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At the turn of the year and the beginning of a new astrological age, I find myself once again thinking about the future of life, humanity and of course, the future of birth. So today, picking up where we left off near the end of 2020, I thought I would share my thoughts out loud here on the Journey to Birth Podcast. So here we go to contemplate about the future and the choices that will take us there.___________________________________________Further info & opportunities:Learn about  The Natural Birth Compass Online Childbirth Preparation Program to prepare for your birth by clicking here.Download your copy of the assessment our students and podcast guests use by clicking here.

Birth led by nature is more than just having a natural birth, whatever that really means today - I have heard so many definitions the last few months, I doesn't even sound like a word any more! Birth lead by nature is more than avoiding interventions, in fact it has very little to do with these things, but it has everything to do with the intentionality of life.I am going to share some thoughts that might go against what is commonly accepted today, in the hopes that we will continue to break through the status quo, go beyond the regular definitions, see through routine procedure, and see birth and life through new lenses and fresh perspectives. Today I will share some ideas and probably ramble a bit about some ideas of natural pregnancy, natural birth and the impact of technology in prenatal care and birth on this episode of the Journey to Birth podcast. Also I shared an announcement - as we enter into the final months of 2020, I may have to put new episodes on hold for the rest of the year, or nearly so, which means there may be some gaps or rebroadcasts in the coming weeks, so I if I don't catch you in the meantime, wishing you a wonderful holiday season with your family, I know it will be here fast!___________________________________________Further info & opportunities:Learn about  The Natural Birth Compass Online Childbirth Preparation Program to prepare for your birth by clicking here.Download your copy of the assessment our students and podcast guests use by clicking here.

How much should you use research and evidence based information to inform your birth?Is research in the realms of pregnancy and birth useful or practical?If so, how does it inform your pregnancy and birth?If not, what can you use to inform your birth?Questions of research and evidence based medicine are what's on the Journey to Birth podcast today!Further info & opportunities:Link for the 2019 research article about induction of laborLearn about  The Natural Birth Compass Online Childbirth Preparation Program to prepare for your birth by clicking here.Download your copy of the assessment our students and podcast guests use by clicking here.

Welcome to a Journey to Birth podcast coaching session. We're back with our fourth coaching call with Marie Eve, a first time mom preparing for her first birth, which she is arranging to have at home with a midwife. This is my fourth call with Marie-Eve and likely the last call before we hear her birth story as by the time this episode airs, it will be in the window of time that Marie-Eve is expecting her little girl to make her way into the world. So in this fourth call we discuss any final questions Marie-Eve has about getting ready for birth, including strategies for timing contractions and how to avoid letting timing contractions disrupt the flow of labor, we talk about the infamous ring of fire, and Marie-Eve shares some updates about her little one's position and we go into some different perspectives about baby's position for birth and conversations that not everyone is having about laboring with a less than optimally positioned baby.And on that subject, just a quick reminder that everything on this podcast is for educational purposes only and is not meant to replace the care of your provider. Why I bring this up is that especially when it comes to birth, when you are inviting a care provider or birth provider of any sort into your birth space, there will be a line of comfort somewhere, so for instance in this case with Marie-Eve's baby, I suggest she open a conversation with her midwife about what it could look like to approach this situation differently, but if a midwife responds with fears and concerns and does not feel confident that you can have your baby this way, then her fears can be the very thing that interferes with your birth process and causes a level of danger that may not have existed until then. It's very easy for us to partition aspects of birth into black and white, yes and no, safe and unsafe, but birth is full of gray areas, and there are so many ways babies can find their way out if we look up and peer over the edge of the box we put birth into. As a society, most people aren't here yet, most birth providers wouldn't dream of assisting a malpositioned baby, but the more we consider these kinds of things here on this podcast and in larger birth communities , the more we break down the walls and talk about it, the more possibility there is to help more babies come into the world in the way they are supposed to get here. And before I go further on this tangent that will become a whole episode of it's own before this year is out I'm sure, let's get back with Marie-Eve and her Journey to Birth. _______________________________Further info & opportunities:Learn about the childbirth preparation method our guest used to prepare for her birth by clicking here.Download your copy of the assessment our students and podcast guests use by clicking here.Are you an expectant parent who would like to experience a coaching session on the Journey to Birth podcast? Visit NaturalBirthCompass.com/podcast to fill out our questionnaire and we will contact you.  

