In this Solo Episode Anna is talking about the Witch Wound. What it is and how if affects you as a woman. She talks about how it plays a part in trusting your inner voice and intuition, how it affects your voice and expression in life and birth and how it is connected to the Sisterhood Wound and mistrust in other women. She also connects it to maternity, midwifery and birth. She weaves it all together for you so that you can become aware and make changes if you notice it is negatively affecting your life and have a sovereign and positive birth as well as be a better birth worker if that is your profession.

Please leave a comment or seek her out at @thenaturalbirthpodcast to let her know what you thought about the episode and to continue the conversation!

Here is the episode Midwife to Midwitch - Anna's Story Anna mentions in the episode.

Find Anna’s Website, The Village and 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 Ashley

Ashley is a mama of 2 from Michigan, USA. 

She is a full-time content creator with a recipes website, called Fit Mitten Kitchen, where she develops recipes and works with various brands in the food and wellness space.

Today she shares about her 2 birth stories. We starts briefly talking about her first medicalized experience in the hospital with OBGYN care and the dive on into her second birth with midwife led care in a birth center. 

It was a very quick and amazing birth, and something she didn’t know could happen, after her first 20+ hour labor and birth in the hospital.

Her 2nd birth was about 3 hours in total and she felt so supported by her midwives and her previously skeptical husband became a big fan of the midwifery care they received up to 6 weeks postpartum.

Gotta love good midwifery care ;) and supportive men!

Curious about Ashley? Find her on instagram as @fitmittenkitchen

If you didn’t know already I have 2 really epic free resources that you can access and download at sacredbirthinternational.com.

They are two E - books, one called 6 Steps to Having a Natural & Empowering Birth Experience and one called Routine Hospital Birth Procedures Inform yourself and make an Educated Decision!

This is a comprehensive E-Book with 28 full pages for your information and assistance in creating an informed birth plan. Whether you are having a hospital, birth center or home birth as you never know where your birth journey will take you. Knowledge is power.

Find them all via the link in the show notes or at sacredbirthinternational.com

Find Anna’s Website, The Village and 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 Lindsey Meehleis.

Lindsey is a fellow spiritual midwife, medicine woman and storyteller who I absolutely adore and I am so excited to have her on the podcast.

It feels like talking to myself.

I am certain you’ll all love the beautiful storytelling and wisdom that pours through Lindsey.

In today’s episode we dive on into Lindsey’s own two birth stories.

Her first induction turned c/s at a very young age and how that catapulted her into becoming a doula and then a midwife.

To her second which was a very conscious conception and home birth totally transforming Lindsey from who she was to who she then became.

It’s an episode that dives into the topics of midwifery and herstory and claiming your sovereignty in birth and life, to talking about the birth portal and how there are four things that need to dilate. The cervix, the vulva, the heart and the mind.

It’s a beautiful chat that I hope you’ll all enjoy.

Curious about Lindsey? Find her on Instagram as @lindseymeehleis

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

SACRED BIRTH INTERNATIONAL

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Ellie

Ellie is a mama of one from Australia, who consciously conceived her baby and knew from the get go that she wanted a natural home birth for her and her baby.

However, Ellie comes from a family where both her mother and her husbands mother had caesarians with all their children, and were convinced that all their babies wouldn’t have survived without them.

There was a lot of reconditioning and reprograming that needed to take place during pregnancy to counter act the fear that their families had over their choice to birth at home.

And when Ellie did have a natural and empowering home birth, not only did that heal her own throat chakra but was deeply healing for her whole family.

Curious about Ellie? Find her on instagram as @elliegutsilverman

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Allison.

Allison is a Canadian mama of three boys, living in Geneva, Switzerland. 

She is a human rights lawyer and even so, she struggled to advocate for herself in the over medicalized maternity system to have the natural births she wanted for her two first births. 

After two unnecessary inductions, that she experienced as somewhat traumatic, she was determined to have an empowering natural birth with her third. 

She went on having a spiritual and conscious conception, the story she tells us in detail in todays episode. As well as an unintentional and unassisted home birth with a whole village supporting her.

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Natasha

Natasha is a mama of two from South Africa, currently living in Australia.

Her first birth was in London 4 years ago. 

She planned to birth at a birth centre but ended up having a water birth in the hospital, as the birth center was full on the night. It was a natural birth but it wasn’t all that Natasha wanted it to be.

So with her second one year ago in Melbourne, Australia, she chose another path. 

She started off going through the hospital system, but didn’t feel supported or trusting of the system so she hired a doula.

She then watched the documentary BirthTime and felt sure she didn’t want to birth at the hospital. 

So she shifted and chose a private midwife at 28 weeks pregnant. 

She ended up giving birth to her baby the night before her due date, in the water, at home with her wonderful birthing team while her first born slept through it all and woke up soon after she birthed the placenta. 

