Happy Homebirth

Have you ever worked so hard for something — prepared for it, prayed over it, given it everything you had — only to watch it unfold nothing like you pictured? And then found, on the other side, that it shaped you anyway?

 

Carly Hartwig is a wife and a mama of two little girls up in upstate New York, a former special education teacher who followed her own journey with fertility awareness all the way into a new calling — she's now a certified fertility awareness educator and holistic reproductive health practitioner, walking women home to their bodies from the comfort of her own. And here's what makes this one so special to me: Carly has been listening to this podcast for years. She got ready for both of her births with these stories in her ears. So it is a true honor to hand her the microphone now.

In this episode, Carly shares two homebirths that could not have been more different. Her first: a forty-nine-and-a-half-hour labor with a baby who flipped posterior and asynclitic, relentless back labor, a catheter, and a middle-of-the-night conversation about whether to transfer — and how she stayed. Her second: a birth she manifested and prayed over down to the smallest detail, a water birth so fast her midwife said the baby "fire-hosed" out, with her four-year-old in the room to announce her little sister. She takes us through the hard beauty of both, and the tender, honest reality of two very different postpartums. You are going to love her perseverance, and the way she holds it all with so much gratitude.




This podcast is sponsored by Samaritan Ministries. As a paid Samaritan member content creator, I receive compensation for sharing about the ministry.

 

Samaritan Ministries International is not an insurance company and does not guarantee that medical bills will be paid by SMI or other individuals. Participation in health care sharing is voluntary. Members remain personally responsible for their own medical expenses.

 

 Required legal notices for residents of certain states are available at: https://samaritanministries.org/about/transparency-legal.

 

Episode Roundup:

 

The first is the contrast itself. Two births — same woman, same home, same midwife — and worlds apart. One asked her to endure: forty-nine and a half hours, a posterior baby, back labor that left a welt on her back for weeks. The other asked her to surrender: a water birth so fast her baby "fire-hosed" right out. It would be so easy to rank them, the hard one and the easy one. But Carly won't let us, and she's right. Neither was a reward for good behavior. Neither was luck. Both were the fruit of a woman who prepared the whole of herself and then met her birth as it actually came.

Next, let’s talk about where her confidence came from. When Carly walked into her second birth so grounded, so sure — that steadiness wasn't handed to her by the manifesting, as beautiful as that practice was. It was forged in the first birth. "If I can deliver a posterior and asynclitic baby," she told us, "I can take whatever this baby throws at me." The hard birth is what made her sure. That's redemption at work: it doesn’t erase the difficult story, but it transforms what it means.

And third: I deeply appreciate Carly’s honesty about after. Her dream birth was followed by her harder postpartum — a feeding journey she didn't expect. Carly doesn't smooth that over, and I love her for it. Because a beautiful birth was never a promise that everything after would be easy. It was, however, preparation and encouragement that this woman can carry it and move through it.

So wherever you are in your own preparing — whether you're doing the forward-leaning inversions and the daily birth stories, or you're lying awake wondering whether your body will know what to do — keep this in mind. You don't have to earn your birth. You get to meet it. You cannot script the length of your labor, or which way your baby will face, or how postpartum will unfold. But you can become the woman who meets any of it grounded, supported, and trusting. As Carly said it best: both hard, both beautiful, both empowered.

And that woman — the one who's prepared in mind, body, heart, home, and marriage — is exactly who I get to walk with inside Whole Mother Homebirth. It's not about scripting the perfect birth. It's about becoming a prepared woman, the way Carly was for both of hers. If your heart tugged a little listening today, that's worth paying attention to. You can find everything in the show notes whenever you're ready.

 

Links:

 

Carly's IG: instagram.com/cleanlivingwithcarly

 

FREE Peaceful Birth Reset: https://www.myhappyhomebirth.com/birthreset

 

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

 

Youtube Episode Link: https://youtu.be/7mHvzla8Qyg

 

Learn more about Samaritan Ministries: https://samaritanministries.org/happyhomebirth

Have you ever sat in that strange, sacred in-between, when labor has whispered its beginning but hasn't fully arrived, and felt something rise up in you that you couldn't quite name? What if that feeling wasn't fear to push away, but power to say yes to?

 

Petronella is a mother, a wife, and a lover of nature, art, and creativity, joining us all the way from Sweden. She grew up with one of the rarest gifts a woman can carry into her own birth: a mother who *loved* to give birth, and who told those stories with such joy that they shaped how Petronella saw birth her whole life. Long before she was ever pregnant, she was steeping herself in birth. Assisting at her friends' homebirths. Witnessing her sister's birth. Listening to birth stories nearly every single day.

 

In this episode, Petronella shares what it looked like to birth at home in a country where homebirth is deeply uncommon. Finding private midwives outside the system, stepping back from routine checks, and trusting her own knowing. She tells us about her water breaking under the biggest full moon of the year, the moment of fear that turned into the words *you're going to meet your power*, and a birth she experienced not as pain, but as wave after wave of intensity and surrender. And she shares the tender, grounded peace of meeting her daughter, and discovering, as she put it, a brand new heart. You're going to love her presence and the way she tunes inward.

