Doing It At Home: Our Home Birth Podcast

Do you like to be left alone during birth? Or if you haven’t given birth yet, have you thought about whether or not you might want people around you, or prefer to be undisturbed? For our guest today Jillian Anderson, she was by herself for the majority of both of her birth experiences. Her partner Aaron was always close by in case he was needed. But Jillian knew what worked for her. That stems back to her decision to have a home birth over 6 years ago with her son Gabriel. It then carried into her pregnancy and birth prep for her daughter Serena. During her second pregnancy, Jillian was her own care provider and had a “wild pregnancy” (meaning without any outside assistance, we learned this term for the first time during this conversation - love how we’re always learning!).  Now as a mentor, writer, birth and fertility activist, Jillian’s birth experiences have greatly influenced the work she does with women. A few other topics we discuss: fetal ejection reflex, pleasurable birth, placenta delivery and lotus

How can an experience like birth have such a mix of thoughts and emotions around it? It’s so complex and yet so simple. There’s such a vastness to it and the unique quality of each experience can make it difficult to summarize. This is why each story is so important and why we love sharing as many as we can with you. Today we’re speaking with Ashley McGuirk, and she tells us the birth story of her son Keegan. Ashley is a holistic health coach, personal trainer and yoga instructor. With her mother having 3 unmedicated hospital births, a natural birth plan resonated with her. After watching “The Business of Being Born,” aka “the gateway to natural and home birth” as she put it (haha!), she was clear she wanted a home birth. Ashley’s husband Ben was on board and a big support during the pregnancy and birth experience. In addition to the birth story, we talk about some of the things that Ashley brought into the pregnancy and birth based on her training and the work she does. Plus a conversation on “pregnant you a

What is intuitive birthing? It can look different for each of us. But the general philosophy of allowing for the process to be what it is for you in your own unique way is a beautiful concept that comes up in our interview today. Katherine Ward shares her home birth story of her daughter Remi with us. Katherine started her doula training at 18-years-old. Through this experience she determined that when the time came for her to give birth, she wanted something different from what she witnessed in the hospital. By the time she met her husband Connor, she knew she wanted a home birth. This sparks a great dialogue in the interview about how “yet-to-be” mothers can approach conversations with their partners about birthing plans in a loving, open and empowered way.  Katherine also shares about some of the challenges in pregnancy in staying connected as a couple and preparing for the birth experience, as well as some unexpected postpartum challenges. And of course, we’ve got all the details of birthing time! Links:

What’s one of the biggest challenges of choosing a home birth? A common response to this is feeling like you have to explain and justify your choice to others, whether that be friends, family, loved ones or total strangers. This pops up in our interview with Sera Billings, mama to Addy. For Sera, home birth was always a completely normal thing. She herself was born at home. Her mother, in fact, had 6 home births. So home birth was an obvious choice for her when she became pregnant. And her husband Kade was on board and ready, because they had many conversations around birth before even becoming pregnant (we are big fans of this!).  And get this - the same midwife who attended Sera’s mother’s birth was there to attend her birth and help bring baby Addy earthside! Another great element of this conversation is the reminder to release expectations based on others’ experiences. This is your unique process - embrace it! Links: A Guide for Home Birth Partners: https://www.diahpodcast.com/home-birth-partner-guide

“What’s going to happen if…?” This is a question many of us ask as we prepare for birth. And what if instead of ignoring whatever combination of thoughts and feelings that fill in that blank after the “if,” we get them out there and allow ourselves to process? In today’s interview with Mekensie Gonzalez, she shares her journey to home birth with her daughter Eden. From sitting on an airplane and on an off chance listening to a podcast about home birth with these two crazy people from Georgia (hint hint!), to going forward with plans to have her own home birth, Mekensie’s story is full of topics and themes that every home birthing family can learn from.  First there’s the involvement of her husband Alberto and allowing him to ask questions and be a part of the experience (to later become a big home birth advocate himself!). Then the legend of a local Italian spot featuring an eggplant parm that is rumored to send many women into labor around the time of “guess date.” And then the work of getting baby Eden unst