That night was absolute magic and she didn’t want it to end.

Curious about Natasha? Find her on instagram as @_natashafarley

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Anna

Anna is a mama of three and one on the way, from

Colorado, USA.

She’s currently a stay at home mom, homeschooling her oldest. 

She’s a hair stylist and love interior decorating and home renovations. 

But above all she’s passionate about home birth and come from a long line of home birthing and free birthing women.

In today’s episode Anna shares about falling pregnant the first time and choosing to fly home to Wisconsin to birth her baby in the water at her sister’s house. 

It then took 7 years, after struggling with secondary infertility, before she fell pregnant again. She planned to birth at home in Colorado this time. But at 40 weeks it was discovered that this little baby decided to be breech. Which meant she was no longer allowed to have a breech birth at home in Colorado.

So again she hopped on a flight to Wisconsin the next day to have a natural breech birth at home. 

She got invited to stay at an experienced breech birth midwife house and ended up having a wonderful breech birth in water.

When falling pregnant with her third baby she decided to go back to the same midwife who’d helped her birth her breech baby and had another water birth where she got to catch her own son.

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Claire

Claire is a mama of one from Australia.

She’s a sustainability activist and passionate feminist, and the founder of the fashion advocate.

In this episode she shares about falling pregnant at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 and how she knew she wanted a home birth with a known midwife.

Her pregnancy proceeded well, but as she came up to 42 weeks the ultrasound showed low amniotic fluid under the normal range. 

This lead to a few days of anxiety and a change from home birth to a hospital induction. 

But when she came in for her induction it just didn’t sit right with her, so she asked for a second scan. And after having to fight for it, when she finally got it, the scan showed normal range fluids.

She ended up going back home, against medical advice, and starting labour spontaneously the day after and had a quick straight forward home birth with her partner and midwife.

This episode highlights the importance to trust your own inner voice and intuition and to stand up for yourself and what you want.

Curious about Claire? Find her on instagram as @thefashionadvocate

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Holly.

Holly is a mama of 2 from New Zealand. She’s an art teacher who’s currently a stay at home mum for her two boys at 2yrs and 10 weeks old.

In this episode she shares about her well planned first pregnancy and birth, that ended up happening at the beginning of the pandemic and covid lockdowns. 

After planning a home birth she ended up transferring after a very long pushing stage, something that got it’s explanation when she birthed very soon after arriving at the hospital.

Before her second birth she informed herself even further and planned for another home birth. But at the end, her baby boy decided to arrive at 36 weeks, which is considered preterm. 

She did however have a natural birth centre birth with him. 

And today we get to hear all about her experience and decision making during both birthing naturally in covid times and with a preterm baby.

Curious about Holly? Find her on instagram as @hollymichelleevans

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Mia

Mia is a young mama of one from Idaho, USA.

She fell pregnant the first month of meeting the father of her baby and now partner. 

She felt a great peace come over her when she fell pregnant and let her intuition guide her her whole way through her pregnancy and birth.

She came down with a rare condition during pregnancy called hydro nephrosis, which essentially means her urethra got blocked by her pregnant womb which prevented her from releasing urine. She had to wear a tube to help her empty her bladder, until she, upon a strong intuitive feeling, asked to take it out. And all was fine.

She went from wanting a home birth to accepting a hospital birth due to this condition happening in pregnancy.

And she ended up having an empowering and natural birth with a lovely group of midwives. 

Curious about Mia? Find her on instagram as @mia.inpeace

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Niko

Niko is a mama of two from New Zealand. She is an artist and makes mini huts.

In today’s episode she shares about her first home birth and how it was a total shock becoming a mother and how it changed her entire life. We dive on in to the fact that as your first one is born, the old you, the maiden, dies and about all that that entails.

For her second, she consciously conceived and prepared even further than the first time around, fully accepting the change that would happen with the introduction of a new being in their family.

She ended up having a beautiful undisturbed water birth at her home with her 5 year old daughter, partner and sister present.

Curious about Niko? Find her on instagram as @kemi_niko

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Megan

Megan is a mama of one from Arizona, USA.

She is a wife and a stay at home mum who loves art and plants and plans on getting into birth work soon.

She ended up having a fast and furious first birth. 

It started with a bang, and she did her best in breathing through the contractions with the help of her husband and doula.

She did her own internals and felt her own cervix and the bag of waters as she progressed through labour. 

She chose to birth in her birth pool. Allowing her body to take over and feeling the release of the pushing stage.

Birthing her baby was an amazing and empowering experience for Megan.

Curious about Megan? Find her on instagram as @therodriguez

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Tierney

Tierney is a Mama of two from the UK.

In this episode we are going to hear about her Natural Hospital Birth with Gestational Diabetes. 

More and more women are diagnosed with GDM as the parameters changed to being narrower a few years ago, leading to an increase in induction rates due to the fear of big babies.

