Stay ConnectedThe Natural Birth Podcast is here to bring Embodied Birth Wisdom from Women from All over the World sharing their Natural & Empowering Birth Stories, with the aim to Inspire and Encourage Mamas to Believe in their Bodies and in the Natural Birth Process.
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Copyright: © Anna The Spiritual MidWitch
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 Chelsea
Chelsea is a mama of two from the US.
She is a holistic arts therapist who sought an authentic natural birth experience IN the hospital.
After her first obstetric led birth which ended in medical interventions after 32 hours of labor where Chelsea felt that the hospital had to ‘intervene’ in problems that were their own creation, she sought out a private midwife for her second pregnancy and birth.
She still wanted to birth in the hospital but with her own midwife that she trusted. The care she received was so much better than what she got with her OB.
Her second birth was fully natural in the hospital with her chosen midwife and partner. She also allowed a midwife in training to do two vaginal exams and attend the her birth.
The comparison of her two hospital births blows her mind!
She felt that with her own confidence to advocate for herself, in addition to her partner being a superstar during labor and birth was the best experience of her life.
Curious about Chelsea? Find her on instagram as @the.soulworker
Did you know you can watch this episode and all of the podcast episodes on my Youtube channel?
Every Wednesday the new video version of this podcast is aired on The Spiritual Midwitch YouTube channel.
You’ll hear me refer to my little puppy walking in and out of the screen. So if you want to see Beanie my dog, head on over on Wednesday and look at the YouTube podcast video!
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 Sandra Paola
Sandra Paola is an interdisciplinary dance artist, performance activist, and mama of two from Abya Yala (the territory currently known as Bogotá, Colombia).
Her journey of pregnancy, birth and motherhood has lead her to embrace the powerful nature of the divine feminine, and is committed to supporting other women develop trust in themselves and their bodies through mindful movement practices.
Today she will share her two natural birth stories. And I loved our conversation. I feel like me and Paola could talk for ever.
Her story of conception and pregnancy hold so much medicine.
And her births as well. Her first was a home birth transfer due to her midwife’s fears around low amniotic fluid.
And her second was as Sandra Paola wrote me herself ”an empowering water birth at home with the assistance of an amazing birth team that supported her to have a virtually unassisted sovereign birth in the company of her family”.
After the hospital transfer with her first, this second birth is helping her process, heal, and grow beyond her wildest dreams. She is so grateful for her body and the trust she developed in her capacity to birth the way she wanted to.
Curious about Sandra Paola? Find her on instagram as @earthdancemama
Sandra Paola is now also a part of my online community the Village and I hope in a near future also a sacred birth worker mentee.
If you want to hang out with me and her and other podcast guests as well as amazing women from around the world then come on over and join The Village.
It’s a beautiful sisterhood community of birth nerds, mamas and birth workers sharing about life, spirituality, birth and babies.
There’s a monthly subscription option. Try it out. Cancel at any time. No strings attached.
So come and join our LIVE community sharing circles and yoga circles, pick my brain, connect with other likeminded women and enjoy the safety and loving support of our sisterhood.
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:
Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Melanie the Midwife from The Great Birth Rebellion.
Mel is a mama of two from Australia and a Private Midwife, a Midwifery Mentor, Researcher and a Podcast host.
I am a huge fan girl of Mel’s and so excited to have her on the podcast. And many of her episodes are a part of the resources for The Sacred Birth Worker Mentorship and I highly recommend it to my clients.
Today Mel shares about her own natural and empowering births.
Both of Mel’s babies were born at home and today she is here to tell you all about it. Starting from the conception of her gentle boy and how he decided to come early, and his long preterm birth journey at home.
I love how Mel can share how you can have a preterm baby at 36 weeks at home with the right knowledge and dedication. She nursed him at home with the kangaroo care model, which is the superior model for all preterm babies and should be offered in all birth settings.
We then dive into the birth of her fiery girl who decided to come a 40 weeks fast and furious just like her.
It’s incredible how our babies show us who they are through the way they are birthed. Another reason to support their unique journey and not interfere with it.
I hope you love this episode as much as I.
Curious about Mel? Find her on instagram as @melaniethemidwife
Find Anna’s Website, about her Mentorship & How to Work with Her, as well as all Links & Resources she mentions in the episode here:
Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Aubrey.
Aubrey is a mama of two from New Jersey, USA.
She has had two natural births with two completely different experiences.
Her first bubba was conceived with the help of IVF and her birth was a hospital transfer from a birth center. It was over 24 hours long, exhausting, and looking back Aubrey could see that she was scared and alone for almost all of it. She had meconium present when the midwife offered to break her water during transition which meant a hospital transfer.
She still managed to birth naturally and was so very proud of that and thankful for the angel nurse that stepped in and guided her through the last stages before meeting her daughter.
When her baby girl was 8 months old she found out she was pregnant again! Which was a HUGE shock.
It took weeks to sink in that it was really happening again.
