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

How can we approach birth as a healing process? This is a great theme that comes up in today’s interview. We had our friends Dr. Vanessa Gale and Dr. Dave Bell come to our home to record their birth story in person! Their daughter Rosalie and our daughter Maya are friends and schoolmates. We’ve had the joy of getting to know them better and now we get to talk about babies and home birth! Vanessa and Dave are chiropractors, and they bring the principles and teachings to the topic of birth. For example, the body heals itself and is self-regulating. They share their journey from the surprise pregnancy to the planning and preparation for their home birth. And of course, the birth story itself, including some of the unexpected elements that often occur and how the situation might have been handled in a different environment. Vanessa and Dave are champions of utilizing understanding, support and love to empower the birth experience. You can tell we had a lot of fun interviewing them! Links: Beyond Chiropractic: https://beyondchiroatl.com/ Beyond Chiropractic Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beyondchiroatl/ Beyond Chiropractic Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beyondchiroatl/ Vanessa Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prettystronglife/ Dave Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr_dbell/ Our website: https://www.diahpodcast.com/ DIAH Shop: https://www.bonfire.com/store/diahpodcast/ 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

2 Jun 20201h 4min

What are you focusing on the most when it comes to your birth? As you prepare for your home birth, there are obviously many factors and considerations. Are you truly allowing yourself to envision the success of the experience, whatever that looks like for you? Today’s guest, Angela Potts-Mang’andah, walks us through her home birth journey from first starting with hospital care, then shifting care providers two more times (with some twists and turns in there as well in terms of how financial costs would be covered and where the birth would actually take place). Also dealing with the label of “geriatric pregnancy” while pregnant expecting your first child at 38.  We also discuss healing the expectation of how your partner shows up in the birth process and how to lean into your vision of your ideal birth. Links: New to Home Birth?: https://www.diahpodcast.com/new Our website: https://www.diahpodcast.com/ DIAH Shop: https://www.bonfire.com/store/diahpodcast/ Parents on Demand Network: https://parentsondemand.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diahpodcast/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/diahpodcast Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1904721379788084/?ref=bookmarks These Are My Hours documentary: https://www.thesearemyhours.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

26 Mai 202055min

How active can labor and birth be? Sometimes you hear about mothers moving around a lot during their births. Other women prefer to stay still. Gotta love the variations of normal. For today’s guest, Nicola Poole, she shares the story of her 36-hour labor home birth with her daughter Gabrielle. During those 36 hours, Nicola did a lot of “body work” to help move baby into optimal position (her head was off-center). This included walking around, rebozo work and Spinning Babies techniques. On top of the birth story, we discuss the details of making the decision to have a home birth and what the process of selecting care and making plans looks like where Nicola lives in Victoria, Australia. Plus some breastfeeding challenges that resulted in a month’s stay in the hospital for baby Gabrielle.  Links: Nicola’s website: www.wholisticalignment.com.au Nicola’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wholistic_alignment/ Our website: https://www.diahpodcast.com/ DIAH Shop: https://www.bonfire.com/store/diahpodcast/ Parents on Demand Network: https://parentsondemand.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diahpodcast/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/diahpodcast Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1904721379788084/?ref=bookmark Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

19 Mai 202043min

How do you prepare for a birth, after you’ve already experienced one? This can be an interesting headspace to be in. Because on one hand, you’ve given birth - so you might have ideas of what to expect. But on the other hand, you know things this time around that you didn’t know before and you might also understand that births can look drastically different from one to the next. This is one of the topics we explore in our interview with Marlee Robinson, mom of 2 boys - Bodhi and Breeze. After her birthing center birth experience with Bodhi, Marlee felt confident in planning a home birth for her second son, Breeze. We discuss the differences in planning for a second birth as well as taking more time to think about the fourth trimester. Then we get to hear the birth story of Breeze, which had a few surprises thrown in there (as it sometimes happens in birth!). Links: Our website: https://www.diahpodcast.com/ DIAH Shop: https://www.bonfire.com/store/diahpodcast/ Parents on Demand Network: https://parentsondemand.com/ 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

