Happy Homebirth

Have you ever looked back on a past birth experience and realized…
“Wow, I didn’t actually know how powerful my body was”?

 

This week, we're speaking with Melissa Gurd, wife to her husband Jason and mother of six children living on a family homestead in Florida. Melissa shares the progression of her birth experiences over the last decade—from medically managed hospital births, to a frustrating cesarean in 2020, to finally discovering the peace and redemption of homebirth.

 

Episode Roundup:

 

First…
For some mothers, the deepest birth education happens through experience.

Melissa described entering her early births with very little understanding of physiological birth, or at least without a sense of deeper purpose or desire around experiencing it for herself.

So many of us in our childbearing years grew up hearing that birth is something to manage– that it’s risky, and it’s something best left to the professionals.

But over time, Melissa began learning more about how the body works, how positioning matters, how nourishment matters, how patience matters… and it transformed  the way she approached birth.

Second…
I loved hearing the redemption woven into her homebirth after cesarean.

Especially the moment when she realized that her fourth baby weighed exactly the same as the baby she had previously been told was “too big” to birth naturally.

How powerful is that?  Melissa was able to see what her body was capable of when she was supported, unrushed, and allowed to labor physiologically.  She knew now for certain that she could do this.

Another thing that stood out to me was Melissa’s honesty about waiting.

Forty-two week pregnancies.
Prodromal labor.
The emotional ups and downs of wondering – is today the day?

I think prolonged pregnancy and prodromal labor can be one of the most refining parts of pregnancy, and extremely applicable to motherhood:

You can’t force it.
You can't control it.
You can only sit in the reality that this is outside of you.

I loved when Melissa said that birth taught her patience because it’s one of the few things in life that so tangibly shows us we do not have control.

And finally…
I just loved the family-centered beauty expressed through Melissa’s journey.

Children waiting excitedly for their siblings.
A daughter hearing the baby cry and bursting into tears of joy.
Generations living together on the same property.
Babies entering the world surrounded by love and loved ones. 

Wow.  In this way, birth is not separated from family life— it’s integrated directly into it.  Which is one reason so many women are drawn to homebirth in the first place.  It honors the entire family ecosystem.

 

Links:

 

Redeem ™ |  https://hubs.ly/Q03K0Dr90

“Click here to learn more about REDEEM HealthShare Ministry”

 

Whole Mother Homebirth | https://www.myhappyhomebirth.com/wholemotherhomebirth (use code PODCAST for 10% off)

 

Youtube Episode Link:

What happens when the birth you prayed for…doesn’t happen?

And how do you move forward when the thing you prepared for so carefully
ends in grief, disappointment, and questions you never expected to ask?

 

This week, we're speaking with Raylee, a homeschool mother of two from Texas who is passionate about Montessori education, physiological birth, and intentional motherhood. Raylee grew up in a large homeschooling family and witnessed homebirth from a young age, which shaped the way she viewed birth long before becoming a mother herself.

 

Episode roundup:

 

First…
I think this episode speaks so deeply to the grief that can come when birth doesn’t unfold the way we hoped.

Raylee prepared intensely for her first birth. She studied. She visualized. She cared for herself well. And yet—her birth ended in a way she never expected.

I know that many mothers understand that kind of heartbreak.

When your expectations and your reality feel worlds apart.

But what moved me most was hearing how her perspective was renewed over time—not minimizing the pain, not pretending it was easy—but Raylee found profound meaning and growth within her experience and decided to take responsibility for her journey.  This intentional step out of victimhood catalyzed a huge spiritual change in her life.  One she wouldn’t take back even if she could.

Next…
I kept thinking about the difference between control and prepared surrender.

With her first birth, Raylee described feeling very certain about how things would go. And after that experience, she entered her second pregnancy differently.

She still prepared, she was still intentional, but her edges truly softened in a noticeable way.  

Raylee was less attached to perfection and far more open-handed.

Surrender does not guarantee a certain outcome—but it changes the way we move through the experience itself, however it unfolds.

