Wise Birth Radio: Recent Episodes

Catskills Birth Collective

Welcome to the Wise Birth Radio.We are women, students, and mamas who are studying and exploring healthy pregnancies, empowered birth, nurtured postpartum times and natural parenting from a holistic, intuitive, and grounded experience. We share our knowledge and experience and hope it inspires you to take charge of your childbearing year for yourself and you family.Find more about us, our work, and our courses and workshops at CatskillsBirth.org

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Honestly, this is the kind of episode you can't write a description for.

Our beautiful friend Ixchel Prisma talked with us today about the depths and beauty of her second trimester loss with her spirit baby, River Nova.

This story goes back at least a decade to her initial connection with a baby spirit. Ixchel has spun lead into gold, experiencing death and grief in pregnancy as a profound portal to herself. To her own growth and connection to spirit. And to a greater understanding of the workings of spirit baby connection and soul contracts.

You can find Ixchel -

Her beautiful song - Birthing Spiral

All of her music on Bandcamp

And Spotify

And her beautiful floral earrings!

Thanks for listening!

If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a rating and review!

If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at catskillsbirthcollective@gmail.com. We welcome your feedback.

Follow us on Instagram @catskillsbirtheducation for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood.

Check out our online, comprehensive birth education course Wise Woman, Sacred Birth to go deeper into self responsibility, trust and connection with your inner self, and knowledge and wisdom of the biological truths of the childbearing year, and connection with other beautiful mamas.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When asked about their postpartum plan, so many women say "Well, my husband is taking 3 weeks off work...". While thats great (although we'd be more into all fathers being given paid paternity leave for at least a month), that alone should not be your postpartum support in an ideal situation.

We talk about:

How we envision the ideal postpartum time to look and feel
How sinking into this design can allow the blessing of a different time perception and brain wave state to come aboard. A delicious, relaxed, healing, state.
Postpartum is designed to be slow - we need to have enough support to hold the energy of slow
Partner needs slow as well! Mother can't fully relax if everyone around her is running around and feeling hectic.
Fathers need also need time to integrate as well! This is a huge transition for the whole family.
Father's can’t be doing constantly and expect to also have space to feel
The theory of everyone in the postpartum time needing two layers of support
Creating healthy fatherhood begins with the birth of the father!
It's often more difficult, but extremely important for men to practice dropping from a space of doing to a space of being
Sometimes new fathers experience a crash as way of slowing down. We need postpartum support to allow them to stay present.
Your next tangible steps spelled out to creating sacred space for both parents postpartum

Mentioned in the show:

Our Postpartum Planning Guide

Rachelle Garcia Seliga of Innate Traditions

Birthfit postpartum program

Wise Woman, Sacred Birth

A few of our relevant previous episodes:

Manifesting Your Ideal Postpartum Time

Your Motherhood is For You - with Nicole

The Vital Energies of Receiving in the Postpartum Time

Thanks for listening!

If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a rating and review!

If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at catskillsbirthcollective@gmail.com. We welcome your feedback.

Follow us on Instagram @catskillsbirtheducation for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood.

Check out our online, comprehensive birth education course Wise Woman, Sacred Birth to go deeper into self responsibility, trust and connection with your inner self, and knowledge and wisdom of the biological truths of the childbearing year, and connection with other beautiful mamas.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Postpartum care provider and educator, mother to 4, this postpartum was probably perfect, right? Beautifully, postpartum is an ever deepening, ever challenging, ever incredible spiral into yourself. With the opportunity for new lessons, new messages, and new challenges each time. Sara and I had a lovely walk and talk about her fourth postpartum after the birth of her son, Akiva.

We talk about:

She hosted her first nesting party at 36-ish weeks pregnant. (Highly recommend.)
Boundary medicine in postpartum time!
Yes, everyone wants to see the baby, but it’s so important for you to protect your energetic bubble.
You are so sensitive and so vulnerable in this time, so while you need so much support and love and care, you also need to be discerning with who is in your space.
How her husband, Z, and her three kids mentally prepared themselves for her to be resting and less available for many weeks.
Sara’s top baby gear recommendation (vacuum snot sucker)
Her baby, Akiva, made milk (curse of the midwife?)
Sara’s relationship with her own body! This is so strongly passed down the matrilineal paths, often in a not so helpful way. Sara opens up about her own relationship with her body and body image, and how she is choosing to teach her kids to relate.
Sara’s early menstrual cycle return
And what she’s been doing starting at a few days, postpartum to care for her body, heal, and feel strong.
How we can have an understanding of the ideals, while also flowing with the realities of life.

Mentioned in the show:

Our Postpartum Planning Guide

Nicole's incredible offering - rooted

Our podcast episode with Adrian Dimatteo

Restore Your Core - postpartum movement

Thanks for listening!

If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a rating and review!

If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at catskillsbirthcollective@gmail.com. We welcome your feedback.

Follow us on Instagram @catskillsbirth for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood.

Check out our online, comprehensive birth education course Wise Woman, Sacred Birth to go deeper into self responsibility, trust and connection with your inner self, and knowledge and wisdom of the biological truths of the childbearing year, and connection with other beautiful mamas.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Agreements:

I am not obligated to do dishes
I will avoid lifting heavy things
I will be mindful of eye contact, and utilize tools of energetic protection
I will avoid heated discussion - most things that I think NEED TO BE TALKED ABOUT RIGHT NOW actually don't...
I give myself full permission to not cook if I don't feel like it
I will keep my body, especially my feet, head, and womb, warm and out of the wind.

I also talk about:

-How I've begun very organically scheduling my life around my cycle. I don't think it would have made sense if I had just started off with a calendar or a plan because someone else told me to do it...

-How I'm feeling these energies of outer and inner spring. The challenges for an Aries and the beauty of it

-I finally understand what drawing a line in the sand is actually supposed to mean! But does it really make sense?

-The concept of creating an energetic red tent for myself

Exploring the idea of marking the end of bleeding like a mikvah from the Jewish tradition

Mentioned in the show:

Fertility Friday podcast

My favorite Indie Birth sweatshirt

My favorite fiction - Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Our curated fertility/cycling book list

Thanks for listening!

If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a rating and review!

If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at catskillsbirthcollective@gmail.com. We welcome your feedback.

Follow us on Instagram @catskillsbirthcollective for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood.

Check out our online, comprehensive birth education course Wise Woman, Sacred Birth to go deeper into self responsibility, trust and connection with your inner self, and knowledge and wisdom of the biological truths of the childbearing year, and connection with other beautiful mamas.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if SOUND HEALING (insert feathers and crystal bowls here) didn't have to be a big complicated thing, but was actually woven into your every day life? What if you could be constantly working with frequency and vibration as tools for health and balancing in your body, mind, and spirit?

Oh wait, YOU ALREADY DO!

I loved our talk with Adrian DiMatteo; musician, author, sound healer, and genuine, down to earth, hilarious, and insightful human. We explore some of the ways sound shows up in our every day lives, especially as pregnant women and mothers, and how we can very simply tap into that as a source of connection and healing.

This is so relevant to birth, and I am excited to see where this exploration leads us in the future.

