The Natural Birth Podcast (Sacred Birth International)

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Katharine.

Katharine is a mama of two from Maine, USA, where she lives in her hand built off-grid house with her family. 

She is a jeweler and artist working out of her home studio so she can be a full time mama and work around her kids needs.

In today’s episode Katharine shares about her three births. 

Her first was a stillbirth for anyone wanting to skip this part, jump ahead 10min into the episode. I do find so much value in talking about miscarriages and stillbirths as it is a reality for 1 in 4 women and I want to reduce the taboo and hush hush culture around this sad reality for some women. These stories need to be told as well and Katharine had such beautiful wisdom and healing come through for her and her maternal linage through this experience.

Her second baby was a breech baby and in her state there was no option for her to birth vaginally at the time and she was ushered into having a caesarian which affected her bonding and postpartum experience.

When she fell pregnant for the 3rd time and her 3rd baby was also wanting to be born breech she decided to go to the next state, hire a midwife and have a breech VBAC.

So much breech wisdom in this episode.

Curious about Katharine? Find her on instagram as @katharinejanejewelry

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Natalia.

Natalia is a mother of two living in the desert in Scottsdale, Arizona! 

She is a freelance artist and doula in training. 

Natalias first birth was a medicalized birth with an epidural and a vacuum birth with a tear as a side effect, which she experienced as traumatic. 

However, it didn’t make her doubt her ability to birth naturally. 

Quite the opposite.

When she fell pregnant again, she knew she wanted a natural home birth and so she did! She had a quick, potent and powerfully redemptive home birth with her doula and partner by her side.

Curious about Natalia? Find her on instagram as @itsnataliiaaa

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Asabea. Asabea is one of Sweden’s most famous midwife’s as well as an author, podcaster, and influencer.

She is a mama of 2 children earth side and one cooking away inside her womb. 

And today she will share her take aways from her first medicalized hospital birth and why she chose to have a home birth for her second. As well as sharing all the amazing details of her home birth and her pearls of wisdom about birth both in the hospital system and at home from a mama and a midwife’s perspective.

It was such an honor having Asabea on and I am sure you’ll find her story filled with birthing wisdom.

Curious about Asabea? Find her on instagram @asabea

This episode is sponsored by Informed Pregnancy Plus. Try Informed Pregnancy Plus absolutely free of charge. Just visit informedpregnancy.tv and start watching these inspiring documentaries and films already today.

Find All of Anna's Links & Resources Here: 

⁠www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Jessica.

Jessica is a mama of one from Texas where she lives with her husband and run a horse training business as well as selling real estate. 

She loves horseback riding and rode her horses up until 9 months pregnant.

Today we will hear about her birth centre birth and how she, after 24hrs, birthed her baby in the center but had a tear they were not confident stitching for her there so she went to the hospital where she was received in a friendly and helpful manner and got the help she needed. 

And in 3 weeks after her birth she was back up on her horse, riding with no issues.

The magical healing capabilities of our body’s, and especially vaginas after birth is remarkable.

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Heather.

Heather is a mama of two little girls and a step son from Florida.

She experienced deep transformation and awakening from her birth experiences and her transitions into motherhood, and has found a passion discussing the sensational power that physiological and instinctual birth is for women. 

She recently founded MovementWithMom.com, a community to celebrate and support the mother-baby connection through movement and music. 

In today’s episode Heather shares her first semi accidental unassisted home birth with her first that led her into diving deeper into the birth world.

And as she became pregnant again and her little bubba decided to stay breech she ended up driving 11 hrs, at 40 weeks pregnant, to Tennessee to birth her baby with midwives at the Farm escaping Florida's law that prohibits midwives attending breech births at home.

Her stories are so beautiful and rich and I can’t wait for you to hear them!

Curious about Heather? Find her on instagram as @heatherdrozdowski

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Sarah.

Sarah is a mum of 3 from New Zealand. 

She is a birth and postpartum doula, coach and ceremonialist.

Sarah's own births were a catalyst for her own healing and self growth and put her on the path of supporting other mothers in remembering their sacredness, intuition and strength.

In todays episode we get to hear about her 3 births in Australia. 

Her first ended up being a medical event against her wishes, which guided her to employ an independent midwife when she fell pregnant again. 

And by now, if you listened to last Sundays episode, you know that midwife. 

Libby Lamb was Sarahs midwife for her two natural and empowering births after her hospital birth. 

Curious about Sarah? Find her on insta as @sarahholroydhill

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today we have Amanda

Amanda is a mum of 2 from Sweden and she is a MindBody therapist and spiritual coach.

I had the honor of assisting Amanda in her healing of her birth trauma from her first birth, in the lead up to her second birth, through one on one birth trauma healing and debriefing session.

It’s important to understand why things unfold as they do and to allow yourself to fully meet all the sensations and emotions trapped within that memory in your body, mind and soul to fully be able to let it go.

And its even more important to deal with fears and previous traumas before your next birth so that you don’t end up bringing it in to your birth space.

If you feel like you would like some loving space held for you as you work through previous birth trauma then please visit my website www.sacredbirthinternational.com or contact me directly.

I am so pleased that Amanda was able to work through her birth trauma and the fears coming up before her birth and that she ended up having a wonderful home birth for her second.

Curious about Amanda? Find her at www.amandarandau.com

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Elke.

Elke is a mama of two from South Australia. 

She’s a senior secondary science teacher currently on leave to raise her two babies. 

Her first birth ended up in an ”emergency” caesarean due to failure to progress, however if you’ve listened to this podcast you know that 99.9% of the time it is the failure of the medicalized maternity system not upholding the physiology of birth and not the woman who failed. Something that Elke discovered as she healed and learned deeper about birth after her first traumatic experience.

Her first birth and entrance into motherhood blew apart everything she thought she knew, and her healing journey altered the way she looks at everything. It led her to the path of becoming a doula and Mother Blessing facilitator and her own redemptive, empowering home birth after Caesarean which made her the VBAC advocate she is today.

Curious about Elke? Find her on instagram as @womenswaydoula

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on the Natural Birth Podcast we have Amanda.

Amanda is a mama of 2 from Texas.

She’s a birth photographer, birth assistant, doula and placenta encapsulator and a secretary and social media coordinator for a birth center.

She says that she is blessed to mostly work from home and have the ability to homeschool her daughter.

In todays episode we get to hear about her two birth stories. The last one I saw powerful photos of on Instagram where Amanda was squatting in such a primal powerful position birthing her baby and I just had to reach out and say ”Hey do you want to share your story on the poddy”, and here she is doing just that.

Curious about Amanda? Find her on Instagram as @loverandbeloved

200 Episodes & Special Offer!

This is the 200th episode of the natural birth podcast!

WOW! And we are coming up to 4 years in a few weeks but first things first!

Can you believe it!?!

I know many of you listen to each and every one of these episodes to prepare for your natural birth and I am so pleased that I now have 200 unique natural and positive birth stories to help you reprogram your subconscious mind!

What an epic resource!

And speaking of resources.

To celebrate this 200th episode you are welcome into my Online Community The Village for free for a whole month when joining this week!

Being a part of my village means monthly live Q&A and sharing circles with me and the village sisters.

It means accessing resources and birth nerds, maidens, mothers and magas as well as my sacred birth worker mentees 24/7.

It’s a warm, friendly, cozy and hearth centered village that truly supports women in all stages of life, especially around birth and child rearing.

And this week you can join for free and get a whole month in the village and meet me and hang out totally free of charge!

Yay!

Join the Village here!

Curious about Needed? Find out more at thisisneeded.com

Use the code THENATURALBIRTHPODCAST for 20% off your first month.

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

SACRED BIRTH INTERNATIONAL

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Britney.

Britney is a mama of one from Salt Lake City, Utah. 

She spent most of her life afraid of birth and swore she would never do it! 

But after years of doing her own personal healing work, she felt called to motherhood. 

When she found out she was pregnant, she dove head first into the world of pregnancy, labor and birth. 

And she dedicated herself to preparing physically, emotionally and spiritually to bring her baby earth side.

She chose to have a home birth with a midwife from her local birth center and had an incredible support team who really believed in her and trusted the process. 

Like most first time mamas, and birthing women in general, she struggled to believe and trust in herself from time to time throughout the labour process.

The physical sensations were challenging but the emotional and mental aspect was even harder for Britney. She went back and forth between trust and doubt the entire 24 hours of her labour. 

In the end, she felt the incredible power of her ability to birth her baby and birthed her in her living room.

Through her own empowering birth experience, she is now passionate about birth as a rite of passage and has just joined the first cohort of The Spiritual Midwife Mentorship Program beginning in May.

Such an honor to be her spiritual midwife mentor as she embarks on the magical journey of becoming a sacred space holder for birth herself!

Curious about Britney? Find her on instagram as @britneybeckstrand

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Kemi Joy Johnson.

Kemi is a Mother and a former registered Midwife turned Birthkeeper & Birth Activist.

She de-registered as a midwife a few years back and is now a Whistle Blower, Truth Speaker & Teacher.

And we are coming on the podcast today to have an honest conversation about the reality of our current maternity system and what you need to know and the steps you need to take to optimize your chances of having a Natural and Empowering Birth Experience whether it is in the hospital, birth center or at home!

Get ready for some edgy talk and truth bombs.

To have a Natural & Empowering Birth in our modern world means taking full responsibility and claiming your rite of passage!

You can download the 6 Steps that we talk about in the episode in a handy PDF to refer to as you prepare for your upcoming birth!

Download >>> https://www.thenaturalbirthcourse.com/6-steps-on-how-to-have-a-natural-birth

Curious about Kemi? Find her on instagram as @kemibirthjoyjohnson

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Thinking that there is no difference between public and private midwives practice? Think again.

Emily learned the hard way with her first baby what the difference is and shares freely in this podcast about the wisdom she gained and how she changed from a publicly funded midwife to an independently practicing private midwife.

Emily is a mother of two from Perth, Western Australia.  She is a doula, a podcast host of the heymumma podcast and she also holds conscious mothers groups in Perth. Today we are going to hear about her 2 births. 

Her first didn’t end up going the way she was hoping as she was faced with her care providers policies and guidelines and wasn’t supported in the way she would have wanted to birth her baby. We will touch upon this first birth and what wisdom she took away from it while then focusing on her second birth that was an empowering home birth.