Expectations is one of those charged words, especially when it comes to birth. So often women feel they don't want to have expectations for birth because they don't want to be disappointed if their expectations aren't met. Are you one of them?This episode will explore some other perspectives of expectations, how we develop our feelings about them and how to view them in your birth preparation, should you find they are a helpful piece of your overall birth approach...hint: I think they are super important!! But, you'll have to hear why!_______________________________Further info & opportunities:Learn about  The Natural Birth Compass Online Childbirth Preparation Program to prepare for your birth by clicking here.Download your copy of the assessment our students and podcast guests use by clicking here.

Welcome to a Journey to Birth Coaching Session. On this series, I am joined by Marie-Eve, a first time mom preparing for her first birth, which she is arranging to have at home with a midwife.  In the third call, Marie-Eve and I discuss a lot including: How many people she is comfortable having at her birthThe difference between those annoying pregnancy calf cramps and labor crampsWe review timing contractions after she watched the training video in her courseHow her birth partner can use emotions to identify the progress of contractions and labor overallThe kind of support that Marie-Eve finds beneficial in other aspects of her life and how she can use that in her birthBeing flexible vs inflexible and setting healthy vs inflexible expectationsWhen it's safe to practice acupressure for laborAnd a couple of book recommendationsAs you may know, these coaching calls are all real, nothing here is scripted. I know very little about these mommas before we start these calls other than the one page intake form they fill out so I know what they are hoping achieve from their birth preparation because my goal is to keep these coaching sessions real and authentic, the actual experience my students go through as they prepare for birth so you can learn right along with them. _______________________________Further info & opportunities:Learn about the childbirth preparation method our guest used to prepare for her birth by clicking here.Download your copy of the assessment our students and podcast guests use by clicking here.Are you an expectant parent who would like to experience a coaching session on the Journey to Birth podcast? Visit NaturalBirthCompass.com/podcast to fill out our questionnaire and we will contact you.  

Nocebo, placebo all these interesting terms we have to tell people you what your experiences are. Amongst academics, the nocebo effect is described as experiencing a negative response to a drug or treatment based on the belief that you will respond negatively.  The nocebo effect in regard to pregnancy and birth is intertwined with the expectation that has been created that pregnancy and birth are medical events waiting to happen, that the normal stress of pregnancy and the physiologic adaptations that a woman’s body has to support her growing baby are somehow a problem to be managed, always a risk, and that risk comes with fear, and that fear comes with side effects, which may present as the very thing everyone around a pregnant mom is scared of.So today we are going to look at the concept of the nocebo effect and I hope that this help you to recognize if this is happening to you or the pregnant mamas in your care, or your loved ones, or anyone else you might notice who is affected by this influence. So let's begin to explore the nocebo effect on this episode of the journey to birth podcast._______________________________Further info & opportunities:Learn about  The Natural Birth Compass Online Childbirth Preparation Program to prepare for your birth by clicking here.Download your copy of the assessment our students and podcast guests use by clicking here.