We talk about:

Utilizing sound as neurolinguistic programming - this doesn't have to be complicated, start by using different words to describe your experiences
The different levels of sound//thoughts moving through the mind into the body and the spirit
How music, mantras, movement, dance, rhythm, are all expression of sound - "Sound Healing" isn't this isolated event that happens only on the full moon in a yoga studio.
How we can utilize this in pregnancy and birth, to overcome fear and re-program our belief systems
“Sonic massage” - how we can intuitively use our body's vibration for healing for our families
Applying musicality and mantra healing to the rhythm of everyday life. Vibration, frequency, rhythm isn’t something we practice outside of motherhood/pregnancy, it is inherent in our bodies and ready to be activated at any moment
Vibration and the vagus nerve! Carrying vibration, movement, and allowing more oxygen to the cells for healing and pain relief. (SO RELEVANT FOR BIRTH!)
How the natural sounds of the body are essential in releasing emotions, like a dog shaking off the day, we can allow our sighs, yawns, and stretches to reset our systems.
How we could utilize our understanding of frequencies and the human body to curate your birth environment for this sacred ceremony - I'd love to see Adrian and Nikko Kennedy (from episode #33) to design a labor and delivery unit and NICU!
The future of birth support - sound healing? Bringing frequency medicine into the birth space doesn’t have to mean you bring your guitar and know a thousand mantras. It’s the vibration of being calm, present, and in your heart, regardless of what you are saying or not saying.
“Silence is the mother of sound”
Approaching ultrasound technology from the highest possible frequency
Integrating sound healing in the simplest ways - this is so accessible and so simple!

Mentioned in the show:

Adrian's new book - Elements of Sound: A Full-Spectrum Exploration of Sound and Consciousness

His organization, Sonic Institute

Sound Healer Trainings - (I'm going to do it one of these days!)

And his music - While You Are Awake is the background music for this episode and the perfect addition to a birth playlist!

Thanks for listening!

If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a rating and review!

If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at catskillsbirthcollective@gmail.com. We welcome your feedback.

Follow us on Instagram @catskillsbirthcollective for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood.

Check out our online, comprehensive birth education course Wise Woman, Sacred Birth to go deeper into self responsibility, trust and connection with your inner self, and knowledge and wisdom of the biological truths of the childbearing year, and connection with other beautiful mamas.

With all of the birthy support roles I am currently holding, it may be a surprise that I am not, and have no intention of being a birth doula.

But once, long long ago (or at least that's how it feels!), I was! I thought that being a birth doula was path through which I wanted to serve women... at least until I started doing it.

I talk about how:

The sister wound has made it's presence known in my business aspirations. I couldn't really serve women in this way if I din't really even want to be friends with them!
I balled my eyes out after the first 3 birth I went to - but convinced myself it was from the joy and beauty of birth

-Something deep down inside me knew - with no instruction, example, or experience that what I was witnessing wasn't really birth as some part of my ancestral being knew it to be. It was a gross manipulation/mutilation that we're all supposed to applaud and whisper about 'the miracle of childbirth'

My one home birth experience as a doula opened my eyes to a brief moment of feeling the true power of a birthing woman, then swiftly shifted to an uncomfortable understanding of my own, and our collective cultural orientation towards 'medical professions' as authority, and therefor all the ways in which we give up our power.

Mentioned in the show:

Indie Birth's Sacred Sisterhood Doula Training

Taking Back Birth Episode - When Doulas Become Cogs in the Wheel of Medicalized Birth

Thanks for listening!

If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a rating and review!

If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at catskillsbirthcollective@gmail.com. We welcome your feedback.

Follow us on Instagram @catskillsbirthcollective for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood.

Check out our online, comprehensive birth education course Wise Woman, Sacred Birth to go deeper into self responsibility, trust and connection with your inner self, and knowledge and wisdom of the biological truths of the childbearing year, and connection with other beautiful mamas.

Out lovely friends Ashke and Ian join us today from the end of their sacred window to tell us the story of their son, Cedar's birth.

It is such a joy to hear their story of conscious conception, Ashke's new adventure into studying birth education with Birthing From Within, how Ian's relationship with home birth interfaced with his job as an EMT (such a special crossover), culminating in a fast and healing birth.

We talk about the difference between bypassing fear and choosing to face it head on, dealing with external expectations and pressure with humor and grace, and postpartum cooking as community building.

It's been so beautiful to walk with Ashke as she enters the childbearing spiral, and grows into a beautiful mother. She has been one of the biggest champions of our work with Wise Woman, Sacred Birth, and we are so looking forward to what the future holds for their beautiful family.

You can find Ashke's work with herbal medicines - Maka Pejuta

and on Instagram

Mentioned in the show:

Our podcast episode with Ixchel and Jerry on their beautiful conscious conception process

Birthing from Within

Ashke was one of the first women with access to Wise Woman, Sacred Birth and gave us amazing feedback.

Thanks for listening!

If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a rating and review!

If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at catskillsbirthcollective@gmail.com. We welcome your feedback.

Follow us on Instagram @catskillsbirthcollective for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood.

Check out our online, comprehensive birth education course Wise Woman, Sacred Birth to go deeper into self responsibility, trust and connection with your inner self, and knowledge and wisdom of the biological truths of the childbearing year, and connection with other beautiful mamas.

Aiste Gazdar (and her husband Joel) are wellbeing pioneers, community magnetizers, conscious entrepreneurs and full spectrum alchemists leading a movement of transforming humanity’s relationship with nature, food, and ultimately, themselves. They are authors of the innovative plant based and wellbeing book “WILD: Plant Based Recipes & Rituals to Nourish your Wild Essence”. We talk with Aiste today about what it means to slow down, and step into self responsibility and deep connection and care for our bodies.

This is WAY different than any "vegan pregnancy" advice you've ever heard. Aiste's work through her offering, Plant Empowered Woman is a transformative container and a personal and collective invitation to revolutionize the concept of a plant-empowered woman and mother, alchemising depletion into vibrancy in every cell of your being and every area of your life. We talk about minerals, developing relationships with wild plants, and inviting a sense of play, curiosity, and matriarchy into our kitchens.

This is not about a diet, it's about the activation of your plant empowered life, deep nourishment and full spectrum thriving.You can find her upcoming cohort of Plant Empowered Woman (starting March 10th!) on their website, School of Paradise.

You can connect with Aiste on Instagram - @aisteisis

Thanks for listening!

If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a review!

If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at maible@catskillsbirth.org. We welcome your feedback.

Follow us on Instagram @catskillsbirth for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood.

We live in such a time based culture. We need numbers to validate everything. We need to "know" when babies are going to be born, when they need to nap, when we are allowed to eat our next meal. But what if this is all fake? Can we throw away the clock and just listen to the flow of our bodies? Lean in to the movements of the sun, of the seasons, of our baby's subtle (or not so subtle) communications.

This reliance on clocks, dates, time, and numbers has such a profound impact on our birthing culture! When is your due date? How much does that matter? What is it calculated based on? How many weeks are you? How many hours does your baby sleep in a row? How often are you breastfeeding?

I'd like to think that I pose more questions than I answer in this episode a I deconstruct time.

Join me in my time free experiment I mention near the end! Let me know how it feels!

Thanks for listening!

If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a review!

If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at maible@catskillsbirth.org. We welcome your feedback.

Follow us on Instagram @catskillsbirth for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood.

Nikko Kennedy is a perinatal quantum biology practitioner and certified labor and postpartum doula. She has a B.S. in Biopsychology from the University of Oregon and is the creator of Brighter Days, Darker Nights, a Substack publication dedicated to promoting circadian rhythmicity and quantum wellness in pregnancy, birth, and postpartum.

Nikko created a discount for you lovely listeners on her Substack subscription! Use this link for 15% off. You can find her on her website, or Instagram. You can hire Nikko for virtual and in-person doula services, 1-1 coaching, and online and in-person presentations and workshops.

She is also a frequent podcast guest.