Curious about Emily? Find her on instagram as @consciousmothersgroup. Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Denise.

Denise is a mama of one from Arizona USA.

She is a stay at home mom and an Airbnb host.

After watching The Business of Being Born by Ricki Lake, her now husband told her, even before they were married or thinking of having babies, that they should home birth.

And Denise became fascinated by pregnancy and birth by listening to The Natural Birth Podcast, which led her to make the decision to birth at home with the support of her husband, doula and midwife.

Denise ended up having a beautiful home birth, however her placenta wasn’t coming out and by the 3rd hour she and her birth team made the decision to transfer to hospital.

She was feeling fine and there was no emergency, but they decided they wanted the help to birth the placenta.

Because of the preparation and education Denise had done she could stand up to the OB and be empowered in her decision making in the hospital and felt empowered about her birth even though it didn’t unfold exactly as she’d hoped.

A natural birth doesn’t always mean an empowered birth and a medicalized birth doesn’t mean its traumatic. It’s about feeling empowered and in charge of the decisions about your body, baby and birth.

And only education as well as the inner work can truly prepare you for the unknown that is birth. Something Denise highly recommends to all first time mamas.

Curious about Denise? Find her on Instagram as @derosenise

This episode is sponsored by Informed Pregnancy Plus.

Try Informed Pregnancy Plus absolutely free of charge.
Just visit informedpregnancy.tv and start watching these inspiring documentaries and films already today.

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Olivia.

Olivia is a mama of 2 from the UK. 

She is a Mystical Birth Guide and Teacher, who guides women who have experienced baby loss, into healing and through conception, pregnancy, birth and motherhood. 

Olivia conceived her first baby easily and had a wonderful pregnancy. 

She planned a ‘home birth’, as she desired a natural calm water birth in the comfort of her own home. 

She had a beautiful labour at home, but was transferred to the hospital in the later stages of her labour as her NHS midwives thought she was not progressing which resulted in a difficult assisted birth in theatre. 

3 years later Olivia and her husband began their conception journey with their second child. This time it was not so easy. They experienced a 18 month conception journey with 2 early losses. 

This conception journey took Olivia on a deep spiritual journey where she discovered Spirit Babies and her own mediumship gifts.

They then conceived their daughter at the start of 2020, and after a challenging pregnancy through covid, Olivia gave birth at home as she wanted and desired all along.  

Olivia's children are her greatest Teachers and Guides. They have taught her so much on her Motherhood journey, initiated her deeply into her truth and her Soul, and continue to be guiding lights for her. 

Olivia is passionate about sharing this wisdom with other women, and supporting them in seeing the wisdom and guidance their babies and children, both in Spirit and on Earth, have to offer them. 

Curious about Olivia? Find her on instagram as @mystical_birthing

Find Anna’s Website & How to Work with Her, as well as all Links & Resources she mentions in the episode here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Maria.

Maria is a mama of 3 from Sweden.

She has a background in journalism and has written three books about pregnancy, birth and the postpartum as well as working as a doula and a massage therapist.

She’s also the co-founder of Braido Organics with Kristina that you heard from just a couple of weeks back. And this year she is also starting her journey to become a midwife.

She’s a force to be reckoned with in the birth world here in Sweden and I am grateful to call her a friend.

In today’s episode she shares about her three home births. Her first being in the US where she lived with her husband at the time, and her other two in Sweden.

All of her labours were long in their latent and early phase and fast in their active phase.

And all of them were perfect just the way they were.

Curious about Maria? Find her on instagram as @maria.bengtsson.sja

This episode is sponsored by Braïdo Organics.

For 20% off their entire collection of products go to Barïdo Organics and use the coupon code SACRED

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here: www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Karlyn.

Karlyn is a mum of one from NSW, Australia.

She specializes in guiding people through transformational processes drawing upon her training in breath work mastery, life coaching, yoni mapping therapy, tantric bodywork and sacred sexuality, yoga and conscious birth.

She is also a trained doula.

So not only do we get to hear about her first and only home birth at 40 years old, but also her rich wisdom as a doula in the birth space.

Curious about Karlyn? Find her at www.sacred-alchemy.com.au

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Your host Anna shares the love and announces Season 2

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Lonneke.

Lonneke is a mum of one from The Netherlands.

She grew up with a mother and in a culture that saw birth and home birth as a normal and natural choice for women, so when Lonneke fell pregnant she started searching for a midwifery practice with the same strong beliefs in women’s bodies and intuition as she had.

Today we will hear about her amazing ability in trusting her body and birth, and her capacity to fully surrender to the life force of birth coming through her.

Let’s listen in to Lonneke’s story of having a very quick, unattended water birth at home.

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Juliet Allen.

Juliet a mama of two living in the Northern Rivers NSW Australia.

She is Australias leading Sexologist and the host of the Authentic Sex podcast and head teacher at Pleasure School. 

In this episode we will dive deeply into her conscious conception journey and years of preparation and miscarriages with her partner Nick, as well as her first hospital birth with her daughter and then her more resent beautiful home birth with midwife Libby and her doula.

It’s not random that women have an empowering birth experience and a nourishing postpartum like Juliet did. 

It takes planning and prepping body, mind and soul and in this episode Juliet shares it all to my delight!

Curious about Juliet? Find her on instagram as @juliet_allen or at www.juliet-allen.com 

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Catherine.

Catherine is a mama of one from the US.

She believes that a HUGE reason she was able to have a completely unmedicated, wonderful hospital birth was because throughout her pregnancy she was empowered by listening to the stories of so many amazing, strong women on the natural birth podcast! So she came on to give back!

And what a story she has!

She had originally planned a home birth but at 36 weeks had to switch to OB care due to rising blood pressure. Something I have many clients coming to me to share and heal during our birth trauma healing sessions. Luckily enough this was not Catherine’s story.

She was TERRIFIED to birth in the hospital however and felt like all she’d heard were horror stories.

But she switched gears, empowered by all the stories she’d heard on this poddy and got into the right headspace and had the most wonderful birth!! 

I can’t wait for you to hear it!

Curious about Catherine? Find her on Instagram as @ceejscholl

This episode is sponsored by Informed Pregnancy Plus.

Try Informed Pregnancy Plus absolutely free of charge.

Just visit informedpregnancy.tv and start watching these inspiring documentaries and films already today.

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Makensi

Makensi is a mama of one from Australia.

She is an Energy Healer, working with clients on their emotional, mental and spiritual selves. She creates dream catchers on intuitive guidance, paints and sews. Makensi has a background in nutrition and naturopathy and a keen interest in alternative therapies. 

Makensi is a first time mumma in her 40’s who chose to free birth her bubba at home with her partner and doula.

She had almost all her labour in her sacrum and back, which she moved through throughout the day and melted into during the night and early hours in her birth pool.

After an amazing birth experience she ended up not birthing her placenta for 14 hours which is quite a remarkable long time. 

She shares how her strong affirmations about keeping all her nutrients after birth was the reason for her body holding on to her placenta.

Curious about Makensi? Find her on instagram as @makensi.spirit.healer

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Kim.

Kim is a mother of one from St.Lucia, now living in Brighton, UK.

She is a space holder for mothers, holding mama circles, breath work, womb healing and coaching for women.

Today we are going to dive into her home birth story and how being in Brighton made that decision even easier, as home birth is very well supported in this area of the UK.

Curious about Kim? Find her on instagram as @sacred.womban

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Taylor

Taylor is a 25 year old mama from the US, who was told by her doctor at 23 years of age that she might not be able to fall pregnant due to endometriosis. 

However after getting off her contraceptives that she was on due to the endometriosis, she fell pregnant in 2 months time.

She is a medical assistant and started her pregnancy working at a medical office thinking she’d birth at the hospital. 

And then she did a 180. She quit her job and started working at a naturopathic office and birth center at 7 months pregnant. 

This is also the birth center she ended up having her empowering birth at.

She now want’s to tell her story to empower other young women to experience how amazing birth can be and to embrace how incredible our bodies truly are.

Curious about Taylor? Find her on instagram as @tayelainew

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Aimee Aroha.

Aimee is originally from New Zealand, today living in Australia and she is a Wild Mother and Transpersonal Birth Mentor.

She generously takes us through her first hospital birth at the young age of 24 and her initiation into motherhood.

We then dive into red threads, birth imprinting, rites of passages and women’s power in her rites and birth.

Aimee continues to share how her life took a turn as she moved from the big city smoke of Sydney into nature in Northern NSW, meeting a new partner and then becoming pregnant again and how this time she made very different choices.

She employed an independent home birth midwife for her second pregnancy but ended up birthing before her midwife arrived, and when she became pregnant a third time she decided for a fully wild pregnancy and free birth with just her family.

Curious about Aimee? Find her on instagram as @ripsnorter

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

In today’s episode of The Natural Birth Podcast we have Sarah! 

Sarah is originally from Aotearoa, New Zeeland but is now living with her family in Byron Bay, Australia, where she also birthed her 2 babies in the local birth centre. 

Sarah is a designer and the founder of Bon Bola, necklaces for pregnancy. 

Inspired by ancient mamas wisdom, bola necklaces were traditionally worn by pregnant mamas to help soothe and bring contentment to both mama and bubba. 

Today we will dive into her birthing wisdom having birthed two babies naturally in a birth centre with the same midwifery team. 

She has some very unique ways of coping with the intense labour and birth sensations that I am sure you will find interesting and helpful. 

Curious about Sarah? Find her on Instagram as @bonbola

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Emelie.

Emelie is a mama of two from Umeå, which is in the north of Sweden.

She is a freshly baked doula and I met her when she came to one of my Sacred Birth Worker Circles here in Stockholm. 

She’s also a lover of ice bathing. She’s actually tried to invite me in joining her ice bathing but has had no success, yet…

In this episode we will dive into her two hospital births that she had before she got more birth savvy and decided to become a doula.

Her first birth did have some routine medical interventions that way too many women experience these days. 

When you don’t do your research and prepare then it’s easy to get swept up in the flow and routines of the hospital or the care provider, which Emelie so wisely states in this episode.

So we do dive a little deeper than I normally do into this medicalized one to explore how these interventions might not have been needed and could have been avoided and why.