What if you want a home birth, but your partner doesn’t? This is a big challenge that we hear about often. The birthing person is desiring a home birth and the partner is not. It takes conscious time and communication to share thoughts and feelings, work to understand each other and find a solution that best serves the family.  And there could be many reasons for not being on the same page. Maybe your partner has never heard of home birth, has some ideas about it and/or has limited experience and conversation around birth.  So what can you do? In this episode we’re sharing 5 steps to take in the process of sharing your desires and creating the space for powerful, loving and authentic conversations around the birth plan. Plus we have a brand new, free resource for you and your partner - “A Guide for Home Birth Partners: Real-life Lessons and Advice from Other Partners’ Experiences.” Check out the link below to download! Links: A Guide for Home Birth Partners: https://www.diahpodcast.com/home-birth-partner-gui

How do you navigate a bunch of challenges that can throw off your birthing plans? Ideally the only bump in the birth journey is the belly kind, but sometimes the road to home birth presents different obstacles to overcome. Our guests Jocelyne and Eddie Zaldivar share their experience with us. It includes some of the top things we’ve heard from other home birth families when it comes to hiccups in the process. For one, tough conversations with their OB when they started out planning a hospital birth. Followed up by shifting to a birthing center, only to have it close unexpectedly as they entered their third trimester. And also, fear and resistance from family members around their birthing plans.  Their eventual home birth had such a profound impact on them that it inspired an evolution in their businesses. They now run homebirth.com and have a network for matching families with home birth professionals to serve them. Plus education and resources for empowering the home birth experience. You can see why we’d ha

What do you do when you were born at home yourself, over 30 of your cousins have been born at home and you have over 40 chiropractors in your extended family? It’s a safe assumption that you’d have your babies at home too! For our guest Jani Barnes, having babies at home was all she knew. So having both of her children at home, unassisted, was a no brainer. Her husband Greg is a chiropractor, and was fully on board and supportive of the process. We talk to Jani about some of mental preparation she did for her births, and she impresses upon the need for positive information and conversation leading up to your birth (regardless of where or how you do it). Then we get to hear the birth stories of her babes Nora and Leo.  Links: Birthing Outside the Box: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/birthing-outside-the-box/id1512851843 Birthing Outside the Box Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/birthingoutsidethebox/ Our website: https://www.diahpodcast.com/ DIAH Shop: https://www.bonfire.com/store/diahpodcast/

Don’t you love the birth world? We’ve been able to connect with so many amazing people in this space. For today’s episode we’re sharing the #birthjunkie love and bringing you an episode from our friend Heidi and her podcast, Birth Story Podcast. We had Heidi on the DIAH podcast in episode 256 and we genuinely find her wonderful. So why not share some more of that with you?! Enjoy an episode that originally aired in November 2019 titled: Meet Jennifer Farnham Host of Willow Wisteria on YouTube on her home births and hospital births with her 6 children And here’s the original episode description from Heidi:  “18 Pregnancies. No you are not seeing spots. Jennifer Farnham, CEO of Art of Natural Wellness, host of the very popular YouTube channel Willow Wisteria, author of Dear One, Be Kind, and my personal Bengkung belly binding designer tells all. She takes us on a journey of being married to someone who was not her soul's perfect fit in a job that didn't feel right either. She birthed her first two babies in the

What role is the father-to-be (or parent-to-be) supposed to play in birth? How can that father/parent-to-be show up better in that role? In today's conversation, Matthew and Sarah dig in on this topic, focusing on the future fathers/parents who don't always get to be in the spotlight. This is a great episode to listen to if you're a father-to-be, OR if you know one then share this episode with them. Links: Our website: https://www.diahpodcast.com/ DIAH Shop: https://www.bonfire.com/store/diahpodcast/ Parents on Demand Network: https://parentsondemand.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diahpodcast/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/diahpodcast Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1904721379788084/?ref=bookmarks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can birth be redemptive? We often hear on the show how different birth experiences bring the opportunity to heal and take back your power.  This is an element of our conversation with Sarah Leahy. Sarah shares the varying aspects of her two birth experiences. Her first, an unplanned cesarean with multiple interventions, left her feeling like her body was broken and it had failed. Following her birth, Sarah experienced PTSD, anxiety, guilt and depression. She knew she wanted to have another baby and wanted to create a different result the next time around. So after initially planning to birth at home with a midwife, Sarah and her husband Adrian eventually opted to “do it at home” by themselves. The second birth experience was, as Sarah puts it, “a complete 180 from the first birth.” And the best description of her HBAC that we can surmise - “NORMAL.” Yes, a completely normal event, and yet incredibly powerful. Following her second birth, Sarah’s new belief around herself and her body was that it was not her th