Welcome to a Journey to Birth Coaching Session. On this series, I am joined by Marie-Eve, a first time mom preparing for her first birth, which she is arranging to have at home with a midwife.  In our second call together, Marie eve and I work through various aspects of her birth vision and how she can best prepare her birth team for how to offer the type of support that helps her the most during times of stress and we have an overview of some newborn topics like vitamin k and antibiotic ointment.  As you may know, these coaching calls are all real, nothing here is scripted. I know very little about these mommas before we start these calls other than the one page intake form they fill out so I know what they are hoping achieve from their birth preparation because my goal is to keep these coaching sessions real and authentic, the actual experience my students go through as they prepare for birth so you can learn right along with them. _______________________________Further info & opportunities:Learn about the childbirth preparation method our guest used to prepare for her birth by clicking here.Download your copy of the assessment our students and podcast guests use by clicking here.Are you an expectant parent who would like to experience a coaching session on the Journey to Birth podcast? Visit NaturalBirthCompass.com/podcast to fill out our questionnaire and we will contact you.  

Welcome to a Journey to Birth Coaching Session. On this series, I am joined by Marie-Eve, a first time mom preparing for her first birth, which she is arranging to have at home with a midwife.  In this first episode of her coaching series, Marie-Eve will share why she desires a homebirth, we discuss a couple questions she has about doulas and waterbirth, and then we talk about to expect as she get ready to begin her childbirth course in the coming days. As you may know, these coaching calls are all real, nothing here is scripted. I know very little about these mommas before we start these calls other than the one page intake form they fill out so I know what they are hoping achieve from their birth preparation because my goal is to keep these coaching sessions real and authentic, the actual experience my students go through as they prepare for birth so you can learn right along with them. _______________________________Further info & opportunities:Learn about the childbirth preparation method our guest used to prepare for her birth by clicking here.Download your copy of the assessment our students and podcast guests use by clicking here.Are you an expectant parent who would like to experience a coaching session on the Journey to Birth podcast? Visit NaturalBirthCompass.com/podcast to fill out our questionnaire and we will contact you.   

If you have been listening to this podcast, you have probably heard Starre's birth coaching series and ever since we did her postpartum call to process her birth story, I have wanted to distill a few things that came up during that call from her birth story, and some perspectives related to it that I would like to explore about our birth culture. So I thought I would take you on that exploration with me. So today I will dive into the yin and yang of birth you could say, how we approach birth and what this says about our preparation for birth, our management of birth and the system of birth, and my thoughts on what we could be doing differently, maybe better, but at least differently._______________________________Further info & opportunities:Learn about  The Natural Birth Compass Online Childbirth Preparation Program to prepare for your birth by clicking here.Download your copy of the assessment our students and podcast guests use by clicking here.

If you have been listening to this podcast, you have probably heard Starre's birth coaching series and ever since we did her postpartum call to process her birth story, I have wanted to distill a few things that came up during that call from her birth story, and some perspectives related to it that I would like to explore about our birth culture. So I thought I would take you on that exploration with me. So today I will dive into the yin and yang of birth you could say, how we approach birth and what this says about our preparation for birth, our management of birth and the system of birth, and my thoughts on what we could be doing differently, maybe better, but at least differently._______________________________Further info & opportunities:Learn about  The Natural Birth Compass Online Childbirth Preparation Program to prepare for your birth by clicking here.Download your copy of the assessment our students and podcast guests use by clicking here.

Journey to Birth podcast coaching sessions are special episodes where you get to sit in with me and one of my Natural Birth Compass Program students while I help coach them in their pregnancy to prepare for their upcoming birth. These episodes give you the opportunity for an intimate and up close look at the experience of preparing for childbirth using a very unique method that we call the Natural Birth Compass Program. This is the fourth episode of Sarah's birth prep coaching series, and time is flying by! In today's episode, Sarah and I will explore her experiences with pain throughout her life to help her prepare techniques for her upcoming birth. Then we will explore the expectations she is setting for everyone on her birth team and her birth partner so she has the support she needs in labor. We will deep dive into some remaining questions she will bring up with her birth team at her next visit, which opens up our conversation about routine care, the differences between routine and mandatory procedures in your birth environment, your right of refusal in labor, we look at the range of concerns for cervical exams in labor because I find so many women don’t realize the layers of invasiveness of a cervical exam beyond the physical impact of the intervention itself. Finally, we talk about a physiologic vs managed third stage, which is all about birthing your placenta, we talk about options for using your placenta and what you need to know if you want to use it, and we talk a bit about common newborn procedures, like eye ointment and vitamin k.  _______________________________Further info & opportunities:Learn about the childbirth preparation method Sarah used to prepare for her birth by clicking here.Download your copy of the assessment our students and podcast guests use by clicking here.Are you an expectant parent who would like to experience a coaching session on the Journey to Birth podcast? Visit NaturalBirthCompass.com/podcast to fill out our questionnaire and we will contact you.  