Tierney wouldn’t have it. 

She did a lot of research and stood her ground and ended up having an empowering and positive natural birth experience at over 41 weeks gestation.

Hopefully this episode will give you confidence, if you are diagnosed with gestational diabetes. 

And as always, it’s your choice to have the GDM test at all, as with everything that is offered in pregnancy.

Curious about Tierney? Find her on instagram as @tierney_giles

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Holly.

Holly is a mama of two from the UK. 

She is a clinical psychologist and working with children is her passion. 

Today we will dive on into her two birth stories.

She thought she was well informed with her first birth which was a fast hospital birth, but in retrospect she wishes she knew more.

For her second pregnancy, she dove deep into the research literature on labour and birth and constantly listened to this podcast and concluded that a home birth was the right fit for her with it being safer for both mama and baby.

Despite feeling under pressure from the maternity system who were encouraging an induction due to a 'suspected big baby' and 'undiagnosed gestational diabetes', she stuck to her home birth plan which resulted in a euphoric, calm home water birth.

Once her baby was born, she said it felt so amazing that she wanted to do it all again! 

She wishes all pregnant mamas would get to experience a birth like hers. 

She now advocates for pregnant women to do their own research and not assume they will get the information they need from their antenatal classes and loves telling her birth story to highlight to women that birth isn’t something to fear and can be positive and empowering... and can leave you wanting to do it all over again!

Curious about Holly? Find her on Instagram as @hollymariethom

Curious about Needed? Find out more at thisisneeded.com 

Use the code THENATURALBIRTHPODCAST for 20% off your first month.

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

SACRED BIRTH INTERNATIONAL

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Susannah

Susannah is a mama of two, from Sweden.

She’s an osteopath specialized in women's health, pregnancy and postpartum. 

And she is also a birth worker, doula trainer and the co:creatix of the Sacred Birth Keeper Course here in Sweden.

In today’s episode she will so generously share about her two natural births, with the emphasis on her most recent one, the birth of her daughter only 3 months ago.

We dive deeply into the layers of healing that is offered in pregnancy and through rite of passage that is birth and motherhood. 

Curious about Susannah? Find her on instagram as @liv_moder

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Kate

Kate is a mama of 4 from Gold Coast, Australia.

She is a free birth birth worker, postpartum supporter and placenta encapsulator amongst many things.

In todays episode we discuss her 4 birth stories. 

The first being in the hospital, the second a planned home birth with a midwife and her third a planned free birth, not fully going the way she had wanted.

And then her forth, the one we really dive into, which only happened 8 weeks ago.

This birth was all she had ever wanted and dreamed of. 

A free birth with her closest sisters and family present. 

A nourishing postpartum. A dream come true.

Curious about Kate? Find her on instagram as @sacredbirthkeeper

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Ammie

Ammie is a mama of 2 and expecting her 3rd baby in just a few short months, from Mississippi, USA.

She recently left her full time teaching career to be a full-time mum to her little ones. 

Ammie’s first birth was a quite traumatic hospital birth. 

She was pushed into induction and interventions she didn’t want, but didn’t know enough about to refuse. 

When she fell pregnant again she did a lot more research and decided on a home birth with a midwife.

She believes birth is truly a rite of passage that so many women are deprived of in today’s traditional birth setting and loves sharing her story in hopes to empower other mamas.

In todays episode we will dive into her empowering and positive birth story and how she is preparing for her 3rd baby coming.

Curious about Ammie? Find her on instagram as @ammieharris_

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Megan.

Megan is a Mama of one from the UK.

She is a wild hearted creative traveller & crafter of divine arts, and the founder & creatrix of Alta Ritual Apothecary.

She was determined to have a sovereign & sacred birth as nature intended, to honor her rite of passage & welcome her baby earth side.

She decided to opt  out of the system and employing Kemi Joy Johnson as her midwife and birthed her baby her way. 

Megan pushed for 4 hours to birth her baby that wanted to be born with her hands above her face.

Curious about Megan? Find her on instagram as @altaritual

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Makensi

Makensi is a mama of one from Australia.

She is an Energy Healer, working with clients on their emotional, mental and spiritual selves. She creates dream catchers on intuitive guidance, paints and sews. Makensi has a background in nutrition and naturopathy and a keen interest in alternative therapies. 

Makensi is a first time mumma in her 40’s who chose to free birth her bubba at home with her partner and doula.

She had almost all her labour in her sacrum and back, which she moved through throughout the day and melted into during the night and early hours in her birth pool.

After an amazing birth experience she ended up not birthing her placenta for 14 hours which is quite a remarkable long time. 

She shares how her strong affirmations about keeping all her nutrients after birth was the reason for her body holding on to her placenta.