How can we approach birth as a healing process? This is a great theme that comes up in today’s interview. We had our friends Dr. Vanessa Gale and Dr. Dave Bell come to our home to record their birth story in person! Their daughter Rosalie and our daughter Maya are friends and schoolmates. We’ve had the joy of getting to know them better and now we get to talk about babies and home birth! Vanessa and Dave are chiropractors, and they bring the principles and teachings to the topic of birth. For example, the body heals itself and is self-regulating. They share their journey from the surprise pregnancy to the planning and preparation for their home birth. And of course, the birth story itself, including some of the unexpected elements that often occur and how the situation might have been handled in a different environment. Vanessa and Dave are champions of utilizing understanding, support and love to empower the birth experience. You can tell we had a lot of fun interviewing them! Links: Beyond Chiropractic: ht

What are you focusing on the most when it comes to your birth? As you prepare for your home birth, there are obviously many factors and considerations. Are you truly allowing yourself to envision the success of the experience, whatever that looks like for you? Today’s guest, Angela Potts-Mang’andah, walks us through her home birth journey from first starting with hospital care, then shifting care providers two more times (with some twists and turns in there as well in terms of how financial costs would be covered and where the birth would actually take place). Also dealing with the label of “geriatric pregnancy” while pregnant expecting your first child at 38.  We also discuss healing the expectation of how your partner shows up in the birth process and how to lean into your vision of your ideal birth. Links: New to Home Birth?: https://www.diahpodcast.com/new Our website: https://www.diahpodcast.com/ DIAH Shop: https://www.bonfire.com/store/diahpodcast/ Parents on Demand Network: https://parentsondema

How active can labor and birth be? Sometimes you hear about mothers moving around a lot during their births. Other women prefer to stay still. Gotta love the variations of normal. For today’s guest, Nicola Poole, she shares the story of her 36-hour labor home birth with her daughter Gabrielle. During those 36 hours, Nicola did a lot of “body work” to help move baby into optimal position (her head was off-center). This included walking around, rebozo work and Spinning Babies techniques. On top of the birth story, we discuss the details of making the decision to have a home birth and what the process of selecting care and making plans looks like where Nicola lives in Victoria, Australia. Plus some breastfeeding challenges that resulted in a month’s stay in the hospital for baby Gabrielle.  Links: Nicola’s website: www.wholisticalignment.com.au Nicola’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wholistic_alignment/ Our website: https://www.diahpodcast.com/ DIAH Shop: https://www.bonfire.com/store/diahpodcast/

How do you prepare for a birth, after you’ve already experienced one? This can be an interesting headspace to be in. Because on one hand, you’ve given birth - so you might have ideas of what to expect. But on the other hand, you know things this time around that you didn’t know before and you might also understand that births can look drastically different from one to the next. This is one of the topics we explore in our interview with Marlee Robinson, mom of 2 boys - Bodhi and Breeze. After her birthing center birth experience with Bodhi, Marlee felt confident in planning a home birth for her second son, Breeze. We discuss the differences in planning for a second birth as well as taking more time to think about the fourth trimester. Then we get to hear the birth story of Breeze, which had a few surprises thrown in there (as it sometimes happens in birth!). Links: Our website: https://www.diahpodcast.com/ DIAH Shop: https://www.bonfire.com/store/diahpodcast/ Parents on Demand Network: https://parentsonde