12 Mai 202058min

What’s your favorite part of home birth? For our guest today, Sofia, she shares how much she enjoyed the hands-on aspect. With the idea for home birth originally coming from her husband Daniel (You don’t hear this all the time, which is why we love this detail. Daniel’s first child from a previous relationship was born at home, so he suggested it to Sofia when they became pregnant.) Sofia shares her full birth story plus she shares some techniques and practices that she used herself during birth as well as with her clients in her business as a sexuality coach, specializing in postpartum and a Tantra practitioner. You’ll definitely want to listen to the end of the interview multiple times over to practice the breathing exercises she walks us through! Links: Sofia’s webpage for DIAH listeners: https://www.thehappyvaginaproject.com/doingit Our website: https://www.diahpodcast.com/ DIAH Shop: https://www.bonfire.com/store/diahpodcast/ Parents on Demand Network: https://parentsondemand.com/ 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

6 Mai 202052min

What if you and your partner don’t agree on home birth? This is a really great question and I’m sure it comes up for a lot of us, especially when home birth isn’t a first obvious option or even something you’ve never heard of.  It’s a conversation that comes up in today’s episode with Catherine Muskox. She shared both of her home birth stories with us and breaks down the different elements of each.  Catherine is someone who values her alone time while birthing, a trait we’ve heard of through our time of doing birth story interviews. It was this kind of awareness that had her considering freebirth. Plus she shares how she processed her husband not being completely on board with the decision and how to move through that.  There’s also elements of the “out of body experience” that you often hear birth is, the sensation of “feeling pushy” and the role of teamwork in a birth.  Links: Our website: https://www.diahpodcast.com/ DIAH Shop: https://www.bonfire.com/store/diahpodcast/ Parents on Demand Network: https://parentsondemand.com/ 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

28 Apr 202048min

How do you prepare for birth beyond the physical factors? Today’s guest is Amy Zhou, a certified Health Coach and Medicine Woman who specializes in teaching women (and men) how to heal their body, mind and spirit naturally at home. She’s also a new mama to her son Nathaniel, who is three and a half weeks old at the time we recorded this episode. We cover a lot of great things with Amy. For starters, she gave birth in the exact days the situation of COVID-19 dramatically shifted and accelerated in the United States, and specifically in her area of Los Angeles, California. According to Amy, it was like the world was a certain way when they entered the hospital, and then completely different when they emerged. So we chat about initial postpartum during an interesting time in the world and how she’s processing that. We also hear about Amy and her husband Ed’s preparation process for the birth experience. Their internal spiritual work was vital. Particularly when some challenges popped up, like an IUGR diagnosis (intrauterine growth restriction). This meant there were concerns about baby Nathaniel’s small size and how that could impact possibly inducing Amy before her due date. And bonus - Amy shares some of her gifts and expertise with listeners and leaves some tips for pregnant mothers both from her own experience as well as her extensive training and coaching. Links: Amy’s website: https://www.amyzhou.com/home Sarah’s website: www.sarahbivens.com Matthew’s website: www.matthewbivens.com Our website: https://www.diahpodcast.com/ DIAH Shop: https://www.bonfire.com/store/diahpodcast/ Parents on Demand Network: https://parentsondemand.com/ 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

21 Apr 20201h 3min

Are you switching from a hospital birth to a home birth or find yourself new to the option of home birth and are exploring? In today’s episode we’re sharing a resource we put together for the DIAH community - particularly those who might be new to the space. We’ve gathered about 40 episodes together and created 2 separate playlists: one with birth stories including a switch from hospital to home at some point during the pregnancy along AND another of empowering conversations between Matthew and Sarah on the planning for home birth. Plus a listener email that highlights where many women and families are finding themselves currently as we navigate the COVID-19 circumstance. We want to remind everyone that we love, support and honor your choices and we’re here to serve through continuing to share stories and resources. And we have the deepest gratitude for your listening and being a part of this space. Links: The Switching or New to Home Birth Playlist: www.diahpodcast.com/new Our website: https://www.diahpodcast.com/ DIAH Shop: https://www.bonfire.com/store/diahpodcast/ 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

14 Apr 202020min