128: How Multiple Cesarean Births Inspired a Family Business Centered on Postpartum Healing and Recovery with Bellefit's Carolina Suarez-Garcia

“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. Ellen also shares some of the postpartum challenges, highlighting that sometimes when you have all the knowledge and take in a lot of information, it may not always serve you.  This story includes: doula work, full moon home birth, women’s health and fertility coaching, changing care providers, water birth, postpartum challenges, Raynaud’s disease, feeding tube Links: Our website: https://www.diahpodcast.com/ DIAH Shop: ttps://bit.ly/3qhwgAe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diahpodcast/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/diahpodcast Facebook Group: https://bit.ly/3jKtIYv Donate to DIAH: https://bit.ly/3qgm4r9 Ellen’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ellen.r.barnard/ Your Harmony Hive: http://yourharmonyhive.com/ Salt and Cedar Midwifery: https://www.saltandcedarmidwifery.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

6 Apr 20211h 6min

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).  Amongst the experiences of her previous births (2 medicated hospital, 1 unmedicated hospital and 1 home), Delayna took her doula work and other resources into creating the birth setup that she desired for welcoming her fifth baby. From Delayna: “Each of my births had been better than the last and I was determined to keep the streak going! My first two were born in hospitals with epidurals, my third was unmedicated in hospital, and my fourth was born at home. With my fifth, I prepared myself to birth unassisted at home, but ended up utilizing a super hands-off midwife instead. I wanted to be left alone and hardly touched in labor and birth; I wanted the midwife there only to help if necessary (I had some previous hemorrhaging problems), and I wanted to catch my own baby. I wanted to do it all myself! On August 27, 2020, I did just that. I labored about 6 hours, sat in my bathtub, and barely pushed at all to birth her.” This story includes: medicated hospital birth, unmedicated hospital birth, home birth, doula work, relationship with your midwife, “The Business of Being Born,” medical interventions, water birth, children present at birth. Links: Our website: https://www.diahpodcast.com/ DIAH Shop: ttps://bit.ly/3qhwgAe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diahpodcast/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/diahpodcast Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1904721379788084/?ref=bookmarks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

30 Mar 202150min

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. Lily is a real food dietitian, specialist in prenatal nutrition and gestational diabetes, and best-selling author of two books: Real Food for Pregnancy and Real Food for Gestational Diabetes.  In this interview we discuss:Benefits of real food for pregnancy (both for baby’s optimal development and also to minimize pregnancy complications and ease postpartum recovery for mama)Nutritional management of preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, nausea, heartburn & moreMindfulness, stress management, exercise, avoidance of toxinsFoods to emphasizeFoods that can be helpful during labor (if you are able to eat and drink during the experience) Links: Lily’s website - https://lilynicholsrdn.com/ Lily’s Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/lilynicholsrdn Lily’s Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/PilatesNutritionist Join our Home Birth Support Group on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1904721379788084/?ref=bookmarks Shop our DIAH merch - https://www.bonfire.com/store/diahpodcast/ Join us on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/diahpodcast/ Visit our website - https://www.diahpodcast.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

23 Mar 202150min

Today we’re excited to bring you another SEX-PISODE, this time pulling the covers back on what our sex life has been like after having a baby. This episode joins our growing series of sex-pisodes.  There are three main areas we’re going to focus on: How we schedule sex into our busy lives Why keeping the flame burning is important to us The ebbs and flows our sex lives have taken as we progressed from a married couple, to being pregnant, to having a brand new baby, to now being parents for a period of time We’re getting raw and honest in this episode, and it’s our hope that hearing us talk about these topics will give you permission to explore these things on your own. We want to create and hold a space of open and honest communication, first and foremost with yourself, but also with the person/people you choose to share a bed with. Sexual energy is life energy, and it’s time to create a more empowered conversation around sex. Links: Our website: https://www.diahpodcast.com/ DIAH Shop: ttps://bit.ly/3qhwgAe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diahpodcast/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/diahpodcast Facebook Group: https://bit.ly/3jKtIYv Donate to DIAH: https://bit.ly/3qgm4r9 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

16 Mar 20211h 17min

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. We talk about Brittney’s plans to have a home birth, how she’s preparing and how her partner Spencer is getting involved.  This is a great episode for anyone who just found out they are pregnant or are in the early stages of pregnancy with a mix of emotions and swirls of excitement and questions.  Things we discuss: finding out you’re pregnant, planning for a home birth, partner involvement and home birth resources Links: Our website: https://www.diahpodcast.com/ DIAH Shop: ttps://bit.ly/3qhwgAe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diahpodcast/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/diahpodcast Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1904721379788084/?ref=bookmarks Dr. Stu Fischbein: http://www.birthinginstincts.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

