25 • Cara, Dawn, Jim & Paul - Modern Day Intentional Family, 2 Dads, 2 Mothers and 1 Child, Conception, HIV, Insemination and Homebirth
Release Date: 01/01/2019
38 • Jeni & Monique IUI Conception, Planned Birth Center Birth, Unmedicated Vaginal Breech Birth
Big Birth Junkie
This is a fun podcast for me because I have been on (literally) the whole journey with Jeni and Monique. I supported them with their conception and then they chose to birth with the GraceFull Midwives to have an unmedicated out of hospital birth. Their plans changed when they found out their child was breech; but, we are very lucky in Los Angeles because we have an amazing doctor in town who will support unmedicated vaginal breech births in the hospital. This podcast is choc-o-bloc filled with great information about same-sex couple conception, using acupuncture for conception (thank you Susan...
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37 • Becky Vroom - Resilience & Strength: Modified Bedrest, Prodromal Labor, Hospital Midwife Unmedicated Birth, Cervical Tear & Postpartum Hemorrhage
Big Birth Junkie
Becky is an active and healthy person, so she assumed pregnancy and birth would come easily to her. Instead, she was met with many complications and challenges that forced her to slow down and take it easy as she was on modified bed rest and medicated until she made it to 36 weeks. Becky experienced prodromal labor and daily contractions for the last 8 weeks of her pregnancy. When her son was finally born at 39 weeks, he came very quickly. In the immediate post-partum at the hospital, she experienced a severe post-partum hemorrhage and lost 3/4 of her blood supply because her cervix...
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36 • Jamie Batten: 3 babies, 3 pregnancies and 3 very different postpartums. Hyperemisis, Formula Feeding, Breastfeeding, Induction, Water Birth, Hospital Birth, Testicular Tortion
Big Birth Junkie
“There are all different normals”. That basically sums up the 3 very different pregnancies, births and post partum period for Jamie Batten. We cover a lot of ground on this epic (in length) podcast: induction, pitocin, epidural, bed rest, early labor, OP (Back Labor), formula feeding, cutting of the cord on the perinium, reastfeeding for 2 years, hyperemisis, placenta previa, birth center, waterbirth, testicular torition and trusting your care provider. There is SO much growth, and learning and growing up that Jamie shares with us. Yes, this is a long podcast, so grab a cuppa and...
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35 • Amy Meyers: Mother of 3, Pitocin Inductions, Epidurals, Waterbirth, Homebirth, Post Partum Depression`
Big Birth Junkie
Amy lives in Utah with her husband and is the mother of 3 children (all under the age of 3!). The first two were born in the hospital and both were pitocin inductions with an epidural - the first at the suggestion of her doctor the second at her request. Looking back Amy realized there was trauma and a lot of feelings that were not validated, which lead her to do her research and start to becoming informed about her choices when she became pregnant with her third child. There was a lot of healing that happened for Amy after she experienced connected prenatal care where she was seen and heard....
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34 • Faith Freeman : Eldest of 10 Children, Homebirth Midwife, Birth of her First Child at Home
Big Birth Junkie
Faith is the eldest of 10 children, 7 of whom were born at home. When she became pregnant with her daughter Kiss, she had an idea of what to expect, but it did not prepare her fully for her own homebirth journey. We chat about birthing babies in Oklahoma as a midwife, expectations vs reality in birth and what it is like to grow up where low-risk births at home are normalized. _________ For more information about me, Elizabeth Bachner, go to GraceFull.com or follow us: or . And if you want to watch Faith’s birth video and learn more about her go to and click on “About Us”. ...
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33 • Jessica Hooper: IUGR, Induction, Healing Shame, Loosing Control of Your "Plan"
Big Birth Junkie
This is not only the story of an unexpected diagnosis of IUGR and the need for a hospital induction but also how Jessica's past history influenced her current thinking. Jessica was holding on to a lot of shame and polarised thinking that showed up to be healed so she could step fully into the role of motherhood. ______ For more information about our guest, Jessica Hooper and her events go to: or me, Eizabeth Bachner, go to GraceFull.com or follow us: or @BigBirthJunkie_________ This episode is also sponsored by where you can find BBJ's host Elizabeth's free ebook Birth Planning: All...
