Brandy was raised on a farm, and witnessed plenty of animal births. But despite seeing first hand that mammalian birth works best when left undisturbed, when she was pregnant herself, she handed over all decision making and authority to an obstetrician, who ultimately convinced her to have an induction, which ended in a c-section.

She returned to that system again with her second baby and did achieve a VBAC in the hospital, but also experienced medical rape.

By the time she was pregnant with her third child, she felt confident enough to fire her doctor, and have her baby at home, which she did!

Her fourth pregnancy offered her an even deeper opportunity to trust herself, when she recognized some red flags with her midwife.

Brandy is now a holistic doula and birth keeper. You can find her on social media @wildandfreebirthwellness

Brandy’s website: www.wildandfreebirth.com

Brandy’s course: The Labor BluePrint

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

Transition music: Oceanic Space by Aryll

Kawena, an indigenous Brazilian, was traveling the world nomadically when she fell in love, and became pregnant. She knew that she would return home to her ancestral land to birth freely on her family’s farm. This is an especially radical act of reclamation in Brazil, where birth has been completely taken over by the medical industrial complex. Not only does Brazil have one of the highest c-section rates in the world, it is illegal there to birth alone.

Kawena roared her baby out at 43 weeks, her powerful voice echoing back to her across the canyon where generations of her family have lived. With her mother and aunt present, she says that this birth experience healed generations of birth trauma for her matrilineal lineage. Kawena also discovered that certain indigenous birth practices, long forgotten in her family, came to her quite naturally.

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

Transition music: Letting Go by Hotham

During the delivery of her first child, Kayla’s care team believed that she experienced a shoulder dystocia, which led to violent, and rushed efforts to get her baby out as fast they could. This left Kayla with a fourth degree tear, a NICU stay for her baby, and lots of trauma to process in her postpartum time.

It wasn’t until she was considering having a second baby and was interviewing home birth midwives, that she realized the diagnosis of a dystocia in her first birth was probably inaccurate, and her baby simply needed a little more time to emerge.

Armed now with the knowledge that her body didn’t dysfunction in any way, Kayla chose to have a home birth with her second child, and had a beautiful, healing birth experience.

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

Transition music: Take me Back by Strength to Last

Julie shares the sweet and beautiful story of finding love, experiencing pregnancy with ease, and having her baby at home, at the age of 41.

Follow Julie @eatingwithbabies

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

Transition music: Sky by Hotham

Tiffany, a former doula and fellow podcaster, shares the story of having her first baby at seventeen in a hospital, and her second birth experience, which ended in a home birth transfer.

Because she remained pregnant to 42 weeks, her midwife intervened in several ways to help induce labor, and in this episode you will hear exactly how those seemingly “harmless” and common induction interventions directly compromised her safety in labor.

Follow Tiffany @sacredwomb.birth

Tiffany has her own birth story podcast, and if you like this show, you will love hers too!

Birth and Rebirth Podcast

Here is the episode where I appeared on her show.

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

Transition music: Bubbles by PALA

Julia grew up with a fear of giving birth, due to what she knew of birth within the medical paradigm. But by the time she was ready to become pregnant, she had the awakening, mostly from listening to podcasts (!), that there was a better way, more aligned with her values: Freebirth.

She spent her pregnancy traveling around the country with her husband in their RV, giving her fears to nature, and finally, settling in Montana in the dead of winter where she gave birth.

Follow Julia @bigmountainhomestead

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

Transition music: Take Me Back by Strength to Last

Liz shares the story of her wild pregnancy, birth, and the loss, of her daughter Arati.

Her experience is a deeply spiritual one where her daughter guided her toward all of the choices she made during her pregnancy. While the outcome is one none of us would wish for, Liz says that she would still choose a wild pregnancy and still choose freebirth.

In honor of Aarti’s first birthday, Liz is offering a giveaway. She is offering an "Energetic attunement for the womb & Spirit baby communication."

This session is designed for any woman who is pregnant, wishes to conceive, or has experienced loss. In it, we fine-tune the energetic field of their womb to erase any dissonant vibrations and increase the expanse of their luminous field. We also connect with the baby they wish to welcome or the baby who left too soon. It's a beautiful session exclusively thought of for this Special Giveaway.

Liz says that Arati brought her a mission, and she intends to fulfill it by assisting wombs thrive and anchor the Children of New Humanity.

Follow Liz on Instagram @spiritual.doula

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

Transition music: Together by Justhea

Amalia planned a home birth with her first baby. When she went into labor, despite many of hours of intense contractions, her body never dilated. They decided to transfer to the hospital, where she received all the things the hospital has to offer, ending, as it so often does, in a cesarean birth.

But this is not a story of defeat. Amalia mined this experience for gold, and in retrospect, she sees how much her birth experience taught her. We talk about how important it is that we really get to know what our subconscious beliefs are about birth and our bodies. And how those beliefs can shape our lived experiences.

Follow Amalia @amaliamarialee

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

Transition music: Sunset by Justhea