9 Mar 202149min

What’s it like giving birth outside of your native country? It’d be understandable to have fears and/or reservations around birthing in a different country. But what if it could be normal, uncomplicated, supported and without fear? 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.  Amy walks us through her journey of desiring natural births without intervention, to selecting the birthing center (run by a German doctor now living in Peru), working with a doula from England (yes, quite the international birth!) and preparing for the birth experience with Marco. We talk about some of the birthing options and trends in her area, where cesarean rates are particularly high.  Then we get to hear details from both of her births, which took place in the Casa Pakarii birth center: This story includes: international birth experience, husband being active participant in birth process, different birth options in Lima, Peru, placenta ceremony (el pago a la tierra), water birth Links: Amy’s Blog: http://www.wawasinperu.com/ Casa Pakarii Birth Center: https://pakarii.com/ Our website: https://www.diahpodcast.com/ DIAH Shop: ttps://bit.ly/3qhwgAe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diahpodcast/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/diahpodcast Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1904721379788084/?ref=bookmarks Donate to DIAH: https://bit.ly/3qgm4r9 Mama Natural: https://www.mamanatural.com/ Leave us a review: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/doing-it-at-home-216448 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

2 Mar 202154min

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.  Lindsey walks us through the inspiration and history of BIRTHFIT as well as sharing her own personal journey into birth work and feeding her passion for serving and celebrating women with alternative therapies. The list of roles that Lindsey has includes (and isn’t even limited to): Founder and CEO of BIRTHFIT, chiropractor, birth doula, strength and conditioning coach, yoga instructor, NLP practitioner, childbirth educator and author. So you can imagine, we had lots to talk about! From working in Hollywood and the sports industry, Lindsey eventually found herself diving into research, education and course work around recovering and healing in prenatal and postpartum as efficiently as possible as a way to serve her clients. Now for Lindsey, “birth work is my sport.” We talk about the building blocks of BIRTHFIT (fitness, nutrition, chiropractic and mindset) and how they can serve pregnant women prepare for the birth experience and the opportunity to develop a deep trust in the body.  Topics we cover in this episode: prenatal and postpartum fitness, chiropractic, doula work, healing and recovery, drug-free birth Links: Get 50% off the BIRTHFIT Education with the code DIAH50off: https://birthfit.mykajabi.com/store/Xy3nDKkS BIRTHFIT website: https://birthfit.com/ BIRTHFIT Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/birthfit/ Lindsey’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lindsey_k_mathews/ Our website: https://www.diahpodcast.com/ DIAH Shop: ttps://bit.ly/3qhwgAe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diahpodcast/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/diahpodcast Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1904721379788084/?ref=bookmarks Donate to DIAH: https://bit.ly/3qgm4r9 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

23 Feb 20211h 9min

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.” Labor began at 40 weeks and 6 days. After laboring for 4 days, things started to feel chaotic and the midwife’s hands-off approach wasn’t very helpful for what Lillie needed. Lillie made the choice to transfer because of pain and exhaustion. What helped make the transfer a less fearful event was the great experience she had with the staff there. They were respectful and she felt empowered, calm and peaceful.  Some words from Lillie: “I ended up having so much better care and such a peaceful birth. The OB was more of a midwife than my own midwife! We ended up with a peaceful vaginal delivery. She also didn’t check on me until 3 weeks after my birth. After I just felt abandoned and not welcome in the home birth community. I felt the one in our area was not very inclusive to all births and made it feel like you didn’t have a good enough or “superior” birth if it wasn’t at home. My experience woke me up from the tunnel vision I had before from being in that community and showed me that none of that was true. That’s why I love this podcast because it is the only home birth podcast that is inclusive with ALL births and shows the pros AND cons of homebirth. I want to share my story to other first time mamas so they have a better perspective and know there is no superior way or place to birth despite what people promote. And there are good stories and traumatic stories at home just like at the hospital. But no one lets people come on and talk about that with home births and that’s a shame. Everyone’s experience is so powerful. Birth is so powerful. I've learned a lot from my first birth and would just love to share my story and my thoughts surrounding it.”  And - Lillie is currently pregnant with her second child. What birth plan are they creating? Listen in to find out! Topics we cover in this episode: Business of Being Born, Ina May Gaskin, relationship with your midwife, choosing a care provider that’s best for you, Miles Circuit, hospital transfer, epidural Links: Our website: https://www.diahpodcast.com/ DIAH Shop: ttps://bit.ly/3qhwgAe Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diahpodcast/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/diahpodcast Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1904721379788084/?ref=bookmarks Donate to DIAH: https://bit.ly/3qgm4r9 Miles Circuit: http://www.milescircuit.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

16 Feb 202151min