 

Episode Roundup:

 

First…

I keep coming back to the power of preparation.

Petronella didn't start getting ready for birth when she got pregnant. She started years before. She assisted at her friends' homebirths. She witnessed her sister's birth. She listened to birth stories nearly every single day, so many that her husband would laugh, another birth story?

By the time labor arrived, trust wasn't something she had to summon in the moment. It was already woven into her. What a picture of how preparation works. Not as control, but as a foundation you get to stand on when the day finally comes.

Next…

I was so moved by the moment Petronella described as meeting her power.

Early in labor, before things had fully begun, a fear rose up in her. Quiet. Deep. And instead of pushing it away, she got still and asked it what it was. What came back to her was an invitation: you're going to meet your power.

She said yes. And from that yes, the fear was gone. No doubt. No question.

How often do we treat fear as a stop sign? Petronella's story is such a reminder that sometimes the fear we feel in birth isn't a warning at all. It might be a doorway.

And finally…

The theme that stayed with me most was surrender.

Petronella prepared more intentionally than almost anyone I've spoken with. And still, she said it so simply: even when we know, we don't have any control over it. It's a miracle. And a miracle asks us to surrender.

 

 

This podcast is sponsored by Samaritan Ministries. As a paid Samaritan member content creator, I receive compensation for sharing about the ministry.

 

Samaritan Ministries International is not an insurance company and does not guarantee that medical bills will be paid by SMI or other individuals. Participation in health care sharing is voluntary. Members remain personally responsible for their own medical expenses.

 

 Required legal notices for residents of certain states are available at: https://samaritanministries.org/about/transparency-legal.

 

Links:

 

FREE Peaceful Birth Reset: https://www.myhappyhomebirth.com/birthreset

 

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

 

Youtube Episode Link: https://youtu.be/SvtI4BWYfMM

 

Learn more about Samaritan Ministries: https://samaritanministries.org/happyhomebirth

What happens when you're preparing for birth while carrying far more than the weight of pregnancy? When your family is spread across the country, your husband's health is in crisis, and every plan you've made seems to unravel?

 

 This week, we're speaking with by Tricia Prado, a mother of seven whose journey into her seventh birth came during one of the most challenging seasons her family has ever faced. As her husband's health declined and their family became separated across multiple states, Tricia found herself learning a lesson that would carry her through both life and birth: trust harder.

 

Episode Roundup:

 

Fear often creates more suffering than the thing we're afraid of. Tricia shared the wisdom that pain itself won't destroy us, but fear of pain can become its own burden.

Birth and life ask for the same thing: trust. Whether she was facing labor, separation from her husband, uncertainty about the future, or the challenges of postpartum, the invitation remained the same—trust harder.  That doesn’t mean do more.  It doesn’t mean try harder.  It means take a look at where your faith lies.

We aren't meant to walk difficult seasons alone. The women, family members, friends, and caregivers who surrounded Tricia remind us how powerful community can be during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum.

And finally–God's provision doesn't always arrive on our timeline, but it often arrives exactly when it's needed. Only every story in the Bible confirms this, right?  Imagine the terrifying feeling of being an Israelite feeling Egypt with the whole Egyptian army behind you only to meet the shoreline.  We know the sea will part for them, but can you imagine in that moment how uncertain that would have felt?  And how does this feel in our own lives?  Sometimes, oftentimes in my experience, we have to come to the shoreline.  The beauty is when we learn to meet the waters with expectation of what will happen next as opposed to sheer terror.  Again and again,Tricia's story showed that reality.  Wow, what an inspiration.

Fear often creates more suffering than the thing we're afraid of. Tricia shared the wisdom that pain itself won't destroy us, but fear of pain can become its own burden.

Birth and life ask for the same thing: trust. Whether she was facing labor, separation from her husband, uncertainty about the future, or the challenges of postpartum, the invitation remained the same—trust harder.  That doesn’t mean do more.  It doesn’t mean try harder.  It means take a look at where your faith lies.

We aren't meant to walk difficult seasons alone. The women, family members, friends, and caregivers who surrounded Tricia remind us how powerful community can be during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum.

And finally–God's provision doesn't always arrive on our timeline, but it often arrives exactly when it's needed. Only every story in the Bible confirms this, right?  Imagine the terrifying feeling of being an Israelite feeling Egypt with the whole Egyptian army behind you only to meet the shoreline.  We know the sea will part for them, but can you imagine in that moment how uncertain that would have felt?  And how does this feel in our own lives?  Sometimes, oftentimes in my experience, we have to come to the shoreline.  The beauty is when we learn to meet the waters with expectation of what will happen next as opposed to sheer terror.  Again and again,Tricia's story showed that reality.  Wow, what an inspiration.

Link:

FREE Peaceful Birth Reset: https://www.myhappyhomebirth.com/birthreset

 

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

 

Learn more about Samaritan Ministries: https://samaritanministries.org/happyhomebirth

 

Youtube Episode Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEYbjJsfsfs

Have you ever felt called toward something… but been completely terrified to do it?

