Joining us all the way from Edinburgh, Scotland is our friend, Mhairi. Her first birth in 2023 began with PROM (premature rupture of membranes) without regular contractions or cervical change. She was induced, and after concerns came up for both Mhairi and her baby, the birth ended in an emergency cesarean.

For her second birth, Mhairi planned a waterbirth VBAC despite it being outside her hospital’s protocol. She spent her pregnancy researching her options and met several times with consultants and the head of the birth department. After going into spontaneous labor, she had one final meeting with a doctor while in active labor to discuss waterbirth. Mhairi went on to have her unmedicated VBAC waterbirth, and it was just the empowering experience she hoped it would be.

Keywords: VBAC, waterbirth VBAC, waterbirth, NHS, UK maternity care, emergency cesarean, induction, spontaneous labor, unmedicated birth, doula, midwifery care

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Caitlyn is our ultimate IT girl. She’s a Certified Nurse Midwife, L&D nurse, doula, two-time VBAC mom of four, inventor of Lila Laborwear and the Lila TENS Unit, Air Force veteran, and was crowned the 2020 Mrs. United States while pregnant with her twins!

Caitlyn’s motherhood journey began with that surprise twin pregnancy, vasa previa, and twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) which led to a lengthy hospital stay and a cesarean birth with a T-incision.

During her second pregnancy, Caitlyn was strongly discouraged from going for a VBAC. But she knew the evidence, trusted her intuition, and went for it. Caitlyn’s labor was long and challenging, but ended in an empowering VBAC! She went on to have another VBAC with her third that was unexpectedly unmedicated, using her very own Lila TENS Unit as her only pain relief.

Caitlyn shares what she wishes she had known about vasa previa, including treatment options she learned about too late, and dives into pregnancy dating, induction, nipple stimulation, membrane sweeps, castor oil, labor coping, epidurals, unmedicated birth, and preparing for labor regardless of your pain-medication plan. She explains why medical interventions should be approached strategically rather than as all or nothing by asking yourself:

“Is this going to improve my chances of having the outcome that I want?”

When used thoughtfully and appropriately, sometimes interventions are just the thing that will get you there.

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After a breech C-section in 2022 and an elective repeat in 2024, Darby switched providers to the “king of VBA2C doctors” at 34 weeks to go for a VBA2C. She hired the best VBAC doula in North Texas, did all the things to prepare and educate herself, but at 40 weeks learned her supportive doctor would be out of town. At 40+5, she labored for nearly three days while facing anti-VBAC doctors, repeated pressure for a C-section, and “dead baby” fear-mongering. She ultimately left the hospital AMA, continued laboring close by with her husband and doula, then returned two days later.

Darby finally had a doctor from her supportive practice arrive during an overnight labor, and despite baby’s heart rate struggling with contractions, meconium, severe dehydration with ketones, four IVs due to rolling veins, an epidural, and 45 minutes of pushing resulting in a third-degree tear, she got her VBA2C and the perfect skin-to-skin moment she was dreaming of.

Darby’s message to you all is to know your rights, advocate for yourself, trust your intuition, and stay flexible.

About her resistance from doctors, she says, “It was the most intense and probably most medically traumatizing thing of my life, but the end was the most empowering thing ever.”

Women of Strength, the way you are treated in birth matters. Get educated, and don’t settle for any less than what you deserve!

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Stephanie’s first two births were vaginal deliveries, her third was a peaceful, scheduled C-section after declining an ECV, and her fourth was an empowering VBAC with an ECV at 37 weeks. She is a doula, prenatal/postpartum fitness specialist, and the founder of Mission Rise and Mission Motherhood.

We loved this piece of advice Stephanie sent us in her intake form:

“One thing I don’t think we talk about enough is that birth preparation should evolve with each pregnancy.

“For a first-time mom, that often means learning as much as you can so birth doesn’t simply happen to you—attending childbirth and breastfeeding classes, considering a doula, and preparing for postpartum (your bedside, having a meal train, etc.).

“For moms who’ve given birth before, preparation often means processing your previous birth before preparing for the next one.

“Every birth deserves to be treated as its own story, and each pregnancy offers a new opportunity to advocate for yourself, explore your options, and prepare with fresh eyes instead of assuming this birth will be just like the last.”

This episode was SO fun to record. We just basked in the beautiful way Stephanie talked about birth, advocacy, faith, and all of her practical tips. And another fun piece of her VBAC was that Stephanie and her sister were pregnant together and got to be each other’s doulas at their births, only 13 days apart!

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Natural Hospital Birth, The Best of Both Worlds

Stephanie's Website

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We know her and love her from jingles on all the socials with her husband, Steven. She documented her VBAC prep journey on the internet, and now Blair aka @6.lair is here sharing ALL details with The VBAC Link!

About Blair: She’s a 2x mom based in Michigan who had an unmedicated hospital VBAC in May 2026. As a pediatric ICU nurse herself, she’s a huge advocate for patient centered care, non-pharmacological pain interventions, and informed consent. Her first birth was a scheduled C-section due to placenta previa. Her VBAC was just under 24 hours with AROM, lots of movement, using the shower during contractions, pushing for 1hr and 40 min, the fetal ejection reflex, and no tearing.

You will walk away from her stories with such a deep understanding of the step-by-step process of unmedicated birth. From trying to induce spontaneous labor all the way to the nitty gritty of what recovery from a vaginal delivery feels like, Blair is a girl’s girl who REALLY wants you to know what to expect. It was hard, transition was scary, pushing wasn’t what she thought it would be, AND it was the most empowering thing she’s ever done.

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She’s the chick who helps moms and babies, the one and only Nina Spears, founder and CEO of The Baby Chick®, is hereeee! Nina is a certified baby planner, birth and postpartum doula, childbirth educator, newborn care specialist, infant massage instructor, and perinatal nutrition expert who has worked with more than 800 families in person, thousands virtually, and has supported over 350 births over the past 15 years.

She’s also the host of Chick Chat: The Baby Chick Podcast and the author of The Baby Chick Guide to Positive Pregnancy, which just published June 2026. She says it’s, “essentially what I’ve been wanting my clients to have for the last 15 years”.

And what does it mean to have a positive pregnancy?

Nina says it’s all about feeling informed, supported, and empowered.

But, it’s also having conversations about the realities of pregnancy, birth, and postpartum that just aren’t happening…until this episode.

What we aren’t talking about enough that we take a deep dive into today:

• The invisible load of motherhood that starts DURING pregnancy
• Not just holding the baby, but also holding the mama
• Patrescence and the hormone shift of dads
• What actually helps women feel prepared and supported for a baby
• Why peace on earth begins with birth
• Villages are never free
• Deciding to VBAC and honing in on what YOU really want
• The pressures that VBAC moms carry
• Debunking the superiority of birth

Nina is an absolute joy! We promise this episode is SUCH a good one.

The Baby Chick Guide to Positive Pregnancy: How to Prepare Your Mind, Body, and Partner

The Baby Chick Website

The Baby Chick on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok

Chick Chat: The Baby Chick Podcast

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Hannah's first labor began at 40 weeks, the day after a membrane sweep. She opted for an epidural but due to fetal tachycardia, had an unplanned cesarean. It was a lonely and confusing postpartum not coping well with the emotional trauma of that birth.

Hannah prepared for a VBAC and planned a home birth with a midwife hoping for a different experience. She felt peaceful about transferring to the hospital when labor stalled at 9cm. She talks about what made that transfer feel empowering, including the sweetest affirmations from her cute husband.

She also shares about her baby girl’s diagnosis with Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis (LCH) at just 7 weeks old and how walking through a rare childhood illness (quite literally 1 in a million!) changed her perspective on birth, motherhood, and life's hardest seasons.

Hannah was a TVL podcast listener herself long before she had her own VBAC. We hope you can find the same inspiration and love that Lily, Paige, and Hannah did when prepping for their own births!

To Lily, she said, “The way that you and Paige honor women’s birth stories is just so beautiful. It’s such a powerful service you provide. It was so inspirational and hopeful, and I still listen every week.”

Our birth stories are meant to be held and shared communally. And this is why we are here.

Keywords: VBAC, planned HBAC, hospital transfer, cesarean birth, tachycardia, membrane sweep, epidural, PPA, birth trauma, husband, birth advocacy, Histiocytosis, infant cancer

Hystiocytosis Association

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One of Paige’s dearest friends and fellow doula in South Korea, Ali Craft, joins the pod today sharing her incredibly inspiring (and hilariously narrated!) seven birth stories, including four cesareans and three vaginal births. Ali was able to advocate for not only a VBA2C in Korea, where it is extremely uncommon for hospitals to offer VBAC support, but she also had TWO VBA4Cs.

Ali’s stories remind us that every.birth.is.different. From long labors to short ones, planned cesareans to unplanned CBACs, induction, epidural, spontaneous labor, and so much more in between, we know you will take away so much inspiration from her stories.

“I love supporting moms now because in labor when they’re dying, I can say, I KNOW. When it’s taking forever, I KNOW. When they end up with the C-section they didn’t really want, I know.”

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