You'll hear about:

The cycles of life! ♬ We are all existing in cycles within cycles. Both the 24 hour, circadian rhythm and the 28 ish day infradian rhythm are present for women. Men exist in the circadian rhythm, but also have a 6o day cycle that is not often talked about.
Optimizing your circadian rhythm for fertility (it can help prevent issues in pregnancy!)
Our digestion is also controlled by circadian rhythm. This can affect how much of our nutrients we can actually use.
A brief breakdown of negative ions - what the confusing jargon actually means
How melatonin is a reproductive hormone! In pregnancy, a lack of it is implicated with pre eclampsia, growth restrictions, etc.
There are even more potential melatonin disrupters in pregnancy (think bright bathroom lights multiple times a night, fridge light blasting during your midnight snack.)
First trimester is a really important time to focus on sleep - this is when your placenta is being formed! Try to honor your sleep needs (even if it seems excessive..)
All these principles align with traditional care - to nurture cells at level of mitochondria. (Makes sense that as we were more connected with the earth, we instinctively knew what we needed to feel good!)
We are wired in connection to the sun and the earth - earth has an electrical charge that our bodies are attuned to - connecting to the electrical field of the earth has 'scientifically proven' benefits. It's not woo!
Access to nature is completely missing from maternity care at a time when we are most sensitive, we are put in an incredibly artificial environment.
Sunlight help facilitate huge surges of serotonin - this might be what gives women transcendental experiences during birth! This alongside melatonin also helps regulate pain!
Examples of these principles in her own birth stories
How to work with this in the north - we have minimal light, no vitamin d, not much grounding - but our bodies know how to deal with this! We shift from a vitamin d reality to a melatonin reality. This even impacts our sleep schedule
Balanced circadian rhythm knowledge is so coherent with postpartum principles! And can have huge impacts on newborns as well (like affecting jaundice!)
How maternity wards and NICUs can catch up with the times. There's so much evidence for implementing small shifts which can facilitate healing.
How supplementing melatonin could be a helpful for preeclampsia (but not recommended for every day, daily use.) We naturally create our own melatonin! Through multiple different pathways!
Super trendy red light therapy is just mimicking fire light! Maybe you don't need to buy a super expensive light box, do you have access to fire?
My continued hunt for restless legs relief...
Setting up a grounded sleep environment with a building biologist! (I had no idea those existed!)
How all this information coheres into her own life with four kids. (It's not actually that complicated.
- Get outside first thing in the morning!
- Eat protein, nutrient dense breakfast shortly after waking up
- Spend of time outside during the day
- Lights off after sundown (or before sunrise)- no blue light
- Having warm lights, close to the floor or using candles.
- Creating a calm, relaxing sleep environment that honors each kid's developmental stage.

Mentioned on the show:

Maryn's episode on Taking Back Birth - 10 Steps to a Powerful Birth

Thanks for listening!

If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a review!

If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at catskillsbirthcollective@gmail.com. We welcome your feedback.

Follow us on Instagram @catskillsbirthcollective for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood.

We've talked a lot about how modern midwifery fall short of truly supporting the physiology of birth, and honoring the sacred aspect. You can hear my personal experience of this in my birth story (and here's part 2) . It's subtle, but after Olin's birth, I know I want something different next time. So I decided to think out loud for you today: why do I still want a midwife at my future births?

You'll hear about:

An update - including an exploration of my own views on my worth, and how I'm shifting stories to one of expansion. (Using tools we talk about in our course, Wise Woman, Sacred Birth.)
How Sara's birth story and video re-inspired me to imagine the type of midwife I am calling in.
This is a topic full of nuance, there is no black and white. There is a midwife for very woman, no one way of serving is better.
Midwives are all their own people with their own stuff! Just because a midwife is labeled as whatever, means nothing about the way she practices, what she believes, her trauma and training and stories, etc.
I don't feel like I NEED a midwife! I don't need someone to do testing and offer education. I don't need a 'professional' to be on hand to make birth safe. I don't need to be saved.
But I WANT someone to hold space. To reflect myself back to me. To anchor me so I can dive deep into personal transformation.
The difference between that and doing nothing. Because that kind of support often looks like doing nothing. And why I want this support from a midwife as opposed to a friend, my mother, etc.
I can feel the skill set I'm looking for in a midwife when I am holding MotherCircle. It's a powerful attunement. Clicking in like this is an everyday super power.
My mantra for my next birth - what I want a midwife to help me hold
How I'm already calling in the energy of my future midwife
Midwifery involves the physical and the spiritual - just holding one or the other does not a midwife make.
I don't want to birth alone! I don't think most women do. I do think most women deep down would want different support than what is offered, hence the allure of freebirth.
My prayer for the world: Make your own decisions! Ditch the dogma Feel what is deeply right for you, regardless of anyone else.

Mentioned on the show:

Sara's most recent birth story
Do Midwives Make Birth Safer - Taking Back Birth
My own birth stories (part 1 and part 2)

Thanks for listening!

If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a review!

If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at catskillsbirthcollective@gmail.com. We welcome your feedback.

Follow us on Instagram @catskillsbirthcollective for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood.

We have a lovely guest today, Stacey Ramsower!

Through somatics, Ayurveda, and depth psychology, Stacey helps women navigate the shadowlands of Motherhood. In this episode, we explore the archetypes of motherhood, our own personal relation with creating community and connecting with other women, and so much more.

You can find more about Stacey and her work through her website, Instagram, and hear her podcast, the Sacred Body podcast.

She also has a free Intro to the Dark Mother class coming up on Friday, January 26th.

Mentioned on the show:

Innate Traditions
Center for Sacred Window Studies

Thanks for listening!

If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a review!

If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at catskillsbirthcollective@gmail.com. We welcome your feedback.

Follow us on Instagram @catskillsbirthcollective for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood.

Learning about what optimal postpartum support looks and feels like can often leave women feeling overwhelmed and like it may be an unreachable goal. We are here today to break it down. We talk about how to logistically craft your plan, the wells of resource you can draw on that you may not have even considered, and how we structured our own postpartum support. We also go into the more energetic and emotional blocks to asking and receiving, and some things to consider as you orient yourself towards receiving with grace and gratitude. There is so much more on this topic that we would love to share, so stay tuned for our Postpartum Planning guide, and our even more in depth postpartum module in Wise Woman, Sacred Birth, our upcoming online birth education course!

Mentioned on the show:

Innate Traditions
14 The Vital Energies of Receiving in the Postpartum Time

Thanks for listening!

If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a review!

If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at catskillsbirthcollective@gmail.com. We welcome your feedback.

Follow us on Instagram @catskillsbirthcollective for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood.

If you’re local, I now offer postpartum care! I’d love to support you through this tender time.

We welcome Sara’s fourth baby, her third son, into the world with the story of his birth. A beautiful simple, yet powerful and profound story. The whole family gathered around to witness the incredible power of their mama in what is both an incredibly powerful and awesome experience and at the same time the most natural, every day thing: physiological birth. The way her midwife supported her gave me chills, and I am so excited to see the lessons that unfold from this birth for Sara. Her words mean far more than this description could capture, so I’m going to leave you to it! Enjoy!

Mentioned in the show:

Our favorite prenatal strengthening program - Body Ready Method

use code dcrE0401 for a discount

Recommended magnesium glycinate for after pains

Thanks for listening!

If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a review!

If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at catskillsbirthcollective@gmail.com. We welcome your feedback.

Follow us on Instagram @catskillsbirthcollective for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood.

If you’re local, I now offer postpartum care! I’d love to support you through this tender time.

We’re diving in today on a subject we've been meaning to cover for quite some time. Join us as we go for a walk and discuss some considerations for a vegetarian pregnancy, and how Sara nourishes herself. We are coming from two different perspectives (I chose not to remain a vegetarian at around 6 months postpartum) and we recognize that this can be somewhat of a loaded topic. We hope you can remain open and committed to nourishing yourself and your child as best as you can, however that looks for you. Keep in mind that we are sharing about what works for us, none of this should be viewed as a “protocol” or a plan for anyone else. You need to figure out what feels good for you!