This week, we're joined by Ally Roberson, a wife, mother of two, homesteader, and creator documenting her family's journey toward a more intentional life in rural Georgia. When Ally became pregnant with her second baby, she found herself pulled toward homebirth. But there was one major obstacle standing in the way:

Fear.

My friends, today's episode is for the woman who wonders if she's strong enough.

The woman who loves the idea of physiological birth but in the back of her mind thinks, "That might work for other women, but not for me."

 

Episode Roundup: 

 

First...

 Fear does not always have to disappear completely before you move forward.

I think so many women are waiting for confidence to arrive before they commit to homebirth, before they trust their bodies, before they step into labor.

But Ally's story is an example of leading with courage, not confidence.  She didn’t feel confident, but boy did she prove to be courageous.

Ally admitted that she remained afraid throughout her pregnancy. She didn't suddenly wake up at 39 weeks feeling fearless. She simply continued taking the next step.

That fear is actually one of the reasons  I created Whole Mother Homebirth.

Because fear is one of the most common concerns I hear from women preparing for birth. Not necessarily fear of homebirth itself—but fear that they won't be able to cope. That labor will be too intense. Fear that they don't have what it takes.

Inside the course, we spend a significant amount of time addressing fear, nervous system regulation, mindset, relaxation techniques, and practical tools to help women prepare mentally and emotionally for labor.  Podcast listeners get a 10% discount when they use the code PODCAST at checkout- the link is in the show notes or go to myhappyhomebirth.com and click homebirth course

 

next…

I loved hearing the contrast between intervention-heavy care and family-centered care.

One of the most striking parts of Ally's story wasn't even labor itself—it was the difference in how she felt: The difference between being on the clock and being supported…feeling managed vs. feeling cared for…being a patient vs being a mother.

Birth is physiological, but good golly is it also deeply emotional. The environment, the people surrounding us, the sense of safety and support…. It all very much matters. And Ally's experience highlights that beautifully.

 

Finally…

Can we talk about that 11-pound baby?

Woof, I think that's going to be the headline everyone remembers.

But I hope you’ll take away even more than the fact that Ally birthed an 11-pound baby at home.

Through the process, she realized she was designed to do more than she believed she could.  

For so long she had been telling  herself, "Other women can do this, but not me."

But then she did it.  She kept moving forward despite her own fears, and she reached the other side with a whole new perspective of herself and her body.

Is that you?  Are you on the before side wondering if you can actually pull it off?  You don’t have to be completely fearless– you can still be courageous and keep moving forward.

 

Link:

FREE Peaceful Birth Reset: https://www.myhappyhomebirth.com/birthreset

 

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

 

Learn more about Samaritan Ministries: https://samaritanministries.org/happyhomebirth

 

Youtube Episode Link: https://youtu.be/O2IXrQ66VGQ?si=XrSAjlRsymV2izED

 

Ally’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@allylothman

Have you ever been so certain about a decision that, even when everyone around you questioned it, you knew deep down it was the right path for you?

 

My friends, today’s conversation is a fascinating look at conviction, trust, and what it means to take full responsibility for your birth experience.

This week, we're speaking with Gabrielle Lacey, a wife, mother, welder-turned-farmer, and soon-to-be mother of three living in the mountains of North Carolina. Gabrielle shares the stories of her first two free births, both of which unfolded in unique and memorable ways.  

 

Episode Roundup:

 

1. I keep coming back to the power of preparation.

Whether or not you’d give birth unattended, one thing is undeniable about Gabby’s choices: she spent years thinking about birth before she ever became pregnant. She listened to stories, studied, asked questions, and spent time considering what she believed about birth and motherhood.

 

2. I loved hearing the difference between Gabby’s first and second births.

Her first birth felt very independent.

It was just Gabby and her mother-in-law, taking the situation as it came.  In the end, they were the only ones who witnessed her daughter’s entrance, with Gabby’s husband Hayden arriving 15 minutes later.

But by her second pregnancy, she had built a community– one that she wanted to witness her birth.

She talked about hosting women's circles, finding friendships with other mothers, and inviting support into the experience.

How special that she’s experienced the birthing process in two very different ways. 

 

3. The theme that stayed with me most was trust.

Trusting her body.

Trusting her baby.

Trusting the process.

There was that incredible moment during her first birth when her baby's head was born and then everything paused. Instead of panic, Gabby prayed. She spoke to her baby. She stayed present. And eventually labor resumed exactly as it needed to.

What a reminder:

Fear is not the only option when something unexpected happens.

And one more thing before we close.

I loved Gabby's reflection at the very end of our conversation when she talked about trusting babies.

Not rushing them.

Not forcing timelines or assuming we know better than they do.

How beautifully does this translate to motherhood: Trusting that our children are participating in this journey with us.  We’re working together as we grow.

 

 

Link:

 

FREE Peaceful Birth Reset: https://www.myhappyhomebirth.com/birthreset

 

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

 

Learn more about Samaritan Ministries: https://samaritanministries.org/happyhomebirth

 

Youtube Episode Link: https://youtu.be/nTGVW4bIHH4

Gabby's Instagram | www.instagram.com/humble.hill.homestead