Curious about Makensi? Find her on instagram as @makensi.spirit.healer

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Jessica

Jessica is a mama of two from Alaska.

She is a home birth midwife and the Director of Development for the Pacific Birth Institute. 

She is on the leading edge of shaping community birth infrastructure nationwide, working at the Pacific Birth Institute to strengthen student midwifery and birth assistant education, and training access that honors culture, students learning in place, and the payment of midwives nationwide for their service as preceptors to the next generation. 

Jessica had two midwife attended births for her children, one in a birth center and one at home, and she will talk for hours about the glory and power of staying home for birth and how it ignites the confidence you need to start your new life as a mother.

And this is exactly what we will be taking about today, as well as going on a few tangents as you do with a fellow birth worker.

Curious about Jessica? Find her on instagram as @pacificbirthinstitute

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Shiva

Shiva is a mama of two originally from Turkey, now living in Denver, Colorado.

Besides being a mama, she’s also a psychotherapist and yoga teacher.

Today we are going to talk about her two natural births. 

Her first was at a birth centre, and even though it looked from the outside as a natural and normal birth, in the wake of that birth, Shiva found herself feeling like she had failed. 

She hadn’t felt in her power and only felt her pains and how her past traumas seemed to impact her in her birthing. 

When finding our she was pregnant again she went on a healing journey, trying to understand and face her traumas that had impacted her during her first birth.

She went on having her second baby born partially en caul in the water, in her home. 

It was the birth that she had wished, hoped and prayed for but didn’t know how she could achieve.

Today we will dive deeply into both births and the rite of passage and healing journey that she has been on.

Curious about Shiva? Find her on instagram as @shivajenkins

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Anna.

Anna is a mama of 3 boys from Byron Bay, Australia. 

After an unpleasant first medicalized hospital birth she met a doula who changed her mind from thinking birth is what happens in hospital, to claiming her rite of passage and going on to experiencing two magical water births at her local birth centre.

And after her first magical experience with her second birth, she became a doula and has since become a huge advocate for empowering women to reclaim their power during birth. 

As always when two passionate birth nerds come together we go on tangents and there’s a lot of birthing wisdom coming through this episode.

Curious about Anna? Find her on instagram as @byron.babymoon

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Kaelynn.

Kaelynn is a mama of one from San Diego, USA.

She is a lifelong competitive professional dancer, podcaster & seeker of truth. Through a holistic approach & radical self love she is overcoming the conditioned self, & claiming back her power as a Sovereign Woman.

She and her partner chose early on in their pregnancy to free birth their baby. They didn’t want any interference with their process.

And what a process they had.

Kaelynn was in labour for over 3 days moving through layers and layers of fear, ancestral wounding and blocks until she finally birthed her baby into water in the comfort of her partners presence.

She considers her free birth experience to be her rebirth, the transformation she never knew she needed.

Curious about Kaelynn? Find her on instagram as @kaelynnmay

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Jade

Jade is a mama of two at the age of 23 from Kansas, US.

She’s a photographer documenting women in their most honest, raw and poetic way possible, simultaneously as she’s studying to become a doula and yoga teacher.

A lot of people might think that she is too young to have already brought two souls into this world but she believes that this is what she was meant to do. 

Because when she birthed them earth side, she also re-birthed myself into the woman she is today. 

And in this episode we will touch upon her first standardized western medicalized birth to then dive into her second empowering natural hospital birth.

Curious about Jade? Find her on instagram as @jademckenzieco

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Nix.

Nix is a mama of 2, originally from Cape Town, but have lived in the UK since the age of 5.

Nix is trained in finance and has spent the last 6 years working for a large music and arts festival as well as a tech company. 

But now she is following a different calling and career path after training as a yoga teacher and joining The Sacred Birth Worker Mentorship in January this year, hoping to fulfill her dream of working with women in the future.

In this episode she shares about how the maternity system derailed her first home birth with fear mongering and an induction that ended up only being a foley catheter and breaking of waters before Nix’s body took over and birthed her baby.

And then how the second time around she decided to educate herself and withstand the desire from the maternity system to medicalize her birth and only deal with her home birth midwives.

She joined The Sacred Birth Worker Mentorship in her third trimester and also took The Natural Birth Course as soon as she found out she was pregnant and was informed up to her teeth as well as doing the inner work needed, and ended up having her redemptive home birth (in an Airbnb mind you, but more on that in the episode ;) ).

I absolutely adore the picture of Nix on the floor with her baby absolutely beaming with ecstasy after her fast and furious birth under 2hrs. Make sure you check it out on our Instagram @thenaturalbirthpodcast as it will be published this week to come. It will fill you with so much joy!

Curious about Nix? Find her on Instagram as @nixsacredbirth

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

SACRED BIRTH INTERNATIONAL

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Nabi!

Nabi is a mama of one originally from Bolivia, now living in Oklahoma USA.