Then we continue to explore Emelie’s second labour and birth with her son where she had an empowering and natural birth. 

She had educated herself this time around and got to experience her baby self attach to the breast and initiating breastfeeding.

The big take away I think from Emelies story is that you are ultimately in control over your experience of your birth. It’s less about what happens or doesn’t happen in the end and so much more about how you perceive it.

And at the end of the day you need to claim your birth, otherwise the risk is that someone else will.

Curious about Emelie? Find her on instagram as @doulandet

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Stephanie.

Stephanie is a mother of two from San Diego, USA. 

She is a chiropractor and lactation consultant and the podcast host of The Holistic Parents Podcast.

Today we get to listen to her birthing wisdom that she has gained after going through a miscarriage, a home birth turn medicalized hospital birth and finally a successful home birth where her husband caught her baby on the toilet.

Stephanie is a wealth of knowledge both as a professional and as a birthing mother and she shares some valuable wisdom with us all today.

Curious about Stephanie? Find her on Instagram as @drstephlibs

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Cynthia

Cynthia is a mama of two from the US and popular podcast host of the Down to Birth Podcast.

She went from being a business executive and finance professor who knew nothing about birth to pregnant after one try, and faced a huge fear of birth. All the women in her surroundings and at her work had C/S while she knew she wanted a natural birth.

Her OB was all red-flags which she will tell us all about. She finally fired her, changed her birth plan from hospital to birth centre, and changed her life. 

She’s here to tell us about her two amazing births. Her first at the birth center and her second at home together with her now podcast cohost midwife Trisha. 

Having these amazing births she became a birth nerd and later on an internationally published and renowned birth educator and informed choice advocate. 

Curious about Cynthia? Find her on instagram as @cynthiaovergard

50% Discount on The Natural Birth Course with coupon code NOVEMBER

https://www.sacredbirthinternational.com/natural-birth-course

Find Anna’s Website, The Village and about her Mentorship & How to Work with Her, as well as all Links & Resources she mentions in the episode here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast
Follow @thenaturalbirthpodcast on insta for more natural and empowering birth stories!

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Natalie.

Natalie is a mama of one from the UK, now living in Thailand.

She is an artist and a property developer, and a lover of meditation and alternative health and living a unique, authentic life. 

Natalie found out she was pregnant whilst on a snowboard season in Japan and was initially absolutely terrified at the thought of birth.

She made it her mission to feel confident and calm about her birth by the time her baby arrived. And instead of fear of birth she had a fear of birthing in the hospital and being interfered with.

So she chose a home birth with midwives and a doula.

Her story is a fast and furious birth with a plot twist. And even though her birth wasn’t the undisturbed birth she might have wanted she was so present, trusting in her body and her intuition and managed to birth her baby in just over 5 hours at home in the pool.

She caught her baby by herself and absolutely loves telling her birth story.

Curious about Natalie? Find her on instagram as @natalieellisart

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

SACRED BIRTH INTERNATIONAL

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Julia Rose.

Julia Rose is a mother of two living on Darkinjung land on the NSW Central Coast.

She is a Palliative Care Nurse passionate about Natural Death Care and the ceremony and ritual of death as a rite of passage. She is a writer, an artist and a gardener and is passionate about permaculture and the cyclical nature of life, death, rebirth.

In this episode we will dive into her two births.

Her first which she intended to be a home birth but that needed to teach her something deeper about her self and brought her on a self healing and self discovery journey.

And her second that was a natural and healing undisturbed home birth in which she unlearnt so much conditioning and deeply connected her to her own inner wisdom. It was a beautiful daytime birth surrounded by her 3 year old, her husband and privately practicing midwives.

Curious about Julia Rose? Find her on instagram as @the.mother.bone

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Jet.

Jet is a mama of two from The Netherlands.

She is a holistic sleep coach for young children and a childbirth educator.

In today’s episode we will hear about her two births, starting with the pearls of wisdom she gained from her first birth that didn’t go to to plan, and was a transfer to hospital with some medicalization of her birth process.

In the years that followed she did a lot of personal inner work and research. Wanting to give her next baby the best possible chance to having a good start in life. When she conceived her daughter she was more than ready after all the healing inner work and research she had done and had her empowering, redemptive home birth that we will dive deeper into today. 

Curious about Jet? Find her on instagram as @jetdingemans

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today we have Tori

Tori is mom of two from Calgary, Canada.

In this episode we will hear about her two natural birth stories.

Her first ended up being an unplanned home birth and it went so well that the second was a planned home birth.

Her experiences led her to write a book called Ready to Unpop, which aims to normalize the less popular practices surrounding birth including home birth, doulas and midwives.

Curious about Tori? Find her at readytounpop.com

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Anna

Anna is a mama of three and one on the way, from

Colorado, USA.

She’s currently a stay at home mom, homeschooling her oldest. 

She’s a hair stylist and love interior decorating and home renovations. 

But above all she’s passionate about home birth and come from a long line of home birthing and free birthing women.

In today’s episode Anna shares about falling pregnant the first time and choosing to fly home to Wisconsin to birth her baby in the water at her sister’s house. 

It then took 7 years, after struggling with secondary infertility, before she fell pregnant again. She planned to birth at home in Colorado this time. But at 40 weeks it was discovered that this little baby decided to be breech. Which meant she was no longer allowed to have a breech birth at home in Colorado.

So again she hopped on a flight to Wisconsin the next day to have a natural breech birth at home. 

She got invited to stay at an experienced breech birth midwife house and ended up having a wonderful breech birth in water.

When falling pregnant with her third baby she decided to go back to the same midwife who’d helped her birth her breech baby and had another water birth where she got to catch her own son.

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Letitia

Letitia is a 42-year-old mama of one from Alice Springs, Australia.

She knew even before she got pregnant that she wanted to birth at home after witnessing her friend do so in her 20’s. And as soon as she fell pregnant she booked in with the midwifery group practice for a home birth. 

However, early in her pregnancy she got diagnosed with gestational diabetes and had to fight and advocate for herself to not be booted out of having a home birth. 

In the end she had her dream birth at home with her partner Tim and home birth midwives who held a safe, physiological birth space which led to Letitia experiencing the fetal ejection reflex where your body takes over and births your baby.

Curious about Letitia? Find her on instagram as @letitiazoe

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Lindsey
Lindsey is a mama of 2 from Denver Colorado.

She grew up dancing, running, practicing yoga and loving the outdoors. She owns a bakery with her husband Matt, dances professionally and is a hardcore extrovert.

Today she shares about her first birth at a 33 yrs old that was set to happen at a birth center. She was eventually transferred to the hospital during labour because the midwife couldn’t get a good read on the baby's heart rate. Lindsey birthed him naturally just 2 hours later.

The birth was ok but not what she had wanted.
In between babies she did an online holistic doula training and became pregnant again when her son turned 2 but miscarried at 13 weeks. She birthed her 13 week old baby naturally and later got pregnant again 2 months later.

During this time she realized that she herself was born unassisted by accident and felt called to try that.
She wasn't originally trying to have a wild pregnancy but recalled not learning much at all at the appointments with her son and since she didn't want any scans this time she just never saw anyone because she felt good her whole pregnancy.

Her daughter came quickly at 38 weeks on a super blue moon. It was INCREDIBLE.

Just Lindsey laboring with her husband who helped her catch her baby.
Curious about Lindsey? Find her on instagram as @lindseydolanjudd

Want to work with Anna or join The Sacred Birth Worker Mentorship?

Find Anna’s Website, about her Mentorship & How to Work with Her, as well as all Links & Resources she mentions in the episode here:www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Keezia

Keezia is a mum of one from New Zealand now living in Australia.

She is a women’s coach unlocking women’s abundance in inspired action to expand their business, radiance, pleasure and love through her program The Devoted Woman.

And today we will listen to her free birthing story that took a different turn than planned, and how in the end Keezia had the birth she was always ment to have to prepare her for motherhood and beyond.

In the episode we mention Keezias Birth Video. If you’re curious, you can find the link to her YouTube video in the show notes.

Curious about Keezia? Find her on instagram as @keezialeigh

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Kahtia

Kathia is a mama of two from Los Angeles USA. 

And on this day I think of her and the many people and animals affected by the fires raging in this region.

I pray for the safety of everyone. And even though it is a tragedy. Every tragedy is an opportunity to come together as a community, as humanity. There is an opportunity for love and humanity to rise stronger than ever wherever suffering and tragedy happens.

My contribution today is to hold space for Kathia to share her empowering and positive birth stories with us.

For us both to inspire you through story telling. The oldest medicine thought the ages.

Let her story be a balm to your heart if you are suffering or feel the suffering of others in our world.

Here’s the intro to Kathia’s stories.

Kathia is an aspiring music artist based in the vibrant heart of Los Angeles. With a passion for creating, she aims to inspire a positive shift in the music scene and promote healing through her unique voice frequency and personal journey. 

As a devoted mother of two, she draws on her own experiences to connect deeply with others. Having transitioned from a hospital birth to the intimate comfort of her family living room, Kahtia understands the power of trust and intuition, especially during such transformative moments. 

Through her music and story, she hopes to empower women worldwide to listen to their inner voices and embrace their intuition, allowing it to guide them through the remarkable journey of motherhood and beyond.

Curious about Kathia? Find her on instagram as @itskahtia

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www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Merry Xmas podcast family! 

I hope you’ve had a beautiful weekend with family and friends, enjoying good food and company. Here is your Christmas Day episode! 

A bit of a longer episode today with one of my longest standing fans Lisa. She’s been listening to the podcast since it began in 2020 and today she’s guesting us sharing, in depth about her journey in finding the perfect midwife match for her dream birth.

I thought xmas was a great time for a bit of a longer episode as you digest all that food on the couch you can drift off to birth land through our conversation.

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Lisa. 

Lisa is a first time mama from Wollongong, Australia. 

She’s an outdoor adventure guide that is now enjoying her time as a stay at home mum, tending to her permaculture garden and food forest.

Lisa dreamed of having a natural and empowering birth even before falling pregnant.

When she did fall pregnant she instantly booked in at the local Midwifery Group Practice program at her hospital as well as with a doula. 

However, falling into the low risk category proved to be hard and after getting booted off the program in the 3rd trimester she went on to have the birth she had envisioned with privately practicing midwives at 42weeks and 6 days.

