Holy Wild Birth: Recent Episodes
Brooke Collier and Lauren Hall
For Christian mamas and birth workers who desire to embrace physiological birth... outside of the medical system.
Holy Wild Birth is a podcast embracing the reclamation of giving birth rooted in God’s original design, undisturbed. Here we share home birth stories highlighting God’s presence as the Great Midwife as well as conversations about all aspects of a holistic, Spirit-led childbearing year from the perspectives of traditional midwife Lauren Hall (Rooted in Eden Private Contract Association) and birth keeper and childbirth educator Brooke Collier (Sister Birth). Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/holy-wild-birth/support
In this Holy Wild Birth conversation, we’re getting honest about money, midwives, and the value of birth work. Too often, women feel uncomfortable talking about what birth support “costs” — but we’re turning that on its head and exploring what it’s actually worth.
Lauren and Brooke share candid thoughts on why hiring a midwife is an investment, not an expense, and how cultural narratives about “affording” care can quietly shape our choices around birth. From breaking down what goes into a midwife’s fee to unpacking the unseen hours, emotional labor, and sacred holding of women — this is a tender, fiery episode about money, mindset, and meaning.
If you’ve ever wondered:
✨ Why midwifery care seems “expensive” compared to hospital birth
✨ How to think about value and exchange in birth work
✨ What it really means to pay for presence instead of procedure
…this episode will help you see the full picture.
Join us for a conversation that honors the holy work of midwives, the true cost of birth, and the the wild abundance that comes from choosing care that honors the way God designed birth.
Mentioned in this Episode:
- https://open.spotify.com/episode/28VCl8dD98i7tKjcEmgb30?si=mosPPCGXSnGS_0bHb4o87w
- https://behervillage.com/
- https://youtu.be/MUS7gBvgxB4Jess Ray: Lilies & Sparrows - YouTube
SHOW NOTES “FOOTER”
Connect:
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: http://sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
- Hang out with us and other Holy Wild Women in our private community (off Facebook): https://anointed-birth.mn.co/
- Become a holy, wild birthkeeper with us inside Hearthmother Journey
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email rootedinedenpma@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
- Sister Birth: The Podcast - short, beautifully scripted episode to encourage your along the way
Intro and Outra Music Credit -
Betty Dear By Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Join Lauren and Brooke in this heart-to-heart conversation on the language, philosophy, and everyday life of being a birth keeper. From redefining “birth team” to more soulful terms like birth companion and birth trust, to swapping stories about chickens and the beautiful chaos of big families, this episode weaves wisdom with warmth. You’ll also hear about their brand-new Birth Servant Starter Kit—a resource packed with video lessons and tools for those ready to step into holistic birth work. If you’re passionate about sacred birth, intentional language, and community-centered care, this one’s for you.Mentioned in this episode:
- Ancestral Protein Powder (makes a great mocha or hot milk drink)
- Birth Servant Starter Kit
Connect:
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: Holy Wild Birth Podcast : Guest Application
- Hang out with us and other Holy Wild Women in our private community (off Facebook): Rooted in Eden PMA
- Become a holy, wild birthkeeper with us inside Hearthmother Journey
From Lauren:
- Instagram
- Midwifery consults: Email rootedinedenpma@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Instagram
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
Intro and Outra Music Credit -Betty Dear By Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
I (Brooke) am joined in this episode by our friend Sarah to talk about her call to birth work and then deliverance ministry for women in their childbearing year. Through her own testimony and experiences, and through sharing what the Lord has taught her through Jael (the woman who drove a tent peg through the enemy's temple), this episode offers many insights and action points on spiritual warfare in fertility, pregnancy, birth, and beyond.
Some themes present in this episode:
- That God expects and is ready for our wrestling when he asks us to lay things down.
- The enemy despises the womb and life: “She’s carrying what he (the enemy) can’t create.”
- The specially targeted warfare against fertility, pregnancy, and birth
- Miracle stories from Sarah's current pregnancy
- The story of Jael and its lessons for us (see Judges 4)
- How to position ourselves concerning the reality of spiritual warfare around childbearing
- The value of sitting with the Lord
- How to Cast out Demons by Isaiah Saldivar
- Manual for Children’s Deliverance - Frank and Ida Hammond
You can find Sarah here:
- @thejaelproject or @liatministries (on IG)
- Liat Ministries
- https://www.liatministries.com/the-jael-project
SHOW NOTES “FOOTER”
Connect:
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: Holy Wild Birth Podcast : Guest Application
- Hang out with us and other Holy Wild Women in our private community (off Facebook): Rooted in Eden PMA
- Become a holy, wild birthkeeper with us inside Hearthmother Journey
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email rootedinedenpma@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
Intro and Outra Music Credit -
Betty Dear By Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Welcome back for part 2 of Becky's birth story!
Join Brooke as she talks with her in-real-life friend, Becky, about her three births (a special surprise). Though her first two attempts at a home birth didn’t turn out the way she diligently planned for (as you’ll hear in Part 1), she was not to be discouraged, and went on to have an incredible, redemptive story (as you’ll hear in Part 2).
Among other things, Becky touches on:
- How a shift from nursing background to preventative and root-cause driven healthcare impacted her birthing choices
- Pregnancy during Covid and the fear that came with it
- Coming to terms with a difficult birth story she can’t remember
- The leap of faith in choosing to have another baby after trials
- Learning fertility awareness “late” in the game
becky is in IRL acquaintence of Brooke’s
SHOW NOTES:
Join Brooke as she talks with her in-real-life friend, Becky, about her three births (a special surprise). Though her first two attempts at a home birth didn’t turn out the way she diligently planned for (as you’ll hear in Part 1), she was not to be discouraged, and went on to have an incredible, redemptive story (as you’ll hear in Part 2).
Among other things, Becky touches on:
- How a shift from nursing background to preventative and root-cause driven healthcare impacted her birthing choices
- Pregnancy during Covid and the fear that came with it
- Coming to terms with a difficult birth story she can’t remember
- The leap of faith in choosing to have another baby after trials
- Learning fertility awareness “late” in the game
BIRTH STORY DISCLAIMER:
The choices, beliefs, and opinions of the mamas sharing their stories are as individual as the storyteller herself and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs or recommended choices of Lauren and/or Brooke.
SHOW NOTES “FOOTER”
Connect:
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: http://sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
- Hang out with us and other Holy Wild Women in our private community (off Facebook): https://anointed-birth.mn.co/
- Become a holy, wild birthkeeper with us inside Hearthmother Journey
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email rootedinedenpma@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
- Sister Birth: The Podcast - short, beautifully scripted episode to encourage your along the way
Intro and Outra Music Credit -
Betty Dear By Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
In this episode, we sit down with Kurin (@kurinadele & the "The Mindful Mama Podcast"), a current Hearthmother Journey student and soon-to-be graduate, as she shares her long and beautiful unfolding into birth work. From her mother’s words spoken over her as a toddler—that she would one day be a midwife—to a detour into other career paths, marriage, a hospital birth, loss, and then the redemption of a home birth, Kurin’s story is rich with depth and faith.
She opens up about the major mindset shifts she’s experienced, how Christ has become the center of her calling, and the power of prayer in birth work. Kurin’s journey through Hearthmother Journey has been the final push that empowered her to fully step into serving women in their birth spaces with courage, reverence, and joy.