Have you ever noticed that when you are pregnant, you are automatically put into a category, you are never just considered a healthy person going through a normal life experience, you are not looked at as a strong woman venturing on the journey of pregnancy and birth, instead when you are pregnant, you are labeled as either high risk or low risk, but always a risk. On this episode, I want to remind you that pregnancy & birth are not medical events and share why your prenatal visits shouldn't be focused on medical aspects of care or checking off the appropriate risk assessment test for each stage of your pregnancy and what to do if you can't find a care provider to support the prenatal care you need. So let's take a look at new perspectives of prenatal care on the journey to birth podcast._______________________________Further info & opportunities:Learn about  The Natural Birth Compass Online Childbirth Preparation Program to prepare for your birth by clicking here.Download your copy of the assessment our students and podcast guests use by clicking here.

This is the third episode of Sarah's coaching series, and in this episode, Sarah shares her struggles with trying to memorize all the information she is learning, wherein the approach I encourage is to observe the ways birth presents all around us in the natural world and within us in different ways until it feels second nature and comes naturally during birth rather than having to recall it in the moment. This is important because for some people, it is more difficult to learn in this circular, spiraled way vs the linear and memorizing facts approach most of us are exposed to in our education. So we will work through that in the first half of this episode. Then we will cover how she is preparing for the birth cycle, being ready for breastfeeding, what she and her husband are learning about communicating together, and we discuss some aspects of nutrition and core and pelvic floor exercises to help her feel more comfortable during the third trimester of her pregnancy.  Also, you will hear Sarah bring up a live stream birth we both watched, which was the birth of one of my colleagues, a fellow childbirth educator and birth doula in Canada names Alexis Christine Wild, and you can actually hear an interview I did with her about her preparation for this birth in episode #24._______________________________Further info & opportunities:Learn about the childbirth preparation method Sarah used to prepare for her birth by clicking here.Download your copy of the assessment our students and podcast guests use by clicking here.Are you an expectant parent who would like to experience a coaching session on the Journey to Birth podcast? Visit NaturalBirthCompass.com/podcast to fill out our questionnaire and we will contact you.  

Welcome to this Journey to Birth Coaching Call!This is the second half of a long follow-up call we had to process Starre's birth experience, so if you haven't listened to part 1, I recommend you do that first so you can hear her birth story to understand the context of the conversation we are having. In this half we are getting more into depth about why Starre is feeling the emotions she feels about her birth experience as well as how her expectations showed up in her birth and how she is adjusting to life as a mom of a 2-year old and a newborn. Before we hear her story, I just want to share the amount of admiration I hold for Starre and her husband as they prepared for this birth. Starre did exactly what I hope all of my students do as they go through this style of education, she really went on a journey of self-exploration and self-understanding that is changing the way she lives and interacts with her world. This is not easy work, and not everyone takes the material that is available here to this level, which means not everyone will have the result Starre had, but for those who are ready, who want to experience the power of giving birth, who want to experience the transformation of becoming a mother, of becoming powerful, and experience that is so profound that it might take months to process everything that happened, it is here, waiting for you, I am here waiting for you, and our community is here to welcome you.  I start with all of this because Starre's birth is truly incredible, so much so that she has a lot to process, a lot of emotions and perspectives that she didn’t expect, and this is something that can happen when a birth is so undramatic, as Starre says, so ordinary, when there are no heroics, only the birthing heroine. We ended up talking for nearly 3 hours in processing her birth, and I struggled with how to break this up for the podcast, or whether to break it up for the podcast. So ultimately, what I decided was to give you choice. Everything about reproduction, birth and life is about making choices, and I wanted to leave the choice in your hands. So, I broke this episode into 2 parts, but I am releasing them both on the same day, so if you prefer to break it into two separate listening experiences, it will be easy for you, but if you prefer to binge the whole 2 hours at once, you have that option available to you as well.  ___________Further info & opportunities:Learn about the childbirth preparation method Starre used to prepare for her birth by clicking here.Download your copy of the assessment our students and podcast guests use by clicking here.Are you an expectant parent who would like to experience a coaching session on the Journey to Birth podcast? Visit NaturalBirthCompass.com/podcast to fill out our questionnaire and we will contact you.  