We discuss:

A general overview on how we each came to the dietary decisions we are in (for more of my story, listen to episode 12, Reflections on a Year of Big Transitions.)
What Sara eats in a day to feel satiated and confident that she and her baby are getting what they need
Creative ideas around protein intake (which can often feel limited in a vegetarian diet) and how she centers her meals around them
Yummy, nutrient dense snack ideas, both savory and sweet
Supplements she takes during her pregnancy (We have a PDF resource on this as well.)
Knowing your body/listening to what’s working in relation to blood sugar, protein needs, and supplements
Making your own decision and owning it. There can be so many judgements around the topic of food, but at the end of the day, you are the one responsible for your health and that of your baby. Make your own decisions, do your own research, and own it!
How this kind of nourishment doesn’t stop when pregnancy is over, and actually many macro and micro needs are higher when breastfeeding.
A reframe of nourishment and cooking for yourself and your family as a chore, to a blessing of nourishment.

Mentioned in the show:

All the foods and supplements we recommend
The original "yolky" drink
The Seed of Joy's lovely Postpartum Cookbook

(the one with the yolky cacao)

Our friend Aiste's course - Plant Empowered Woman
The Root Cause Protocol

Thanks for listening!

If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a review!

If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at catskillsbirthcollective@gmail.com. We welcome your feedback.

Follow us on Instagram @catskillsbirthcollective for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood.

If you’re local, I now offer postpartum care! I’d love to support you through this tender time.

Today's intentionally provocatively named solo-cast is about... well, exactly what the title says. I had a small revelation the other day where a series of stories led me to understand the conditions under which just picking a date and having surgery instead of experiencing the mystery of birth is a more appealing option. This is not a judgement on anyone's choices, but rather my discussion with myself on that moment of intense empathy. For women who are not educated about what their body's will do in pregnancy and birth. For women who have only heard stories and narratives of birth being scary and dangerous. Of women who have yet to experience the joy and power of being deeply connected to their body's and to other women. And of a society that functions on an artificial clock, while ignoring out natural rhythms and timings. This is for all those women, and for all of you who listening to encourage you to plant the seeds and inhabit your own wilds.

Mentioned in the show:

Petri Mesa's podcast - the Earthside Birth Podcast

Thanks for listening!

If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a review!

If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at catskillsbirthcollective@gmail.com. We welcome your feedback.

Follow us on Instagram @catskillsbirthcollective for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood.

If you’re local, I now offer postpartum care! I’d love to support you through this tender time.

We've been meaning to record an episode on the topic of pain, sensations, whatever you want to call it in birth for quite a while. That's often one of the first thoughts/fears that someone who has never birthed before has "but what is it going to feel like? How much is it going to hurt? Will I be able to handle it?" We share a bit about our own birth stories and how sensations changed throughout, and talk more generally about what pain is and how we choose to perceive sensations.

*We had some technical difficulties, and the audio quality is not ideal. It's pretty fuzzy for the first 10 minutes, but gets better after that. And I had to cut out the end, but summarized it for you all in an extra clip.*

You’ll hear about:

-Sara's practice at the end of her pregnancy for tapping into the labor space and navigating those sensations

-Our birth experiences and the best description of the sensations we could give. Ranging from early labor, the feeling of easefully surfing through contractions with deep presence, and how subtle it can be to pull a woman out of that space

-How these sensations felt so much bigger and we felt less able to "stay on top of them" when our birth processes were interrupted

-How people in your birth space can have such a huge influence on your experience!

-Pain vs Suffering

-The power of our minds to interpret sensations as pain - or not!

-Our invitation to consider a new channel of curiosity and experience for what these sensations might be like.

-Previously in our lives, painful sensations are a sign of danger, illness, things out of balance. But birth has intense sensations that means everything is ok. Nothing needs to be done.

-When we are in a state of hormonal flow, ecstatic hormones going, we might perceive/experience things differently/easier to deal with.

-If you are deep in it, you now how your body needs to move, which can facilitate labor.

Mentioned in the show:

Rachel Reed's article on Cervical Lips

Jerry Walsh's podcast - BodhiSpeak

Thanks for listening!

If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a rating and review!

If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at catskillsbirthcollective@gmail.com. We welcome your feedback.

Follow us on Instagram @catskillsbirthcollective for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood.

Today is a very special episode - I got to sit down and talk with Nicole (@seedofjoy_) about... well, whatever came up! This was such a rich conversation on all the ways she knows this life can be FOR US. We talked about becoming more boundaried as a mother, how to create structure for a deeply restful, healing, and (dare we say) blissful postpartum time (this goes far beyond "freeze some soup, ask your sister in law to help with laundry"), and how to soften and open to receive every beautiful thing life is offering you.

Every nugget in this episode could be expanded into a book, or a life's work of practicing, and I was so moved and inspired personally by this conversation. I hope it touches you too!

You can find Nicole on instagram @theseedofjoy_, or her website theseedof joy.com.

Her Raising Sons workshop is this weekend, 11/11/23, and keep a lookout for Rooted, her mentorship program this winter!

She also has a beautiful postpartum course that I am very much looking forward to when I next have a postpartum to plan for, and a yummy postpartum summit.

Thanks for listening!

If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a rating and review!

If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at catskillsbirthcollective@gmail.com. We welcome your feedback.

Find us on Instagram @catskillsbirthcollective for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood.

Sara is back today! We wanted to share a bit about this deep mother-wisdom that we see activate in women when they are pregnant and become mothers, and that we ourselves have experienced. You could call it mother's intuition, spidey senses, just deeply knowing and noticing her children, or a mother's ability to tune into a universal wisdom of the feminine and specifically of motherhood.

You'll hear about:

Little ways to practice connection to body and it's subtle messages
- Taking tiny moments to check in
- Dancing!!
- Honoring cues (hunger, thirst, pee, movement)
Spending time with mamas you admire
- Acknowledging your gratitude for them can help remind you of your own
- Time with mamas who trust you, and reflect back your own mother-wisdom
- Amplifying “mother frequency”
Nervous system work
- When we are relaxed and open, we are more tapped in
- When we are stressed, have less capacity to listen
- When hard things come up, create space to think about it. Allow your nervous system to relax before jumping into something
Honor your partner
- In seeing and exalting their contribution, you can see your own in the negative space
Spend time in nature
- Messages, signs, come when we are closest to “spirit” feeling aligned. For me, this is in nature
- As Maryn Green says - Mother Earth is your kids original mother, you are the imperfect human mother. Returning to nature can help us feel mothered ourselves.

Mentioned in the show:

Maryn Green's Magical Mama Circle

Thanks for listening!

If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a rating and review!

If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at catskillsbirthcollective@gmail.com. We welcome your feedback.

Make sure you are following us on Instagram @catskillsbirthcollective for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood.

Sara put together this list to get clear on her desires, values, and priorities for herself, her partner, and her midwife. Keep in mind that this is very individual, and you will probably want different things. We thought it might be helpful for people to see some things to consider discussing with a midwife in preparation for birth.

Here's the list that we talk through in this episode:

PLEASE DO:

Speak/offer words of encouragement
Remind me that there is a baby in there/to connect with the baby
Remind me to be PRESENT & PATIENT
Offer cold wash cloths
Touch
Remind me to drink and eat
Honor the Golden Hour with as much silence, stillness, slowness, and gentleness as possible
Give me space
Take photos and video!

PLEASE DON'T

Suggest or guide me to push in any capacity
Offer cervical exams
Suggest position shifts
Catch the baby
Have your hands near baby while coming out or touch unless absolutely needed & if so communicate why
Apply cord traction - I will birth placenta & let you know if I need
help. If you're concerned, communicate
Put blankets, hats or towels on baby

Mentioned in the show:

Maryn's Birth Video of Deva

Thanks for listening!

