Doing It At Home - The Home Birth Podcast

Warning: this is an amazing episode. Full of conversation around pleasurable, joyful, ecstatic birth. It may cause you to feel empowered and excited around birth. There, we gave you a heads up!

But seriously, we are so honored to have Debra Pascali-Bonaro join us on the show. She’s another one of the powerhouses of the birthing community that we’ve been anxious to meet and chat with. She is the creator and director of the documentary, “Orgasmic Birth: The Best-Kept Secret.” She’s also the co-writer of “Orgasmic Birth: Your Guide to a Safe, Satisfying and Pleasurable Birth.” Oh and also a Lamaze International childbirth educator,  birth and postpartum doula trainer with DONA International. And the Founder & President of the revolutionary online childbirth class Pain to Power, which prepares expectant mothers, fathers, and partners to be positively prepared for birth and focuses on the intimate and sacred nature of birth.

In our interview, we talk about her path to being obsessed with birth, learning from her own birth story. We also chat about the concept for the documentary and where it came from. We explore themes from the documentary and the impact it’s had on the conversation of birth. Plus we talk about other cool projects that Debra has her hand in, and a surprise for any of those interested in checking out her online childbirth class “Pain to Power.”

Thank you to Debra for her knowledge, passion and tireless effort to serve and inspire!

Links From This Episode:


Orgasmic Birth: The Best-Kept Secret - https://www.orgasmicbirth.com/


Orgasmic Birth: Your Guide to a Safe, Satisfying and Pleasurable Birth - https://www.orgasmicbirth.com/products/books/


Pain To Power Childbirth Class - https://www.paintopowerchildbirth.com/


Happy Healthy Child - http://www.happyhealthychild.com/


Eat Pray Doula - https://www.eatpraydoula.com/


Sign up for 3 Free Videos on finding your power and pleasure in birth:  http://www.paintopoweroptin.respond.ontraport.net/optin

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In today’s episode we’ve got the whole family on the phone - Meggie and Steve Andrews join us, along with their baby William, or Liam as they refer to him.

Meggie reached out to us during her pregnancy, thanking us for what we’re doing on the show and sharing how helpful it had been for her as she planned for the home birth of her first child with her husband Steve (we’ve copied her original email below). And interesting fact - they weren’t planning on having children. But, surprise!  So they worked through some of the mental and emotional adjustments that come with this huge unexpected life change.

Meggie happened to have a friend who birthed at home, so after speaking with her and watching Business of Being Born, they explored the midwifery model of care. And then one of the biggest things throughout the pregnancy - they decided to move from Virginia to Michigan. So that meant finding different midwives, who could collaborate with each other and support Meggie and Steve as much as possible in making the transition and keeping up with the best prenatal care and birth planning as possible. Another interesting fact - they had their home birth in the same house that Meggie grew up in!

So listen in as we talk about some of the interesting questions and comments you get when you have a home birth like, “Is that witchcraft or something?” and advice for those home birth dads and birth partners.

Added bonus of Liam’s presence in the interview. We love having newborn coos in the background! 

Links From This Episode:

https://www.amazon.com/Ina-Mays-Guide-Childbirth-Gaskin/dp/0553381156

http://gentlenaturalbirth.com/product/gentle-birth-gentle-mothering-2nd-ed-amazon-usa/

https://www.birthingfromwithin.com/products/birthing-from-within

https://us.hypnobirthing.com/

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In this episode, we get to speak with both mom and dad! We love when we get to chat with a home birth couple and hear both perspectives from the decision-making process to the experience itself. So we’re chatting with Jarmar and Jonnelle Dupas. 

They live in Austin, Texas with their 4 children. Their switch to home birth happened with their most recent baby, Jase. For them, they were interested in something different and evolving from some of the coldness they noticed in the hospital setting. They had always used midwives with their births, so transitioning into home seemed like the next step. 

Jarmar and Jonnelle both described their home birth as much more peaceful. Basically, a thousand times better and something they would’ve done sooner had they known. 

A highlight from their story is that “divine connection” with their midwife Afua. We certainly know the difference that the level of care can make, and how important it was for us to feel connected and have a deep sense of trust with our midwives. 