Curious about Lisa? Find her on instagram as @lisaforrestwalker

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Amanda

Amanda is a mum of 2 from Virginia, USA.

She planned to have a natural birth with both her babies, the first cared for by an obstetrician and her second with midwives. 

And though she had prepared for and wanted a natural birth with her first she ended up going down the medicalized route guided by her OB.

The second time around she changed practitioners until she found the right fit where she felt safe and whom she trusted. 

And with midwives at her service she had the natural birth she had envisioned.

It has actually been found that women who plan to birth at home has a far higher normal birth rate at 90% compared to the women birthing in the hospital which is at 60%.

To birth with midwives compared to obstetricians has similar stats.

This is important to consider when choosing your care provider. 

You can be fully prepared and believe in natural birth but if your care provider or the culture at the hospital doesn’t have the same you have a bigger chance of not having the natural birth you want.

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Lauren. Lauren is a mama of 2 from the Gold Coast, Australia.

She is Australia's first professional instagramer and before she became a mama she worked as a full time travel influencer and speaker. 

Today she is the co founder of Makia the baby journal, a digital baby journal designed for parents to use to document their journey to parenthood.

In this episode Lauren shares about how she became pregnant the first time at 37 after just trying being off the pill for 3 months with her husband in Zimbabwe and how she became pregnant the second time in her 40’s on the first try.

Becoming pregnant as an older mama wasn’t an issue for her. However, having her natural birth the first time around was. She ended up having a medicalized and traumatic birth with her first, which she didn’t really heal up until the weeks before birthing her second. 

And it was really through having a physiological birth at home that she really did heal and wake up to the strength she holds as a woman in her feminine power.

The euphoria and high she was on after birth is not comparable to anything else she’s ever experienced. And she has experienced some amazing things on her travels. And in this episode you get to hear about her full journey to this moment.

Curious about Lauren? Find her on instagram as @laurenepbath

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Use the code THENATURALBIRTHPODCAST for 20% off your first month.

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Agata.

Agata is a mama of 2 from Sweden and one of my dear clients. And today we have a very special story to tell.

Agata is quite the unicorn. She waited calmly for her baby to be ready and for labour to start naturally after her waters broke for over 96 hours. Which in our modern birth climate is unheard of.

With my assistance and guidance and her deep trust in her body, baby and birth she had a magical, empowering, natural hospital birth when her body finally was ready to go into labour.

In this episode you get to hear about her first fast natural hospital birth of 5 hours that left her feeling like it could have been a better experience, to her second birth, with me as her sacred birth worker, and how ecstatic she was after this birth.

Lots of pearls of wisdoms shared between us as we weave her birth stories together.

Curious about Needed? Find out more at thisisneeded.com  Use the code THENATURALBIRTHPODCAST for 20% off your first month. Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Rachael Rose is a mum of 2 from NSW, Australia.

She is a writer, women's circle facilitator, doula and passionate supporter of the innate wisdom of mothers and babies.

In this episode we will hear about her two births that completely transformed her.

Her first became a medicalized event in the hospital against Racheals wishes, and through the birth trauma a fire was ignited and Racheal dove into all things birth and sacred woman’s work.

Today we will focus on her second empowering and natural home birth where she truly was birthing in her power and I had goosebumps throughout this interview.

So many golden nuggets for you mamas in this one for sure.

Curious about Racheal Rose? Find her on instagram as @the_racheal_rose

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Trigger Warning: Early Pregnancy Loss

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have a different kind of birth story.

Today me and the beautiful Amy that I will soon introduce will talk about early miscarriage.

Miscarriage is more common than we think.

And even though it is rapidly changing the way we as women relate to our bodies, our monthly bleed, our sexuality, pregnancy and birth, we rarely talk openly about miscarriage and especially not the early miscarriages.

About 10 to 20 percent of known pregnancies end in miscarriage.

But the actual number is likely much higher because many miscarriages occur so early in pregnancy that women might not even realize she was pregnant to begin with.

They may just think they are having a heavy period.

If this happens to you, you might have cramping, heavier bleeding than normal, pain in the tummy, pelvis or back, and feel weak.

I believe that in order to fully reclaim our power and sovereignty as women we need to reclaim our bleed, the cycles we flow through and to speak openly and honestly about all the facets of being the custodian of a womb.

So I was very honored by Amy reaching out about wanting to bring her early miscarriage and the wisdom and deep healing she gained through this most natural experience of many women lives and journey to become a parent.

Amy is a Dancer, Spiritual Director, and Ordained Christian Minister from Missouri, USA. She teaches others to unlock the wisdom of their bodies through movement, storytelling, and music. And today, through her vulnerable and generous share we get to talk in-depth about the experience of early miscarriage.

Curious about Amy? Find her on insta as @ashoebox

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Mel is a mother of one living in the northern rivers, NSW Australia.

She is a Naturopath, a transpersonal art therapist, a ritual facilitator, & medicine drum maker.

Today we are going to talk about her natural birth that took place in her home in a birth pool, during the hot summer with drumming, singing, fire and her partner, doulas and midwives present.

Curious about Mel? Visit her at ourvisionarywellbeing.org

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Kayla.

Kayla is a mama of one from South Africa. 

She is a doula and a Sacred Birth Worker Mentee who is passionate about supporting mothers and families during the precious journey of childbirth. 

Today we will hear about her journey of knowing at a very young age she needed to become a mother and how the desire to become a mother and a birth worker was intimately woven together.

She did a short doula course at 6 months pregnant and straight after decided it wasn’t enough and applied for The Sacred Birth Worker Mentorship.

She ended up birthing the first week of the mentorship, at 37 weeks, as a first time mama.

And she had a short first time birth in water, in her home, surrounded by family, a doula and her midwife.

Home birth and natural birthing is rare in the world nowadays and even rarer in South Africa so I’m so pleased to have a mentee there and for her to share her story with you. Hopefully inspiring other young African women to trust in birth’s design.

She has great visions of starting a podcast for natural birthing in South Africa and I’m sure with her passion she’ll do great things for the natural birthing and home birthing community in her country and beyond.

Curious about Kayla? Find her on Instagram as @sacredart_ofbirthing

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

SACRED BIRTH INTERNATIONAL

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Sabrina.

Sabrina is now a mama of 2, but at the time of this recording she was still pregnant with her second. 

In this episode we will therefor only hear about her first home birth. 

However I can report the second one was also an empowering natural home birth. 

Maybe we need to get her back on the podcast to share about that soon too.

Sabrina lives on a farm in west Colorado, but her heritage is from Afghanistan and she comes from a lineage of home birthing women.

So when Sabrina fell pregnant, birthing at home and birthing naturally was a given.

She’s a nurse, and an avid supporter of empowering birth, especially after her own empowering experience which we will hear all about in this episode.

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Want to know How you can Optimize your chances of having a Natural and Empowering Birth Experience?  

In this episode of The Natural Birth Podcast your podcast host Anna will share her 4 Top Tips on how to optimize your chances of having a Natural Birth.   

We all know labour and birth is unpredictable and something we can’t control, but as a midwife Anna knows it is something that we can definitely influence by our level of preparation, body, mind and soul.

Listen to todays episode to find out how...

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have our host Anna, a former midwife, share about how to prepare for a home birth.

She shares her best tips on how to prepare the birth space, labour stations to set up and use, water birth prep, what you need as well as the best nourishment in labour and birth!

For anyone curious about home birth or planning a home birth this episode is gold!

Save it and share it with your home birthing mamas and clients!

Download her Home Birth Checklist as well as the other resources mentioned in the episode at sacredbirthinternational.com/free-resources

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Want to work with Anna or join The Sacred Birth Worker Mentorship?

Find Anna’s Website, about her Mentorship & How to Work with Her, as well as all Links & Resources she mentions in the episode here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Alexa

Alexa is a mother of one from Aotearoa, New Zeeland.

Today we will talk about the birth of her dreams, an outdoor undisturbed water birth, under a tree, beneath the stars, following her instincts. 

Alexa chose to free birth her baby after years of researching and studying birth, with a midwife as a backup.  She had an agreement with her partner that if all felt good for the both of them during the labour and birth they wouldn't call the midwife, as they knew the midwife wasn't comfortable with Alexa having an unassisted birth, but would have wanted to monitor her progress. Something Alexa didn't want. 

More and more women choose to free birth, not because they don't want a midwife present but because they don't trust that they will not be interfered with, or the sheer fact that there is no midwives in their area or its to expensive.

Food for thought for the people in power making it difficult or impossible for women to be safely cared for in the way they choose to birth their babies and for the midwives wanting to assist them.

Alexas own empowered birth led her to become a Doula and birth photographer.

Curious about Alexa? Find her at www.alexadoulaphotography.co.nz

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Emma.

Emma is a mama of three from Michigan, USA.

She is a doula who used her three births to educate herself and spur a love for feminine energy, birth, and helping other women.

From a ‘failed’ home birth, to a doula-protected, unmedicated hospital birth, to an unassisted birth with just her and her husband, Emma’s greatest teachers in life have been birth and her children.

And today she shares about all of her three births.

Curious about Emma? Find her on instagram as @fairylightsdoula

Want to work with Anna or join The Sacred Birth Worker Mentorship?

Find Anna’s Website, about her Mentorship & How to Work with Her, as well as all Links & Resources she mentions in the episode here:www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Devin. She is a Hispanic-American mama of 2 living in a “family village” in Southern California USA.

Devin is an International Coach, speaker and creator of the award-winning program Sacred: 7 Pillars of Self-Love and Liberation. 

Through her coaching, Devin helps women embrace self-compassion, liberate their spirit and embody their wildness through the power of self love. Devin’s work is informed by mystic spirituality, somatics, the natural world and birth.

In todays episode Devin shares about her healing journey after her first traumatic birth with preeclampsia and how she worked on trusting that she can have a natural and empowering birth for her second.

She shares about being very selective with her birth team and finding the right midwife.

In her second pregnancy she unleashing her inner rebel, after being a good girl most of her life in firing her OB & exiting the system.

She released the ideas of how she “should” birth and let it all happen as raw and naturally as she could.

This episode is about Devin finding her self trust and having her natural redemptive birth.

Curious about Devin? Find her on instagram @devinkingjones

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Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Stephanie.