If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a rating and review!

If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at catskillsbirthcollective@gmail.com. We welcome your feedback.

Make sure you are following us on Instagram @catskillsbirthcollective for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood.

If you’re local, we’d love to see you at our MotherCircle in October!

Placentas!

I was deep in placenta land after creating this free Powerful Placenta Guide and felt excited to record this episode on placentas.

So often not thought about unless there’s a problem. Thrown away without a second thought. “Medically managed” because labor is over at that point so it doesn’t really matter how this part of the birth goes, right?

Wrong! Traditional cultures have always known that placentas are magic! Both nourishing the baby inside, and spiritually protecting the baby for the rest of its life, placentas are worth honoring. I talk about what a placenta actually is and how it functions, the spiritual significance of the placenta, birthing your own placenta, cord cutting options,

You can get my whole guide here, so I’m not going to write too much about this episode.

Resources:

Life's Vital Link: The Astonishing Role of the Placenta by Y. W. Loke

Placenta: the Forgotten Chakra by Robin Lim

Birthing Your Placenta: the third stage of labour by Sara Wickham

Thanks for listening!

If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a rating and review!

If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at catskillsbirthcollective@gmail.com. We welcome your feedback.

Make sure you are following us on Instagram @catskillsbirthcollective for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood.

If you’re local, we’d love to see you at our upcoming MotherCircle starting October 20th!

Today’s episode is a special one! Sara and I are back together to interview the lovely Ixchel. We talked with her and her partner during her pregnancy back in episode 4. Now, almost 2 years after their birth, we finally recorded their incredible birth story of their firecracker son, Makoa. This is the story of the "what ifs". But not "what if something goes wrong", instead it's "what if something goes right?" What if birth can be challenging, transformative, visionary, earth, shattering, and so so beautiful? Ixchel is an amazing and powerful woman who's experience and history with inner work and practices guided her in this motherhood journey.

*We did record in a shed, with a single microphone, in the middle of a rainstorm, so there’s definitely some background noise noise, especially towards the end of the episode. However, the content is gold and definitely worth listening through! I also play her whole song, Birthing Spiral, at the end of this episode.*

You’ll hear about:

-How Ixchel navigated intense pelvic pain and used it as a tool and teacher to guide her through labor.

-A continuation of her pregnancy story, she shares more about the deaths that she had to allow to happen in her underworld journey to rebirth yourself as a mother.

-The magical story of her sons full moon birth

-How he shall used water in numerous ways to help support her in her labor.

-The amazing community of sisters who came together, and the power of song, music, and prayer.

-How lessons from pregnancy allowed her to step into postpartum with more grace.

-Her husband‘s experience in supporting birth, and the one moment that clarified his role there for him.

-Amazing stories of Ixchel's visions and understandings that came through this uninterrupted, ecstatic, birth process.

-And her gorgeous song that came as a result of a homework prompt in our birth education course.

Mentioned in the show:

Ixchel Prisma's music

Her husband, Jerry Walsh's podcast, BodhiSpeak

Our birth education course, Wise Woman, Sacred Birth!

My local MotherCircle offering

Thanks for listening!

If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a rating and review!

If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at catskillsbirthcollective@gmail.com. We welcome your feedback.

Make sure you are following us on Instagram @catskillsbirthcollective for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood.

If you’re local, we’d love to see you at our MotherCircle in October!

Did you know that birth is only one of the three parts that make up the rite of passage that is the childbearing year? When in first heard this concept spoken by Kimberly Ann Johnson in MotherCircle, I deeply knew this to be true even though I’d never heard it before.

First articulated by anthropologist Arnold van Gennep in a book he published in 1908, these phases are separation, transition, and incorporation. The actual event of birth is only the transition phase of a rite of passage, and by acknowledging and consciously experiencing the separation and incorporation aspects of this rite will deepen our experience and provide greater clarity and orientation.

Not having a cultural or personal understanding of this process is what leaves so many women today feeing lost in motherhood. ‘You lose yourself in motherhood’ is only a true statement if you haven’t consciously left your old self behind in pregnancy, journeyed outside of yourself in birth, and rediscovered your new self in the postpartum time.

In this episode I go into the these three phases of a rite of passage, how they apply to the childbearing year, and how we can create an internal and social environment that supports us through this.

You'll hear about:

The separation phase of a rite of passage - pregnancy. While often thought of as a time of growth and connection, putting into the context of this greater rite of passage asks us to look at the other side as well.
- What do we need to let go of to become a mother (or a mother of more)? What habits, thought patterns, beliefs, relationships do we need to let go of? How can we allow the maiden to die in order to step into being mother?
- My own experience with morning sickness and first trimester fatigue as a call to enter this ‘separation phase’. In the “go-go-go, you can do anything and don’t need help” culture of today, many of us need a wake up call that things need to change. That we ARE irrevocably different now and will need to let some things go.
- Some thoughts on our cultural need to rewrite out relationship with death. With darkness, and letting go. It can be a beautiful process.
The transition phase - Birth. Often marked with blood, physical pain and hardships, and some kind of sacrifice, birth fits this description perfectly.
- This stage is a “jumping across the canyon”, being between two worlds.
- How the ecstatic (ex meaning “out of” and static coming from “to be firm in place, grounded, in yourself) hormones of an undisturbed birth direct this process by allowing you to go outside of yourself during birth on all levels. Leaving behind your normal, thinking brain, allowing your spirit to leave your body and go collect the soul of your baby from the cosmos, being able to transcend/transmute intense physical sensation, and come face to face with death in order to bring new life.
The incorporation phase - postpartum. From the Latin ‘incorporare’ meaning “to unite into one body, embody, include”. This final stage requires community support and witnessing.
- Rites of passage are not just for the growth of the individual, but also for the growth of the culture. When people successfully make it through a rite of passage, they bring back seeds from their journey, messages for their community. These stories need to be heard and these women held by people who understand that they are coming back changed, and need the space and love to reconfigure their whole beings around this rite of passage and their new identity.
Rites of passage exist to evolve cultures! Whether this is Inanna in her underworld journey, Vision Quests, Moon Lodges, or other traditional rites of passage, when we are able to journey through this liminal space of the transition phase after having allowed the separation phase to happen, we come back with gifts and visions for our people. We need our stories to be heard and held, and those stories have special medicine.
These phases can also be acknowledged in the moon cycle every month. The luteal phase is the separation; PMS is trying to tell you what you need to let go of. Bleeding is the liminal space, and returning to life and ovulation after is the incorporation.

So how to make this knowledge actionable despite not having a greater cultural awareness of these phases?

Make space in pregnancy to allow yourself to let go and be separated. Rest. Say no to things.
Create an environment for an undisturbed birth. Find a care provider who can support this hormonal orchestration and the golden hour after birth.
Gather women around you in the postpartum time who can hold you and your story in your transformation.
Physically care for yourself in the postpartum time.
Come to MotherCircle!

Mentioned in the show:

MotherCircle

Of Water and the Spirit by Malidoma Some

Go Diaper Free - Our potty training guide

My favorite podcasting outfit - Indie Birth's Keep Birth Wild sweatshirt

Thanks for listening!

If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a rating and review!

If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at catskillsbirthcollective@gmail.com. We welcome your feedback.

Make sure you are following us on Instagram @catskillsbirthcollective for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood.

If you’re local, we’d love to see you at our MotherCircle in October!

Demystifying the nomenclature of the birth world! What is a midwife vs a doula vs a birthkeeper? Starting with obstetricians, we work our way through the “food chain” of people who attend birth; what their roles and responsibilities are; what they fundamental beliefs MAY be; and how they might practice. But don’t be fooled by labels! Each care provider comes with their own stories, backgrounds, beliefs, training, fears, and traumas that influence how they support women, meaning that just because someone is a “something-something”, doesn’t mean they will behave exactly in the way you think a “something-something” should.