🔥Enrollment for Hearthmother Journey is open now through September 15th—join us as we prepare the next wave of birth workers to walk faithfully in this calling. (https://www.rootedineden.org/hearthmother-journey#payment-options)
Connect:
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: http://sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
- Hang out with us and other Holy Wild Women in our private community (off Facebook): https://anointed-birth.mn.co/
- Become a holy, wild birthkeeper with us inside Hearthmother Journey
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email rootedinedenpma@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a 3-part video series delivered to your inbox ($7)
- Embrace Birth Journey - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
Intro and Outra Music Credit -
Betty Dear By Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
In this special episode of Holy Wild Birth, we’ve gathered clips from our recent live coaching event where birth workers brought their deepest questions and tender crossroads to the table. Together, we explore what it means to follow the call into birth work—whether as a doula, midwife, or mother balancing both roles.
You’ll hear honest conversations about discerning if this path is right for you, navigating the tension between mothering and serving, and practical guidance on topics like what a doula should charge. These coaching moments are raw, real, and full of the kind of encouragement that reminds us we’re not walking this journey alone.
If you’ve been wondering about your next steps in birth work, this episode will meet you right where you are.
- Hearthmother Journey is a year-long path of mentorship, community, and practical training for women called to birthwork and embodied living. Learn more and join us at https://www.rootedineden.org/hearthmother-journey
🎙️ This Week on the Podcast
From Broadway to barnyards, baptisms to birth stories—this episode is a true tapestry of life.
✨ We cover it all:
- Hamilton and theatre in general
- Nesting chicks under a broody hen
- The tender work of holding space for suffering and dying animals
- The winding road to Brooke’s children’s baptism and the beauty of the moment
- Lauren’s string of unfortunate events (and the silver linings she’s clinging to)
- All the things Lauren dreams of doing while off call
- And, of course, how Brooke somehow ended up at another birth even when she was “off call” 😉
It’s raw, tender, and joy-filled—a snapshot of ordinary moments that carry extraordinary meaning.
🌿 Don’t forget: Hearthmother Journey is enrolling now through September 15!
👉🏼 rootedineden.org/hearthmother-journey
Introducing yet another "genre" or podcast episode here at Holy Wild Birth: The Community Hearth Call where we host a live coaching call in our community on Mighty Networks and take live "callers" on camera with us to talk through their questions and conundrums regarding their calling as birth servants.
On this inaugural community hearth call, you'll hear:
- Trandi and her quest to catch up with the call of her community to attend births, how she wants to shape her business and what sort of birthworker she wants to be (one who does "nothing"). At the end she receives a "kiss from the Lord" that's very sweet.
- Elizabeth wrestles with how to build a meaningful and supportive community with local midwives and doulas when the path she is walking is pretty different than theirs and what it means to harness rebellious tendencies for good.
- Jakota wonders whether being a birthkeeper is dangerous and hears Lauren and Brooke discuss the need to face the fear and follow God anyway because birth attnedants have never not been persecuted.
🥁HEARTHMOTHER JOURNEY IS OPEN FOR ENROLLMENT RIGHT NOW!!!
The fall cohort launches September 30th
Enrollment closes September 15
👉🏼 rootedineden.org/hearthmother-journey
Join the next generation of holy, wild birthkeepers
SHOW NOTES “FOOTER”
Connect:
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: http://sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
- Hang out with us and other Holy Wild Women in our private community (off Facebook): https://anointed-birth.mn.co/
- Become a holy, wild birthkeeper with us inside Hearthmother Journey
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email rootedinedenpma@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
- Sister Birth: The Podcast - short, beautifully scripted episode to encourage your along the way
Intro and Outra Music Credit -
Betty Dear By Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Stephanie always did things the mainstream way: she had her babies in the hospital, usually started with an induction and a couple of times with rushed cesareans before labor started. But for er 8th pregnancy -- a surprise that took some getting used to -- she and her husband took a hard pivot and chose the home birth route. Armed with faith in the goodness of God, a wonderful midwife, Embrace Birth Journey, and determination, they went on to have the best home birth she could have dreamed of.
In this episode, we cover:
- How a miscarriage opened up her hear to having children
- Her first 7 births in the medical system
- Gestational diabetes and induction
- The twins that were NOT gender tie-breakers
- The “they know better than I do” phenomenon and how she overcame it
- Reasons for high blood pressure that aren’t pre-eclampsia
- What made one of her cesareans more emotionally traumatic than the other
- Getting to acceptance and surrender regarding an unwanted pregnancy
- Being turned down by midwives before finding the right fit
- The vast difference between OB prenatal care and midwifery prenatal care
- Stumbling upon Embrace Birth Journey and recognizing it as exactly what she needed for her preparation as a Christian
- An IUGR scare and the value of a second opinion
- Does midwife’s brew work with only 1 tsp of castor oil in it?
- The birth pool set-up fiasco
- The contraction that wouldn’t stop
- Experiencing fetal ejection reflex
- Watching her husband rise to the occassion when he was needed
- Regrets about not making meals for postpartum
- Words for the mom considering her first home birth
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- Restorative Roots (postpartum meal service) - use code SISTERBIRH to get $20 off your first order of $200+
- EBJ - sisterbirth.com/journey - use code STEPHANIE for $20 off
- Precipitous labors episode of Holy Wild Birth
You can connect with Stephanie on FB or IG (@MamaKamps)
BIRTH STORY DISCLAIMER:
The choices, beliefs, and opinions of the mamas sharing their stories are as individual as the storyteller herself and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs or recommended choices of Lauren and/or Brooke.
SHOW NOTES “FOOTER”
Connect:
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: Holy Wild Birth Podcast : Guest Application
- Hang out with us and other Holy Wild Women in our private community (off Facebook): Rooted in Eden PMA
- Become a holy, wild birthkeeper with us inside Hearthmother Journey
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email rootedinedenpma@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
Intro and Outra Music Credit -
Betty Dear By Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
If you've heard these phrases spoken in relation to birth, you may have wondered what exactly these woo-woo words mean, what their origin is, and whether it's a Biblical concept.
In this episode we'll explore the meaning and etiology of "thin places" and "sacred space," why we feel that pregnancy and birth ARE these things, where we see this concept in the scriptures, and how to surrender to and facilitate the experience of them as mothers and as birth workers.
Resources referred to in this episode:
- birth is prayer IG post
- Anointed birth definition
- Sacred Ceremonies for Birth (get it in the shop OR as a freebie bonus you can access after going through the Faith-Filled Home Birth Challenge)
- Hearthmother Journey - attend our Open House on Mighty Networks August 18, enrollment for fall cohort ends September 15.
-
- The Sacrament of Pregnancy
- The Last Days of Pregnancy: A Place of In-Between (a must-read late in pregnancy!)
Connect:
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Hang out with us and other Holy Wild Women in our private community (off Facebook): https://anointed-birth.mn.co/
- Become a holy, wild birthkeeper with us inside Hearthmother Journey
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email rootedinedenpma@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
Intro and Outra Music Credit -
Betty Dear By Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Welcome to a rambling conversation between friends on a range of topics so varied that thematically naming this episode became a real challenge!
You'll hear about:
- what's in our mugs
- a sad induction to knitter status
- Brooke's overthinking about light therapy
- our shared love of nature and water
- what we like about where we live and why we both love arizona too
- taking things slow with habit changes
- all the many births Lauren supported since our last cup of tea episode
- that time when we thought we could whip up a huge training program in a single week 😂
- the power of naming
- midwife husbands
- bougie espresso machines
- "cousinness"
- why Brooke is unexpectedly going back on call earlier than planned
- the value of community
PS: Don't forget to join us in our Mighty Networks community so you can attend the upcoming FREE, live birth worker mentoring calls.