I’ve known Nabi for almost a year now. 

She joined The Natural Birth Course and my community soon after finding out she was pregnant and so I have had the privilege of walking alongside her, virtually, throughout her pregnancy, birth and postpartum.

And in todays episode she will share her processes of choosing a semi wild pregnancy and ultimately free birthing her baby at home with her partner, sister which was planned, and as life wanted it, also with her mother and father present.

Curious about Nabi? Find her on instagram as @oklahomafoodforest

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Emma.

Emma is a mama of one from Northern Rivers, NSW, Australia. 

She is yoga and meditation teacher, speaker and writer, and she runs an online business with her partner called Flow States Collective. 

She offers an online prenatal yoga series called Flow Baby, A 10 day meditation course for mothers to be, as well as courses for new mothers designed to honor the pathway of maiden to mother.

And in todays episode we will hear about her own journey from Maiden to Mother. 

She and her partner did a lot of self healing, inner child work and breaking ancestral patterns alongside physical detoxing before conceiving their baby and deciding on having a home birth.

Curious about Emma? Find her on instagram as @emmamaidment_

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Melanie.

Melanie is a mama of 2 from Sweden, currently living in Spain.

She and her partner sold everything to travel the world 9 years ago and ended up birthing their babies in two different countries.

They are digital nomads known under the name of Love Conscious Family and have made a living out of sharing their alternative lifestyle online.

Their first baby was born in Bali through the birth center Bumi Sehat, run by Robin Lim, and their second baby was born in Spain where they currently live.

And in this episode we will hear Melanie share about their lifestyle and why they chose to home birth so far away from home.

Curious about Melanie? Find her on instagram as @loveconsciousfamily

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Kat River.

Kat is a mama of one from Western Australia.

She had yearned to be a mother for years before conceiving her son Rafi. 

Because of this yearning she intentionally chose every aspect of the journey into parenthood, starting before her son was even conceived, then into conscious conception, pregnancy, home birth and intentional postpartum. 

Before Kat became a mother, she was a relationship coach with her husband Tully running couples retreats & online programs. Now she mothers, writes and works on creative projects.

Kat is a huge advocate for conscious creation and creating opportunities for choice within motherhood. 

Curious about Kat? Find her on instagram as @the.kat.river

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Juliet Allen.

Juliet a mama of two living in the Northern Rivers NSW Australia.

She is Australias leading Sexologist and the host of the Authentic Sex podcast and head teacher at Pleasure School. 

In this episode we will dive deeply into her conscious conception journey and years of preparation and miscarriages with her partner Nick, as well as her first hospital birth with her daughter and then her more resent beautiful home birth with midwife Libby and her doula.

It’s not random that women have an empowering birth experience and a nourishing postpartum like Juliet did. 

It takes planning and prepping body, mind and soul and in this episode Juliet shares it all to my delight!

Curious about Juliet? Find her on instagram as @juliet_allen or at www.juliet-allen.com 

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Sam

Sam is a mama of one from the US. She is a three-time Certified Breathwork Facilitator with 200+ hours of teacher training. She is also trained in Yoga Nidra Meditation and Energy Therapy. 

She creates an experience in transformative healing using spiritual teachings, conscious breath work, somatic integration, meditation & energy work. She is deeply passionate for this work and has guided thousands of breathers in empowered transformation for the last 6 years.

And in this episode we will hear about her own empowering transformation from maiden to mother through her wild, vocal and primal birth experience.

Sam changed midwives 3 times during her pregnancy to find the right one for her home birth and she was guided by her intuition and spirit throughout.

She learnt through her birth that we are truly our own healers and that we can truly accomplish anything!

Curious about Sam? Find her on instagram as @samkalawart

 Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Narin.

Narin is a mama of one from Sweden. 

Her and her Italian husband Stefano decided to have a home birth with me and my home birth colleague Elisa about 4 months ago.

In this episode we will both weave our stories together, she as the birthing mama sharing her experience and me as her birth supporter and space holder.

Narin went from fearing birth to feeling absolutely invincible after birthing her baby in the safety of her home.

Curious about Narin? Find her on instagram as @pomperiposella

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Amber Luna.

Amber is a mama of 3 from California.

She was a young mum of 17 with her first and 20 with her second and didn’t do much preparation and just followed the hospital and the standard medicalized birth route which she states were negative experiences.

When she fell pregnant with her new partner and husband she instantly knew she didn’t want another hospital birth and started searching for a birth center.

In todays episode she shares how after weeks of on and off contractions and prodromal labour she choose to take some caster oil on her due date and ended up starting her labour.

She had her dream water birth at the birth center while beautiful flute music filled the room.

Curious about Amber? Find her on Facebook as Amber Luna.

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Taylor

Taylor is a mama of 3 from New Jersey, USA.

