama from Aotearoa (New Zealand) and she is a proud Sacred Birth Worker graduate.

Her pregnancy, birth, and mothering journey have been guided by the rhythm of nature, the innate wisdom of other mammals, and her own intuition.

She attended her first birth when she was 3 months pregnant which deeply informed her about the birth and especially the postpartum care she wanted for herself.

She had a great home birth midwife who held her through pregnancy, but in her birth she felt that having her partner and best friend was all she needed and ended up free birthing her baby undisturbed.

Curious about Stephanie? Find her on instagram as @goddessinclay

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