Stephanie is a mama of 2 from Sydney, Australia and she is a painter and a high school arts teacher.

Her first baby was born in hospital via induction, epidural and episiotomy at 42 weeks and it was not the birth experience she wanted.

So when falling pregnant again and buying their first house, she felt like she wanted and could give birth at home and she did!

Stephanie is a mountain climber and this helped her in birthing her second baby as she understood this time around that preparing mentally was crucial for birthing, just as it is in mountain climbing. 

She shares all about her preparation with us today as she tells us about her empowering home birth.

Curious about Stephanie? Find her on instagram as @_fulgora_

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Megan.

Megan is a Mama of one from the UK.

She is a wild hearted creative traveller & crafter of divine arts, and the founder & creatrix of Alta Ritual Apothecary.

She was determined to have a sovereign & sacred birth as nature intended, to honor her rite of passage & welcome her baby earth side.

She decided to opt  out of the system and employing Kemi Joy Johnson as her midwife and birthed her baby her way. 

Megan pushed for 4 hours to birth her baby that wanted to be born with her hands above her face.

Curious about Megan? Find her on instagram as @altaritual

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Olivia.

Olivia is a mama of two from the US. 

As so many first time mamas, she was over confident about her ability to have a natural birth in a hospital and ended up having the typical American hospital birth flat on her back with an epidural and her legs up in the air being told when to push.

She put in a lot of work in preparing for her second birth, still planning on having a natural hospital birth, and ended up having a short but empowering labor and birth with my her daughter that ended in a surprising way.

As soon as Olivia got in to the car to go to the hospital, her body began pushing. The hospital was 20 minutes away, and her daughter was crowning by the time they arrived. Her head and body emerged with one final push after about a 3hr labour and her husband caught her before she fell on the floor of the car. It was an empowering experience that brought them closer together because it was something that just the two of them did.

This episode is sponsored by Informed Pregnancy Plus. Try Informed Pregnancy Plus absolutely free of charge. Just visit informedpregnancy.tv and start watching these inspiring documentaries and films already today.

Find All of Anna's Links & Resources Here: 

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Nicole. She’s a mama of 2 from the US.

She has a degree in Family Life and is the founder of the blog, Family Reality and Joy, where she seeks to help married couples and parents navigate the difficulties of family life.

In this episode Nicole shares about her second birth after a medicalized hospital birth, which was a natural home birth with her independent midwife, husband and she was surrounded by women. Her sister, mother and grandmother came abound for her labour and birth. And Nicole thought it made a huge difference to birth at home.

Curious about Nicole? Find her on instagram as @familyrealityandjoy

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This episode is sponsored by Informed Pregnancy Plus. Try Informed Pregnancy Plus absolutely free of charge. Just visit ⁠informedpregnancy.tv⁠ and start watching these inspiring documentaries and films already today!

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Chelsea Lee.

Chelsea Lee is a mama of two living in rural South Australia. She is a hairdresser gone wild stay at home mama after birthing her two babies.

Her first baby was an intended free birth but ended up being a road side birth with a whole team attending. When she hit transition she made the decision to go to hospital, however didn’t make it all the way. 

Only 8 months postpartum she conceived again and with her second she decided to have a wild pregnancy and to again free birth her baby. 

This time around she was much more prepared for what to expect and in a totally different head space.

She ended up having her desired free birth and is now wanting to soon step onto the path of becoming a space holder for birth herself.

Hopefully joining a future Spiritual Midwife Mentorship Cohort once her babies are a bit bigger.

Curious about Chelsea Lee? Find her on instagram as @chelsealeebutler

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Sarah

Sarah is a mother of two, originally from the UK, now living in Byron Bay Australia. 

She is also a midwife and a colleague of mine. 

Today she is going to share about her natural home birth over 20 years ago in the UK and why she loved it. 

She is also going to share her pearls of wisdom as a midwife on how a woman can optimize her chances of having a natural and empowering birth experience.

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Stella.

Stella is a mama of two from Florida, USA.

She works in the health & wellness space and lives a natural, holistic lifestyle.

She went from being terrified of birth, thinking she would never have children because of her fears, to having two beautiful home births in the house built by her and her husband. 

Her first birth was long and challenging, but she reached her goal of having an unmedicated home birth.

But she still felt like something was missing, there were some things that happened during her first birth that she didn’t want for her second, and she didn't have the euphoric birth experience that she knew was possible from all of the birth stories she had listened to.

She decided to go for an independent home birth midwife instead of the birth center she did the first time.

Her second birth was fast, magical, and practically pain-free even though she had a shoulder dystocia.  

She shares all about how she faced her fears, how she prepared for each of her birth experiences and the pearls of wisdom she learned from each one. She did a full 180 and is now fully obsessed with birth. 

This episode is sponsored by Informed Pregnancy Plus.

Try Informed Pregnancy Plus absolutely free of charge.

Just visit informedpregnancy.tv and start watching these inspiring documentaries and films already today.

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

HOW TO BIRTH UNASSISTED - SPECIAL EPISODE

This episode is a response to the state of emergency that pregnant and birthing women are faced with around the world.

This episode was prompted by reports reaching me of women having to birth unassisted in underground shelters in the Ukraine due to the war and the natural flooding disaster that has happened the last week and still is happening on the east coast of Australia to my beloved community in Northern New South Wales.

My heart is broken to hear of the devastation in my old home town and area. And I want to help, so using this platform to spread some support.

Of course there are other conflicts and disasters around the world leaving women without birth support so this episode will be timeless to assist women faced with this situation.

This is NOT an exhaustive checklist on how to birth unassisted.

There is plenty more that can be shared.

But it is a basic guide, and a start and an attempt to support those who find themselves desperate and fearful of birthing alone.

Please share this episode far and wide so it might reach the mamas that are truly finding themselves in need of this support.

Thank you podcast community!

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Amanda

Amanda is a mother of 2 from Atlanta, USA. 

She is the host of the Finding Your Village podcast, a helpful resource for new parents to make parenting a little bit easier! 

Today we will touch upon her first birth that was a medicated birth and the wisdom she drew from that experience and how it informed her in wanting to have a natural birth centre birth for her second, the birth we will explore more in depth.

Curious about Amanda? Find her at www.findingyourvillagepod.com

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Petra.

Petra is an intuitive therapist supporting women through the phases of their lives.

Before she got pregnant with her second child she felt a calling to explore and embody pregnancy, birth and beyond in a more conscious, natural and spiritual way on her path of becoming a doula and space holder for women.

In todays episode we are going to talk about the birth of Petras little girl Yamayah, a name that came to her years before her daughter was conceived and is the name of a Goddess in ancient mythology.

Petras home birth plans for her and her baby girl went out the window as she went passed 42 weeks gestation.

She had to surrender her deep desire for a home birth and accept going to the hospital.

Having a hospital birth however showed her that she only really needed herself in order to have her natural birth.

An empowering realization indeed. 

Curious about Petra? Find her on instagram as @soulful.pregnancy.birth.beyond

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Tayla.

Tayla is mama of one from Victoria, Australia. 

She is a diesel mechanic turned pilates instructor. 

In today’s episode she shares about her decision of having an unassisted birth due to living in an area that didn’t have home birth as an option through the regional hospital and also no independent home birth midwives.

She sought out a doula and educated herself enough to make the decision to birth with just her partner and her chosen support team at home.

At 41+3 weeks she went into labour and had her baby in the water just like she always wanted.

Curious about Tayla? Find her on instagram as @tayla_kayy

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Jerusha.

Jerusha is a doula, and birth and family photographer and videographer from the Northern Rivers NSW Australia.

She is one of the co-creators of Birth Time: the documentary, an international award winning documentary about the maternity system in Australia, and around the world.

In today’s episode you get to hear about Jerushas own two home births. The first being featured in the documentary with her whole birth team present, and her second being a fast and furious birth of 33min!

Jerusha is full of birthing wisdom and insight into the birthing system and this is an episode you don’t want to miss.

Curious about Jerusha? Find her on instagram @jerushasutton

Watch the documentary at www.birthtime.world

This episode is sponsored by Needed, a world leading woman's health supplement brand.

Find out more at thisisneeded.com.

Use the code THENATURALBIRTHPODCAST for 20% off your first month.

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Tayler.

Tayler is a mum of two living on a boat in Brunswick river in NSW, Australia.

She is a qualified nurse and doula and supports women throughout their pregnancy and postpartum as well as with Ayurvedic pregnancy massage.

Tayler became a doula even before having her own children. So when the day came that she fell pregnant she already had a dream birth vision and knew what she wanted from her birth experience.

Today we will hear about her two birth centre births, as a small boat wasn’t and ideal place for birthing. Her most recent birth took place during the covid pandemic and in this episode we get to hear another positive story in these crazy lock down times.

Curious about Tayler? Find her at www.natalhealth.com.au

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Mia

Mia is a young mama of one from Idaho, USA.

She fell pregnant the first month of meeting the father of her baby and now partner. 

She felt a great peace come over her when she fell pregnant and let her intuition guide her her whole way through her pregnancy and birth.

She came down with a rare condition during pregnancy called hydro nephrosis, which essentially means her urethra got blocked by her pregnant womb which prevented her from releasing urine. She had to wear a tube to help her empty her bladder, until she, upon a strong intuitive feeling, asked to take it out. And all was fine.

She went from wanting a home birth to accepting a hospital birth due to this condition happening in pregnancy.

And she ended up having an empowering and natural birth with a lovely group of midwives. 

Curious about Mia? Find her on instagram as @mia.inpeace

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Sandra Paola

Sandra Paola is an interdisciplinary dance artist, performance activist, and mama of two from Abya Yala (the territory currently known as Bogotá, Colombia). 

Her journey of pregnancy, birth and motherhood has lead her to embrace the powerful nature of the divine feminine, and is committed to supporting other women develop trust in themselves and their bodies through mindful movement practices. 

Today she will share her two natural birth stories. And I loved our conversation. I feel like me and Paola could talk for ever.

Her story of conception and pregnancy hold so much medicine.

And her births as well. Her first was a home birth transfer due to her midwife’s fears around low amniotic fluid.

And her second was as Sandra Paola wrote me herself ”an empowering water birth at home with the assistance of an amazing birth team that supported her to have a virtually unassisted sovereign birth in the company of her family”. 