Welcome to this Journey to Birth Coaching Call!If you have been following along on Starre's extraordinary birth preparation journey, you might be eagerly awaiting her birth story, and today she shares that story with us, and it is an amazing story that I cannot wait for you to hear. If you haven't, I really encourage you to go back and start at the beginning of her journey, she had 5 hours of live coaching preparation that are available to you to follow along with on this podcast. Before we hear her story, I just want to share the amount of admiration I hold for Starre and her husband as they prepared for this birth. Starre did exactly what I hope all of my students do as they go through this style of education, she really went on a journey of self-exploration and self-understanding that is changing the way she lives and interacts with her world. This is not easy work, and not everyone takes the material that is available here to this level, which means not everyone will have the result Starre had, but for those who are ready, who want to experience the power of giving birth, who want to experience the transformation of becoming a mother, of becoming powerful, and experience that is so profound that it might take months to process everything that happened, it is here, waiting for you, I am here waiting for you, and our community is here to welcome you.  I start with all of this because Starre's birth is truly incredible, so much so that she has a lot to process, a lot of emotions and perspectives that she didn’t expect, and this is something that can happen when a birth is so undramatic, as Starre says, so ordinary, when there are no heroics, only the birthing heroine. We ended up talking for nearly 3 hours in processing her birth, and I struggled with how to break this up for the podcast, or whether to break it up for the podcast. So ultimately, what I decided was to give you choice. Everything about reproduction, birth and life is about making choices, and I wanted to leave the choice in your hands. So, I broke this episode into 2 parts, but I am releasing them both on the same day, so if you prefer to break it into two separate listening experiences, it will be easy for you, but if you prefer to binge the whole 2 hours at once, you have that option available to you as well.  ___________Further info & opportunities:Learn about the childbirth preparation method Starre used to prepare for her birth by clicking here.Download your copy of the assessment our students and podcast guests use by clicking here.Are you an expectant parent who would like to experience a coaching session on the Journey to Birth podcast? Visit NaturalBirthCompass.com/podcast to fill out our questionnaire and we will contact you.  

Hormones are your body’s mysterious messengers, chemicals your body makes to set things in motion in your body 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The systems of these little chemical packages, primarily the endocrine system and also the nervous system, are some of the most complex systems of your body because they influence everything else in your body, the respond to everything happening in and around your body, in fact, these little chemicals may even save your life in the event of an acute threat, and we know they are intimately involved in pregnancy and birth, which is going to be my focus today as we dive into some expanded perspectives of hormones, probably in some ways you have never heard before as we explore the side of your hormones those pregnancy books never told you about on the journey to birth podcast._______________________________Further info & opportunities:Learn about  The Natural Birth Compass Online Childbirth Preparation Program to prepare for your birth by clicking here.Download your copy of the assessment our students and podcast guests use by clicking here.