In this episode, Lauren is joined by traditional midwife and Hearthmother Journey graduate, Alisha Meyer, for a rich and reverent conversation about the design and rhythm of birth. Together, they explore the sacred balance between ancient midwifery wisdom and modern science—how the two can harmonize to support both physiological safety and the deeper, soul-level unfolding of birth.
Alisha shares from her lived experience, offering insight into the patterns woven into the natural process and the importance of learning to recognize and trust them. From the signals of early labor to the intuitive knowing that rises in both mothers and midwives, this episode invites listeners to consider what it means to co-labor with the design rather than manage it.
Whether you're a birth worker or a mother preparing for your own journey, this conversation will stir your confidence, sharpen your discernment, and remind you that honoring the innate is not only wise—it’s holy.
Want to connect more with Alisha? - Find her website, podcast, adn mentorship opportunities below:
Website: https://birthcultivated.com/
Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/birth-cultivated/id1805256067
Mentorship: https://birthcultivated.com/subscriptions/
⭐️ Learn more about Hearthmother Journey and Attend the Open House on August 18, 2025 ⭐️
Connect:
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: http://sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
- Hang out with us and other Holy Wild Women in our private community (off Facebook): https://anointed-birth.mn.co/
- Become a holy, wild birthkeeper with us inside Hearthmother Journey
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email rootedinedenpma@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
Intro and Outra Music Credit -
Betty Dear By Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Because the Lord called her and her husband to move to other countries to serve as missionaries, Jamie had her 4 home births in 3 different countries. In each one, she encountered the beauty of midwifery care and the gifts of cultural differences and honorary grandmothers supporting them. Her story shows us how wherever God places us, He is trustworthy to provide a way.
You can connect with Jamie Nunes in our private community (anointed-birth.mn.co) or on IG (https://www.instagram.com/mrsnewness/)
BIRTH STORY DISCLAIMER:
The choices, beliefs and opinions of the mamas sharing their stories are as individual as the storyteller herself and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs or recommended choices of Lauren and/or Brooke.
SHOW NOTES “FOOTER”
Connect:
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: http://sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
- Hang out with us in our private community (off Facebook): https://anointed-birth.mn.co/
- Become a holy, wild birthkeeper with us inside Hearthmother Journey
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email rootedinedenpma@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Courses
- Newsletter
Intro and Outra Music Credit -
Betty Dear By Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
In this short series, we're speaking with women who have been free-birthing long before it became trendy, back when it was called Unassisted Birth and there weren't very many resources devoted to it, let alone a society devoted to it.
Each of these women chose free birth for reasons that essentially come down to their faith.
In this episode, we’re joined by our friend Heather Meyers, a mama to 8 living children (5 - kind of 6? - of them born unassisted).
Among other things, you'll hear about:
- First freebirth in 2012 - it was called unassisted then
- First were precipitous home births with hands-on midwives
- Twins were a freebirth in the hospital
- She herself was born at home and grew up around home birth culture, apprenticing with a midwife after high school
- Her husband’s roll in the decision to birth unassisted for the first time
- Off-grid camper birth
- Activist tendencies tempered by humbling experiences
- Why unattended births make sense for her personality
- Her second-trimester loss at home, unattended
- Not about performance, but presence
- The unassisted hospital birth of her twins at 26 weeks
- Freebirthing with helping friends and kids around vs. with just her and her husband
- How labor patterns aren’t predictable or “normal” after you have several babies
- avoiding adamant checklists or “shoulds” about a birth and just asking Him who’s supposed to be there and for the next steps
- When Jesus says “follow me,” and it means taking some gutsy leaps
- Her usual DIY prenatal care routines (And ways she broke from them when led to do so)
- How birth resets her bond with her husband and her confidence in him
- Times she has shown up to support other women in their births
- Why your “yes” is a responsibility and investment
Mentioned in this episode:
- Unassisted HomeBirth: An Act of Love
SHOW NOTES “FOOTER”
Connect:
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: http://sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
- Hang out with us and other Holy Wild Women in our private community (off Facebook): https://anointed-birth.mn.co/
- Become a holy, wild birthkeeper with us inside Hearthmother Journey
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email rootedinedenpma@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
Intro and Outra Music Credit -
Betty Dear By Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
In this short series, we're speaking with women who have been freebirthing long before it became trendy, back when it was called Unassisted Birth and there weren't very many resources devoted to it, let alone a society devoted to it.
Each of these women chose free birth for reasons that essentially come down to their faith.
In part 2, we're joined by Rosalie Buist, a mom of 8 (5 of them free birthed) with a huge heart for the Lord.
Here's some of what we cover:
- Differences in birth by region (rural vs. city)
- Her prefered term for the kind of births she has
- The foundations our ancestors had, which we’d be wise to retain
- Why everyone should know how to give birth, even if they plan to have a midwife or doctor!
- Birth is an extension of the relationship with God and an extension of normal life
- “This is God’s baby”
- Pushing through moments of doubt and disblief that it will work
- Only God knows how to bring babies out (or put them in!)
- Her perspective on the risks
- Knowing the no-brainer emergencies that need assistance and think about them ahead of time
- Familiarizing yourself with the capabilities of hospitals in your area
- The necessity of trusting God and taking responsibility no matter what birth plan you have
- How birth choices are similar to educational choices for your kids
- Why she almost hired a midwife for baby #8
- How I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant show inspired her to make the birth choices she’s made 😂
- Why she has considered hiring a midwife again, even after several successful unassisted births
- Her advice for anyone considering a DIY Birth (it’s a GREAT list)
Resources:
- Your unique birth approach freebie
- Mark 4:26-27
- Kierra Blaser on walking through fears (A Heavenly Welcome) -
- Pygmy tribe births -
- Baby Designed by God (book)
SHOW NOTES “FOOTER”
Connect:
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: Holy Wild Birth Podcast : Guest Application
- Hang out with us and other Holy Wild Women in our private community (off Facebook): Rooted in Eden PMA
- Become a holy, wild birthkeeper with us inside Hearthmother Journey
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email rootedinedenpma@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
Intro and Outra Music Credit -
Betty Dear By Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
In this short series, we're speaking with women who have been freebirthing long before it became trendy, back when it was called Unassisted Birth and there weren't very many resources devoted to it, let alone a society devoted to it.
Each of these women chose free birth for reasons that essentially come down to their faith.
In part 1, we're joined by Bree Moore, a mom of 7 (5 of them free birthed) and author of two books on freebirth!
Here's some of what we cover:
- Default position of just her, her husband and God
- The role of seeking assistance and using technology (and how to know when to do so)
- Inviting husband to walk the uncertain road and finding unity/partnership
- What self-directed prenatal care can look like in a wild pregnancy
- Facing the fear of death using statistics
- The role of humility,a willingness to be uncomfortable, and resourcefulness (and other things required to be a freebirther)
- a more beautiful experience or a more guttural and messy one?!
- Beware of making free birth an idol
- Social media isn’t a good place to get advice while you’re in labor
- The power of stories to shift perspective and shape decisions
- Why freebirth is not a magic wand
Mentioned in this Episode:
- Adam and Eve’s Midwife (book) - out of print 😔
- Powerfully Pregnant by Donna Young
- Bree’s books on free birth Brooke's 5th baby's birth story is featured in Seasons of Birth (the Autumn section).
- Birth Becomes Hers
- Seasons of Birth (Brooke's 5th birth story is in this one, in the Autumn section!)