Her and her husband had gone through IVF with their first due to her husband’s sperm quality.
And since her husband had worked incredibly hard on his fertility with lifestyle changes and it obviously had such a great effect on him that it resulted in their little boy being made.
Aubrey wanted his birth to be different and she is so incredibly thankful to share that it was.
She wrote to me that ”Thanks to your podcast. Seriously Anna, it was all thanks to you and everything I learned from the incredible Mamas you have hosted!!”
And of course it wasn't all thanks to me. But I just love these messages and it reaffirms the power of storytelling!
This time there were absolutely no cervical checks, no breaking waters and no birth centers.
For her baby boy's birth there were independent midwives, plenty of room for fears to heal, incredibly loving prenatal care, connection to her husband, and space for his birth to be sacred and special in her own home.
He was born ten minutes before the midwife’s arrival and there was no drama to it.
It was peaceful and they loved that it was just them.
They had all of the support they needed over the phone and they just let birth be birth.
Curious about Aubrey? Find her on Instagram as @aubreylofreddo
Want to work with Anna or join The Sacred Birth Worker Mentorship?
Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:
Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Tam.
Tam is a psychotherapist of Holistic Therapy where she merges the Clinical with the Spiritual, and take her clients on a journey of deep healing through energy work, and intuitive guidance.
She created EmpowHER Healing from the need to shift psychology into a deeper spiritual realm. Fascinated by the human condition, and the Psyche of the Soul, she possess a strong will to support each female individual on their journey, and meet them wherever they are on their path.
In today’s episode Tam shares about her home birth almost exactly one year from this recording and how she moved through her fear of a hospital transfer. Something many home birthing mamas can relate to having.
I’m sure you’ll find much wisdom in this episode if you are planning a home birth.
Curious about Tam? Find her on instagram as @empowherhealing
Want to work with Anna or join The Sacred Birth Worker Mentorship?
Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:
Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Melanie.
Melanie is a mama of 3 from Idaho.
She is a nurse anesthetist and as such she was working on the front lines through Covid as well as providing anesthesia to laboring women and often seeing the worst of the worst.
She was also told as a 20 year old by her OBGYN that her hips were to small and that she’d need a C/S. Total un evidence based, unsolicited advice to a woman not even trying to get pregnant.
You’d think all of this would have geared her towards an elective caesarian right? But no!
When she did become pregnant she was living in New Mexico where the attitude around home birth in her work place was positive. And she ended up finding a home birth midwife she resonated with and that the hospital even praised.
And she then went on having her two first babies at home. Both fast and furious as well as posterior.
She then had a gap as she had some pregnancy losses and her family also moved to Idaho.
When she finally did become pregnant with her third live baby she had to dig deeper than ever to ‘defend’ what she knew was best for her and her baby in the face of a lot of negativity and straight up stupid comments from the medical professionals around her.
She ended up having the transformative experience she always dreamed of and which she says was all about faith & absolute surrender.
Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:
Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Jan.
Jan is a 43 yr old nurse and mama of four beautiful souls.
She has dedicated her life to nurturing the health and well-being of others.
Alongside taking care of her patients and homeschooling her children, she has embarked on a deeply personal journey of rediscovering the power and magic of holistic health and was given the chance to use that knowledge during her most recent pregnancy and birth.
In today’s episode we will be diving into medicalized birth in the beginning as Jan had 3 C/S before her home birth. And then about her total change and awakening to holistic health.
Her fourth pregnancy, that resulted in a home birth was not expected. And once the news settled in she embarked on a path of exploration and empowerment, choosing not to have a fourth C/S but ultimately experiencing the profound transformation of her first home birth.
This pivotal moment ignited a passion within her to share the spiritual dimensions of birthing at home, transcending the boundaries of conventional medicine to embrace the holistic beauty of the birthing process.
Curious about Jan? Find her on Instagram as @mindfulrn911
Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:
Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Alexandra.
Alexandra is a mama of one from California.
She runs a farm with her partner and has been a performing dance artist for the last 10 years.
Alexandra comes from an area where the home birth movement was big back in the 70’s and 80’s. One of her brother’s was home birthed when she was three and a half years old and she was also present for the home birth to hospital transfer of another brother's birth at the age of thirteen. Coming out of this challenging birth a bit traumatized, she internalized fear around birth.
However years later, after a miscarriage she found her calling to birth work and took a weekend doula course. This class, with an experienced, wise doula, opened her eyes to the flaws of the medical system and the standard cascade of interventions which completely changed her views on birth.
When she became pregnant again she knew she wanted to birth naturally. She wanted to be as prepared as possible for her own initiation and rite of passage into motherhood so she dedicated her free time to reading countless books and listening to birth stories, and she became very informed.
Due to there being no home birth midwives in her area currently she chose a birth center 2hrs away.
And her birth ended up being a fiery one where she spiraled her baby down in the car on the way to the birth center and almost gave birth to her daughter on the parking lot outside the center.
Curious about Alexandra? Find her on Instagram as @alexandrakateri
Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:
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