Birth Matters

In this episode, Rachel, a mother of three boys, a doula, and a passionate advocate for maternal health shares her transformative journey through her three pregnancies and births. She details the challenges of her first traumatic C-section, the struggle and acceptance of her second scheduled C-section, and then her victorious vaginal birth after 2 cesareans with her third baby. We discuss the systemic biases and disparities in heal...

Today Bea shares her perinatal journey from dealing with unexpected infertility and IVF to the whirlwind experience of a fast labor and delivery. She discusses the realities of fertility treatments and the specific challenges surrounding her fear of needles, the surprise of her water breaking dramatically while she was asleep, and a bit about the great support she got in early breastfeeding, sleep challenges, and an early thyroid i...

Today's episode is a combination of 3 birth stories and then a chat with a fellow birth worker named Meagan Heaton, co-founder of The VBAC Link. She's going to share a little bit about her three births, which include two cesareans and one vaginal birth after two cesareans. Then we have a chat about vaginal birth after cesarean. This episode should be interesting and educational even if you are expecting your first baby an...

Seanna had a traumatic first birth in 2020. It was an emergency cesarean in 2020 in which she felt completely unempowered. In her 2nd pregnancy, she makes many different decisions in hopes to have a radically different, more empowering birth. She goes to therapy to process and heal from the birth trauma with the help of EMDR. Seanna takes birth class and learns how to advocate for herself and her baby, hires doulas, chooses a truly...

Today NYC obstetricians Drs. Worth & Mussalli chat with Lisa to discuss all the ins and outs of gentle cesarean as well as the different medical indications for a c-section. They also compare and contrast planned cesareans to emergency cesareans to non-emergent cesareans. You’ll also hear them detail a new collaborative care model pathway in which pregnant folks in NYC can get prenatal care with them and then transfer their car...

Upper West Sider Diana wanted an unmedicated birth and prepared by hiring doulas and switching from a large OB practice to a hospital midwife in an OB practice that she felt much more comfortable with. As she approaches her due time and her provider starts bringing up scheduling an induction at 40 weeks, she does all the things to try to go into labor. At 39 weeks, her water ruptures spontaneously (and loudly) while sleeping and sh...

Today we welcome new mom, Chantal. Previously diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome, Chantal expected getting pregnant to take a while, so getting pregnant on the first try came as a surprise. On the heels of completing birth class and having a marathon of 3 baby showers, another surprise happens when Chantal’s water breaks prematurely at 35 weeks. When she arrives at the hospital, she learns her hospital has a free doula prog...

Today you’ll hear from one of the two homebirth midwives that was highlighted and praised in the last episode. Our guest today is Sorayya Kassamali Rickicki, a New York City-based home birth midwife whose practice is called Taarab Midwifery. Sorayya shares her journey from being a birth doula to becoming a midwife, inspired by her own physiologic, unmedicated births. The conversation emphasizes the importance of respectful care, th...

In this episode, Sheyda and her partner Corentin (who goes by Coco) share their experience of having a home birth for their son, Hugo. They discuss their prenatal journey in choosing to give birth at home with a midwife team and doula team and how ideal their birth team was for them because they prioritized consent-based, connected care. They share how, while the labor and birth went pretty smoothly, Sheyda chose to transfer to the...

Tracy’s second pregnancy surprises her by being much more challenging than the first. Toward the end of pregnancy, baby #2 is persistently transverse (or sideways) and her OB recommends manually turning the baby. Tracy isn’t fond of that idea, so she does some research and goes to a chiropractor who specializes in helping with this using the Webster technique. Baby successfully flips and Tracy’s able to have the vaginal birth she w...

Brooklyn-based craniosacral therapist Regina Patane (BabyCranioNY) joins Lisa to provide some educational insights into this alternative modality of bodywork that can support babies and parents in their recovery from the birthing process. She not only explains the technique itself but also gives specific examples of how powerfully it can help a baby and parent receive gentle adjustments from the physically arduous experience they’v...

Personal trainer Leia wanted a homebirth, but because her husband wasn’t comfortable with that idea hired hospital midwives instead. She did lots of prenatal education and prep, and hired doulas who were the perfect fit for her. In hindsight she’s very glad she did that because she knew how to both advocate for herself and had an advocate there to help her navigate the unexpected twists and turns of her birth. Things like her water...

Taylor and her husband never expected to have kids, and if ever maybe around 40. Then one day when Taylor was only 30, surprise! She was pregnant. In today’s episode, Taylor, who identifies as a biracial Black woman, shares how she went from working with a hospital OB to planning a homebirth with midwives and a doula. Her beloved doula, Chana, joins in today’s sharing, too. Taylor shares how getting off her mental health meds in he...

Ellen, who shared her first two babies’ birth stories in Episode 26, returns to share her son’s preterm birth story following a relocation from NYC to California where they are now homesteaders growing toward self-sustainability. She had wanted an unmedicated birth with midwives, but due to her history of two premature births, she stays with a high-risk OB who provides midwife-like, compassionate care. At the 20-week scan, Ellen le...

Donna and Sandy share their 7-year-old daughter’s birth story. They had hopes for an unmedicated birth, and investigate switching from a hospital OB to a homebirth midwife toward the end of pregnancy. Ultimately, due to it being so soon before baby was coming, they end up sticking with their OB despite increasing signs of misalignment. Fortunately for them, they labor at home and arrive at the hospital just in time for pushing and ...

Today, a Nigerian-American doula based in New York named Theresa Lasbrey-Peters shares her two experiences giving birth in her 40s in a hospital without medication or interventions. As she narrates her journey through two pregnancies, she explains how important research, informed decision-making, and self-advocacy were for her. She exudes a refreshing level of confidence in refusing medical interventions during births. She also det...

In a bustling city teeming with ambition and dreams, Alexis - an actress, dreamer, and now mother takes us on her journey into motherhood. From the grand stages of New York City to the intimate confines of a 5-story Harlem walk-up, Alexis prepares for the role of a lifetime. As she immerses herself in prenatal yoga, pores over all the books, and engages in birth classes, her transition is magnified by music, art, and deep-rooted de...

In this 2nd episode of a 2-parter, Kaitlin shares her 2nd and 3rd babies’ birth stories. After having a traumatic first birth, Kaitlin finds her voice and makes every effort to help things go differently. This includes finding a VBAC-supportive provider since she was aiming to have a vaginal birth after cesarean, seeking out lots of education and hiring a doula for support. She contrasts the ways in which her 2nd baby’s birth was r...

Today’s story is the 1st episode of a 2-parter. In it, the founder of Be Her Village, a baby registry that provides a way to give the gift of support instead of far less important baby gear, shares her first of 3 babies’ birth stories. Kaitlin’s 3 births couldn’t be more different from each other. In this episode, Kaitlin shares planning for a birthing center birth with midwives that shifted to a hospital induction and, ultimately,...