- Bree's fantasy books featuring freebirths:
- The Lady's Last Song:
-
Short story Mother Stone, in this collection
-
Unhindered Childbirth
- Sara Wickham's review of studies about unassisted birth outcomes
Connect:
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: Holy Wild Birth Podcast : Guest Application
- Hang out with us and other Holy Wild Women in our private community (off Facebook): Rooted in Eden PMA
- Become a holy, wild birthkeeper with us inside Hearthmother Journey
In this lighthearted and sort of all over the place episode you’ll hear us talk about herbal drinks and our lack of tea (again), what we’re watching and reading, Brooke’s growing Anglophile tendencies, Lauren’s recent fiascos, the app that’s helping us reduce our phone usage, high heels, bangs, and more. You’re getting some snippets of our silly sides here, so buckle up.
Mentioned in this episode:
- Molly & Herbs Herbal Honeys - Home of the Herbellion
- BePresent | Reduce Screen Time
- The Lunatic Farmer documentary (Joel Salatin) and The Biggest Little Farm documentary
- The Marvelous Pigness of Pigs: Respecting and Caring for All God's Creation
- The Remains of the Day: Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature
- Human Garage - Home - Human Garage
- Rowe Casa Dry Shampoo - DRY SHAMPOO | 2 oz
- Wildlings (Lauren’s barefoot shoe pick) - Wilding our lives with every step
- Grounding Shuhe (Brooke’s barefoot shoe Pick) - Groudingschuhe - Etsy
SHOW NOTES “FOOTER”
Connect:
+ Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
+ Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
+ Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: http://sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
+ Hang out with us and other Holy Wild Women in our private community (off Facebook): https://anointed-birth.mn.co/
+ Become a holy, wild birthkeeper with us inside Hearthmother JourneyFrom Lauren:
+ Instagram
+ Midwifery consults: Email rootedinedenpma@gmail.comFrom Brooke:
+ Instagram
+ Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
+ Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
+ Embrace Birth Journey - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)Intro and Outra Music Credit -
Betty Dear By Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Arianna — mother, birthkeeper, HJ grad, and wise woman — joins Brooke on the podcast today to talk her journey in birthwork and motherhood, the ways she has served and learned in each season thereof, and about a subject she’s especially passionate about these days: community building.
Here are some of the topics that came up in our conversation:
- Honoring cycles and seasons
- Well-rounded birth work
- Motherhood and Birthwork: Can it Be Done? (a piece written by Arianna)
- Hearthmother Journey
- How we got to such a state of disconnection in our society
- Why community is as essential to wellness as good food, clean air, and hydration
- the ways that having babies — especially if you make “alternative” birth and parenting choices — can increase isolation
- Healthy boundaries around consumption on social media
- The upside of the algorithms
- The embodied craving for community
- Hunt, Gather, Parent
- It Didn’t Start with You
- Why in-person is better than virtual when it comes to building community
- How to Form a Sister Circle
Find and connect with Arianna:
- wellwomanhood.com
- IG: @well.womanhood
- Women’s Gatherings and Village Prenatals
- Virtual Community
SHOW NOTES “FOOTER”
Connect:
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: Holy Wild Birth Podcast : Guest Application
- Hang out with us and other Holy Wild Women in our private community (off Facebook): Rooted in Eden PMA
- Become a holy, wild birthkeeper with us inside Hearthmother Journey
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email rootedinedenpma@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
Intro and Outra Music Credit -
Betty Dear By Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
In this episode, Lauren sits with Leah -- a mama she served as a midwife in 2023 for her vaginal home birth after 2 cesareans. You'll hear her first birth stories and then about how she moved into a stance of renewed self-responsibility which she carried with her into her next pregnancy. During that pregnancy and birth, she dealt with many rounds of discouragement but met them with resilience by getting back up again to continue on her path.
Leah's deep connection with her Orthodox faith paired with courageous determination, saw her through a birth that was not particularly easy but was very redemptive.
As a fun aside: Leah also used Embrace Birth Journey for her childbirth education and labor preparation, which means both Brooke AND Lauren got to work and walk with her during this pregnancy and birth!
BIRTH STORY DISCLAIMER:
The choices, beliefs and opinions of the mamas sharing their stories are as individual as the storyteller herself and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs or recommended choices of Lauren and/or Brooke.
Connect:
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: http://sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
- Hang out with us and other Holy Wild Women in our private community (off Facebook): https://anointed-birth.mn.co/
- Become a holy, wild birthkeeper with us inside Hearthmother Journey
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email rootedinedenpma@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
Intro and Outra Music Credit -
Betty Dear By Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Distortions and lies that detract from the application of the gospel can slip in even to our birth choices.
This episode explores the similarities between purity culture and freebirth perfectionism, prosperity gospel and home birth ideals, and the ways that the same temptations presented to the first humans in the Garden of Eden and to Jesus in the wilderness reverberate into even our birth choices.
This one is part Bible study, part our usual reflections and discussions.
Mentioned in this episode:
-What is the Prospersity Gospel? - Phylicia Masonheimer
- Phylicia Masonheimer IG post -
- Margo’s email
- Alisha Meyer’s podcast episode ep 9 - "the problem isn't midwives..."
Connect:
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: Holy Wild Birth Podcast : Guest Application
- Hang out with us and other Holy Wild Women in our private community (off Facebook): Rooted in Eden PMA
- Become a holy, wild birthkeeper with us inside Hearthmother Journey
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email rootedinedenpma@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
Intro and Outra Music Credit -
Betty Dear By Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Welcome to a new season of Holy Wild Birth, which also represents a revitalization and recommitment to this podcasting project.
In this casual conversation with Brooke and Lauren, you'll hear all about what we have in store for you! One of those things is this new "genre" of episode where we offer you our "Cup of Tea" and simply jabber about things going on for us or of interest to us.
In this inaugural "cup of tea" episode, we chat about:
- That we aren't actually drinking tea
- Our branding photo fails
- How cool it is to have teenagers
- Relationship to light
- Brooke's milestone birthing and Lauren's anticipated milestone birthday
- Dark Parks
- Remodeling the prenatal room
- Growing community around the podcast
- Quitting social media
- A way of organizing information
- and more!
Mentioned in this episode:
- Lore Wilbert social media challenge — Let's Opt Out of Social Media Together
- Zettlekasten - What's a Zettelkasten?
- Lauren’s Prenatal Room Pinterest Collage - My prenatal room | Room, Save, Prenatal
- Stolen Focus - Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention--and How to Think Deeply Again
- Lauren’s glasses - VivaRays - Eco-friendly Blue light blocking glasses.
- Brooke’s newsletter - All The Birthy Things
- Podcast about relationship to light The Lie of 9 to 5: Fixing Your Circadian Rhythm | Thaddeus Owen
- Mighty Networks Community Rooted in Eden PMA
______________
Connect:
• Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
• Apply to share your birth story on the podcast:
Holy Wild Birth Podcast Guest Application
• Become a holy, wild birthkeeper with us in the Hearthmother Journey
From Lauren:
• Midwifery consultations: Email rootedinedenpma@gmail.com
From Brooke:
• Courses for homebirth/freebirth mamas
• Newsletter
Intro and Outra Music Credit -
Betty Dear By Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Elizabeth’s free birth story includes surprises and grief so entwined with one another that they are inseparable. Be ready to smile with delight and cry with each twist and turn in her story. As Elizabeth wrote when she applied to be a guest, “It is honestly a wild story that is heartbreaking but also beautiful and full of God’s handiwork. A story of how God can use the worst circumstances for good.”
I Thessalonians 4:13
We ran out of time while we were recording, but Elizabeth wanted to add this detail as a finishing thought:
“We didn't get into everything with Lilli which is fine but I wanted to share that she did get to go be with Hugh. We had them lying together in his NICU bassinet as much as possible. And they were baptized together in the hospital, and it was a beautiful mini service, we sang a hymn and everything which I wasn’t expecting at all, but the pastor who came was great.”