You'll hear about:

Obstetricians. Their general scope of practice is emergency medical situations around pregnancy and birth. Many of them may have never seen a physiological birth! While crucial in true emergency scenarios, I think it’s pretty wack that they are the standard of care for normal, healthy pregnancies.
Quick detour into the history of the medical system in the US. (Hint: it was founded by one dude so he could make money) And a further detour into how I have politely stepped out of those mental programs of control and money and disease.
Midwives

CPMs, CNMs, DEMs, CMs, oh my word! I get into the acronyms and the certifications for these sorts of midwifery, at least as far as I understand it because it’s very complicated! These licensed midwives have attended at least 2 years of school (either accredited midwifery school or nursing school and a masters program in midwifery), have attended a certain number of births in various capacities, are all up to date on their testing and their certifications (and fees).

A lot of these differences in titles are bureaucratic and I express some strong feelings about everyone running around asking for, and paying for, permission to do what they already know they are ready to do. All these systems of certification and accreditation are entirely made up (recently), and I have no reason to believe that those standards are absolutely the best.
A brief mention of my displeasure with the term “medwife”. Do we really need more labels to talk done about other women?
Unlicensed midwives - exactly what it sounds like! Women who have been trained to support birth but are consciously choosing not to be licensed! Maryn and Margo from Indie Birth (the organization I studied midwifery with) both are in this category. It’s semi legal or maybe just not legal depending on your state. We believe that it’s impossible to truly and deeply serve women while also being responsible to a set of rules and regulations and their governing body that may or may not be aligned with the way they practice.
Birthkeeper - originally coined by Jeannine Parvati Baker in the 70’s as a combination of birth worker and earth keeper, meaning one who safeguards, and is an activist for physiological birth. This is a term that doesn’t really mean anything in particular, but in recent years has been coopted by certain folks.
All those other titles! I would sum it up as people who may feel they are similar to a midwife, but don’t want to use the term. Either because it doesn’t resonate with them, or maybe because they don’t truly have that skills of experience of a midwife.
Doula:

While originating from the Greek word for ‘slave’, the doula training I took told me that the word dula means talking stick in an African language. This for me is a great picture of what doula support is; a walking stick for women in this pregnancy and birth journey.

A birth doula (generally) provides emotional, physical and informational support but is not a primary care provider. In my opinion, doulas take the role of what our friends and sisters used to provide. We are all now so disconnected from community support and the natural rhythm of the childbearing year that we now need professional doulas to walk through this time. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t great support! Doulas don’t have any big picture governing board or requirements, but many doula trainings push being certified to promote professionalism in the trade.
Why we (especially as women) feel the need to have certification to do what we know we can do. Why are we dependent on someone else’s stamp of approval to offer the support we know we can.
I admit that I’m nuts!
Postpartum doulas - they provide a wide range of support in the postpartum time, from the more mundane (laundry, dishes, hold the baby so you can shower, listening), to the specific and healing practices (postpartum massage, cooking, heat treatments, digestion support and evaluation). It seem like there are some trainings that teach you more how to be the helpful friend next door, and some that go deeper into trainman healing professionals for the postpartum period. (Sacred Window Studies that I studied with falls into this second category.)
Regardless of what someone calls themselves, find someone who feels right to you. Someone who feels aligned with your core values and beliefs, and offer the care that feels most nourishing to you. These labels and certifications may or may not be helpful in this process.
So what does this mean if can’t find someone to support your birth that feels right for you? Get creative! Call it in! Open your field to beyond the labels you were previously looking through. And you might have to travel or come up with some alternative solution. But please, don’t settle for a care provider that you don’t really feel comfortable with.

Mentioned in the show:

Indie Birth

Margo's reel about settling with care providers

Sacred Window Studies' Conscious Postpartum Caregivers Program

My Postpartum Cooking offering

Thanks for listening!

If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a rating and review!

If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at catskillsbirthcollective@gmail.com. We welcome your feedback.

Make sure you are following us on Instagram @catskillsbirthcollective for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood.

If you’re local, we’d love to see you at our monthly prenatal and mother circles!

Feeling inspired by my recent launch of a postpartum cooking service for local mamas, I wanted to share a bit today about the underlying principles of postpartum cooking. There are some basic tenants across the world to help women ground and heal in this time, and food can be such a beautiful medicine for this period. It can set the tone for the start of a nourished motherhood, and give the body all the nutrients it needs to heal.

You'll hear about:

The concept of convalescence - how this idea of rest and specific foods for a certain amount of time after an illness has so many commonalities with postpartum practices world wide.
You need even more calories when breastfeeding than pregnant. This can seem quite daunting, but it’s so important to be nourishing your body with nutrient dense foods while you’re both healing, and making milk! Breastfeeding burns about as many calories as a 45 minute run EVERY SINGLE DAY! (And night…)
My background is in postpartum care from an Ayurvedic perspective, but these principles of postpartum food are universal. Comparing the way traditional cultures cares for pregnant women around the world leads to certain universal truths.
Eat enough food! It’s way more than you might expect. This is NOT the time to be thinking about dieting or “losing your baby weight.”
A bit about the qualities of the Vata dosha - it’s the dosha of air and ether, and has qualities of being cold, rough, mobile, etc. It can be easy for vata be become unbalanced in the postpartum time: there is literally empty space in your body, that needs to be guarded and kept warm.
After birth, your digestive fire, or ‘Agni’ is low and needs to be carefully tended and built back up for proper absorption and digestion of birth food, and experiences.
Some universal postpartum food principles - food should be:
- Warming
- Easy to Digest
- Well Spiced
- Grounding
Keep yourself warm! I don’t usually love heat, but keeping your body and your food warm saves up that energy to be put to heal.
While frozen food is convenient, and sometimes the only option, fresh cooked food is optimal for digestion and has the most life force. I totally get that that is not always possible, and frozen food is 100% better than no food, but how can you create systems and call in support to support this?
What are we deciding is worth investing in? I would argue that gathering resources around the postpartum time is one of the most vital events to invest in in your life!
Thinking a bit about the energetics of food - for example, the carrot root grows in a stable, dark, slow environment, as opposed to the carrot tops which are constantly being stimulated and moved around in the wind. The root therefor will help you feel more grounded, where as the tops may increase the wind aspect on your body.
The energies that are put into your food are equally (if not more) important than what you are actually eating. Being so open and vulnerable in the postpartum time means it can be easier to sense these things and be more easily influenced by other people’s energies.
The importance of the medicine of beauty and color! A little gesture can go a long way, having aesthetic beauty in your food and your space can go so far to uplift your mood. And adding a little artistic touch to food, or finding beauty and comfort in your dishwater for example can be its own kind of healing. This can apply to your room (especially if you are going to be there for 2 weeks straight!), you linens, and your whole space.
Remember, this is all FOR you! How can you make it simple, comforting, and familiar? It doesn't have to be complicated.

Mentioned in the show:

Tony(a) Lemos at Blazing Star Herbal School

Our Episode on Receiving in the Postpartum Time

Seven Sisters Plan

Sacred Window Center Website and Instagram

The Fourth Trimester by Kimberly Ann Johnson

Innate Tradition’s free class with Carly Rae Beaudry - MOTHERFOODS: Maternal Nutrition and Humanity's Health

My new Postpartum Cooking offering

Postpartum Cookbooks:

The First Forty Days

Nourishing Newborn Mothers

Mama’s Menu: Ayurvedic Recipes for Postpartum Healing

The Seed of Joy - Nourished Postpartum Cookbook

Thanks for listening!

If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a rating and review!

If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at catskillsbirthcollective@gmail.com. We welcome your feedback.

