An Off-Grid, Blissful Freebirth in Maine (Part Two)
Healing Birth
This is part two of Kirsten’s story. If you haven’t already heard part one, check it out . By the time Kirsten became pregnant with her second baby, her family had followed a dream and moved off grid to a tiny cabin in the Maine wilderness. Living without running water and facing a long, solitary drive up a mountain to reach their home, Kirsten felt fortunate to find a midwife willing to work with her under those circumstances. But each time she had a scheduled prenatal appointment, she found herself not wanting to go. Eventually, she made peace with the fact that she did not really...
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An Off-Grid, Blissful Freebirth in Maine (Part One)
Healing Birth
When Kirsten became pregnant with her first baby, she and her partner knew they wanted a home birth. She hired a team of midwives to support her care, but her plans hit a bump when an ultrasound suggested her baby was too small. Deep down, Kirsten felt confident her baby was fine, and, after multiple follow-up scans, her baby’s growth was shown to be on track. Kirsten went on to deliver at home as planned, surrounded by her midwives, her best friend, and her husband. But the immediate postpartum period was handled in a way that left her unable to speak about the experience for a long time....
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A Routine Epidural, An Unexpected Reaction
Healing Birth
Jackie entered her pregnancy with an unquestioning faith that the medical system knew best how to manage her care, and ensure the safe delivery of her baby. During prenatal discussions with her doctor, she made it clear from the start, before she had ever felt a single contraction, that she wanted an epidural. When labor began, she opted for the epidural as soon as she was able, but experienced a debilitating, full-body allergic reaction to the medication. Her baby was born healthy, but the experience left her feeling that she had not been given full informed consent. The effects of the...
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Just Us: A Fifth Baby, Born at Home
Healing Birth
Shiloa returns to the podcast to share the story of her fifth baby’s birth, a deeply intimate homebirth with only her husband by her side. What started as a joke early in pregnancy—“maybe I just won’t call the midwife”—quietly revealed itself as truth. She was craving something raw, primal, and entirely her own: the experience of bringing her baby into the world held only by love, trust, and instinct. Shiloa says that this unassisted birth experience healed something within her she didn’t realize needed healing. Listen to Shiloa’s incredible first appearance on this...
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When Intuition Leads You to Transfer: A Planned Freebirth, Twin Cesarean, and Healing the Trauma
Healing Birth
After leaving an unhealthy relationship, Theresa made a solemn vow to herself: she would never again say yes when her intuition told her no, or no when it told her yes. So when she became pregnant with her first baby, she knew the conventional, conveyor-belt obstetric path wasn’t for her. Instead, she sought out bodywork, worked with a naturopath, and developed a deep relationship with her body and her baby. The plan was to freebirth at home. But when labor began and she noticed thick meconium, she immediately knew the right thing to do was to face her biggest fear and transfer. Her twins...
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The Surprise Breech Homebirth of Joli’s First Baby
Healing Birth
Joli sat down with me in person to share her incredible first birth story, a first for this podcast! Raised hearing her mother speak so positively about her own home births, Joli always envisioned a similar path for herself. When it came time to welcome her first baby, she felt deeply committed to a physiological birth and chose to work with a midwife at home. After a smooth, uneventful pregnancy, everything shifted during the final stages of labor when her baby was discovered to be breech. At that point, there was no turning back. What followed was an intense and transformative experience...
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A Boss Babe Softens: Homebirth, Loss, and Healing
Healing Birth
Taylor sat down with me to share her story just twelve weeks after her second homebirth. She says she felt reborn after both of her birth experiences, but describes this most recent one as especially healing. It came after an early second trimester miscarriage and a traumatic D&C, which led her to explore femininity, softness, loss, spirituality, and more. Fear emerged at different points during the pregnancy, but she returned to faith in the unknown time and time again. If you love the show, I would greatly appreciate a review on or Follow me on Instagram Do you have a birth...
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Why Birth Can Feel So Overwhelming, and What Actually Helps
Healing Birth
Why do so many women leave birth feeling overwhelmed, unheard, or even traumatized? And what actually helps create a better birth experience? In this episode, I’m joined by Erica Manto Paulson, a certified doula, childbirth educator, and certified clinical hypnotherapist who has supported families in birth for more than 20 years. Erica’s passion for this work began after her own VBAC experience, where the support of a skilled doula transformed her birth. That experience inspired her to dedicate her life to helping women feel informed, supported, and empowered throughout pregnancy and...
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The Birth Was Beautiful. Postpartum Was Hard.
Healing Birth
Eva was working in a maternity home, a residential program that provides housing, prenatal care, and support for pregnant women in need, when she became pregnant with her first baby. Clear in her vision for birth, she chose midwifery care and planned a physiological, unmedicated birth at a midwife-run birth center. Her labor was smooth, relatively quick, and deeply supported. But the weeks that followed were far more difficult than she expected. Reflecting now, Eva realizes that while she prepared carefully for birth, she had not prepared for postpartum, that tender, life-changing time when...
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Rejecting Fear: Celine’s Homebirth After Cesarean (HBAC)
Healing Birth
At the end of her first pregnancy, Celine’s plans for the birth unraveled. Her baby was breech, and the natural birth she had envisioned was replaced with a scheduled cesarean. Though the surgery itself wasn’t traumatic, it shook her confidence. She was left wrestling with painful questions: Why didn’t my baby turn? Is my body broken? Her healing began in the presence of women who believed deeply in birth and in her. Their unwavering faith helped her reclaim her own. When she became pregnant again, Celine chose a different path. She planned a home birth, supported by a midwife and doula,...
info_outlineThis is part two of Kirsten’s story. If you haven’t already heard part one, check it out here.
By the time Kirsten became pregnant with her second baby, her family had followed a dream and moved off grid to a tiny cabin in the Maine wilderness. Living without running water and facing a long, solitary drive up a mountain to reach their home, Kirsten felt fortunate to find a midwife willing to work with her under those circumstances. But each time she had a scheduled prenatal appointment, she found herself not wanting to go. Eventually, she made peace with the fact that she did not really want a midwife this time and began considering a more intuitive, independent birth experience.
She spent her pregnancy immersed in nature and busy chasing her toddler, embracing the rhythms of off-grid living. Then one night, as the season shifted into spring and the whippoorwills sang, Kirsten welcomed her baby in a peaceful, easeful freebirth at home, surrounded by the sounds of the wilderness.
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Follow me on Instagram @healingbirth
Do you have a birth story you’d like to share on the podcast, or would like to otherwise connect? I love to hear from you! Send me a note at contactus@healingbirth.net
Intro / Outro music: Dreams by Markvard
Podcast cover photo by Karina Jensen @karinajensenphoto