BIRTH STORY DISCLAIMER:
The choices, beliefs and opinions of the mamas sharing their stories are as individual as the storyteller herself and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs or recommended choices of Lauren and/or Brooke.
Connect:
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: http://sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
- Become a holy, wild birthkeeper with us inside Hearthmother Journey
- Hang out with us in our private community (off Facebook): https://anointed-birth.mn.co/
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email rootedinedenpma@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
Holy wild births begin with holy wild conceptions. In this episode, Lauren and Brooke are diving into a holistic, multi-faceted conversation about what it looks like to nourish the soil of our wombs to be ready to grow new life. We apply the steps in The Way of the Hearthmother, too.
Whether you’re in the stage of life when you’re looking forward to a hopeful pregnancy, in between babies and looking to replenish, or simply want to have vibrant fertility because it’s a marker of good health overall, this episode is for you!
Mentioned in this episode:
- Find A Spring - Use Find A Spring to visit the best cold and hot springs
- Clean, Mineral Rich Restructured Water Options: Spring water, Spring Aqua, Live Pristine, Radiant Life, Pure Effects Filter
- Nourishing fertility course (Nourishing Fertility )
- Wild Pastures (but local farms are always best) — Wild Pastures | Pasture-Raised Beef, Pork, & Chicken at The Lowest Prices (referral link)
- Discover your mineral status by running an HTMA with Lauren
- Polyester pants on dogs study (Male & Female Fertility Optimization • Olivia Mitchell on Instagram: "Great post here from @beautiful_holistic "They put polyester pants on dogs—and their fertility vanished. Hormones crashed. Sperm count dropped. The female dogs? They couldn’t conceive. Once the polyester came off, everything returned to normal. Now look around. We’re living in tight, synthetic clothing every day—leggings, underwear, bras—wrapped in plastic 24/7. These fabrics leach hormone-disrupting chemicals and microplastics straight into our skin, right over our reproductive organs. It’s not just fashion—it’s fertility warfare." What are your thoughts on this?? 👇🏼" )
Find the actual studies here & here - Listen to “Living as Cyclical Beings” Podcast Episode
- Katie Bowman’s work on Nutritious Movement
Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
Hang out with us in the Rooted In Eden PMA (off-facebook, private community)
Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
Get on the waitlist for the next cohort of Hearthmother Journey
Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
From Lauren:
Midwifery consults: Email rootedinedenpma@gmail.com
From Brooke:
Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
Embrace Birth Journey - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
In this episode with Anna, we get to hear about her early losses and then her first full-term pregnancy and unassisted home birth.
Anna chose an unassisted birth and also a “wild” pregnancy, rooted in the firm belief that it is God alone who sustains her baby. Along the way she and her husband had to address fears, endure an unexpected more, and handle the disapproval of family members regarding their choices. But they knew deep down that free birth best fit Anna’s personality and relationship, so they persevered.
However, they did dip into the hospital setting more than once, utilizing it for help as needed. In one instance, it provided the reassurance they needed to continue, and in the other instance it created a lot of hurt.
We hope you enjoy her story!
Birth Story Disclaimer
The choices, beliefs and opinions of the mamas sharing their stories are as individual as the storyteller herself and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs or recommended choices of Lauren and/or Brooke.
SHOW NOTES “FOOTER”
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Hang out with us in the Rooted In Eden PMA (off-facebook, private community)
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Get on the waitlist for the next cohort of Hearthmother Journey
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
Show Notes:
Adriana is a mom saved by grace in more ways than one. Saved out of witchcraft and unto the Lordship of Christ, she experienced a disappointing and difficult birth and postpartum with her first child. But as she grew, she experienced Jesus' gracious leadership and said YES to Him as it pertained to growing her family. You’ll hear about how that one YES resulted in myriad miracles within and around her and culminated in a sweet and redemptive unassisted birth and postpartum.
Mentioned in our "ad": hearthmotherjourney.com
You can find Adriana in the following places:
- Instagram: @thehallowedbirth
- Website: www.thehallowedbirth.com
- Photographer: @lifeandlens_photography
Birth Story Disclaimer
The choices, beliefs and opinions of the mamas sharing their stories are as individual as the storyteller herself and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs or recommended choices of Lauren and/or Brooke.
SHOW NOTES “FOOTER”
+ Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
+ Hang out with us in the Rooted In Eden PMA (off-facebook, private community)
+ Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
+ Get on the waitlist for the next cohort of Hearthmother Journey
+ Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: Holy Wild Birth Podcast : Guest ApplicationFrom Lauren:
+ Instagram
+ Midwifery consults: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.comFrom Brooke:
+ Instagram
+ Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
+ Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
+ Embrace Birth Journey - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
If you've been here any amount of time, you'll know that we are all about autonomy when it comes to pregnancy and birth work. The other side of the coin is responsibility. Sometimes both pregnant women and birth attendants can act irresponsibly with their autonomy, and that's what this episode is about.
Mentioned in this episode:
- Hearthmother Journey
- Past episode on Autonomy and Radical Responsibility
SHOW NOTES “FOOTER”
Email us to say hi:
Hang out with us in the
(off-facebook, private community) Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes:
Get on the
for the next cohort of
(we start in April, and again in October) Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast:
From Lauren:
Midwifery consults: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
-
a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
-
a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
-
comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
Ever wish you could attend a home birth with Lauren and Brooke? Well, in this episode, you'll get a taste of that experience.
Full disclosure: we ourselves would also love to attend a birth together, but with states between us we haven't been able to.
We wrote up a hypothetical home birth scenario for a fictional character named Josephine, and in this episode, we walk you through how we'd apply the steps of The Way Of The Hearthmother from the moment we get called in, through the labor and birth, and the immediate postpartum.
Whether you're an aspiring or current birth attendant, or an expectant mama, we hope this gives you some practical and applicable tips for applying these beautiful principles to labor and birth.
Mentioned in this episode:
- The Way of the Hearthmother (podcast episode to listen to FIRST if you haven't already)
- Hearthmother Journey: Raising Up the Next Generation of Holy, Wild Birthkeepers (NOW enrolling through Sept 25th).
- Hearthmother Journey Open House REPLAY (watch this to get a look inside the program and to hear our students talk about their experiences with it).
SHOW NOTES “FOOTER”
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: http://sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
- Join Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
- Become a holy, wild birthkeeper with us inside Hearthmother Journey
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
Vince and Christina are an incredible example of a healthy marriage and an amazing union and teamwork during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum.
Together these two Embrace Birth Journey grads and longtime podcast listeners tell their two Spirit-led home birth stories and then issue a [much-needed, fresh] invitation to the fathers among us.
Mentioned in this episode:
- Happy Homebirth Podcast episode where they first encountered Brooke
- The Business of Being Born documentary
- The Birth Partner by Penny Simkin
- Embrace Birth Journey (the course they took before their first birth)
- Calvary Chapel
- I'm So Blessed song
- Mother Blessings
- The First Week After Birth (workshop on postpartum)
- Prioritizing Postpartum on Holy Wild Birth
- Children's home birth book list (on Sister Birth's IG)
- Kangaroo care (the work of Nils Bergman)
- On The Rock Fatherhood (launching October 2024) - follow on IG for now or email ontherockfatherhood@gmail.com. Website will be live in August.
Birth Story Disclaimer
The choices, beliefs and opinions of the mamas sharing their stories are as individual as the storyteller herself and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs or recommended choices of Lauren and/or Brooke.