After the hospital transfer with her first, this second birth is helping her process, heal, and grow beyond her wildest dreams. She is so grateful for her body and the trust she developed in her capacity to birth the way she wanted to.

Curious about Sandra Paola? Find her on instagram as @earthdancemama

Sandra Paola is now also a part of my online community the Village and I hope in a near future also a sacred birth worker mentee.

If you want to hang out with me and her and other podcast guests as well as amazing women from around the world then come on over and join The Village.

It’s a beautiful sisterhood community of birth nerds, mamas and birth workers sharing about life, spirituality, birth and babies. 

There’s a monthly subscription option. Try it out. Cancel at any time. No strings attached.

So come and join our LIVE community sharing circles and yoga circles, pick my brain, connect with other likeminded women and enjoy the safety and loving support of our sisterhood.

Find Anna’s Website, The Village and about her Mentorship & How to Work with Her, as well as all Links & Resources she mentions in the episode here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today we have Katie!

Katie is a lactation consultant and midwife with exceptional breastfeeding knowledge.

She is also the co host of The Midwives Cauldron Podcast with Rachel Reed that I interviewed previously in this season.

And it’s such an honor to have her on for a bonus episode ALL about breastfeeding!

She is giving you so much amazing information in an easy to digest format that will make a world of difference on your breastfeeding journey!

Get your pen and paper out. You might want to take some notes!

Curious about Katie? Find her on instagram as @themidwivescauldron

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Lindsey Meehleis.

Lindsey is a fellow spiritual midwife, medicine woman and storyteller who I absolutely adore and I am so excited to have her on the podcast.

It feels like talking to myself.

I am certain you’ll all love the beautiful storytelling and wisdom that pours through Lindsey.

In today’s episode we dive on into Lindsey’s own two birth stories.

Her first induction turned c/s at a very young age and how that catapulted her into becoming a doula and then a midwife.

To her second which was a very conscious conception and home birth totally transforming Lindsey from who she was to who she then became.

It’s an episode that dives into the topics of midwifery and herstory and claiming your sovereignty in birth and life, to talking about the birth portal and how there are four things that need to dilate. The cervix, the vulva, the heart and the mind.

It’s a beautiful chat that I hope you’ll all enjoy.

Curious about Lindsey? Find her on Instagram as @lindseymeehleis

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

SACRED BIRTH INTERNATIONAL

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Emma. 

Emma is a mum of one from Atlanta USA. 

She had a 31hr natural and empowering labour and ended up birthing at a birth center with her partner, mother, midwives and a doula by her side. 

Emma feel like her support system was amazing and that her doula was vital in helping facilitate her positive birth experience. 

In this episode we talk about coping mechanisms in labour, vaginal examinations, anterior lips, laboring in water and so much more. 

Curious about Emma? Find her on instagram as @emmalongdotcom   

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Emma back.

Emma is a meditation and yoga teacher as well as an author, podcaster, mentor and speaker from Byron Bay Australia and now a mama of two!

Emma was on the poddy in May 2022 sharing her first fast empowering home birth in the episode ”Breaking Ancestral Patterns and choosing Home Birth”

Now she is back breaking all the assumptions about second births being faster and easier. Because this one was longer and harder but still so amazing with so much wisdom for her mama years as a mama of two.

Emma shares this journey so openly and honestly, giving you so many pearls of wisdom. I believe you’re gonna love this story.

Curious about Emma? Find her on Instagram as @emmamaidment_

Curious about Needed? Find out more at thisisneeded.com  Use the code THENATURALBIRTHPODCAST for 20% off your first month.

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here: www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Fiona

Fiona is an actor and a mama of two from the UK.

Today we will hear about how she had her daughter at home in a birth pool as her son slept upstairs. It was calm, beautiful and even pleasurable! 

Her baby girl was born en caul, which is when the amniotic sac is intact and has been believed throughout the ages to be a sign of luck, and her daughter also had a true knot in her umbilical cord. Something that is feared but most of the time totally fine. 

She had a doula and an NHS midwife as well as her husband with her. 

This birth was the complete opposite to when she had her son in the height of covid, where they threatened her with induction and where she ended up having loads of interventions like forceps and an episiotomy, even though she’d wanted as natural a birth as possible.

This birth was her magical redemption.

Curious about Fiona? Find her on instagram as @fionahampton

Curious about Needed? Find out more at ⁠thisisneeded.com⁠ 

Use the code THENATURALBIRTHPODCAST for 20% off your first month.

Find All of Anna's Links & Resources Here: 

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Jade

Jade is a mama of two at the age of 23 from Kansas, US.

She’s a photographer documenting women in their most honest, raw and poetic way possible, simultaneously as she’s studying to become a doula and yoga teacher.

A lot of people might think that she is too young to have already brought two souls into this world but she believes that this is what she was meant to do. 

Because when she birthed them earth side, she also re-birthed myself into the woman she is today. 

And in this episode we will touch upon her first standardized western medicalized birth to then dive into her second empowering natural hospital birth.

Curious about Jade? Find her on instagram as @jademckenzieco

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Star is a mama of 2 from Byron, Australia.

She is a nervous system specialist and woman’s work facilitator and a good friend of mine. And I’ve wanted her to share her two home birth stories for a long time.

Star had her two daughters almost 20 years apart. Her first daughter in her early 20s and her second daughter in her late 30s.

Today we talk about her beautiful births and the importance of fear release, not only for the mama to be but also for her partner and support people.

Curious about Star? Find her at www.stardespres.com

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Silja

Silja is a mother of one from Finland. 

She is a vocal artist, a holistic singing coach and a versatile musician. 

Silja facilitates workshops and women's circles where she inspires others to explore the voice as a way to connect with ones true self and unique self expression. 

In this episode we will talk about Siljas empowering birth centre birth in Finland, and the importance of voicing what you truly need in labour, birth and beyond.

Birth is the most important life altering event of your life. Speak your truth and voice your needs!

Curious about Silja? Find her on instagram as @siljakulo

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Jami

Jami is a mum of 3 from the US.

Her first birth was 7 years ago and at that point she didn’t really prepare for her birth and ended up having a standard medicalized hospital birth with an epidural that gave her negative side effects. When she fell pregnant again she had a lot of fear about birthing again, but realized what she really feared was the epidural.

The second time around she educated herself and prepared body, mind and soul for a natural birth but still ended up having medical interventions that, in hindsight, she would have declined knowing what she knows now.

Her husband said that she educated and prepared herself for her third birth like it was her first ever. 

And her preparation paid off. Her third bubba was born just a few weeks ago and she finally had the birth she wanted all along. 

She had a birth voice the whole way through and spoke up and advocated for herself so that she could have the birth she wanted. 

It was the most incredible and empowering experience of her life.

And we get to hear all about it, in todays episode!

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Sinead.

Sinead is a mama of one from Australia.

She is an energy healer and mentor, working with women to feel safe in their feminine and embody more flow in their life. 

She holds space for cacao ceremonies and mother blessings in which she infuses her deep ancestral connection to her lineage and encourages women of the importance of connecting to their red thread. 

Now a mother of her son Aizen (eye-zen) she hopes to create more spaces for mothers to connect within and slow down. 

Sinead had connected with the spirit of her baby 2 years before he came. He guided her on the emotional and mental healing and preparation that she needed to grow him, birth him and now nurture him as his mother. 

She got a clear go ahead sign from him when in Bali and conceived that cycle. She went on knowing she wanted a home birth and had a fast birth for a first time mama, a total of 7.5 hours of labour and birth with her waters breaking as the initiator of labour. 

First baby, no complications, no tears and pure bliss is what she wrote to me and she loved her birth and the places it guided her to within.

It was quicker than she thought it would be and the second midwife didn’t make it, but it was lovely with just a close friend, her partner and one midwife. It was the most embodied and empowered she’s ever felt in her whole life!

Curious about Sinead? Find her on instagram as @sineadrobyntaylor 

Before I let you go I want to remind you about my November Sale. 50% off my The Natural Birth Course - all you need to know to optimize your chances of having a natural and empowering birth experience as well as 1 year membership inside my online village with monthly lives with me as well as movement classes and other circles held by my sacred birth worker mentees.

Use the coupon code NOVEMBER for a 50% Discount on The Natural Birth Course: https://www.sacredbirthinternational.com/natural-birth-course

Find Anna’s Website, The Village and about her Mentorship & How to Work with Her, as well as all Links & Resources she mentions in the episode here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast
Follow @thenaturalbirthpodcast on insta for more natural and empowering birth stories!

Today is International Womens Day and I want to put out an extra episode with a conversation I just had with Jane Hardwicke Collings, a former midwife and the founder of the school of shamanic woman craft.

Jane is affected by the flooding in NSW, Australia but not as badly as my old home town and area of the Northern Rivers.

We both feel deeply for the community we know and love and want to offer our help to them, and to pregnant and birthing women from all over the world faced with war and natural disasters leaving them birthing in crisis.

This episode will go into the full process of labour and birth and how to keep it as safe and physiological as possible in the midst of crisis as well as instruction and guidance for All Women around the world to offer their moon blood to call in peace and safety for all sentient beings on this earth.

We ask you to please share this episode.

It will only take a minute of your time to share it on social media.

Today is International Womens Day.

We celebrate the strength, resilience and generosity of women.

I celebrate you for being a woman in my community.

I thank you for helping me help women in crisis by sharing this episode.

Blessings on your hearts

Want to connect with Jane.

Find her on Instagram as @janehardwickecollings

Find out about Mamatoto support for birth in crisis on instagram @hygieiahealthltd

Download Jane's Unassisted Birth Checklist >>> HERE

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Dana

Dana is a mama of one from Nimbin,  Australia.

She is a healer, breath worker and singer.

Today you're invited to the rolling hills around Nimbin, to listen to Dana telling her natural birth story.

Dana's birth was so quick that her midwife didn't make it.

She states the birth of her baby was her greatest achievement.

Join in and listen to Dana as a young first time mama and her journey through a very fast labour and birth.

Curious about Dana? Find her on Facebook as DanaLee Mynard.

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on the Natural Birth Podcast we have Kirsty.

Kirsty is a first time mama from Scotland. She works as a renewable energy lawyer and is very passionate about the environment and the outdoors and recently moved to her new home in the rural highlands with her husband, where they aim to full fill their life long dream of homesteading and growing as much food as they can on their small plot of land.

In this episode she tell us all about her pregnancy and late pregnancy cholestasis diagnosis and how that threatened to derail her plan of having a home birth. 

Luckily with the right research and support from a number of amazing women, Kirsty was able to manage her cholestasis diagnosis naturally and holistically which resulted in her having her baby with just her partner in the bathroom with a single candle for light. Her husband caught their baby boy on his way out and she was so happy to have had a completely unmedicated birth at home-

Curious about Kirsty? Find her on instagram as @kirsty.may3

Find Anna’s Website, The Village and about her Mentorship & How to Work with Her, as well as all Links & Resources she mentions in the episode here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Nabi!

Nabi is a mama of one originally from Bolivia, now living in Oklahoma USA.

I’ve known Nabi for almost a year now. 

She joined The Natural Birth Course and my community soon after finding out she was pregnant and so I have had the privilege of walking alongside her, virtually, throughout her pregnancy, birth and postpartum.

And in todays episode she will share her processes of choosing a semi wild pregnancy and ultimately free birthing her baby at home with her partner, sister which was planned, and as life wanted it, also with her mother and father present.

Curious about Nabi? Find her on instagram as @oklahomafoodforest

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Josie

Josie is a mother of two boys from the northers rivers, Australia.

She is a visionary goddess artist and the creator of clay priestess sculpture workshops. Josie is also a vocalist in a roots reggae band with her husband, called Lionheart Rebellion.

In this episode of The Natural Birth Podcast we will hear about the birth of her two sons Jalahyn - which means rainbow in the indigenous dialect of the aboriginal people where he was born, and Kiama - which means great spirit in another dialect. 

The birth of Jalahyn had to be an induction due to pre-eclamsia, however Josie tried some effective natural techniques to ripen her body which helped her to arrive to the hospital already at 3cm which is amazing considering she was a first time mumma getting induced.

For her second baby Kiama Josie chose a lay midwife to assist her at home and had her long sought after natural home birth.

Curious about Josie? Learn more at josiedoolan.weebly.com

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Mia 

Mia is a mama of one originally from Montreal, Canada, now living in a cozy house by a river in the woods of Norway with her Norwegian husband.

Mia is a certified doula, prenatal yoga teacher and Mama Blessing ceremony facilitator who is absolutely passionate about natural birth. Her work extends to facilitating women’s circles, retreats, and organizing wellness events and festivals in Norway, Portugal, and beyond.

With a strong love for art and holistic psychology, Mia is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Art Therapy and is soon about to begin in the next cohort of The Sacred Birth Worker Mentorship, deepening even further into the role of sacred space holds for women and birth.

Her journey into motherhood was deeply intentional, beginning with a conscious conception in Turkey and followed by a pregnancy where she fully prepared her body, mind, heart, and soul for the birth she envisioned. 

Her dream culminated in a fully natural and blissful home water birth at 41 weeks + 1 day, on her husband's birthday, supported by two lovely midwives.

For six powerful hours, she surrendered to the primal wisdom of birth, chanting and vocalizing through each wave, performing her own internal checks, and welcoming her baby in the water into a sacred space adorned with affirmations, candles, fairy lights, and an altar honoring her ancestors.

While her birth unfolded even more beautifully than she could have imagined, unexpected moments — like her baby’s cord breaking before their planned cord-burning ceremony and a brief postpartum fainting spell — became peaceful reminders of birth’s inherent unpredictability and its mysterious beauty.

Now, as Mia embarks on the Sacred Birth Worker Mentorship, she is eager to share her transformative experience and to inspire other women to trust in the powerful wisdom of undisturbed birth.

Curious about Mia? Find her on Instagram as @mia.gratefulheart 

Please come and join Mia and other podcast guests in The Natural Birth Podcast Community on FB. In here we will share some of Mia’s birth photos and you get the chance to hang out with her and other birth nerds and natural mamas.

Want to work with Anna or join The Sacred Birth Worker Mentorship?

Find Anna’s Website, about her Mentorship & How to Work with Her, as well as all Links & Resources she mentions in the episode here:

https://open.spotify.com/show/3o9Pj9AmRySwvvh9oEM462?si=b22e5ae7be91415f

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Faith.

Faith is a mama of one from California, USA.

She is a fellow midwitch who’s chosen to work outside of the regulatory system and we found out just before starting the recording that we share a dear sister in common, Midwife Sophia, my Sacred Birth Worker Mentee on Corfu Greece.

Faith apprenticed for 9 months with Sophia.

You might have heard Sophias episode ”Holistic Midwife Sophia & Her 3 Natural Births” earlier this year on the poddy, and if you haven’t I highly recommend you do as she too is such a wealth of natural birth magic and wisdom.

At the age of 16, Faith experienced a powerful dream that brought her to sit with women in birth. She started after graduating high school by volunteering as a doula at her local hospital.

She also became a hospice nurses assistant and sat with the dying while still attending births whenever she could. This was a time of “living at the threshold of all things” and she came to recognize that death and birth require similar things: respect, deep trust, and total surrender. 

In the years following Faith collected many skills, attended several educational trainings and has taken up many different roles such as: midwives assistant, herbalist, massage therapist and bodyworker, priestess, professional seamstress and designer, yurt builder, artist and more. 

After 2 early losses, her pregnancy was an ancestrally powerful one and full of preparation for the initiation of birth and motherhood.

Her 17 hr labor brought her to kiss the face of the Goddess, as she danced, sang, screamed and roared her daughter, Minerva Moon, through the threshold and into the loving hands of her husband while Faith’s mother supported her the whole time. 

Faith is so proud to have given birth at home and undisturbed and feels that through birth she has been given the gift not only of her beautiful daughter but the deep knowing that she can do anything.

Faith is also opening the School of Sovereign Midwifery beginning with a 3 day midwifery skills workshop in March 2025!

Curious about Faith? Find her on instagram as @thepaganmidwitch

Send me your requests for Anna Solo Topics to anna@sacredbirthinternational.com or dm me at @thespiritualmidwitch on instagram!

Thank you dearest

Find Anna’s Website, The Village and about her Mentorship & How to Work with Her, as well as all Links & Resources she mentions in the episode here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast
Follow @thenaturalbirthpodcast on insta for more natural and empowering birth stories!

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have my dear midwife colleague and friend Libby.

Libby is a mama of 3 from NSW, Australia. 

She is an independent, endorsed midwife in the Byron Shire and surroundings, and in my opinion the best.

Libby has incredibly fast births. 

Her first baby was born in the car on the way to the hospital, her second was monitored in hospital due to her history of fast births and her third was finally, as she had wanted all along, in her home. 

Her planned home birth was the best decision she have ever made. 

So, today dear listener you get to her from Libby, a midwife with over 25 years of experience and a mama of 3!

Curious about Libby? Find her at www.midwifelibby.com

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Keari

Keari is a mum of 5 with a wealth of knowledge of the whole range of birth options available to the modern woman.

She started out as a young uninformed woman choosing the most common option in our modern age, an obstetrician and the medicalized route, being induced and experiencing a range of interventions with her first pregnancies, births and babies.

As she experienced the negative effects of over medicalized pregnancies and births, she started to educate herself and ended up choosing to radically claim her pregnancy, birth and her birth space by free birthing her 5th baby.

Listen to her journey going from the extremes of the birthing spectrum - over medicalization to free birth, on todays episode.

Curious about Keari? Find her on insta as @merakibumpsandbabes

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Jesse is a mother of two from Colorado, USA, currently living in Quebec, Canada. 

Today we are going to talk about her two birth centre births. 

Her first in the US which she states is not a common birth story from the states, and her second in Canada. 

Jesse is passionate about her podcast project called ”pearls from my mother”, a podcast she started after her mother passed away from cancer in 2015. In her podcast she speaks of the wisdom her mother passed down to her and interviews other people about their mothers pearls of wisdoms.

Curious about Jesse and her podcast? Find out more at www.pearlsfrommymother.com

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Olivia.

Olivia is a mama of one from Virginia, USA and is an elementary school teacher.

She and her husband consciously conceived their son on their first try and immediately after finding out she was pregnant she wanted to know everything about birth and of course she found the natural birth podcast!

This led her to switch from thinking she should have a hospital birth with her OBGYN to a birth center birth with midwives at 28 weeks pregnant.

Her birth ended up being a beautiful and sacred birth that left her feeling empowered and in awe off her body and how perfectly it was designed for birth. 

The first thing she said after he was born was, “that was awesome! I could do that again”.

Curious about Olivia? Find her on instagram as @oliviadontigney

This episode is sponsored by Informed Pregnancy Plus.

Try Informed Pregnancy Plus absolutely free of charge.

Just visit informedpregnancy.tv and start watching these inspiring documentaries and films already today.

Find All of Anna's Links & Resources Here: 

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Jessica

Jessica is a mama of two from Alaska.

She is a home birth midwife and the Director of Development for the Pacific Birth Institute. 

She is on the leading edge of shaping community birth infrastructure nationwide, working at the Pacific Birth Institute to strengthen student midwifery and birth assistant education, and training access that honors culture, students learning in place, and the payment of midwives nationwide for their service as preceptors to the next generation. 

Jessica had two midwife attended births for her children, one in a birth center and one at home, and she will talk for hours about the glory and power of staying home for birth and how it ignites the confidence you need to start your new life as a mother.

And this is exactly what we will be taking about today, as well as going on a few tangents as you do with a fellow birth worker.

Curious about Jessica? Find her on instagram as @pacificbirthinstitute

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Happy Mothers Day beautiful Mamas out there!

May you be fully loved up as the goddess you are!

Today is not only the celebration of all the Mamas in the world but also the one year anniversary of The Natural Birth Podcast!

Happy Birth Day to The Natural Birth Podcast!

I can’t believe it has been a year!

6 Seasons and 60+ episodes!

And Over 34K listeners! 

What a ride.

And what amazing stories we’ve heard.

54 women have shared their birth stories with us and they have all brought pearls of wisdom in the form of sharing their unique way of preparing for birth and their embodied experience.

And today beautiful mamas and birth nerds! 

I have cherry picked from all the pearls of wisdom and advice given from all the mamas on the podcast!

Yes!

This episode is fully packed with birth wisdom after birth wisdom from women from all over the world.

It’s all in there. 

All the advice you could ever wish for from some of the most amazing and wise women and birth workers in the world!

If this podcast episode brings you as much value as I hope and truly believe it will, then please give me the gift of appreciation and like the natural birth podcast on iTunes and leave a comment.

The comments warms my heart and fuels my fire to bring more of this beautiful content to you all, and it also helps to spread the podcast to mamas who might not have found it yet!

Now enjoy this gem of an episode.

Download it to your library and listen to over and over again.

Especially if you are pregnant!

This episode can be a perfect complement to your birth playlist to listen to the early hours of labour and birth.

40% MOTHER’S DAY DISCOUNT!

Coupon code MOTHERSDAY

Mothers day discount: 

https://www.thenaturalbirthcourse.com/offers/jjcrJwLF?coupon_code=MOTHERSDAY

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have one of my oldest friends, Sanna. 

Our mothers were best friends and so were we, on and off throughout our childhood and teenage years, as you do.  

And today we get to hear her sweet hospital birth story with her first born.  

And Sanna is actually pregnant again!  

And I hope to be much more involved in her pregnancy and birth journey this time around as I am actually moving back to Sweden! (more on that in the episode). 

Now enjoy this beautiful episode with my dear friend Sanna. 

Sanna is a mum of one and an artist from Stockholm, Sweden.  

She started her labour at one of the most unusual places, as labour and birth doesn’t care about big occasions or convenient schedules.  

In this episode we get to hear about her natural and empowering hospital birth. 

Curious about Sanna? Find her on instagram as @artbysanna.se 

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Anna shares the richness of her natural birth wisdom with tips and suggestions to prepare body, mind and soul for birth. 

Tips she only normally shares with her clients, including natures wisdom like herbs and oils and practices to prepare the womb and vagina for birth.

50% Discount on The Natural Birth Course with coupon code NOVEMBER

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”6 steps to having a natural & empowering birth experience” 

This episode is ranked the 3rd most popular episode of the podcast!

Top 7 fears about giving birth Blog Post

https://www.sacredbirthinternational.com/blog/top-7-fears-about-giving-birth

Download my 6 Steps to a Natural Empowering Birth

https://www.sacredbirthinternational.com/pl/2147627188

In today's episode we get to hear from Andrea, a mother of two from Sweden.

Her first birth was a medicalized birth that initiated her interest in doula work and what home birth could be like. She ended up pursuing her interest and became a doula and prenatal yoga teacher and for her second birth, the birth we will explore today, she had an empowering home birth where she even experienced the bearing down process of birthing her baby as pleasurable.

Andrea is a doula, prenatal yoga teacher and birth preparation instructor in Stockholm, Sweden.

If you’re curious about her you can find out more on instagram @doulabyyourside.

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Nina.

Nina is a mama of one from Germany. She is a sacred space holder and one of my sacred birth worker mentees.

She is all about empowering and inspiring people to trust themselves, their intuition, their voices and their own truth. Her work is to hold space for and support souls in remembering that everything is connected, and to be living, breathing, birthing, and creating life consciously.

She feels strongly that her own inner work over the years has immensely prepared her for pregnancy, birth, and being a mother, and now also being a sacred birth worker and space holder for other women and their families going through this rite of passage.

Her and her husband became nomads only days before conceiving their baby and only returned to Berlin to birth their son in a birth center.

Nina’s birth was fast for a first time mama and giving birth was one of the most profound moments in her life. And it’s this story we get to hear all about today.

Curious about Nina? Find her on instagram as @nina_f_gv

It’s just over a month before the next Sacred Birth Worker Mentorship starts.

If you’ve been wanting to turn your passion for birth and women into your career or wanting to deepen your embodiment and space holding skills as many birth workers has done before you then here is your invitation to apply for the next round. Get you application in now to not miss out on this years Sacred Birth Worker Mentorship.

There is nothing more magical than seeing new life be birthed into this world as your chosen purpose and path in life.

If this is your soul calling then act now and apply!

Want to work with Anna or join The Sacred Birth Worker Mentorship?

Find Anna’s Website, about her Mentorship & How to Work with Her, as well as all Links & Resources she mentions in the episode here:www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Monica The Organic Naturopath Monica is a mum of one from Australia. 

She is a naturopath and nutritionist and in this episode she will be sharing her wealth of knowledge with us in helping us learn all the medicine nature has in store for us. 

We will dive into herbs, steams, mushrooms and tinctures for pre conception and how to prepare your body vessel to carry a child, pregnancy remedies and how to prepare for birth and postpartum healing and nurturing herbs for all mamas! It is a jammed packed episode, do bring out paper and pen and be ready to listen to this one a few times to get all the gems Monica is popping out left right and centre!  

Curious about Monica? Find her at www.theorganicnaturopath.com 

BONDING WITH BABY MEDITATION https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqNwPQ_h6u4 

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Kat River.

Kat is a mama of one from Western Australia.

She had yearned to be a mother for years before conceiving her son Rafi. 

Because of this yearning she intentionally chose every aspect of the journey into parenthood, starting before her son was even conceived, then into conscious conception, pregnancy, home birth and intentional postpartum. 

Before Kat became a mother, she was a relationship coach with her husband Tully running couples retreats & online programs. Now she mothers, writes and works on creative projects.

Kat is a huge advocate for conscious creation and creating opportunities for choice within motherhood. 

Curious about Kat? Find her on instagram as @the.kat.river

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Tamara.

Tamara is a mother of three from Stockholm, Sweden. 

She is a co-founder of the Mediation Center Inc. where she works as a mediator handling work-based conflicts and trains executives in conflict management. 

Today we will hear about her 3 very different birth experiences. 

Her first being a medicalized hospital birth, her second a natural hospital birth and her third a home birth in deep alignment with her true nature. 

The focus will be on Tamaras home birth with her daughter Luna.

Curious about Tamara? Contact her at tamara@medlingscentrum.se

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Emily.

Emily is a mama of two from Scotland.

She moved back to the highlands of Scotland, where she grew up, when she was pregnant to have her first born Betty. 

Just as she was considering what line of work to go into after being a full time mum she was blessed with another baby and continued to stay at home to raise Jim who, at the time of our recording, is 3 months old.

With both her babies Emily hasn’t been deemed ”low risk” by her care providers but went ahead and had two home births despite of what the NHS told her.

Her first born Betty was born at home 3.5 years ago after a battle with the NHS who were putting pressure on her to have a hospital birth due to her baby seemingly measuring big.

And her second, Jim was born at home after lying transverse for all of his 3rd trimester. Emily was advised that she’d have to go to the hospital if he didn’t move head down before birth. 

In the end he moved and was born within 3 hours of Emily waking with contractions.

Always listen to your mama wisdom and intuition. You are the expert of your baby, body and birth, always.

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast I am sharing a special episode with you about The Art of Sacred Space Holding in Birth.

It is an episode bringing some embodied wisdom for mamas to be about why it is so important who you invite into your birth space and it’s a resource for you who are attending or are planning on attending a birth.

Maybe you’re a sister, mother, partner or friend. Maybe you’re a doula, midwife or even an OB or aspiring to be a birth worker.

The intention with this episode is to awaken you to the importance of the quality of your presence in the birth space, and how it can positively or negatively impact a woman’s physiological birth process and her birth experience. 

Emily, also known as the Birth Advocate, joins me in this conversation. She’s a retired nurse, an initiator of the medical freedom movement in Maine and now a Spiritual Midwife Mentorship Program Mentee.

She helps me bring you the juice of why sacred space holding is needed in the birth realm, what it looks like and how to cultivate it, and in the end of this episode we also dive a bit deeper into The Spiritual Midwife Mentorship Program for you who might be interested in knowing more.

I hope you will find value in this special episode with me.

If you do, please let me know and maybe I’ll do some more of sharing my embodied wisdom with you.

Interested in The Spiritual Midwife Mentorship Program?

This program is now known as The Sacred Birth worker Mentorship! Find out more and apply here:

https://www.sacredbirthinternational.com/thesacredbirthworkermentorship

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Jackie.

Jackie is a mum of one from Florida, USA, and at the time of recording only 2 weeks postpartum!

She and her husband decided to go off birth control and try for a baby during the lockdowns in 2020 and ended up falling pregnant almost immediately.

Jackie decided to go with a OB clinic, and even though they didn’t believe that she would have a natural birth they supported her wishes.

Jackie shares her birth preparations with us today and her strong belief in her own ability to birth her baby naturally. And with that belief in combination with a supportive OB and husband, as well as an unusual early labour process, Jackie ended up having an empowering and natural birth in the hospital.

Curious about Jackie? Find her on instagram as @_jax_

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast

Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Lauren.

Lauren is a mama of 1 originally from England, now living in New Zealand for seven years.

She’s a pastry chef and qualified personal trainer, now focusing on raising her baby girl. She’s been vegan for ten years and is trying to live a low tox holistic kinda lifestyle.

During her whole pregnancy she felt very skeptical about inviting her midwife to her birth as she was aware how a medical midwife can unfortunately get in the way of a physiological birth.

She ended up labouring with her partner and dog for 18.5 hours until her body started pushing and she decided to call her midwife.

Her baby ended up coming 1.5 hours later shortly after the midwife arrived and her midwife stayed hands off, no one else touched her baby besides her or her partner for a few hours until she wanted her to.

She also had a 2nd degree tear and decided against advice to not get any stitches and really believe she healed better because of it.

Lauren feels very empowered and proud to have had her first birth at home.

Curious about Lauren? Find her on Instagram as @Laurenhadfieldpilcher

If you didn’t know already I have 3 really epic free resources that you can access and download at sacredbirthinternational.com

There’s two E - books, one called 6 Steps to Having a Natural & Empowering Birth Experience and one called Routine Hospital Birth Procedures Inform yourself and make an Educated Decision!

This is a comprehensive E-Book with 28 full pages for your information and assistance in creating an informed birth plan. Whether you are having a hospital, birth center or home birth as you never know where your birth journey will take you. Knowledge is power.

Finally, if you are planning a home birth like Lauren then download my free home birth checklist. There will definitely be things in there that you might not have thought of.

Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here:

SACRED BIRTH INTERNATIONAL