And get this - they are a podcasting couple as well! Their show “Get Your Money Right” is all about financial well-being. We can dig that (since babies aren’t cheap!).

Listen in and enjoy as we get to know more about Jarmar and Jonnelle, their family and their magical home birth!

Links From This Episode: 

Birth Without Fear Website - http://birthwithoutfearblog.com/

Birth Without Fear Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/birthwithoutfear/

Ina May’s Guide To Childbirth - https://www.amazon.com/Ina-Mays-Guide-Childbirth-Gaskin/dp/0553381156%3FSubscriptionId%3D04FYKDC4BW6PJ6HFG002%26tag%3Dinamaygaskina-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0553381156

Business Of Being Born - http://www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com/

Afua Hassan from The Birthing Place - http://www.thebirthingplace.com/our-team/afua-hassan/

The Get Your Money Right Podcast - https://yourmoneyright.com/

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Lindsay Bonnar was one of the first moms we spoke with when we started doing interviews back in the day. In our part 1 with her (episode 20) we talked about the birth of her daughter Charlie, whom she originally planned to birth at home, and eventually transferred to a birthing center to have an awesome birth experience. At the time, she was pregnant with baby number two and planning another home birth.

Now, our part two (and episode 85!) with Lindsay is about the birth of her son, Linken. Spoiler alert: they did it at home! Linken was born at home, surrounded by love and support.

There were a few curve balls during the birth. Lindsay would later learn that some cord compression was occurring and it was causing Linken’s heart rate to drop. At one point, Lindsay’s midwife thought they might have to go to the hospital. Paramedics were called and as if orchestrated, Linken made his entrance just as the responders arrived at their home. Everyone was healthy, safe and did not need to be transported.

With the concern of the cord compression, this meant Lindsay had to push baby out efficiently and in a short amount of time. She told us how she pushed him all the way down the birth canal in less than 10 minutes. She cannot emphasize enough how important it is for mamas to do their squats in preparation for birth!

Lindsay’s part 2 is really a testament to stellar care in the form of her midwife, a loving, safe environment to support her and the incredible tenacity and power that is the birthing woman.

Links From This Episode:

Lindsay’s blog on Linken’s birth story - ⁠https://feedingyourgenes.com/2017/04/23/linkens-birth-story/⁠

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We love the little synchronicities that the universe throws out there. Like publishing this episode right after our previous episode - completely unplanned. If you missed our last episode, we spoke with Jessicca Moore, the creator of the documentary, “Why Not Home?” a film that explores the decisions of hospital birth care providers (nurses, doctors, midwives, etc.) who chose home birth. 

Well in this episode, we have Alyssa’s story. The synchronicity that we mentioned? Alyssa is a registered nurse, with most of her experience in the postpartum and nursery units. Our conversation with Alyssa is the perfect follow up to our interview with Jessicca last week, where we talk about birth professionals choosing home birth. Alyssa is this person! How awesome is that?

And Alyssa is super knowledgeable. We were just in awe of all the information she has and can rattle off. There’s so much that we included parts of her emails and additional resources in the extra notes with the episode on our website. 

Alyssa shares her passion for birth with us along with her journey of pregnancy and birth for her daughter Zoey with her husband Chris. They actually switched over to a home birth plan and midwifery model of care in the third trimester (so it’s never too late for you to use the care provider that aligns best with you!). Like many of our guests, Chris and Alyssa watched “Business of Being Born.” Chris’s response, “We can do this. Let’s just do it at home!” We like his style!

Alyssa has firsthand experience of what it feels like to choose home birth, when you work in an environment that does not typically support it. Fears, reactions and judgements from friends, family, co-workers come up in our talk. Also what evidence-based practice is about, the details around informed consent and why birth is not a pathological process. Alyssa’s amazing birth experience and fascinating perspective given her profession make this a must-listen episode!

Links From This Episode:

http://www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com/

https://us.hypnobirthing.com/

https://www.amazon.com/Ina-Mays-Guide-Childbirth-Gaskin/dp/0553381156%3FSubscriptionId%3D04FYKDC4BW6PJ6HFG002%26tag%3Dinamaygaskina-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0553381156

CDC study - https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr63/nvsr63_05.pdf

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