SHOW NOTES “FOOTER”
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
- Join Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/holy-wild-birth/support
Ok, so maybe you wouldn't expect to hear a conversation on Holy Wild Birth about the educational choices we've made for our kids. It doesn't seem immediately relevant, we know.
But it is. Because we got requests for this, we're going to passionately get on our soapboxes about the beauty of the unschooling lifestyle and it's benefits for children.
And then we're going to bring it home by tying it in with autonomous, undisturbed childbirth AND the pathways we take to becoming birth workers, too.
As promised, here are some of our favorite resources of learning more about the unschooling life.
To learn more about Hearthmother Journey and get on the waitlist for early enrollment in the October 2024 cohort, go here.
SHOW NOTES “FOOTER”
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
- Join Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey Membership - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/holy-wild-birth/support
In this episode we discuss finding the balance of showing up in a birth space with skill and confidence while also respecting the process enough to not disturb it with unnecessary interventions.
Its not always the easiest thing to navigate the use of our "handy dandy" tools/skill sets but we do believe that some times doing nothing is the very something that we ought to be doing, while also having the wisdom to reach in to our tool bag when the moment deems it necessary. We hope this discussion gives you some food for thought and practical advice on navigating this question.
Mentioned in the episode:
The Way of The Hearthmother Podcast Episode
Hearthmother Journey || Raising the Next Generation of Holy Wild Birthkeepers
SHOW NOTES “FOOTER”
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
- Join Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
- Join Rooted in Eden PMA Might Networks Social Circle
From Lauren:
- Instagram
- Midwifery consults: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Instagram
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/holy-wild-birth/support
Here we pick up from the previous episode with the grand finale of Willow & Wren's pregnancy and their birth story!
Hear about how Lauren chose her birth team, the challenges she faced physically at the end of pregnancy, and the wild ride of giving birth to them.
Remember, Embrace Birth Journey is available for $50 off using code TWINS at checkout now through Sunday 4/28 only.
CONNECT
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
- Join Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation courses library for unassisted and midwife-attended births
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/holy-wild-birth/support
In this very special episode, our very own Lauren Hall shares a very personal story -- the story of the birth of her twin girls, Willow and Wren on Palm Sunday 2024.
She begins at the very beginning -- even before the beginning -- by telling the story of her son Levi, the born-too-soon twin of her daughter Leela, followed by the story of the Lord opening her heart to conceiving a baby... and then eventually learning there was actually TWO babies.
Throughout it all, you'll be blown away by all the highly personal and tenderly caring ways that the Lord worked in Lauren and her family's hearts and lives.
After you finish this episode, find Part 2, available tomorrow.
This episode was recorded while Brooke (who resides in Michigan) stayed a week with Lauren (who resides in Arkansas) during her postpartum time. We don't get to record together in person very often, and it was so great!
Also: as a fun bonus, now through April 28th ONLY Embrace Birth Journey -- Brooke's comprehensive Christian home birth preparation course library -- can be snagged for $50 using the code TWINS. Go to sisterbirth.com/journey for more info and to enroll with lifetime access.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/holy-wild-birth/support
This episode with the beautiful Katherine DeGroot -- a MN mama to 4 young children all born outside the hospital -- covers not only her four birth stories (with a special emphasis on the 4th) but also went down some delightful rabbit trails, which I did NOT edit out because I believe you'll find them very worthwhile to listen to.
Some of what we covered:
- How each birth was a different “era” for her relationship and family
- Being open to life
- The foreshadowing and significant dreams she expereinced leading up to her fourth birth
- Why hard isn’t bad — not shirking away from pain
- The “cost” of castor oil use
- The fourth baby effect
- Reclaiming Big family culture for our generation
- The way that home birthing puts us on a different health trajectory
- Creating - -by design-- the childhood you want your children to have
- Reverting to Catholicism
- Radical trust in God alone for the work no one else can do for you
- The gift of birth is that it strips us down to our humanity
You can find Katie at @katherinelouisedegroot on IG or on her website.
A written version of her 4th birth story is on her blog.
Birth Story Disclaimer
The choices, beliefs and opinions of the mamas sharing their stories are as individual as the storyteller herself and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs or recommended choices of Lauren and/or Brooke.
“FOOTER”
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
- Join Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/holy-wild-birth/support
In this conversation with Staci -- a midwest mom to five -- you'll hear about themes like:
- How she learned to trust herself and authentically know her own preferences
- Having a mother who bcame a midwife after she had grown up
- The slow evolution from being people who would never be crazy enough to have their babies at home to ultimately choosing unassisted birth for their fifth baby
- Her process of choosing birth attendants and a photographer for her unassisted birth
- Wrestling with God over the timing of the start of her labor and ultimately choosing a new attitude, which led to release
- The difference it makes to have no other perceived authority present during labor
- Her moment of mentally deciding -- even in the absence of some physiological signs -- that birth doesn’t need to be long and it was time to push the head out
- How God saw and honored so many of her very specific desires
- Why she believes birth like this is the birthright of every woman
You can find Staci at www.StacisHouse.com
Birth Story Disclaimer
The choices, beliefs and opinions of the mamas sharing their stories are as individual as the storyteller herself and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs or recommended choices of Lauren and/or Brooke.
Connect:
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
- Join Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
From Lauren:
Midwifery consults: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
Embrace Birth Journey - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation courses library + community
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/holy-wild-birth/support
Christina is a Catholic mom of three, who came into marriage "late" and has joyfully received 3 sons, all via homebirth, into their family. In this episode she shares all three of her birth stories, with a particular emphasis on the final one, at which she experienced a greater degree of surrender and worship than ever before. By the way, she sites the Faith Filled Home Birth Intensive as one of the tools that helped her come into alignment with God's dreams for her birth, so be sure to grab that free resource for yourself, sister.Also mentioned in this episode is the work of her mentor over at Make Joy Normal.Birth Story DisclaimerThe choices, beliefs and opinions of the mamas sharing their stories are as individual as the storyteller herself and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs or recommended choices of Lauren and/or Brooke.You'll find Christina here: Instagram Email: theevangelistaa@gmail.com SHOW NOTES “FOOTER” Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest Join Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB communityFrom Lauren: Instagram Midwifery consults: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.comFrom Brooke: Instagram Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can) Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/holy-wild-birth/support
In this episode we invite you to listen in on a conversation with Lauren and Kathy Bryan, The Founder and CEO of The Genesis Project.
Kathy is a respected international speaker/trainer, consultant, mentor, and author, who works tirelessly to communicate the stark truths of trafficking. She has trained thousands of professionals on how to identify and respond to those victimized by human trafficking, including medical personnel, Homeland Security, anti-trafficking organizations, and churches, to name a few.
She also happens to be Lauren's mom!
In this episode they scratch the surface on the many topics around unpacking one's trauma as preparation for birth but most importantly in order that you might walk more fully in the freedom and healing that Jesus has for you.
Mentioned in the episode:
https://www.thegenesisproject.life/
Text to give: Text4THEM to 53555
Red Flags of Sex Trafficking for Medical Professionals PDF
Book mentioned: When Survivors Give Birth by Penny Simpkin
SHOW NOTES “FOOTER”
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
- Join Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
From Lauren:
- Instagram
- Midwifery consults: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Instagram
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/holy-wild-birth/support
Birth plans. You've probably been told you need one.
But we'd like to pick it up, shake it around, and see what comes out as we re-examine this now-common practice of writing hand-over birth plans to your birth team.
There are some shortcomings that we think you should know about.
But don't worry: we won't leave you hanging there. We'll also present a fresh take on how to get the clarity you need for your birth. We'll present some other words, like vision, intentions, goals, principles... and why they're more important to focus on.
