116: HOME BIRTH STORY - Two Non Hippie-Dippy Home Births at 42 Weeks with Erica Kempf

Remember the horrible films you’d watch in sex ed classes featuring a scary, screaming, bloody mess of a woman giving birth in total agony (probably because she had sex before marriage and was birthing the baby out of wedlock - I went to Catholic school so I’m convinced those videos were purely to warn off pre-marital sex rather than educate on the miracle of childbirth)? Well until becoming pregnant myself, these were the only visual references I had for a birthing experience. Throughout the pregnancy, I’ve made it a point to watch more empowering examples of birth play out. Our awesome midwives have a full library of home birth videos from women and families they’ve worked with, and they lend them out to current patients to check out for themselves. I dove right in, like an athlete studying film of other amazing athletes in the game. I watched for different home birth setups, styles of laboring, support from birthing partners and family members, and all the other elements I could use to envision my own home birth experience. Watching all of the videos brought up new ideas and contexts like what I previously thought birth had to look like and how it could be with intentional planning. Links: “Doing It At Home” book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B098GVJ9KL?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860 Our website: https://www.diahpodcast.com/ Home Birth Support Group: https://bit.ly/3jKtIYv Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doingitathome/ DIAH YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGoKeBfEZ143sWU7V9I5Gdg DIAH Store: https://yoursuccessfulhomebirth.com/ DIAH Merch: https://bit.ly/3qhwgAe  Donate to DIAH: https://bit.ly/3qgm4r9 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

20 Syys 201624min

Just about every pregnancy/birth resource out there focuses on the mother or the baby, which makes sense to an extent because they are the main actors on stage. But there’s typically another partner involved who is feeling all sorts of things, but isn’t always asked or encouraged to share and express the roller coaster of thoughts, fears, hopes, beliefs that they’re experiencing. I wanted to change that in today’s episode, and so I interviewed my husband Matthew on his experience of going through pregnancy with me, how he initially felt about a home birth, and how he managed his fears and emotions of finally settling on an out-of-hospital birth. It’s an amazingly open and honest conversation about all of the things that came up for him through this journey. Matthew, as always, is honest and transparent, and that brings an amazingly refreshing perspective to the conversation of pregnancy and home birth. This episode was inspired by an article I read in Pathways To Family Wellness magazine. The article is titled “A Father’s Perspective: The Journey From Hospital To Home”. I highly recommend you check out Pathways magazine for a holistic and conscious resource on pregnancy, birth, parenthood and families. It’s amazing! Links: “Doing It At Home” book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B098GVJ9KL?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860 Our website: https://www.diahpodcast.com/ Home Birth Support Group: https://bit.ly/3jKtIYv Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doingitathome/ DIAH YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGoKeBfEZ143sWU7V9I5Gdg DIAH Store: https://yoursuccessfulhomebirth.com/ DIAH Merch: https://bit.ly/3qhwgAe  Donate to DIAH: https://bit.ly/3qgm4r9 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

15 Syys 201635min

When we began our pregnancy adventure, home birth was pretty far from our mind. We kicked things off the traditional way: going to see an OBGYN at a great hospital that would usher our baby into the world the way that 98% of families in the US do it. But three months later we parted ways with our OBGYN, partnered up with a midwife group working out of their home, and began our home birth journey. The two of us flip flopped on who was more fearful and enthusiastic about the idea. Neither of us had seen a home birth, we didn’t know much about them, and (until we started asking around) we didn’t know anyone who had even done one. But our decision to have baby Maya in our home ended up being the absolute best decision we could have ever made for our family (and I can say that with full resoluteness, because 5 days ago we welcomed Maya into the world! But we’ll get into that in a future episode). In this episode you’ll hear our full story on how we went from traditional hospital birth with an OBGYN, to a shiny new birthing center with all the bells and whistles, to having our daughter in our very own bedroom. Offers From Our Awesome Partners: Needed: https://bit.ly/2DuMBxP - use code DIAH to get 20% off your order Splash Blanket: https://bit.ly/3JPe1g0 - use code DIAH for 10% off your order Esembly: https://bit.ly/3eanCSz - use code DIH20 to get 20% off your order More From Doing It At Home: Send us your birth story: https://bit.ly/3jOjCKl Doing It At Home book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3vJcPmU DIAH Website: https://www.diahpodcast.com/ DIAH Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doingitathome/ DIAH YouTube: https://bit.ly/3pzuzQC DIAH Merch: www.diahpodcast.com/merch Give Back to DIAH: https://bit.ly/3qgm4r9 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

15 Syys 201633min

“We’re doing it at home!” That’s the response my husband and I gave when people asked us about our birth plans. 3 months into our pregnancy we decided to ditch the traditional hospital birth with an OBGYN, for a birth that aligned more with the experience we wanted to create for ourselves and our little one. Home birth suited us well, and we dove in. But not without fears, judgements, conversations, decisions, research, planning, and everything else you can imagine. This podcast is about our home birth journey. The purpose of this show is simple: To provide empowering conversation around home birth. What we’re setting out to do with the podcast is to create the space for a conscious, loving, raw dialogue around home birth, by sharing our own personal experience and through storytelling, conversations and interviews that give women and families an empowering resource so that they can make the birthing decision that is the best for them. Listen to the episode to learn more about our story, why we started the show, what you can expect from the show, and how you can be a part of the show (and our journey) as well! Links: “Doing It At Home” book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B098GVJ9KL?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860 Our website: https://www.diahpodcast.com/ Home Birth Support Group: https://bit.ly/3jKtIYv Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doingitathome/ DIAH YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGoKeBfEZ143sWU7V9I5Gdg DIAH Store: https://yoursuccessfulhomebirth.com/ DIAH Merch: https://bit.ly/3qhwgAe  Donate to DIAH: https://bit.ly/3qgm4r9 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

9 Syys 201616min