 

And finally…
Raylee’s second birth was such a beautiful picture of trust– and it was revealed slowly.

Over days of early labor, Over intentional healing work, prayer.
And through choosing to believe her body was capable again.

I loved hearing her describe labor as intense… but not frightening. Powerful… but not pathological.

Which is a huge distinction:

Physiological birth is not necessarily painless.
But it also does not have to feel traumatic.

And when women are supported, uninterrupted, nourished, and safe… the body often knows exactly what to do.

 

 

Links:

 

Redeem ™ |  https://hubs.ly/Q03K0Dr90

“Click here to learn more about REDEEM HealthShare Ministry”

 

Whole Mother Homebirth | https://www.myhappyhomebirth.com/wholemotherhomebirth (use code PODCAST for 10% off)

 

Youtube Episode Link: https://youtu.be/FSypyheqzoY

What happens when the person working inside the hospital system…
still chooses homebirth for herself?

And… what does it look like when years of witnessing birth—
the beauty of it, the interventions, the emergencies, the physiology—
leads someone not further from instinctive birth…
but deeper into trust?

This week, we're joined by Alehson Treadwell, a labor and delivery nurse, IBCLC, and mother of three, whose personal birth experiences evolved alongside her years caring for women inside of the hospital system.

 

Episode Roundup: 

 

First…
I think her story is such a powerful reminder that knowledge does not have to create fear.

Alehson has spent over sixteen years working as a labor and delivery nurse. She has seen complications. She has seen intervention. She knows the hospital system deeply. And yet—rather than moving further away from physiological birth, she moved into it.

Sometimes understanding physiology more deeply actually increases trust in the body—not decreases it.

 

Next,
I love the progression we hear across her births.

Her first birth held anxiety, timelines, and the pressure of approaching forty-two weeks. Her second birth was fast and overwhelming in a completely different way– But by her third birth, we hear a mother who has settled into pregnancy, labor and trusting herself more thoroughly. 

I especially loved hearing how specific she became in prayer during that final pregnancy.

She prayed for the right people to be there, to be present, and to have peace.


And finally…
This conversation around postpartum nourishment is so important.

Alehson spoke candidly about postpartum anxiety, depletion, low ferritin, and the connection between nourishment and mental health.  The truth is we cannot separate the physical from the emotional. What happens in the body can impact the emotional, and vice versa.  Which means that rest matters.Minerals.  Water.  Warm nourishing food.  It’s foundational.

 

Links:

 

Redeem ™ |  https://hubs.ly/Q03K0Dr90

“Click here to learn more about REDEEM HealthShare Ministry”

 

Restorative Roots  | restorativeroots.com (use code HAPPYHOMEBIRTH for $20 off your first order)

 

Whole Mother Homebirth | https://www.myhappyhomebirth.com/wholemotherhomebirth (use code PODCAST for 10% off)

 

Youtube Episode Link: https://youtu.be/TXEaxJEg1-I

Can hope return after something painful changes the way you experience motherhood?

 

This week, we're speaking with Lydia Ashford, a flower farmer, worship leader, wife, and mother of two daughters born at home on the Northern California coast. Lydia and her family live and work together on a flower farm with her parents and sisters, raising babies alongside one another in a deeply connected community.

In this conversation, Lydia shares the beautiful homebirth of her first daughter—but also the traumatic postpartum complications that followed– and the transformational healing that slowly took place after.

 

Episode Roundup:

 

1. “Postpartum is porous.”

Lydia described postpartum as “spongy”—that everything spoken over a mother during that season goes straight to the heart.

YES. The postpartum period is incredibly vulnerable.

The voices around a mother matter.
The support, the encouragement, it is all so critical.

And hearing how her midwife, her mother, her husband, and her community continually spoke hope over her while she struggled with breastfeeding… it’s such a powerful reminder that support can completely shape a postpartum experience.