Mentioned in this episode:
- Birth Plan: Does the Path Still Fit the Objective? Do the Means Still Fulfill the Purpose? on Midwifery Today
- Beyond the Birth Plan with Britta Bushnell
- A Heavenly Welcome
- Finding Your Unique Birth Approach from Brooke
- Birth Vision Worksheet from Lauren
- Hearthmother Approach to Birth :Planning"
SHOW NOTES “FOOTER”
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
- Join Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/holy-wild-birth/support
Was it a Free Birth, Sovereign Birth, or Unassisted Birth...? How do you identify the birth you are planning or had? Who is defining these concepts and terminology? Do these terms have owners or authorities presiding over them?
Join Brooke and Lauren as they discuss the current hot topic of defining birth terms. Prayerfully, this can be a jumping-off point to help us all come to a place of unity and mutual respect for one another as each shares her own story of the transformative experience that was her birth, whatever that might look like. Listen with an open mind and a gentle curiosity.
Be sure to get the accompanying freebie Brooke made for you! This 11-page workbook aims to help you get free from dogmatic subscription to these terms and labels and to get in touch with what matters to you in your birth plans!
From Lauren:
- Instagram
- Midwifery consults: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Instagram
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/holy-wild-birth/support
If you've gone most of your menstruating history seeing it as an annoying inconvenience at best or a painful torture session you'll want to tune in for this episode.
We'll explore:
- the deeper meaning and symbolism of our cycles
- what it means to be a cyclical being (our menfolk too!)
- similarities between cycles phases in our bodies and in creation as a whole
- how God "sees us" in our cycles and makes provision for us
- how our bodies express truths about YHWH and the gospel
- feminine and masculine ways of learning and living with our cyces
- and so much more.
It's a delicious conversation. We hope you'll never see your period the same way again!
PS: Don't forget that our first-ever cohort of our one-of-a-kind holy wild birthkeeper training Is OPEN FOR ENROLLMENT until October 25th. We start classes on November 1st. Join us in Hearthmother Journey today.
Resources for Your Deep Dive
-
Kisha Gallagher (Moonbeams and the Moedim Part I, Moonbeams and the Moedim Part II, Moonbeams and the Moedim Part III, Moonbeams and the Moedim Part IV)
-
Zola Levitt -- The 7 Feasts of the Lord - The Making of a Baby
- A brief theology of the periods, yes really by Rachel Jones
- Theology of the Womb
- myFLO app
-
- Wisdom of the Womb (teas)
- Sheila G’s post on honoring seasons
- Rosh Codesh
-
SHOW NOTES “FOOTER”
-
Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
-
Join Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB communityFrom Lauren:
-
Instagram
-
Midwifery consults: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.comFrom Brooke:
-
Instagram
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey Membership - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/holy-wild-birth/support
Hello, sisters! It's been a while but we're baacccckkk.
So let's catch up! Lauren has some big life changes to update us on, the story of which so perfectly illustrates what a good leader and Father YHWH is.
And then we get to give you the latest on the doula and birthkeeper training we have been working on, the reason we had this podcast on pause all summer.
It's our 40th episode, and as if at the end of a 40-week pregnancy, we're "birthing" this thing into the world. Can't wait to have some of you join us.
To learn more about Hearthmother Journey and to enroll go here: rootedineden.org/hearth-motherjourney
SHOW NOTES “FOOTER”
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
- Join Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey Membership - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community) for expectant mamas.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/holy-wild-birth/support
What makes a good birth attendant? How do I become one? Where can I learn to do this holy work? These questions and variations of, are things we hear often and have lead to some great conversations. Conversations that sparked a project that we are finally ready to share with all of you! Tune in to hear our thoughts, hearts and what we've been working on to bring to the birth world.
Mention in this Show:
https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/holy-wild-birth/episodes/The-Way-of-the-HearthMother-e1mvm6j/a-a8i8rlj
CONNECT
- Stay in the know about this project by signing up on the Hearthmother Journey Waitlist
- Email us with your questions: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
- Join the Believing Birth Keepers Circle
- Join Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
From Lauren:
- Instagram
- Midwifery consults: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
-
Instagram
-
Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey Membership - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/holy-wild-birth/support
Hey Sisters! We just wanted to drop a quick hello, to tell you where we have been. Give it a listen and drop your guesses on what you think we are working on!
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/holy-wild-birth/support
On this week's episode of Holy Wild Birth I (Brooke) am joined by a graduate of Embrace Birth Journey who is offering up her stories of miscarriage, followed by a rainbow baby and lovely home birth, then a slow transition for her baby, which was punctuated with a difficult NICU stay. Aly speaks candidly about the highs and lows of every part of her journey to becoming a mother, the ways she experienced God's provision and care along the way, her acceptance of the painful parts, and the ways she learned to wisely advocate for her daughter.I hope you'll be inspired by her faith and courage. You can read Aly's written miscarriage story on her substack. Subscribe if you'd like to also catch her written birth story when she adds it there in the near future.https://open.substack.com/pub/alyolichny/p/baby-jack-and-grandpa-darrell?r=2sg05&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=postCONNECT Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest Join Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB communityFrom Lauren: Instagram Midwifery consults: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.comFrom Brooke: Instagram Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a FREE, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox Embrace Birth Journey Membership - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/holy-wild-birth/support
This is an episode about loss, specifically first- and second-trimester loss.
They say that 1 out of 4 of women will experience miscarriage at some point in their childbearing years. This is not uncommon, but it is often hidden and unspoken.
In this episode, we hope to bring our own stories -- as well as the stories and wise reflections of our friends in the Believing Birth Keepers Circle -- into the light. We hope that hearing of them will communicate to you that you are not alone and that perhaps you will hear your own heart and experience mirrored in what is shared here, then paired with a powerful hope.
These stories include experiences of being very well supported and also very much alone. There are stories of the miscarriage process happening at home as well as in the hospital, with varying degrees of medical intervention. These are stories of grief, and also stories of meeting Jesus in places of great sorrow.
Be warned that this episode is long, and of course, the content is sad. Please take your time and take care of yourself as you listen through this at a pace and in a place that is best for you. If that means skipping this episode altogether, that's ok too.
CONNECT
- Email us to share your own story of loss (know we hear you, deeply): holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
- Join the Believing Birth Keepers Circle
- Join Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults or processing your own loss story: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey Membership - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/holy-wild-birth/support
This is our first FTM home birth story! So often we think that only moms who have already had a baby in the hospital have a home birth. NOT TRUE! Brooke's first was born at home, too, but today we have a beautiful guest mama to share her experience of having her first baby at home.
Ella's first pregnancy was a surprise, but she was pretty clear right out of the gate about her desire to have a home birth, even though some voices around her said they'd never have been brave enough to have a first baby at home. Even with some scary first trimester incidents, and even when she was thrown a couple of curve balls at the beginning of her labor, she went on to have a beautiful and pretty textbook home birth, keeping her curiosity and connection very much online through it all. Her story shows how home birth is a wonderful choice for first-time moms!
But breastfeeding turned out to be the bigger challenge. Ella had to navigate her self-judgment for "failing" to live up to some cherished ideals, connect with her underlying values, and make some compromises to give her baby what he needed in order to thrive (and herself too!). Her message for moms here is SO important.