Journey to Birth podcast coaching sessions are special episodes where you get to sit in with me and one of my Natural Birth Compass Program students while I help coach them in their pregnancy to prepare for their upcoming birth. These episodes give you the opportunity for an intimate and up close look at the experience of preparing for childbirth using a very unique method that we call the Natural Birth Compass Program. In this second episode of her coaching series, Sarah and I will discuss her birth vision, some ways she may need to prepare for breastfeeding and the healthy habits she is incorporating into her lifestyle to prepare for her out-of-hospital birth._______________________________Further info & opportunities:Learn about the childbirth preparation method Sarah used to prepare for her birth by clicking here.Download your copy of the assessment our students and podcast guests use by clicking here.Are you an expectant parent who would like to experience a coaching session on the Journey to Birth podcast? Visit NaturalBirthCompass.com/podcast to fill out our questionnaire and we will contact you.  

Journey to Birth podcast coaching sessions are special episodes where you get to sit in with me and one of my Natural Birth Compass Program students while I help coach them in their pregnancy to prepare for their upcoming birth. These episodes give you the opportunity for an intimate and up close look at the experience of preparing for childbirth using a very unique method that we call the Natural Birth Compass Program. Sarah is expecting her first baby and in this first episode of her coaching series, you will hear me gather information about Sarah and where she is at in her preparation for birth. In this hour, Sarah will share about her birth preparations so far, how she has been preparing for this birth, and how she is feeling about birth as a first time mom. Then we will talk about what to expect as she begins the Natural Birth Compass online childbirth course, what she and her birth partner need to focus on the most during their education course based on their specific needs, and we will layout the plan for our series of coaching calls. On this call, she will also talk about her experience of changing her birth provider and location at the end of her second trimester, why she made that decision, and all the things she had consider in making the transition. I hope you enjoy listening in as we help Sarah on her Journey to Birth!_______________________________Further info & opportunities:Learn about the childbirth preparation method Sarah used to prepare for her birth by clicking here.Download your copy of the assessment our students and podcast guests use by clicking here.Are you an expectant parent who would like to experience a coaching session on the Journey to Birth podcast? Visit NaturalBirthCompass.com/podcast to fill out our questionnaire and we will contact you.  

I spent the weekend listening to the wonderful herbalist and Wise Woman healer, Susun Weed, about the Seven Rivers of Healing. Each week in my midwifery program, we have to give a short presentation on a specific topic, and this week I was assigned the Wise Woman Tradition of Healing and how it applies to birth, which I was excited for because Susun Weed has such an insightful way with the words she uses to speak about the Wise Woman Traditions and they are also very steeped in Chinese philosophy and medicine, one of my other favorite topics to study.In fact, as I was going through her books again and listening to one of her Seven Rivers of Healing courses, I was inspired to create a mini Wise Woman Tradition course in my own online childbirth education program. So I just wanted to share some of this inspiring information with you here so it can serve you on your pregnancy and birth journey as well while I work on developing this new mini-course to provide another perspective of health and birth and how to own your own birth experience. If you love it and want to dive in deeper, you can find out more about my online childbirth program at NaturalBirthCompass.com/Course. If you are already in my childbirth course, then you will automatically get access to this course when it is ready!The Seven Rivers go like this:Do Nothing|Embrace Emptiness|Serenity MedicineCollect Information|Investigate Options|Story Medicine Engage Energy|Restore Energetic Connections|Mind MedicineNourish & Tone|Strengthen & Feed|Lifestyle MedicineStimulate & Sedate|Incite Strong Response|Alternative MedicineTake Pills|Ingest Drugs|Pharmaceutical MedicineBreak & Enter|Destroy & Remove Obstructions|High-Tech MedicinePast episodes mentioned in this episode:#11: Strength in the Birth Room & Beyond#17: Herbs in Pregnancy Part 1__________________________If you want to get started working with me to prepare for you natural birth, you can visit NaturalBirthCompass.com/course to learn about my online childbirth preparation course and if it aligns with your vision for your birth, you can join right away with the on-demand content and join in for our monthly group coaching calls.