2. I was deeply moved by Lydia’s honesty about fear after trauma, because it’s such a common experience.  

Sure, not everyone has experienced sepsis or emergency surgery postpartum, but many mothers have walked through complicated births or postpartum seasons that left them afraid to do it again.

And I loved hearing how Lydia described God slowly transforming fear into hope—not all at once… over time.  

Through prayer walks, community, stories, scripture, and through intimate moments of healing.

 

3. This line Lydia shared just got me at my core:

“I will not nurse fear. I will nurse hope.”

What a powerful renewing of her mind.  She intentionally refused to let fear become the center of the story.

Wow, doesn’t  that apply so far beyond birth?

What are we feeding?
What are we nurturing?
What are we allowing to shape the atmosphere of our homes, our motherhood, our hearts?

Lydia’s story is such a beautiful reminder that healing does not always mean the absence of difficulty.  Healing is allowing hope to return.

 

Links:

 

Redeem ™ |  https://hubs.ly/Q03K0Dr90

“Click here to learn more about REDEEM HealthShare Ministry”

 

Restorative Roots  | restorativeroots.com (use code HAPPYHOMEBIRTH for $20 off your first order)

 

Whole Mother Homebirth | https://www.myhappyhomebirth.com/wholemotherhomebirth (use code PODCAST for 10% off)

 

Youtube Episode Link: https://youtu.be/_zhc9aKXtME

Have you ever reached the point in labor—or honestly, in life—where you truly didn’t think you could keep going?

 

This week, we're speaking with Faith Robinson, a stay-at-home mom from Kansas City, wife to her husband of three years, and mother to baby Ezekiel. Faith grew up around birth through her mother’s work as a doula, but despite always wanting an unmedicated birth, she initially viewed birth primarily as a medical event. That slowly began to change after witnessing a peaceful birth as a teenager—and eventually led her and her husband to prayerfully pursue homebirth for their own family.

In this episode, Faith shares her pregnancy journey, navigating back pain from previous spinal injuries, concerns about preeclampsia symptoms late in pregnancy, and the emotional challenge of going well past her due date.

And then came the loooong labor.  You’re going to love hearing her perseverance.

 

Episode Roundup:


 1. I keep thinking about the importance of support.
Not just during birth itself—but throughout pregnancy too.
Faith described so many moments where she felt deeply cared for by her midwives. They listened to her concerns, helped her navigate anxiety, supported her through physical discomfort, and treated her as a whole person rather than just managing symptoms.
That kind of care changes the way women experience pregnancy and birth.

 

2. This story is such a reminder that labor does not always unfold quickly or neatly.
Forty-seven hours is a long time.
And I appreciated Faith’s honesty about how difficult that became mentally. The discouragement after learning she was still only two centimeters after hours of strong contractions… the exhaustion… the moments of saying, “I don’t want to do this anymore.”
I think many women need to hear stories like this because sometimes physiological birth is portrayed as effortless if you just “trust enough” or if you do the precise right things to prepare. 
But birth is intense, so trusting birth doesn’t mean pretending it’s always easy.
Sometimes trust looks like continuing one contraction at a time.

 

3. I was so moved by the way Faith described the Lord meeting her during labor.
The difficulty was not removed.  The pain was not instantly ended.
But He gave her exactly what she needed for the next step.
A moment of encouragement. A reminder that she was safe. The strength to continue.
Truth be told, I think that mirrors motherhood so often too, at least for me.
We’re not always given the full picture ahead of time.
 But grace does meet us where we are.


Ps. Shout out to Faith’s mom Kim. You’re the best, love you girl.

 

Links:

 

Redeem ™ |  https://hubs.ly/Q03K0Dr90

“Click here to learn more about REDEEM HealthShare Ministry”

 

Restorative Roots  | restorativeroots.com (use code HAPPYHOMEBIRTH for $20 off your first order)

 

Whole Mother Homebirth | https://www.myhappyhomebirth.com/wholemotherhomebirth (use code PODCAST for 10% off)

 

Youtube Episode Link: https://youtu.be/PFkl9gpM_k8