She is a self proclaimed free spirit, lover of nature, baking, and an avid learner of pregnancy, birth, and motherhood.

In this episode we will hear about her 3 natural births and the big difference between her first hospital birth, her second planned home birth becoming an accidental free birth and her third home birth assisted by her lovely known midwives.

Curious about Taylor? Find her on instagram as @heytay_tay

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Melissa.

Melissa is a mama of 3 from Irland and she’s a yoga and pilates teacher in Dublin.

She has a very special birth story to share with us.

Her first pregnancy went, according to her dating scan, to 44 weeks gestation.

A very rare occurrence, especially in our modern days of inductions at earlier and earlier gestations.

It’s a bit of a longer episode but I’m sure you’ll appreciate it.

Melissa had 3 home births with the same midwife and each one was uniquely different however the chunk of this episode will be dedicated to her first home birth at 44 weeks.

Curious about Melissa? Find her on instagram as @tummylovewithmelissa

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Helen.

Helen is a stay at home mother of two, airbnb superhost, and a property developer who lives on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. 

Today we will hear about how Helen became pregnant with her first baby at 39 years old using IVF and then experienced secondary infertility until she became pregnant with her second.

A long, painful but essentially empowering conception story for both.

She was 43 and a half for her second and it was actually a natural conception after doing a huge amount of preconception work and self education as the medical system wasn’t finding answers.

Something you’ll learn more about in the beginning of this episode.

She also opted for a private OBGYN and private hospital birthing experience and did lots and lots of birth preparation and ended up having the natural birth she wanted.

Mind you her OBGYN didn’t make it to the birth and the midwife wasn’t in the room as her baby’s head crowned.

The key to her success was education, birth prep and staying out of the hospital as long as possible.

Curious about Helen? Find her on Instagram as @helenblazey

Curious about Needed? Find out more at thisisneeded.com

Use the code THENATURALBIRTHPODCAST for 20% off your first month.

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

SACRED BIRTH INTERNATIONAL

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Melanie.

Melanie is a registered nurse from the Sunshine Coast in Australia. 

She has a passion for natural health and fitness and all things outdoors and is currently studying yoga and mindfulness with the hopes to open her own yoga studio for mums and babies in the future.

In this episode she shares why, as a medical professional, she chose home birth over hospital birth and her own natural and empowering birth at home.

Curious about Melanie? Find her on instagram as @Melaniejoy___

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today is International Womens Day and I want to put out an extra episode with a conversation I just had with Jane Hardwicke Collings, a former midwife and the founder of the school of shamanic woman craft.

Jane is affected by the flooding in NSW, Australia but not as badly as my old home town and area of the Northern Rivers.

We both feel deeply for the community we know and love and want to offer our help to them, and to pregnant and birthing women from all over the world faced with war and natural disasters leaving them birthing in crisis.

This episode will go into the full process of labour and birth and how to keep it as safe and physiological as possible in the midst of crisis as well as instruction and guidance for All Women around the world to offer their moon blood to call in peace and safety for all sentient beings on this earth.

We ask you to please share this episode.

It will only take a minute of your time to share it on social media.

Today is International Womens Day.

We celebrate the strength, resilience and generosity of women.

I celebrate you for being a woman in my community.

I thank you for helping me help women in crisis by sharing this episode.

Blessings on your hearts

Want to connect with Jane.

Find her on Instagram as @janehardwickecollings

Find out about Mamatoto support for birth in crisis on instagram @hygieiahealthltd

Download Jane's Unassisted Birth Checklist >>> HERE

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

HOW TO BIRTH UNASSISTED - SPECIAL EPISODE

This episode is a response to the state of emergency that pregnant and birthing women are faced with around the world.

This episode was prompted by reports reaching me of women having to birth unassisted in underground shelters in the Ukraine due to the war and the natural flooding disaster that has happened the last week and still is happening on the east coast of Australia to my beloved community in Northern New South Wales.

My heart is broken to hear of the devastation in my old home town and area. And I want to help, so using this platform to spread some support.

Of course there are other conflicts and disasters around the world leaving women without birth support so this episode will be timeless to assist women faced with this situation.

This is NOT an exhaustive checklist on how to birth unassisted.

There is plenty more that can be shared.

But it is a basic guide, and a start and an attempt to support those who find themselves desperate and fearful of birthing alone.

Please share this episode far and wide so it might reach the mamas that are truly finding themselves in need of this support.

Thank you podcast community!

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Emelie.

Emelie is a mama of two from Umeå, which is in the north of Sweden.

She is a freshly baked doula and I met her when she came to one of my Sacred Birth Worker Circles here in Stockholm. 

She’s also a lover of ice bathing. She’s actually tried to invite me in joining her ice bathing but has had no success, yet…

In this episode we will dive into her two hospital births that she had before she got more birth savvy and decided to become a doula.

