How do you even describe the floodgate that opens the moment you meet your baby? This is a question that comes up in today’s conversation.

How could you possibly have a peaceful home birth during a turbulent time in your life? Ask Michaela Sarver, because she did! In January of 2020, Michaela took custody of her sister’s 3 children, then found out she was pregnant with her second child on the day that schools closed because of COVID-19. So, there was a lot going on for her and her husband Kris.

What influences your birth choices? It’s helpful to look at this, to see what matters to you when it comes to birth, and how you can create a birth environment and culture around you that supports you best. Today we’re chatting with Martina Cifiello about her birth journey.

How’s our conception journey going? We answer that question in today’s episode. It’s been about 13 months since we actively began “trying” to get pregnant. There have been ups and downs. We first opened up on this topic on the podcast back in September 2020 with part 1, then followed up with a part 2 in February 2021. Now here we are in May 2021 with some new experiences and insights.

What does it mean to become a student of birth? For Lauren Leduc, that was the role she took on when she planned for her home birth.

Who are you going to be when birthing time comes? Today is a fun episode. Not only is it a part 2, but a highly requested one. AND we get to talk to some of our favorite people. Anthony and Erica joined us back in August 2020 to talk about their pregnancy and plans for their upcoming home birth. We’ve known them since 2013 and they’re pretty much family.

How do you plan for a positive hospital birth experience, when you were originally intending to have a home birth? This is such a great topic to cover. For many who start out with a home birth plan, sometimes that changes for various reasons. Sarah Schade shares her story with us. From a diagnosis of an “incompetent” cervix (definitely not a term we’re fond of around here) to another diagnosis of IUGR (intrauterine growth restriction), Sarah and her husband Jeremiah went through a lot of ups and downs.

Where do you feel most safe to give birth? Ultimately, that’s one of, if not the most important question to consider when it comes to your birth plan. When it came down to it, home was the answer for today’s guest, Porshe Turner.

What happens if you go past your due date? Today’s guest Jessica shares her journey of her second pregnancy and birth and what influenced her to shift from a hospital plan like she had with her first birth.

When can you change care providers/plans? Answer: any time you want. Today’s guest, Sarah Schlichter shares her journey of shifting from a planned hospital birth with midwives to a home birth with midwives, at 36 weeks pregnant.

“Why doesn’t everybody do this?” That’s the question that David, Ellen’s husband, asked after the home birth of their daughter Willow. Ellen walks us through her journey to home birth -- from her doula work for 6 years before her birth and what inspired it, to changing care from a birthing center to home birth, to getting her husband on board with the decision.

What does it mean to birth “your way?” What are the steps you take, conversations and experiences you have to build an understanding of what birthing on your terms looks and feels like for you? Of course it’s different for all of us. Today our guest Delayna Wilkins shares her journey that brought her to her fifth birth (her second home birth).

What and how should you eat during pregnancy? This is a big question that comes up often, and there are lots of thoughts around it. So where is a place where you can get all the info you need, in a clear, empowering and informative way? Enter Lily Nichols, our guest today.

Does your sex life have to change for the worse after kids? We know of course the answer is “No, it doesn’t”, but how do you keep it from turning stale? How do you keep the fire burning for your partner after you’ve had a kid or two?

What did you do the moment you found out you were pregnant? What was going through your mind? How were you feeling? We talk about that in today’s episode with our guest Brittney. Brittney actually reached out to us within the first few hours of discovering she was pregnant, and it opened up a beautiful dialogue. We felt inspired to bring that conversation into this space and share it with the DIAH community.

What’s it like giving birth outside of your native country? Our guest today is Amy Brown. Amy traveled from Chicago, Illinois to Peru in 2011 to work as a teacher, and hasn’t left since. After meeting her now husband Marco, she has since set up life in Lima. And she has given birth to her two children: daughter, Leah and son, Christopher in a birthing center in the city.

How are you connecting with your body during your pregnancy and birth prep? Today we’re joined by Lindsey K. Mathews, Founder and CEO of BIRTHFIT, prenatal and postpartum programs for mind and body, as well as seminars and education for users of the program and coaches for the organization.

Is one way to birth “better” than another? Sometimes there are misconceptions and unhealthy conversations floating about in the birth community around natural vs. medicated birth or hospital vs. home. That one is better than the other or there’s a sense of superiority or higher moral code to choose one over the other. And competition comes in as a factor, like there is something to prove or defy. This topic is relevant for the conversation we have today with Lillie Cooke, sharing her birth story with us. Lillie and her husband Josh planned for a home birth with their first child, son Judah. Along the way towards planning for the birth, Lillie noticed little things that indicated she wasn’t really connecting deeply with her midwife. There was also a big fear of going to the hospital, seeking to avoid that at all costs. This fear stemmed from, as Lillie put it “hearing terrible hospital stories and only fairy tale home birth stories from the homebirth community.”

“How are you doing mentally and physically through your open-to-conceive journey?” This is a really great question we received recently when we did one of those fun Instagram story “what questions do you have for us?” things. And we thought it was appropriate timing to bring this onto the podcast and have a followup to our first conversation that we put out in September 2020, talking about our conception journey and planning for a second baby. Check out that episode (293) if you haven’t already.

How do our births influence our life journeys? That’s such a big question. It can be, as is likely, multi-faceted. For some, one area where birth impacts is the profession or calling they lean into. For our guest today Brenda Amaya, her births lead her to her doula and birth photography work, and now as she works with other birth workers and in her plans to train as a traditional midwife.

Today’s birth story features Briahnna Roy and Jerry Scott, a couple sharing their journey to home birth. For their first baby, Briahnna and Jerry chose to deliver in a birth center. The experience wasn’t everything they wanted, and when it came time to decide on the location for baby number two, they opted for home birth.

How do we move through the discomforts of pregnancy and birth? This comes up in today’s interview with Melanie Meador. Melanie shares her journey with both of her home birth experiences.

How do you know when labor is starting? This is a question we put out there into the community, and received some really great answers and examples. So we’re sharing them with you! Plus our experience of what it was like when we realized it was “game time” -- what it felt like, what was going on, and what we did once it was clearly active labor.

What inspired your journey to birth empowerment? For today’s guests, Jazmin and Ben, their journey began in 2017 in Seattle following an ectopic pregnancy and miscarriage. It prompted them to do research and plan for future pregnancies in a different way. According to Jazmin, “It was my first experience realizing I had to advocate for myself with medical professionals, especially considering I'm a black woman, as many brushed off my concerns and pain as "normal."”

In this episode we're giving you some powerful affirmations to help you prepare for your pregnancy and home birth. We have 2 affirmations for moms and 2 for dads.