Healing Birth – Details, episodes & analysis

Jessica was a career-driven woman who never thought she wanted children, until a dream job fell through and an experience at a spiritual retreat awakened her desire to become a mother.

After joyfully conceiving, she miscarried at twelve weeks, enduring not only heartbreak but also a traumatic experience with the medical care she received. Over the following year, Jessica focused on healing, and when she became pregnant again, she was amazed to discover her second baby shared the same due date as her first!

With no midwives available nearby, Jessica decided to take her care into her own hands. Supported only by her husband and a close friend, she prepared for birth by immersing herself in empowering birth stories. Her baby's arrival was a beautiful, transformative experience that left her in awe of her own strength.

Recorded just eight weeks postpartum, Jessica reflects on her journey through loss, healing, birth, and the early challenges of postpartum life and breastfeeding.

*Please note that this episode contains a graphic description of medical trauma at around the 22 minute mark. If you're not in the space to hear that, skip ahead five minutes. 

If you love the show, I would greatly appreciate a review on  Spotify or Apple Podcasts! 

Follow me on Instagram @healingbirth

Do you have a birth story you'd like to share on the podcast, or would like to otherwise connect? I love to hear from you! Send me a note at contactus@healingbirth.net

Check out the website for lots of other birth related offerings, and personalized support: www.healingbirth.net

Intro / Outro music: Dreams by Markvard

Podcast cover photo by Karina Jensen @karinajensenphoto

Hannah grew up as the daughter of a doula and, as a child, had the unique experience of attending the births her mother supported. So when she became pregnant herself, she had a deep trust in the birth process and planned a freebirth.

Although there was nothing wrong with her or the baby, Hannah ultimately chose to transfer to the hospital during labor, where she had to strongly advocate for herself. She shares that, while the birth didn't unfold exactly as she had envisioned, it helped her find her voice and initiated her into the kind of mother her child needed.

If you love the show, I would greatly appreciate a review on  Spotify or Apple Podcasts! 

Follow me on Instagram @healingbirth

Do you have a birth story you'd like to share on the podcast, or would like to otherwise connect? I love to hear from you! Send me a note at contactus@healingbirth.net

Check out the website for lots of other birth related offerings, and personalized support: www.healingbirth.net

Intro / Outro music: Dreams by Markvard

Podcast cover photo by Karina Jensen @karinajensenphoto

Norah's first birth experience was a medical induction that left both her and her husband traumatized. Despite this, she knew she wanted to have more children. The journey to her second baby, however, was long and difficult—marked by a miscarriage, an ectopic pregnancy, secondary infertility, and eventually, IVF.

Norah ultimately conceived her second baby naturally and began preparing for another birth. As part of her preparation, she visualized the birth exactly how she wanted it to unfold, replaying the scene in her mind each night before falling asleep. But every time she did this, she would fall asleep before reaching the part where they arrived at the hospital to deliver.

In retrospect, Norah understands why—her baby had other plans!

follow Norah @thenorah

If you love the show, I would greatly appreciate a review on  Spotify or Apple Podcasts! 

Follow me on Instagram @healingbirth

Do you have a birth story you'd like to share on the podcast, or would like to otherwise connect? I love to hear from you! Send me a note at contactus@healingbirth.net

Check out the website for lots of other birth related offerings, and personalized support: www.healingbirth.net

Intro / Outro music: Dreams by Markvard

Podcast cover photo by Karina Jensen @karinajensenphoto

Brittany describes herself as a "good country girl" when pregnant with her first child. Her wishes for her birth were to merely make it out alive with her baby, and she deferred to her private care obstetrician when it came to the birth experience.

In this part one, she shares her first two births within the Australian medical system, one with OB care, and the second time, with midwives.

These two stories set the stage for why she choose a completely different route with her third baby. Stay tuned next week for that story!

Do you have a story you'd like to share on the podcast? I would love to hear from you! Email me via the contact page at www.healingbirth.net.

You can find our new e-book, "Did I Really Need a C-Section?" on our website at www.healingbirth.net/shop

Intro / outro music: Dreams by Markvard

Transition music:   Crushing by Reveille

After a pregnancy loss, and a history with an eating disorder, Kelly was not in a relationship of full trust in her body when she gave birth to her first baby. She agreed to be induced when her obstetrician pressured her into it, feeling that, her baby was safer outside of her body.

Kelly went on have her next two babies at home. Both experiences showed her how trustworthy, indeed, perfectly designed, her body was to give birth.

Do you have a story you'd like to share on the podcast? I would love to hear from you! Email me via the contact page at www.healingbirth.net.

You can find our new e-book, "Did I Really Need a C-Section?" on our website at www.healingbirth.net/shop

Intro / outro music: Dreams by Markvard

Transition music:   Waiting by LNDO

In her former role as a newborn photographer, Laura had witnessed plenty of births before having her own. She intuitively felt that something about the experience, as it occurs for most women, was wrong.

When it came time for her to have her own first baby, she chose to have a wild pregnancy and free birth, deep in the Peruvian jungle with only her husband present.

Recorded at just four months postpartum, you will be be able to hear her joy and elation about her experience, as well as her huge passion for all things birth, babies, and motherhood.

You can follow Laura on Instagram @natural_lau

Do you have a story you'd like to share on the podcast? I would love to hear from you! Email me via the contact page at www.healingbirth.net.

You can find our new e-book, "Did I Really Need a C-Section?" on our website at www.healingbirth.net/shop

Intro / outro music: Dreams by Markvard

Transition music:   Take me Back by Strength to Last

Have you, or someone you know, conceived a baby during a time in your cycle that didn't fall within the normal, ovulatory window?  As someone who listens to a lot of birth stories, I've heard it happen many times. I always attributed those occurrences to the inherently mysterious nature of pregnancy and birth.

But what if there is another explanation?

Medical astrology has been in development for thousands of years, greatly predating our modern understanding of medical science. And through years of study it's been discovered that women experience fertility during the phase of the moon under which they were born, that the sign the moon is in during the conception influences the sex of the baby, and that the placement of celestial bodies can impact the outcomes of a pregnancy and birth.

Whether you are currently trying to conceive a baby, or preventing conception, this episode contains truly mind blowing information that I believe is next-level body literacy.

Athena's website: https://www.wildwillingwisdom.com/

Athena's Substack & Podcast: https://wildwillingwisdom.substack.com/

Follow Athena on social media: @wildwillingwisdom

Do you have a story you'd like to share on the podcast? I would love to hear from you! Email me via the contact page at www.healingbirth.net.

You can find our new e-book, "Did I Really Need a C-Section?" on our website at www.healingbirth.net/shop

Intro / outro music: Dreams by Markvard

Transition music:   Afterlight by Jessie Villa & Strength to Last

Milena, the daughter of a licensed German midwife, grew up around babies, pregnancy, discussions about birth, and even attended births with her mom.

When it came time for her to give birth the first time, she chose a midwife assisted home birth. But the second time she became pregnant, she was strongly drawn towards having a wild pregnancy and to freebirth.

In addition to hearing her two birth stories, we talk about why there's really no such thing as a "normal" labor pattern, and what it was like  for her to choose to free birth as the daughter of a midwife.

Do you have a story you'd like to share on the podcast? I would love to hear from you! Email me via the contact page at www.healingbirth.net.

You can find our new e-book, "Did I Really Need a C-Section?" on our website at www.healingbirth.net/shop

Intro / outro music: Dreams by Markvard

Transition music:   Take Me Back by Strength to Last

Stephanie shares her two birth stories, both of which took place in a hospital staffed only by midwives, in rural Australia.

Her first birth experience cracked her intuition wide open, and she says that it initiated her into the person she was meant to be.

Her second birth was a different kind of initiation, which included a complication at the end. During both experiences, she felt very cared for and supported by the midwives.

We also discuss how much our relationships shift and change when we first become parents, and how the surrender that birth requires of us is the perfect initiation into the next phase of the unknown - parenthood!

Do you have a story you'd like to share on the podcast? I would love to hear from you! Email me via the contact page at www.healingbirth.net.

You can find our new e-book, "Did I Really Need a C-Section?" on our website at www.healingbirth.net/shop

Intro / outro music: Dreams by Markvard

Transition music:   Together by Justhea

Nina was dropped by her midwives at the end of her first pregnancy due to high blood pressure, and had to give birth to that baby in the hospital.

The second time she became pregnant, she decided not to engage with the medical system at all. Her blood pressure remained elevated during this pregnancy, but rather than immediately pathologize it based on the numbers alone, she decided to tune into how she felt, and trust her body.

Her healthy, perfect baby was born after a whirlwind fast labor, in her home, with just her husband present. She says that this birth experience helped to heal the stories that she had carried from adolescence that her body was "broken" or "wrong."

She remembered that she is in fact, perfect.

(A friendly disclaimer that I am not a medical professional, and nothing that I share on this podcast should be taken as medical advice).

Do you have a story you'd like to share on the podcast? I would love to hear from you! Email me via the contact page at www.healingbirth.net.

You can find our new e-book, "Did I Really Need a C-Section?" on our website at www.healingbirth.net/shop

Intro / outro music: Dreams by Markvard

Transition music: Letting Go by Hotham