Make sure you are following us on Instagram @catskillsbirthcollective for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood.

If you’re local, we’d love to see you at our monthly prenatal and mother circles!

Welcome to the second season of the Wise Birth Radio! I wanted to talk a bit today about some of the philosophical underpinnings of our work and philosophy here at Catskills Birth Collective. Sara and I feel really resonant with the Wise Woman model of care, as outlined by Susan Weed. I feel that wholly embodying it will be a lifelong process, but I am already grateful for the words that Susan Weed has put to this invisible, ancient tradition, to my teachers at Indie Birth and Sacred Window Studies who put this tradition in action through their work, and to the women I walk beside who are also practicing and stepping into this tradition.

You'll hear about:

A brief overview of the Wise Women model of care. Super important: This model of care is not specific to a certain practitioner, method, or tool. It is a philosophy, a way of thinking, that anyone can tap into at any moment.
Commonalities between this model of care and the Tao te Ching
“Deficiencies, not disease” - What I’ve been delving into recently with Morley Robbins and the RCP
How this will impact the way I show up/will show up as a midwife in the future:
- Not having a formula, or a checklist for the women I work with but instead laying out the options for women to allow them to choose what they know they need.
- The way we offer consultations from a foundation of holding space for transformation and personal responsibility. We don’t offer consultations necessary to guide or inform, but to allow you to step into your own leadership.
- This foundational principle of nourishment - this is what we need more of in the postpartum time! (Well, in all of life.) This is why offering postpartum cooking services for our local community feels so important to me.
The Universal Mother Principles
- Simplicity
- Flexibility
- Compassion
- Listening
- Intuition
- Grounding
- Non Judgement
A bit of discussion of what it ACTUALLY means to listen to your intuition. It can be so frustrating to hear “oh, just listen to your intuition”, when sometimes it can be so quiet and hard to hear! I encourage you to practice turning that dial to tune inwards and temporarily remove the outside noise.
What it truly looks like to truly feel yourself at the center of your own spiral, and everyone else at the center of theirs. The spiral is the symbol for the Wise Woman Tradition, and locating yourself there is such a deep practice. It takes both radical responsibility, and radical acceptance.

Mentioned in the show:

Spirit and Practice of the Wise Woman Tradition by Susan Weed

Tao Te Ching (I love the audio book)

Morley Robbins and the RCP

Our Episode on Receiving in the Postpartum Time

Sacred Window Studies Website and Instagram

My new Postpartum Cooking offering

Thanks for listening!

If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a rating and review!

If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at catskillsbirthcollective@gmail.com. We welcome your feedback.

Make sure you are following us on Instagram @catskillsbirthcollective for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood.

If you’re local, we’d love to see you at our monthly prenatal and mother circles!

We recorded this episode back in late summer of 2022, when I was around 8 months postpartum. It took me a loooong time to get to editing, but here it is! It was so yummy and juicy to listen through this again! I loved my postpartum time, and I love teaching women about how healing and blissful it can be. In this episode we talk through what my support looked like, what I ate (it was a lot!), and just talking though the story of this transition to motherhood. We go over some helpful tips and suggestions for your own postpartum, and some of the deeper currents running though this sacred period.

We were still figuring out how the mics worked while we walk in this episode, so you will hear some funny clicks.

You'll hear about:

What I ate postpartum for the first 40 days (ish). Yes, I followed an “Ayurvedic” protocol, but that doesn’t mean Indian food! Ayurvedic principles can be applied to any type of food that you feel most comfortable with to make it the most supportive for your postpartum time.
Bringing color therapy into the postpartum time through food and beautifying the space.
Receiving massage beyond just the physical. Postpartum warm oil massage is so important, but it’s not your average “trying to get the knots out” massage. It’s a chance for integration of the birth experience into your body, to soothe the energies on all levels, to move the lymph (super important because you’re hopefully not moving your body that much otherwise), and to receive love and care from a sister. I had a particularly transcendental massage from my friend Xan (@alexandramunoz.phd on Instagram) where I could feel the energetic overlap between my body and my son’s.
The necessity of sacred sisterhood in this time. More than cleaning, making tea, or helping me with anything, I wanted someone to just SIT with me. I didn’t need to talk, just the presence of another woman to hold the space for the huge process that is postpartum felt so valuable and hard to ask for.
How Patrick stepped it up! He became the rice pudding master! And at the same time, there were things I would ask for differently next time. He did a great job taking care of the house, when sometimes I just wanted him to lie with us and do nothing. It can be equally challenging (if not more) for a partner to get into the energy of doing less postpartum and just being present with the new family energy. Especially because it feels like there’s s much ore to do. This is why we emphasize the importance of the partner not being the sole care provider in the postpartum time. They also need the time and space to integrate this new family, bond with this tiny little being, and bask in the energy of this sacred window.
Working through feelings of shame for not “recovering perfectly” or being as strong as I want to in relation to feeling prolapse postpartum.
How we dealt with super painful nursing and Olin’s tongue and lip ties. Certainly not sure I would do this the sam next time, but we decided to get his ties revised around 2 weeks old. I would definitely suggest finding a baby competent chiropractor, getting him adjusted was the only thing that I noticed a huge difference in the comfort in his latch.

Mentioned in the show:

Panchakola Ghee

Conscious Caregiver Program

Contact us to set up a postpartum planning consultation! https://www.catskillsbirth.org/contact-us

Mayte the Womb Doula on Tongue Ties

Postpartum Cookbooks we love:

First Forty Days Book by Heng Ou

Mama's Menu: Ayurvedic Recipes for Postpartum Healing by Ameya Duprey

Nourished Postpartum Cookbook

Postpartum Resources!

First Forty Days Book by Heng Ou

Healing after Birth by Jennifer Summerfeltd

Newborn Mothers by Julia Jones

The Fourth Trimester by Kimberly Ann Johnson

Thanks for listening!

If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a rating and review!

If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at catskillsbirthcollective@gmail.com. We welcome your feedback.

Make sure you are following us on Instagram @catskillsbirthcollective for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood.

If you’re local, we’d love to see you at our monthly prenatal and mother circles!

I'm starting a mini series here in the podcast of poetry! For now I think it will be things I have written, but I might expand it to other people's writing as well.

This is a poem I wrote to process/unravel an emotional process. Continually working with this rage has been a powerful meditation for my this past year.

For more on female/mother rage, definitely read this blog post by Rachelle Garcia Seliga.

Stacey Ramsower is also an amazing resource.

And Stacey and Rachelle did a podcast episode together! It contains a super potent moment in relation to this topic.

Mentioned in the show:

Antonio Sanchez's The Bucket

Thanks for listening!

If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a rating and review!

If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at catskillsbirthcollective@gmail.com. We welcome your feedback.

Make sure you are following us on Instagram @catskillsbirthcollective for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood

If you’re local, we’d love to see you at our monthly prenatal and mother circles!

Reflecting today as I walk about the energies and practice of receiving, particularly in the postpartum. We have seen it come up again and again with women we have worked with 1:1 and classes or workshops we have taught on the postpartum time: women feel reluctant to ask for help. Creating a nourishing, expansive, blissful, supported postpartum is totally possible, AND it requires asking for help! Laundry, dishes, childcare, cooking, healing touch, or just a sister to sit with you are not luxuries! Creating a magical postpartum time is completely attainable, and for most women it requires working through their internal blockages around receiving, particularly around receiving from other women.