Her first birth did have some routine medical interventions that way too many women experience these days. 

When you don’t do your research and prepare then it’s easy to get swept up in the flow and routines of the hospital or the care provider, which Emelie so wisely states in this episode.

So we do dive a little deeper than I normally do into this medicalized one to explore how these interventions might not have been needed and could have been avoided and why.

Then we continue to explore Emelie’s second labour and birth with her son where she had an empowering and natural birth. 

She had educated herself this time around and got to experience her baby self attach to the breast and initiating breastfeeding.

The big take away I think from Emelies story is that you are ultimately in control over your experience of your birth. It’s less about what happens or doesn’t happen in the end and so much more about how you perceive it.

And at the end of the day you need to claim your birth, otherwise the risk is that someone else will.

Curious about Emelie? Find her on instagram as @doulandet

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Natalie.

Natalie is a mama of one from the US.

She is a chiropractor, a toxin free and juicing mama and the podcast host of the Igniting Consciousness podcast.

In this episode she shares her accidental unassisted breech birth at home. Now this is definitely not a story that you find many of. Natalie is quite the unicorn. 

Breech babies are mostly delivered by caesarians now days as very few doctors and midwives are skilled and confident with breech and it has been seen as a more dangerous presentation since a faulty trial called the term breech trial was published in 2000. 

And even though breech is now seen as a variation of normal, the skills of handling a breech birth has been lost due to this trial over 2 decades of believing vaginal breech birth was dangerous. 

Today me and Natalie dive into her unassisted breech birth story and then go on a few different tangents about the burning of midwives and herstory, ultrasounds, taking responsibility for your choices in pregnancy, birth and beyond and claiming your sovereignty as a birthing woman. 

Curious about Natalie? Find her on instagram as @drnataliehorine

 Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Julia Rose.

Julia Rose is a mother of two living on Darkinjung land on the NSW Central Coast.

She is a Palliative Care Nurse passionate about Natural Death Care and the ceremony and ritual of death as a rite of passage. She is a writer, an artist and a gardener and is passionate about permaculture and the cyclical nature of life, death, rebirth.

In this episode we will dive into her two births.

Her first which she intended to be a home birth but that needed to teach her something deeper about her self and brought her on a self healing and self discovery journey.

And her second that was a natural and healing undisturbed home birth in which she unlearnt so much conditioning and deeply connected her to her own inner wisdom. It was a beautiful daytime birth surrounded by her 3 year old, her husband and privately practicing midwives.

Curious about Julia Rose? Find her on instagram as @the.mother.bone

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Tanya

Tanya is a mama of two from London, UK.

She is an early years teacher with an interest in finding ways in which nature can be more fully a part of children’s lives. This uncovering of nature’s power to educate and strengthen our children helped inspire her to seek nature’s power in the birthing space too.

She planned a home birth for her first birth but ended up transferring to hospital as her labour stalled, something that we found when working through her birth trauma from her first birth in a one on one session with me, was due to the shifting of midwives and the feeling of anxiety and unsafety created by that new birth team that stepped into her home.

For her second birth Tanya reflected more deeply on what her personal needs were, worked through her birth trauma and fears with me and communicated her needs with her birth team, optimized her birth space and had the tools needed to meet birth from an empowered state. 

She ended up having the most beautiful, empowering, natural home birth and this is the story we will focus on in this episode.

She hopes that her story can inspire others to find what makes them feel safe, held and secure when preparing for their own precious birth experience.

Come follow us on Instagram!

@thenaturalbirthpodcast

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Ksenia

Ksenia is a mum of 2 originally from the Ukraine, now living in Germany with her partner and daughters. 

Today we will hear about her two births. 

We will briefly touch on her first birth which was a medical induction due to being considered overdue by the medical establishment that took 3days as her body wasn’t ready to labour and birth. 

Ksenia experienced this birth as traumatic and so when she fell pregnant again she chose to have a home birth and to do all in her power to educate herself and prepare herself for a natural birth, including taking The Natural Birth Course.

Her second birth ended up being a natural and physiological home birth just like she had wished and worked so hard for. The birth was life-changing according to Ksenia and what’s interesting about her story is that her labour process was very unique in its unfolding, a birth story that really surprised me. 

Her empowering home birth healed her previous birth trauma and made her inspired to start a blog about natural pregnancy, birth & raising kids. 

Curious about Ksenia? Find her on insta as @naturalbirthblog. 

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Emma. 

Emma is a mum of one from Atlanta USA. 

She had a 31hr natural and empowering labour and ended up birthing at a birth center with her partner, mother, midwives and a doula by her side. 

Emma feel like her support system was amazing and that her doula was vital in helping facilitate her positive birth experience. 

In this episode we talk about coping mechanisms in labour, vaginal examinations, anterior lips, laboring in water and so much more. 

