Doing It At Home - The Home Birth Podcast

Latest Episodes:

276: HOME BIRTH STORY - From an Unplanned Cesarean to a Planned, Unassisted HBAC with Sarah Leahy Jun 09, 2020

Show notes

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 that failed the first time - it was the system she subscribed to. Her confidence returned, and she has since grown more active in the birthing community by creating outlets for others to share their stories in both her Facebook page, Autonomous Birth Project and her Instagram @birthuprising.

Links:

Sarah’s Facebook page for Autonomous Birth Project: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2232618540316867/
Sarah’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/birthuprising/
Our website: https://www.diahpodcast.com/
DIAH Shop: https://www.bonfire.com/store/diahpodcast/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diahpodcast/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/diahpodcast
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1904721379788084/?ref=bookmarks

275: HOME BIRTH STORY - Birth As A Healing Process with Dr. Vanessa Gale and Dr. Dave Bell (LIVE in our home!) Jun 02, 2020

Show notes

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: https://beyondchiroatl.com/
Beyond Chiropractic Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beyondchiroatl/
Beyond Chiropractic Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beyondchiroatl/
Vanessa Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prettystronglife/
Dave Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr_dbell/
Our website: https://www.diahpodcast.com/
DIAH Shop: https://www.bonfire.com/store/diahpodcast/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diahpodcast/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/diahpodcast
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1904721379788084/?ref=bookmarks

274: HOME BIRTH STORY - Plan for the Success of Your Birth and Lean Into Your Vision with Angela Potts-Mang’andah May 26, 2020

Show notes

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://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
These Are My Hours documentary: https://www.thesearemyhours.com/

273: HOME BIRTH STORY - Getting Baby in the Proper Position Plus Dealing with Unexpected Events After Giving Birth with Nicola Poole May 19, 2020

Show notes

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/
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=bookmark

272: HOME BIRTH STORY - An Unplanned Unassisted Home Birth and Planning for the Fourth Trimester with Marlee Robinson May 12, 2020

Show notes

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://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

271: HOME BIRTH STORY - Being Hands-On with Your Home Birth Plus Tantric Breathing Techniques with Sofia Ashley of the Happy Vagina Project May 06, 2020

Show notes

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: https://www.instagram.com/diahpodcast/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/diahpodcast
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1904721379788084/?ref=bookmarks

270: HOME BIRTH STORY - Freebirth, Fetal Ejection Reflex and Feeling Pushy with Catherine Muskox Apr 28, 2020

Show notes

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: 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

269: HOME BIRTH STORY - Natural, Holistic, Spiritual Approach to Birth, Plus Dealing with IUGR with Amy Zhou Apr 21, 2020

Show notes

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 (intrauterine growth restriction). This meant there were concerns about baby Nathaniel’s small size and how that could impact possibly inducing Amy before her due date.

And bonus - Amy shares some of her gifts and expertise with listeners and leaves some tips for pregnant mothers both from her own experience as well as her extensive training and coaching.

Links:

Amy’s website: https://www.amyzhou.com/home
Sarah’s website: www.sarahbivens.com
Matthew’s website: www.matthewbivens.com
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

268: If You Are Switching from Hospital to Home Birth Apr 14, 2020

Show notes

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.diahpodcast.com/
DIAH Shop: https://www.bonfire.com/store/diahpodcast/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diahpodcast/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/diahpodcast
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1904721379788084/?ref=bookmarks

267: HOME BIRTH STORY - Breech At Home At 37 Weeks With Nona Djavid Apr 07, 2020

Show notes

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 website: https://www.diahpodcast.com/
DIAH Shop: https://www.bonfire.com/store/diahpodcast/
Sarah’s website: www.sarahbivens.com
Matthew’s website: www.matthewbivens.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diahpodcast/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/diahpodcast
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1904721379788084/?ref=bookmarks

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