What’s your favorite part of home birth? For our guest today, Sofia, she shares how much she enjoyed the hands-on aspect. With the idea for home birth originally coming from her husband Daniel (You don’t hear this all the time, which is why we love this detail. Daniel’s first child from a previous relationship was born at home, so he suggested it to Sofia when they became pregnant.) Sofia shares her full birth story plus she shares some techniques and practices that she used herself during birth as well as with her clients in her business as a sexuality coach, specializing in postpartum and a Tantra practitioner. You’ll definitely want to listen to the end of the interview multiple times over to practice the breathing exercises she walks us through! Links: Sofia’s webpage for DIAH listeners: https://www.thehappyvaginaproject.com/doingit Our website: https://www.diahpodcast.com/ DIAH Shop: https://www.bonfire.com/store/diahpodcast/ Parents on Demand Network: https://parentsondemand.com/ Instagram: htt

What if you and your partner don’t agree on home birth? This is a really great question and I’m sure it comes up for a lot of us, especially when home birth isn’t a first obvious option or even something you’ve never heard of.  It’s a conversation that comes up in today’s episode with Catherine Muskox. She shared both of her home birth stories with us and breaks down the different elements of each.  Catherine is someone who values her alone time while birthing, a trait we’ve heard of through our time of doing birth story interviews. It was this kind of awareness that had her considering freebirth. Plus she shares how she processed her husband not being completely on board with the decision and how to move through that.  There’s also elements of the “out of body experience” that you often hear birth is, the sensation of “feeling pushy” and the role of teamwork in a birth.  Links: Our website: https://www.diahpodcast.com/ DIAH Shop: https://www.bonfire.com/store/diahpodcast/ Parents on Demand Network: http

How do you prepare for birth beyond the physical factors? Today’s guest is Amy Zhou, a certified Health Coach and Medicine Woman who specializes in teaching women (and men) how to heal their body, mind and spirit naturally at home. She’s also a new mama to her son Nathaniel, who is three and a half weeks old at the time we recorded this episode. We cover a lot of great things with Amy. For starters, she gave birth in the exact days the situation of COVID-19 dramatically shifted and accelerated in the United States, and specifically in her area of Los Angeles, California. According to Amy, it was like the world was a certain way when they entered the hospital, and then completely different when they emerged. So we chat about initial postpartum during an interesting time in the world and how she’s processing that. We also hear about Amy and her husband Ed’s preparation process for the birth experience. Their internal spiritual work was vital. Particularly when some challenges popped up, like an IUGR diagnosis (

Are you switching from a hospital birth to a home birth or find yourself new to the option of home birth and are exploring? In today’s episode we’re sharing a resource we put together for the DIAH community - particularly those who might be new to the space. We’ve gathered about 40 episodes together and created 2 separate playlists: one with birth stories including a switch from hospital to home at some point during the pregnancy along AND another of empowering conversations between Matthew and Sarah on the planning for home birth. Plus a listener email that highlights where many women and families are finding themselves currently as we navigate the COVID-19 circumstance. We want to remind everyone that we love, support and honor your choices and we’re here to serve through continuing to share stories and resources. And we have the deepest gratitude for your listening and being a part of this space. Links: The Switching or New to Home Birth Playlist: www.diahpodcast.com/new Our website: https://www.diahpod

If baby is breech, does that automatically mean you can’t have a home birth? That depends on each situation and of course where you live and your care options. In today’s episode, we chat with Nona Djavid about both of her pregnancies and home birth experiences. Both involving breech position at different points in time. For her first, she found out at 37 weeks that her baby was breech, and that meant that her midwife was no longer allowed to assist her in delivering in her home in the state of California. So they found the only OB in the state who provides care for and attends home birth mothers and families. And then when it came time for her second, she planned for another home birth with the same doctor.  Another beautiful theme we cover in this episode is breaking the chain of any inherited fear, trauma or doubt from previous generations, and the great opportunity we have in our births to heal that and create a new experience for our children.  Links: Nona’s website: https://nonadjavid.com/ Our websit