Curious about Emma? Find her on instagram as @emmalongdotcom   

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Fiona 

Fiona is a mum of 3 boys. 

Her five year old and her 2.5 year old were both born in the UK, and her (at the time of the recording) 14 week old Hamish, was born at home in Australia. 

Fiona is a birth and postnatal doula, a hypnobirthing childbirth educator and runs the positive birth program and local pregnancy and postnatal support groups in her hometown of Ballina in NSW Australia. 

She is committed to supporting families through pregnancy, birth and early parenthood and helping them to do this in an informed, empowered and supported way.

She recently had a gorgeous, empowering and fully supported birth at home with her family around her, bearing witness to their newest member of the family joining them earthside.

She was attended by her midwife Libby who’s previously been on the podcast sharing her birth stories, and a Doula.

In this episode we will hear about all of her three births today the focus on the last home birth with Hamish.

Curious about Fiona? Find her on insta as @bumps_birth_and_beyond 

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Kayla.

Kayla is a mama of one from South Africa. 

She is a doula and a Sacred Birth Worker Mentee who is passionate about supporting mothers and families during the precious journey of childbirth. 

Today we will hear about her journey of knowing at a very young age she needed to become a mother and how the desire to become a mother and a birth worker was intimately woven together.

She did a short doula course at 6 months pregnant and straight after decided it wasn’t enough and applied for The Sacred Birth Worker Mentorship.

She ended up birthing the first week of the mentorship, at 37 weeks, as a first time mama.

And she had a short first time birth in water, in her home, surrounded by family, a doula and her midwife.

Home birth and natural birthing is rare in the world nowadays and even rarer in South Africa so I’m so pleased to have a mentee there and for her to share her story with you. Hopefully inspiring other young African women to trust in birth’s design.

She has great visions of starting a podcast for natural birthing in South Africa and I’m sure with her passion she’ll do great things for the natural birthing and home birthing community in her country and beyond.

Curious about Kayla? Find her on Instagram as @sacredart_ofbirthing

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

SACRED BIRTH INTERNATIONAL

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have a special episode about toxin free living for a healthy conception, pregnancy and ultimately a healthy and as much as possible toxin free baby.

In this episode I speak to Deborah who is a renowned interior design consultant, author, educator and pioneer of the ethical/wellness design movement. 

Her company, DiMare Design, is the only 100% cruelty-free design consulting firm specializing in the creation of organic, optimal spaces, and sourcing vegan textiles and sustainable furniture that bear zero-to-low toxins. 

Deborah also heads vegandesign.org, where she educates consumers and designers about humane and healthy design.

Now I consider myself a conscious shopper and always choose organic and fair-trade as much as possible when available, but I must say that our chat was very enlightening and there were things in my house I had never thought about as potential health hazards.

As a midwife I know the importance of detox in order to optimize a successful conception, and potentially a more smoother pregnancy as well as to minimize the toxic load you give to your baby via the placenta.

But Deborah gives so much more information with her expertise and I love that I can bring you this information on the natural birth podcast.

Curious about Deborah? Find her on instagram as @deborahdimare

Want to access Deborahs Toxic Free Nursery Course at a discount?

Go to https://dimaredesign.com/nurseries-kids/ 

Enter coupon ANNA25 for 25% off!

Deborahs links as mentioned in the episode


Here is a link to the nursery page with articles etc https://vegandesign.org/nurseries-kids

Here is a link to the shop https://vegandesign.org/vegan-furniture-cruelty-free-home-decor

Here is a link to buckwheat pillow; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mpzZ8L4bQk&t=77s

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Annemieke.

Annemieke is a mum of one from San Francisco where she lives on Tom Hanks old houseboat with her husband and baby.

She’s the founder of Golden Glow Mama - a holistic health community helping women nurture their bodies so their bodies will nurture their baby.

Today we get to hear about how she birthed her 9 pound baby girl in water on water on the houseboat she and her husband renovated themselves.

She hopes by sharing her story to inspire other first time mums to take a leap of faith into the most unknown territory they will ever experience, birth.

Curious about Annemieke? Find her on instagram as @annemieke.umberg

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Anna

Anna is a mum of 2 from the UK now living in the outskirts of Stockholm, Sweden.

When Anna fell pregnant with her first she wanted a home birth but couldn’t afford a midwife so chose to birth in the hospital.

Annas labour and birth with her first could and was seen from the onlookers perspective like a natural and straight forward birth, but not to Anna.

Just the act of leaving ones house felt unnatural to Anna and many things that unfolded during her pregnancy and labour and birth she wish was different in hindsight.

So when she fell pregnant again she chose a wild pregnancy and to free birth in her home.

She then went on to become a radical birth keeper to assist women choosing to birth outside of the system.

Curious about Anna? Find her on instagram as @turtlegoddessbirth

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast