In this episode, Sheyda and her partner Corentin (who goes by Coco) share their experience of having a home birth for their son, Hugo. They discuss their prenatal journey in choosing to give birth at home with a midwife team and doula team and how ideal their birth team was for them because they prioritized consent-based, connected care. They share…

Tracy’s second pregnancy surprises her by being much more challenging than the first. Toward the end of pregnancy, baby #2 is persistently transverse (or sideways) and her OB recommends manually turning the baby. Tracy isn’t fond of that idea, so she does some research and goes to a chiropractor who specializes in helping with this using the Webste…

Brooklyn-based craniosacral therapist Regina Patane (BabyCranioNY) joins Lisa to provide some educational insights into this alternative modality of bodywork that can support babies and parents in their recovery from the birthing process. She not only explains the technique itself but also gives specific examples of how powerfully it can help a bab…

Personal trainer Leia wanted a homebirth, but because her husband wasn’t comfortable with that idea hired hospital midwives instead. She did lots of prenatal education and prep, and hired doulas who were the perfect fit for her. In hindsight she’s very glad she did that because she knew how to both advocate for herself and had an advocate there to …

Taylor and her husband never expected to have kids, and if ever maybe around 40. Then one day when Taylor was only 30, surprise! She was pregnant. In today’s episode, Taylor, who identifies as a biracial Black woman, shares how she went from working with a hospital OB to planning a homebirth with midwives and a doula. Her beloved doula, Chana, join…

Ellen, who shared her first two babies’ birth stories in Episode 26, returns to share her son’s preterm birth story following a relocation from NYC to California where they are now homesteaders growing toward self-sustainability. She had wanted an unmedicated birth with midwives, but due to her history of two premature births, she stays with a high…

Donna and Sandy share their 7-year-old daughter’s birth story. They had hopes for an unmedicated birth, and investigate switching from a hospital OB to a homebirth midwife toward the end of pregnancy. Ultimately, due to it being so soon before baby was coming, they end up sticking with their OB despite increasing signs of misalignment. Fortunately …

Today, a Nigerian-American doula based in New York named Theresa Lasbrey-Peters shares her two experiences giving birth in her 40s in a hospital without medication or interventions. As she narrates her journey through two pregnancies, she explains how important research, informed decision-making, and self-advocacy were for her. She exudes a refresh…

In a bustling city teeming with ambition and dreams, Alexis - an actress, dreamer, and now mother takes us on her journey into motherhood. From the grand stages of New York City to the intimate confines of a 5-story Harlem walk-up, Alexis prepares for the role of a lifetime. As she immerses herself in prenatal yoga, pores over all the books, and en…

In this 2nd episode of a 2-parter, Kaitlin shares her 2nd and 3rd babies’ birth stories. After having a traumatic first birth, Kaitlin finds her voice and makes every effort to help things go differently. This includes finding a VBAC-supportive provider since she was aiming to have a vaginal birth after cesarean, seeking out lots of education and h…

Today’s story is the 1st episode of a 2-parter. In it, the founder of Be Her Village, a baby registry that provides a way to give the gift of support instead of far less important baby gear, shares her first of 3 babies’ birth stories. Kaitlin’s 3 births couldn’t be more different from each other. In this episode, Kaitlin shares planning for a birt…

Melissa had her first baby as a teen but second baby 15 years later with a different partner and with an early pregnancy loss in between. Each journey was very different, and she shares in today’s episode how and why she made quite different choices for her most recent birthing process. This included switching from obstetrical care to hospital midw…

In part 2 of this 2-episode birth story, Jessica shares the rest of her unmedicated birth story with midwives in an NYC hospital. She details the contrast of her very positive birth experience to the postpartum care experience, discusses some initial breastfeeding challenges in which an IBCLC provides stellar support and addresses a lip tie & tongu…

Jessica learned about midwives and doulas in a college class, which planted the seed for her desire once becoming pregnant for an unmedicated birth. As a runner, she made connections between how empowering and satisfying running a race can be to her desire to have an unmedicated birth. In this episode, Jessica shares her story of alternative concep…

Bettina prides herself on being a thorough researcher. She carries that into pregnancy and interviews 6 doulas before choosing one, switches from an OB to midwifery care when she doesn’t feel aligned, gets prenatal breastfeeding support due to having inverted nipples, and more. At the end of pregnancy, talk of induction arises due to concerns of fe…

Following an early pregnancy scare, Taylor proceeds to have a healthy pregnancy. Feeling frustrated when she passes her due date and isn’t showing much change toward going into labor, Taylor tries all the things to start labor and avoid induction. Once her water breaks, she has a super efficient unmedicated birth in which she labors at home for as …

Sierra envisioned a waterbirth for her baby, but was disheartened to find it’s hard to find a birthing location where that’s possible and also hard to find birthing center options in NYC. With the help of her doula, she finds the one birthing center in all of NYC and switches her care. Working with midwives, Sierra immediately feels much more cared…

Despite the fact that EmJ has always had a self-professed low pain tolerance, she finds instinctive coping mechanisms that work for her to have the unmedicated birth that she had hoped to have in a Manhattan hospital. Part of what helps this happen was how EmJ receives uncommonly doula-like support from the nurses that helps her to manage well when…

As a teenager, Crystal learned she has a bicornuate uterus which significantly affected her menstrual cycle. So it’s no small miracle years later when she conceives naturally twice after being told she’d probably need to use IUI or IVF. When her son doesn’t seem to have room to flip from breech to vertex (or head up to head down), and because docto…

Cally’s hopes were high for an unmedicated birth. She gets thrown a curve ball when her membranes rupture as the first sign of labor. Knowing that an important strategy for a healthy birth is to labor at home for as long as possible, she doesn’t rush to the hospital. When she does go many hours later, she bravely signs an AMA (“against medical advi…

As a doctor of physical therapy specializing in pelvic health, Nidhi is quite well-informed during her pregnancy, and had hoped to have an unmedicated birth with limited or no interventions. As her pregnancy develops, Nidhi learns she has gestational diabetes and goes on insulin and baby has an abnormal quad screen. In light of these things, her OB…

In today’s episode, Jewish doula and mental health therapist Chana Diamond returns to share her 2nd and 3rd babies’ birth stories. She shares the details of two more unmedicated, uncomplicated vaginal births in a hospital attended by the same midwife as her first. Her babies were born healthy, despite a bit of concern due to identifying the rare Ki…

Millennials & die-hard Queens natives Suzanne & Edgar share the many smart things they did to prepare for the journey into parenthood and in hopes of having a healthy pregnancy & unmedicated birth: pre-conception couples therapy, going back on mental health meds in the journey to conceive, physical prep with exercise including yoga, nutritional sup…

Hallie and Eric had a long 3-year journey to conceive their son. Along the way, previously undiagnosed conditions PCOS and Hashimoto’s are identified. Hallie eventually decides to seek out complementary therapies in her pursuit to conceive such as acupuncture, which seems to make a big difference. She conceives on the first IVF transfer and immedia…

Whenever Hannah tried to reconcile her background as a professional dancer with the idea of pregnancy and birth, it felt like the two were incompatible. Yet when she does get pregnant, she finds ways to beautifully integrate the two. While pregnant, Hannah obtains a grant to both create and perform a dance work that tells the story of her journey i…

Kelly eagerly educated herself and prepared for giving birth in all the ways – prenatal yoga, hiring doulas and a midwife, taking birth class, strategic nutrition, acupuncture, seeing a pelvic floor therapist. Because she’s a self-professed “jaded” professional working in the medical field, she made very intentional choices surrounding her care pro…

Kaley did everything she could to maintain a healthy, active lifestyle throughout her pregnancy. She continued her running habit, then around 20 weeks she needed to shift to swimming and also did prenatal yoga. Toward the end of her healthy pregnancy, she’s told that her cervix is already 4 centimeters dilated and 90% effaced, yet her labor wouldn'…

Mara & Dylan did lots of great prep for birth in pregnancy – acupuncture, massage, birth class, hiring a doula, yoga, and more. Having heard her stepmom share how beautiful her own home birth was, this planted a seed of trust in the birthing process. When the time comes for her own baby’s birth, she feels most in her element laboring at home, using…

Lauren’s first time giving birth was pre-pandemic in Australia in a very different healthcare system. So when she and her husband Shaun relocated to the NYC area to suburban New Jersey and wanted to conceive again, she began listening to this podcast as a way to get to know the local birth environment. Today she shares her experience of having an u…

Jewish doula and mental health therapist Chana decides to get off medications for depression and anxiety during her pregnancy. This results in a recurrence of both, including pretty severe insomnia and her family strongly encourages her to get back on medications. She gets back to feeling more well for the rest of her pregnancy, but then her belove…

Michelle knew all of her life that she experiences medical anxiety and convulsive syncope. So, when she started thinking about her deep desire to grow a family, she started educating herself and preparing strategically. Knowing herself and her anxiety challenges, she started planning for an unmedicated birth. Along the way, her strategies included …

When Brooklynites Megan & Ted decide to try to get pregnant around the beginning of the pandemic, they’re surprised to conceive immediately. After seeing an OB and desiring less rushed time and more holistic care, they eventually land on giving birth at Brooklyn Birthing Center with midwives and a doula. Megan’s taken aback and challenged when she …

When Becky and her transgender husband decide to grow their family, it’s a long, winding road to meeting their baby. First step: make very careful adjustments to her depression & anxiety meds in order to conceive as safely as possible. Next step: the tedious process of seeking out a sperm donor. Then they had to go through 7 emotional rounds of IUI…

As a person working in both the wellness and fashion fields, Nadia had intentionally pursued a healthy, fit lifestyle with an active meditation and breathwork practice. However, she discovered she had to ease up on those expectations in pregnancy and be gentle with herself. Early on in her pregnancy and at the recommendation of a friend, she hired …

Today, Bronx-based Dominican couple, Ana Rosario & Josmar Rojas, share their son’s uncomplicated homebirth story. Ana’s background as a social worker had opened her eyes to the challenges Black/BIPOC folks face giving birth in a hospital setting, so she’d decided previously in her first pregnancy, which unfortunately resulted in loss, to give birth…

Liza & Jon are surprised when they conceive much more quickly than expected. Toward the end of an uneventful, happy pregnancy, they learn their son is breech. They try almost everything to get their breech baby to flip, but baby was happy as a clam sitting on her bladder. With cesarean scheduled, Liza goes into labor spontaneously a week early and …

After Amber experienced both a pregnancy loss and subsequent challenges conceiving a second time, she and her husband eventually conceive their rainbow baby on the first try with IUI. At 18 weeks, they learn their baby is breech, and she continues to be persistently breech, despite trying a number of things to help baby flip. Amber has to make a me…

Today, Joanna & Tony share their son Felix’s birth story. They were due after the Covid shutdown in NYC but, fortuitously, gave birth just shy of 37 weeks shortly before the shutdown. They show up to a prenatal visit almost 6 cm dilated (technically called “active labor”) yet not even feeling any labor sensations. Their doc tells them they need to …

As a pelvic PT, Helene started off pregnancy with unique and applicable skills that informed her decision to pursue an unmedicated delivery in a hospital. She shares about the various things that helped her have mostly the kind of labor and birth she had hoped for, including support from her husband and doula, breathwork, a peanut ball, hydrotherap…

Jaymie started off her pregnancy under OB care but came to realize that the medical setting wasn’t the right choice for her birth, so she transferred her care to a home birth midwifery team. She shares about what helped her prepare for her physically demanding labor at home and how her husband and team of midwives supported her throughout labor. Sh…

Astoria resident Eileen chose her birth place on Long Island because it was where her Labor & Delivery nurse mother works and had relationships that would lend themselves to things going as well as possible and having her preferences honored. She also did all the things to prepare as best as possible for a healthy pregnancy and birthing experience.…

Lisa and Clint share the details of their unexpectedly fast first labor experience that results in Clint catching their baby on the sidewalk right outside Weill Cornell hospital in Manhattan in the dead of winter. They also discuss the realities of navigating postpartum at the start of a global pandemic and the importance of giving yourself lots of…

Sophia’s first birth was a planned homebirth that needed to transfer to the hospital for a cesarean due to baby’s position. Today she shares how she was determined to try for a vaginal birth after cesarean, also known as VBAC, at home. Sophia details lots of smart insights based on both her own journey as well as her knowledge as a doula. We talk a…

Today’s season 3 premiere episode shares a birth story with birth class students and podcast listeners, Lucy & Cam. They share how Lucy had hoped for a physiological birth and how surprised she was in coming to the U.S. from the UK that midwifery isn’t the default standard of care. As she goes through her pregnancy working with an OB, over time she…

In this final episode of Season 2, we'll hear a theme of gratitude. Laura communicates lots of it in today’s birth story as she shares the story of a well-supported metamorphosis into motherhood, her matrescence. Laura’s story is another pandemic birth story in which she equipped herself and her partner with birth doula support early in pregnancy a…

When Evelyn & James conceive their baby, they have no idea they’ll be giving birth during a pandemic. As a dancer and trainer, she even keeps touring for a while with her dance company and teaching Pilates classes for part of pregnancy and just before Covid gets real. Once the pandemic hits, they decide to abruptly leave NYC to be closer to Evelyn’…

Scharisse felt like she was getting lackluster care in her pregnancy at a hospital under Medicaid but thought she just had to deal. She was being told she should just schedule a cesarean because of her age and being overweight, and it didn’t sit right with her. Then one day, when she was around 30 weeks pregnant, she encountered a doula who encoura…

Actor-singer Aimée discovers she’s pregnant right after her and her husband’s honeymoon, which they returned from just before the pandemic shutdown and experiences both a healthy pregnancy but also sadness of not being seen by friends or family throughout her pregnancy. Today Aimée will share her baby's birth story in which she intentionally labors…

Sasha planned to give birth with a midwife and developed a birth plan for a peaceful, unmedicated birth. Some of her plans necessarily go out the window when, at 37 weeks Sasha is diagnosed with pre-eclampsia and has to immediately come to the hospital in the snow to be induced for the safety of her and her daughter. This story will help expectant …

Today Emily shares her two pregnancy stories and a birth story. First, she describes experiencing pregnancy loss at 11 weeks. It surprises her when the grief was longer-lasting and more complex than she expected, but shares the essential support she discovered to help her through the journey of loss. Then Emily tells the story of conceiving her rai…