You'll hear about:

The four things that keep women from being open to receiving:
We’re so scared of being seen by other women! Being open and receptive inherently involves a level of openness and vulnerability, and many of us are conditioned to see other women as unsafe. (Hello, sister wound!)
So many women feel like they are not “worthy” of, or haven’t “given enough” to be able to receive.
We don’t practice asking for help! Plus a great practice for pregnancy (and all times) to do with your partner to become more comfortable with asking for exactly what you need.
You may think you don’t know what you need until you are in the this of it! I argue that if women really take the time to meditate on what they will need in this time they know exactly what will be required, and education is really helpful for this.
Moving from being victim of the lack of community to calling in, creating, and embodying the supportive community you need to mother.
The danger of the conditioned mentality of being a strong woman. How can we be strong in our softness and vulnerability?
The difference between passively being open to something vs actively calling it in (this is huge!)
The dance between my partner and I of our own patterns of the divine feminine and masculine. How we’ve worked to balance and complement each other in terms of these archetypes. Pregnancy and postpartum was such a huge humbling for me and taught me so much about asking for help and stepping deeper into my own feminine element.
I put these words are out there as a prayer, in hopes that these seeds of receptivity, openness, and vulnerability amongst our sisters are planted in the minds and hearts of anyone who is ready to deepen into relationship with their own feminine.

Mentioned in the show:

Our first Mother Circle on March 8th!

Nicole’s Instagram - embodied motherhood and nourished postpartum - @theseedofjoy_

Contact us to set up a postpartum planning consultation!

Postpartum Resources:

First Forty Days Book by Heng Ou

Healing after Birth by Jennifer Summerfeltd

Newborn Mothers by Julia Jones

The Fourth Trimester by Kimberly Ann Johnson

Thanks for listening!

If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a rating and review!

If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at catskillsbirthcollective@gmail.com. We welcome your feedback.

Make sure you are following us on Instagram @catskillsbirthcollective for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood.

If you’re local, we’d love to see you at our monthly prenatal and mother circles!

Today is Olin's first birthday! In honor of the event, I talk today about a word that came up persistently throughout my pregnancy with him, and took on more subtle shades of deeper importance as I was integrating his birth story this past year:

AUTONOMY

I know this is a big word out there in the collective consciousness at the moment, and this episode is a short reflection on what it means to me.

You'll hear about:

How his birth challenged my own perception on my ability to say no and stand in my truth in my pregnancy
How my lack of practice in autonomy led to not being able to create the undisturbed birth setting I was imagining.
How this all ties in with mothering (This is huge! Something I imagine I will continue to work with for many years.
The difference between true autonomy and trauma based fixation on independence.

Mentioned in the show:

https://indiebirth.org/im-a-self-proclaimed-midwife/

Thanks for listening!

If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a rating and review!

If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at catskillsbirthcollective@gmail.com. We welcome your feedback.

Make sure you are following us on Instagram @catskillsbirthcollective for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood

If you’re local and pregnant, we’d love to see you at our monthly prenatal circles!

Wrapping up this year before the solstice, it's a solo-cast today with just me, Maible. I share some reflections on this past year, my transition to motherhood thus far and other changes it has cataylsed in my life. (Spoiler alert: I'm not a vegetarian any more!) This is a pretty personal and vulnerable episode, but it feels good to be sharing my story through this medium.

You'll hear about:

My lifelong journey of coming home to my body
How breastfeeding made my new dietary requirements very clear
My months long decision process to start eating meat after being a life long vegetarian
How these choices have impacted my relationship with the cycles of the divine feminine/earth goddess/life-death-life
And how my transition to motherhood has felt much like a home-coming, or a stepping into the next level of my being.

Thanks for listening!

If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a rating and review!

If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at catskillsbirthcollective@gmail.com. We welcome your feedback.

Make sure you are following us on Instagram @catskillsbirthcollective for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood

If you’re local and pregnant, we’d love to see you at our monthly prenatal circles!

This is part 2 of the story of the birth of my (Maible’s) son, Olin Wren Gillespie. Attended by Sara, a midwife, a photographer, my partner, and my mother, this birth was very straight forward, down to earth, and rather humorous. He was born at home on January 11, 2022 after a 12 hour labor. In integrating the story after, I learned so much about the subtle dynamics of persuasion and experience, and why it is so important to speak your “no”, even if it doesn’t seem like a big deal.

This is part 1 of the story of the birth of my (Maible’s) son, Olin Wren Gillespie. Attended by Sara, a midwife, a photographer, my partner, and my mother, this birth was very straight forward, down to earth, and rather humorous. He was born at home on January 11, 2022 after a 12 hour labor. In integrating the story after, I learned so much about the subtle dynamics of persuasion and experience, and why it is so important to speak your “no”, even if it doesn’t seem like a big deal.

Some things we mentioned:

My favorite herbal vinegars - Subluna Botanicals

Article on low fluid - Evidence for Induction for Low Amniotic Fluid in a Healthy Pregnancy

Here's part three of Sara's birth stories!

A straight forward, self directed pregnancy and birth with a surprise twist at the end! We talk about her relationship with the midwives she was working with, her preference and orientation towards free birth, and the lessons this adorable babe brought with his birth.

Tune in today for the story of Sara and Z's second pregnancy and birth. Like the first, this is a unique story of birth with strong community support. This babe was born in the woods as Sara ha envisioned. We talk about what we assume about midwives, the challenges of being pregnant with a little toddler, and much more.

We are talking today with our dear friends Stephanie and Jacob about the birth of their first baby, Forest van Hope. This is an extra special interview for us and there’s some really great gems of knowledge! Stephanie and Jacob are friends of ours who took both our birth education and our Innate Traditions Postpartum Course, and we were their for their birth!

This is such a great story of how you can harness the potential of this period of growth and change to come out centered and nourished as a family. We love being able to share stories like this full of grace through tough times.

You can find more about Stephanie and her work here:

Nursing Sacred Medicine Hope Holistic Instagram

We check in at 30 weeks of pregnancy! We love having the opportunity to talk through things with mics, it gives us the chance to go deeper into our own personal processes to bring out the gems of what is universal. We talk about how relationship balances need to shift in pregnancy, the joys of morning sickness, and what it looks like to deeply nourish your body to the best of your ability.

What I Hate About Birth podcast

This week we are processing what we learned, and what we think is important for parents to know, about baby's first breath and neonatal resuscitation. While it may sound scary, we go into the physiological process baby's lungs go through immediately after birth, how that can be disrupted, and how midwives and parents can help support it.

Our favorite neonatal resuscitation resource - Karen Strange

We talk today with our dear friends Jerry and Ixchel about their journey so far into their first pregnancy. We discuss their beautiful process through conscious conception and their communication with their spirit baby, and how they have moved through all the lessons of this pregnancy so far. They bring a unique and wise perspective from their diverse background of spiritual studies.

Here's Jerry's Podcast, BodhiSpeak.

And Ixchel's albums, Full Spectrum Medicine and Soul Codes.

We also featured her recently recorded beautiful and powerful song in our closing music. Written to inspire her birthing journey, enjoy Birthing Spiral!

It's just Maible here today, recording all the thoughts and feelings of my moon being a few days late.... and being pregnant! I talk about pregnancy tests, my own story around conception (nothing graphic, don't worry), and what I've already learned from this unique time and this spirit.

I recorded this in the spring, so it may not be timely, but it felt relevant to share my journey.

In today's episode, Sara and Maible chat about leaving space immediately after birth for both mama and baby to take a breath and integrate. Why do we rush to clean the baby off, cover it up, and get everyone snuggled away? And what would it mean to completely respect the timing of the mama to first pick up her baby? Tune in to find out!

These Are My Hours Documentary

We talk today about the pregnancy and birth of Sara's first child, the bold and inimitable Myuna. We cover the beautiful story of how Sara knew a soul was coming in, her journey through pregnancy, and a unique, community supported, and powerful birth. This is only the first of three birth stories with Sara, so stay tuned!

Here's the website for Rachelle Garcia Seliga at Innate Traditions

https://www.innatetraditions.com/