Doing It At Home - The Home Birth Podcast Independent Podcast Network | Sarah Bivens and Matthew Bivens

How does your first pregnancy and birth experience impact your second?
In today’s interview, we’re chatting with Carolyn about her pregnancy and birth story of her son Solomon, while pregnant with her second child. 
We go over her decision to have a home birth as well as the intense first trimester sickness she experienced. Also the denial around labor starting, which we’ve heard quite a few times from mamas on the show.
Carolyn shares that while the birth went very well, it was still different from what she imagined in her mind. Following her birth, she experienced postpartum anxiety that involved separation anxiety and trouble sleeping. Addressing the anxiety and getting help around it has supported and encouraged her in preparation for her next child, due this fall. 

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More From Doing It At Home:

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When it comes to birth, what does it mean to “do your homework?”
This is a big theme of our conversation with Emily Stanwyck, birth doula, Birthfit trainer and home birth mom of 2.
According to Emily, “you can have 2 perfect home births when you do your homework!”
We talk about what this means for her not only as a doula but as a mother. Plus details of both of her home births, addressing the fear of the unknown and talking about the really uncomfortable things that can come up around birth and having a “why” around your birth.
Things we talk about in this episode: birth partner asking questions and feeling confident in their role, doing your homework in prep for home birth, connection of birth and death, letting go during labor, feeling confident in your body and birth, fetal ejection reflex, having a postpartum plan.

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More From Doing It At Home:

Send us your birth story: https://bit.ly/3jOjCKl


Doing It At Home book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3vJcPmU


DIAH Website: https://www.diahpodcast.com/


DIAH Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doingitathome/


DIAH YouTube: https://bit.ly/3pzuzQC


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Today's episode is an interview and home birth story of Lindsay Bonnar. Lindsay is another beautiful face of home birth, sharing her plans for home birth with her daughter that eventually shifted into a transfer to a birthing center.
Now pregnant with baby number two, Lindsay is planning another home birth, a decision that we are totally inspired by and know others will be as well. 
For Lindsay, birth was the most spiritual experience of her life. And she talks about trusting herself and her body in such a way - it’s an amazing example to women everywhere to empower themselves to choose in alignment with what’s best for them. 
Another aspect of Lindsay’s story that really resonated with me and Matthew was the role of her husband Kevin and how awesomely he showed up for the birth experience. Dads and birth partners, take notes from this one!

Links From The Episode:

Lindsay’s blog post on her birth story - https://feedingyourgenes.com/2014/05/26/84/


Birthfit - http://www.birthfit.com/



Offers From Our Awesome Partners:

Needed: https://bit.ly/2DuMBxP - use code DIAH to get 20% off your order

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Esembly: https://bit.ly/3eanCSz - use code DIH20 to get 20% off your order


More From Doing It At Home:

Send us your birth story: https://bit.ly/3jOjCKl


Doing It At Home book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3vJcPmU


DIAH Website: https://www.diahpodcast.com/


DIAH Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doingitathome/


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For those mamas who experienced their waters breaking - how long did it take for labor to begin after that?
Well in the case of today’s guest, Jenna Lehr, her water broke on a Tuesday, and her baby was born that Saturday!
What we love about this detail is the opportunity it provides to normalize all the unique aspects of every woman’s body, baby and birth itself. Sometimes waters break and it takes a while (or days) for active labor to begin). Sometimes the waters break in the middle of labor. Sometimes during delivery. Sometimes they break multiple times. And sometimes they don’t break!
In this birth story we get to hear how Jenna and her husband Jason planned for their home birth. It evolved from knowing nothing about birth to watching “The Business of Being Born” and seeking more information to having preconception appointments to talk about what birth could be and look like.
We also talk about dealing with the doubt that can creep in - the pressure, stress and emotion that pops up and tests your conviction. And how her husband Jason was super involved and supportive in the whole process. 

Offers From Our Awesome Partners:

Needed: https://bit.ly/2DuMBxP - use code DIAH to get 20% off your order

Splash Blanket: https://bit.ly/3JPe1g0 - use code DIAH for 10% off your order

Esembly: https://bit.ly/3eanCSz - use code DIH20 to get 20% off your order


More From Doing It At Home:

Send us your birth story: https://bit.ly/3jOjCKl


Doing It At Home book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3vJcPmU


DIAH Website: https://www.diahpodcast.com/


DIAH Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doingitathome/


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How do you prepare for birth beyond the physical factors?
Today’s guest is Amy Zhou, a certified Health Coach and Medicine Woman who specializes in teaching women (and men) how to heal their body, mind and spirit naturally at home. She’s also a new mama to her son Nathaniel, who is three and a half weeks old at the time we recorded this episode.
We cover a lot of great things with Amy. For starters, she gave birth in the exact days the situation of COVID-19 dramatically shifted and accelerated in the United States, and specifically in her area of Los Angeles, California. According to Amy, it was like the world was a certain way when they entered the hospital, and then completely different when they emerged. So we chat about initial postpartum during an interesting time in the world and how she’s processing that.
We also hear about Amy and her husband Ed’s preparation process for the birth experience. Their internal spiritual work was vital. Particularly when some challenges popped up, like an IUGR diagnosis (intrauterine growth restriction). This meant there were concerns about baby Nathaniel’s small size and how that could impact possibly inducing Amy before her due date.
And bonus - Amy shares some of her gifts and expertise with listeners and leaves some tips for pregnant mothers both from her own experience as well as her extensive training and coaching. 

Links From The Episode:
Amy’s website: https://www.amyzhou.com/home


Offers From Our Awesome Partners:

Needed: https://bit.ly/2DuMBxP - use code DIAH to get 20% off your order

Splash Blanket: https://bit.ly/3JPe1g0 - use code DIAH for 10% off your order

Esembly: https://bit.ly/3eanCSz - use code DIH20 to get 20% off your order


More From Doing It At Home:

Send us your birth story: https://bit.ly/3jOjCKl


Doing It At Home book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3vJcPmU


DIAH Website: https://www.diahpodcast.com/


DIAH Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doingitathome/


DIAH YouTube: https://bit.ly/3pzuzQC


DIAH Merch: www.diahpodcast.com/merch


Give Back to DIAH: https://bit.ly/3qgm4r9
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Have circumstances impacted your pregnancy and/or birth?
Today we’re chatting with Heather Delaney, childbirth educator, certified labor and postpartum doula and CEO of Maryland State Doulas. 
Heather walks us through how she and her team of doulas and birth professionals shifted during the 2020 Pandemic to serve their clients with virtual support. When policies (like partners and/or doulas not allowed in birthing rooms of hospitals and centers) and communications have been challenging, they’ve found alternative ways to educate and empower, regardless of the birthing location.
We talk about what some of the biggest changes/challenges have shown up in the birth world, what families can do in the midst of everything as well as how to minimize the fear around birth that already exists and can be magnified when blended with the conversations around COVID-19.

Offers From Our Awesome Partners:

Needed: https://bit.ly/2DuMBxP - use code DIAH to get 20% off your order

Splash Blanket: https://bit.ly/3JPe1g0 - use code DIAH for 10% off your order

Esembly: https://bit.ly/3eanCSz - use code DIH20 to get 20% off your order


More From Doing It At Home:

Send us your birth story: https://bit.ly/3jOjCKl


Doing It At Home book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3vJcPmU


DIAH Website: https://www.diahpodcast.com/


DIAH Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doingitathome/


DIAH YouTube: https://bit.ly/3pzuzQC


DIAH Merch: www.diahpodcast.com/merch


Give Back to DIAH: https://bit.ly/3qgm4r9





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