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32 • Danielle Bigby: Birth Center Birth, Postpartum Struggles & Healing Bullimia
Big Birth Junkie
Danielle's journey to becoming a mother taught her things she never expected. She left her home in Miami to move to Los Angeles and found a new strength she did not know she had for the unmedicated birth of her daughter Samaya at GraceFull's Birthing Center. That is where she thought the lessons would end, but they kept going. Becoming a mother brought a new drive to heal herself. As a former Bullimic, during her challenging postpartum adjustment, her loneliness and laziness drove her back into the shadows where she found the courage to find the root cause, which has...
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31 • Sera Bonds: Birthing Oversees in Israel
Big Birth Junkie
Sera and Adam took the time to talk with me about what it is like birthing overseas as foreigners in a foreign land. _________ Sera Bonds is a midwife, doula, activist and Founder of Circle of Health International (COHI). You can currently find her in Austin, TX where works as a doula and Childbirth Educator. Also, Sera is a kick ass activist who is a really great speaker. For more information about Sera, or to book her as a speaker or teacher worldwide, check her out at on IG. For more information about me, Elizabeth Bachner, go to GraceFull.com or follow us: or __________...
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30 • Tessa & Chase Benz: 2 Home Births, Parent 2 Children, Post Partum Challenges, Becoming a Father, Learning How to Ask for Help
Big Birth Junkie
Tessa always knew she wanted a homebirth and it took some time for Chase to get on board with the process, but once he got educated and started to understand the difference between low and high risk pregnancy he was 100% on commited. _________ If you wanna reach out to Tessa and Chase please do so! They love to talk about birth and their children! Tessa is a Birth Doula and Birth Photographer serving families in the Los Angeles area. You can visit her website at or follow her on Instagram @truemotherhood and @tessareyesphotography. Her husband Chase Benz is a...
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29 • Jana & Mark Roemer : Burning Man, Home birth. PostPartum & Healing Past Taumas
Big Birth Junkie
Jana and Mark Roemer share their story of love, burning man and a father’s healing through the journey of parenting their son Freddie. We do a deep dive into conception, a homebirth, postpartum challenges and the healing traumas. "Having a little boy allowed me to parent the little boy in myself." This episode is filled with a lot of wisdom! _________ For more information to go: or follow us: or our guests: or __________ Check out Jana for yoga teacher training, yoga nidra for yourself or get astrology updates. This episode is also sponsored by where you can find BBJ's...
info_outlineA man, a woman, a white picket fence and 2.3 children is the fantasy that I was raised on and has been long gone in many cultures for a while. Families come in all shapes and sizes and this family is one of my favorites. Hudson has 2 moms and 2 dads: Cara his biological mommy, Jim his biological daddy, Dawn his Momma, and Paul his, well, his Paul!
This is a story of conception (and it is quite the interesting one because Jim is HIV positive), birth, communication, mutual respect, family and lots and lots of love for one boy (who is not so little anymore).
Welcome to 2019 and welcome to the new definition of family.
__________
For more information to go: GraceFull or follow us: @gracefullbirth or our guests: Cara at @holliblu and Jim’s blog ComingCleanDad.
This episode is sponsored by GraceFull where you can find BBJ's host Elizabeth's free ebook Birth Planning: All the Questions to Ask and all kinds of educational videos including Childbirth Education, Advanced Doula Trainings and Lactation Support. Go to GraceFull to download the ebook for free.
If you live in Los Angeles, check out GraceFull's midwives for home births, water birth, and our accredited birthing center. We also have a full wellness facility with NDs, Chiropractic, Therapy, Massage, Lactation and lots of amazing classes.