Birth As We Know It ™️-Birth Stories and Experiences

Birth As We Know It ™️-Birth Stories and Experiences

If you are planning to become pregnant, trying to conceive, currently pregnant, have given birth in the last few years, or work in the birth field, Birth As We Know It ™️ is the podcast for you. Birth As We Know It ™️ is a birth story and birth experience podcast that is dedicated to recognizing the many different ways that birth unfolds. The good, the bad, and everything else in between. You will hear birth stories and birth experiences from the perspective of birthing people, birth partners, birth providers, birth workers, and more! This podcast was created to be a place where people can learn more about pregnancy, birth, and a little bit of postpartum, all while hearing about what really happens in the birth space. Every other week, join Kiona Nessenbaum as she interviews guests who encourage birth education by sharing their personal birth stories and birth experiences. She believes that hearing a birth story directly from the person who lived it, brings the individual human experience back to the forefront of childbirth education. Kiona is a mother of 3, a birth doula, a birth assistant, and a former student midwife who has supported over 140 birthing families. Through this podcast, you will find a connection in knowing that you are not the only one who has experienced something unexpected on your journey to parenthood. As people share their personal birth stories and experiences, you will hear about their entire journey through conception, pregnancy, labor, and birth. They will also touch on newborn feeding choices and overall postpartum experiences. You will also hear what providers and birth workers think and feel as they support birthing families on their journeys to parenthood. To learn more about the host Kiona Nessenbaum or see pictures of those who have shared their stories, go to birthasweknowitpodcast.com Subscribe to our newsletter: birthasweknowitpodcast.com/newsletter Connect with Kiona Nessenbaum on Instagram: @birthasweknwitpodcast and join the private Birth As We Know It ™️ Podcast Community on Facebook: birthasweknowitpodcast.com/community

Episodes

August 6, 2025 66 mins

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Deb and Norman share how they went from no kids to many through natural conception, also known as their DIY kids, and adoption. They also talk about how the emotions around experiencing pregnancy loss through miscarriages and how that impacts the emotions surrounding the following pregnancy. 

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Katie dives into the details of the birth she experienced with her son Zion, and talks about how rough postpartum was for her after the traumatic birth she experienced, especially since Zion was diagnosed with Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy in addition to the discovery that he has optic nerve hypoplasia. 

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Heather dives deep into the details of what each of her three pregnancies was like for her. She also touches on the importance of postpartum support and following your intuition because she had to do so for her second pregnancy, which was her first home birth experience. This led her to discover that her daughter was a footling breech at home. Want to find out what happened? Tune in to this episode and let...

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Description: Genesis dives into the details of what it was like to find out that her son had an atypical result on the Non-Invasive Paternal Testing (NIPT), which is a genetic test that screens cell-free fetal DNA for certain genetic conditions. Then she goes into the details of the induction that led to the birth of her baby boy, Giovanni. 

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Description: Jennifer is a mother to four children. Her fourth child is her daughter, Alyssa, who came into this world with all of the surprises. She was a surprise pregnancy for her parents and came with a very surprising diagnosis of a Giant Omphalocele, which was discovered during the very first ultrasound to determine her gestation! Tune into this episode to hear how Jennifer listened to her intuition ...

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Amanda dives deep into her true emotions about finding out she was pregnant so quickly after intentionally trying, and how that impacted her pregnancy and postpartum time with her first daughter, Aila. She also talks about how different each of her births unfolded because of how she prepared ahead of time. Furthermore, she dives into how being an active birth doula while pregnant and needing to birth durin...

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Maddie and Macka take us along on their journey to parenthood as they discovered their daughter Maya was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis. At the time of the recording, Maya is only 6 months old. Throughout the episode, you will hear how Maddie and Macka had to uproot their lives for 10 weeks to live in a different city so Maya could get the support she needed immediately after birth. This support included a...

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Sierra shares how devastating it was to experience a miscarriage during her first pregnancy and how that impacted how she felt throughout her pregnancy with her daughter Ember. She also touches on how her size, while being completely healthy, leads her providers to treat her differently and push her into an unnecessary induction. 

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Art dives into what it was like to watch his wife of 40 years give birth and become a mother to their children more than 20 years ago. He also talks about what it was like to be in the hot seat and to catch their second child per the doctors request. Spoiler alert, he highly encourages all partners to do so if they ever get the chance. 

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Mackenzie was saddened when she had to get an induction with her first son Jack due to low amniotic fluid levels, but was very surprised when the induction went faster than anyone had expected. Her first birth inspired her to birth with midwives for her second son Teddy. The way that birth unfolded was more than she could have ever imagined. 

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March 12, 2025 19 mins

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Kelly shares how she came up with the idea of the breastmilk-sharing app Share The Drop. She also talks about its impacts on the breast cancer community and families with new babies as well as going into how the search filters work on the app. 

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Carly and Jonathan experienced two very different births with their daughters. Their first daughter Kinsley was an induction at the hospital and the birth of their second daughter Raelynn was an unplanned unassisted water birth at home. Carly trusted her body and listened to her intuition throughout both experiences. Jonathan had some advantages since he was in medical school at the time both of them were ...

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Nicky was birthed into motherhood through adoption, but it was far from easy for her and her husband to have a baby placed with them. The birth mother of their son Jack also had an interesting situation that caused Nicky and her husband to be stuck in California for 3+ weeks before being able to take their baby back home. 

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Mariela expected to have one child and be done. Little did she know that getting pregnant for a second time unexpectedly 9 years later would lead her to twins and a breast cancer diagnosis. Tune in to this episode to hear Mariela talk about her journey of discovering she was pregnant with twins, that she had breast cancer as well as discussing the importance of mental health. 

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When Ashley found out she was pregnant with twins she was very surprised, but not as surprised as she was when she found out that she was pregnant again. This is because she needed some assistant with getting pregnant the first time and the second time happened unexpectedly without any additional assistance. Tune in to hear the how Ashley did things differently her second time around. 

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Even though Jeanelle worked in healthcare as a registered nurse, she still decided that giving birth in the healthcare system was not the safest option for her or her babies. After getting diagnosed with PCOS at 16 and then gestational diabetes during her pregnancy she was put in the high-risk category for pregnancy and birth. Because of this she decided to dive deep into her own research and choose her ow...

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In this episode, Hannah shared her experience with being cared for by out-of-hospital midwives and birthing her son Hunter at a stand-alone birth center. She also talks about how during the immediate postpartum time she had to be transferred to the hospital before being released home to obtain sutures for a 3rd degree vaginal tear. 

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In this episode, Aly talks about how she emotionally handled caring for and losing her father during her first pregnancy with her son Cristian. She also gives all the details about how her second labor with her daughter Sara did not go as planned because it was extremely fast as well as touching on how her two postpartum experiences differed from each other. 

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In this episode, Lindsay speaks on the assumptions people make when they find out you have gone through the route of adoption to grow your family. She also talks about what it was like to find the two different local families that she matched with in order to grow her family from two to four in less than two years time. 

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In this episode, Bettina discusses the quick and lovely start to her relationship with her husband and the challenges she experienced while conceiving her third child. Even though she conceived her first two children on the quicker side, Bettina experienced three miscarriages prior to experiencing her final full-term pregnancy with her daughter.

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