I’m SUPER pumped today to make the announcement that I’ve launched the BIRTH MATTERS podcast!
I’m starting this podcast because I’m always looking for ways to provide further education to increase expectant parents’ confidence beyond our class time together. Because students always tell me how much they love reading the few student birth stories I’ve shared on my blog, along with the present popularity of podcasts, I thought it could be a valuable resource for particularly NYC expectant parents to have current, local stories to hear that feel very relevant to their birthing environments. And I just love having these visits with my students, too!
The show is here to lessen expectant parents’ overwhelm on the journey into parenthood by equipping and encouraging with current, evidence-based info & soulful interviews with parents & birth pros. It’s also here for birth professionals to continue growing their knowledge base, and even for anyone who is simply interested in birth.
I hope that you’ll check out the teaser below (transcript is also below) and subscribe so you don’t miss out on any episodes. I’m posting not just the teaser, but also episodes 2 & 3, which are my husband (Bryan) and me sharing our two babies’ birth stories. I thought it would be a fun way to kick off the birth stories series and help listeners get to know me a bit.
Please share with your expectant friends and/or birth nerd friends!
TEASER TRANSCRIPT:
This show is here to lessen your overwhelm on the journey into parenthood by equipping and encouraging you with current, evidence-based info & soulful interviews with parents & birth pros. It’s also here for birth professionals to continue growing their knowledge base, and even for anyone who is simply interested in birth.
As we get started, I just wanted to share a little bit about why I’m starting this podcast as well as a bit about my philosophy and approach. I’ve been doing birth work since 2010 and I’m totally passionate about helping families have more positive birth experiences. In the classes I teach, I focus on 3 main themes:
1) while we definitely need to reframe the way our culture perceives birth toward trusting birth as a positive, healthy process, there’s no one “right” way to give birth
2) doing our best to abide by current best evidence on healthy birth practices, and
3) learning strategies for both healthy coping as well as for effective self-advocacy.
I always listen to feedback from my students, just like I definitely want to hear your feedback as you listen to this podcast, and I consistently hear that people find hearing or reading personal birth stories incredibly educational & helpful and YET so many of the stories out there are unrelatable...like stories where someone’s out in a field hanging from a tree, that kinda thing. That’s not anything like giving birth in NYC, for sure, and not much of the United States, either.
So, I thought it could be really helpful for expectant parents to have some current, local stories that would be much more relevant to their birthing environments. Even if you don’t live in an urban environment like New York, these stories will still likely be very applicable to your situation, because there are many similarities in the birth environment across the U.S. And, while I’m gonna start with my local birth students’ stories, I’ll invite listeners who live anywhere to also share, so the stories will likely eventually have broader geographic scope.
Now, the stories you’ll hear on this podcast will vary greatly in terms of birth preferences, settings, medications, method of birth, etc. The common thread, however uncomplicated or complicated the birth story might be, will be that it was an overall positive experience for the family. We need to hear those stories -- not solely unmedicated, vaginal births, but births of all kinds.
At this point, I’m envisioning doing series on different topics. First, we’ll start off with birth stories, told sometimes by just one parent, or sometimes told together by couples. I’m also hoping to do a series on people’s experiences trying to conceive. It’s likely I’ll also do interviews with birth professionals from time to time. Those are a few of my thoughts. But, really, I will want to hear what YOU want to hear, so I hope that you’ll reach out to me wherever you’re listening to this.
I thought we’d kick things off with my husband, Bryan, and myself sharing our two birth stories. So feel free to jump in and listen to episodes 2 & 3 to hear those!
Before I go, I want to check to see if you have your free “Pack for your best birth” list yet? If not, please hop on over to birthmattersonline.com/pack and grab it! You’ll also have the opportunity to opt in to a free email course that will lay the foundation for a fantastic birth.
Thank you so much for listening, and please like, subscribe, and review this podcast. See ya next time and be well!