Ellla is a jazz singer and a teacher of somatic practices (hello, nervous system regulation!). You can find her and her music/work here:
- Personal IG @thesounds_ofearth
- Band IG @third_coast_swing_band
- Band FB https://www.facebook.com/thirdcoastswingband
CONNECT WITH LAUREN AND BROOKE
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
- Join Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey Membership - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/holy-wild-birth/support
How do you know when your family is complete or when you're "done" having babies? What does God's word have to say about having babies and how many? What if you and your husband have differing convictions about how many children to have?
In this episode, we're going to get personal about our own personal convictions and journies up to this point... while simultaneously giving a very NO one-size-fits-all answer to the above questions.
We know this is a topic that comes up a LOT in the FB groups we moderate, so we hope this episode will give some good fodder for discerning conversations between you, your husband, and the Lord.
CONNECT
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
- Join Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey Membership - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/holy-wild-birth/support
Taleitha Selby, wife and 4x homebirth momma, tells the story of her 3rd pregnancy and birth that she attributes to breaking her out of the mold of what she thought birth was. Listen to her share her story of how stepping out from how she had always done things prepared her for an accidental unassisted precipitous birth and self-led neonatal resuscitation.
Our conversation also turned to the end caps of the physical life on this earth, as returning both to birth and death to the home holds special places in both of our hearts.
CONNECT
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
- Join Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey Membership - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/holy-wild-birth/support
They aren't stone statues, and we don't bow down on a literal knee, but they're idols all the same.
Certain "brands"/styles of mothering, nutritional principles/disciplines, birth choices or outcomes, birth attendant titles/positions.... we're tearing 'em down in today's episode.
That may seem strange coming from a couple of passionately opinionated gals like us, but we're striving to keep all things rightly ordered.
Mentioned in this episode:
- Lauren’s IG post on the topic
- Brooke’s IG post on “the real goal"
- Phylicia Masonheimer’s motherhood series of podcasts
- Hearthmother episode of Holy Wild Birth
- Believing Birth Keepers Circle
CONNECT
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
- Join Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey Membership - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/holy-wild-birth/support
Lauren, with guest Jaclyn have a fun conversation swapping their precipitous birth stories, 6 to be exact! They both each have had 3 fast labors and so they not only share their stories but discuss the mutual experience of having babies in a fast and furious style. They chat about way to prepare their hearts and minds to be able to surrender to whatever birth may hand them. It's a fun conversation and I hope it helps you feel seen and hear if your perfect but fast birth felt a traumatizing and gain some perspective should you find our self preparing for a possibly very fast birth again. Note: Lauren couldn't recall that it was Kimberly Ann Johnson define trauma as "too much, too fast, too soon" CONNECT: Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest Join Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB communityFrom Lauren: Instagram Midwifery consults or virtual services: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.comFrom Brooke: Instagram Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can) Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox Embrace Birth Journey Membership - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/holy-wild-birth/support
Arguably, one of the most important decisions you'll make about your birth is not WHERE or HOW you give birth but WHOM will be there with you. For an expectant mother, the birth team MATTERS and we have some things to offer up for consideration as you're selecting your attendants.
The lesser-known other side of the coin is how important it is for a birth attendant to carefully select which mamas/families she will serve. If that sounds iffy to you, this episode is a must listen for you, too!
We cover:
- The role of time and prayer before saying yes to one another
- Pre-screening processes
- Having an aligned philosophy of birth
- Knowing yourself and your biases (birth attendant) or needs (birthing mama)
- The intangible things people carry into birth spaces
...and more!
RESOURCES mentioned in this episode:
- Brooke's What I Want In A Midwife document (filled out)
- Blank template of What I Want In A Midwife (save a copy of this google document to edit)
CONNECT
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
- Join Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey Membership - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/holy-wild-birth/support
You know the story of Abraham, right? Of how God told him it was time to hit the road and go to... a place he would show him later (huh?!). In other words, "Pack up everything you have and everyone in your family and get going. But you don't get to know the destination just yet." How do you plan a road trip (with thousands of livestock, nonetheless) when this is all you have to go on? FAITH is what carried that man forward.
As Marina shared her story with me for this episode, that biblical story kept coming to mind because the similarities are many. Walking in faith, Marina and her (big!) family ended up in places they didn't expect to be -- metaphorically and literally -- for the birth of their 8th baby. It wasn't always easy, but in the end, it was just right.
May you be encouraged also, dear listener, to walk by faith. Like Abraham. And Marina.
You can connect with Marina (and her incredible wisdom as a big family mama and mission to share Jesus) on IG at LewandowskiAdventures or email her at mommilew@gmail.com.
CONNECT:
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
- Join Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults or virtual services: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey Membership - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/holy-wild-birth/support
You think you might be called into birth work... And you're also a mother of small children (another calling!). How can you live out both of those callings without either of them suffering? We hear women wrestling with this so often, reaching out in the DMs or making posts about it in Natural Christian Home Births. And we ourselves have wrestled through it.In this characteristically meandering conversation we'll cover: How do you know you are called? Discerning your season The role of your marriage/husband in birth work Not sacrificing your family on an altar of birth work Types of apprenticeships (numbers & speed & preceptor type) Embracing a Head-down-power-through season Knowing that "the work will always be there" Expand our definition - what are you actually called to? Why being older when you start birth work isn't such a bad thing How our everyday life is training for this workResources mentioned in this episode: Are You Called To Be A Midwife (blog post by Brooke) Anointed Midwifery Unschool - email Lauren to apply! The Way Of The Hearth Mother (an episode from season 1)Connect: Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest Join Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB communityGo Deeper with Lauren: Instagram Midwifery consults: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.comGo Deeper with Brooke: Instagram Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can) Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox Embrace Birth Journey Membership - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/holy-wild-birth/support
Grace took a long, meandering path to home-birthing her 4th baby, and that path was inexorably intertwined with her conversion to eastern orthodoxy. You'll love hearing how the practices, perspectives, and prayers of her faith informed her journey through pregnancy, birth, and postpartum.
We touch on facing the fear of death, the church's discomfort with the feminine, offering up our suffering to Christ... and much more.
If you'd like to reach out to Grace, you're welcome to email her.
Birth Story Disclaimer
The choices, beliefs and opinions of the mamas sharing their stories are as individual as the storyteller herself and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs or recommended choices of Lauren and/or Brooke.
-------
CONNECT
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
- Join Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey Membership - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/holy-wild-birth/support
If you missed it, there was recently a court case in Nebraska that made the mainstream media and was even televised on Court TV. The state of Nebraska brought charges against traditional midwife Angela Hock (aka Angee). Angee is a friend of ours and for the three years leading up to her trial, we've been prayerfully holding vigil. We wept when the verdict was declared: NOT GUILTY.
In this episode, Lauren recorded a conversation with Angee with the intention fo really just giving her the floor to share about this experience as much as she wanted to, without censorship or agenda. Her story touches on so many of the issues facing midwives today and the rights of birthing women.
If the Spirit leads you to link arms with Angee, here is the donation link for our donors to contribute to her extensive legal fees. https://chuffed.org/project/zplbylweo4ya
Connect:
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
- Join Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey Membership - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/holy-wild-birth/support
By baby #4, Tori and her husband were united on the plan to have a home birth, but they had to find a midwife. Using a local FB group to gather recommendations, they ended up finding a wonderful Mennonite midwife to work with, and what resulted was a simple, beautiful birth and a new friendship.
Find tori on Instagram or Facebook to connect.
The choices, beliefs, and opinions of the mamas sharing their stories are as individual as the storyteller herself and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs or recommended choices of Lauren and/or Brooke.
--------------------
CONNECT
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
- Join Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a facebook community
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- YouTube
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey Membership - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/holy-wild-birth/support
It's a new year and with that come new year resolutions which often include various forms of SELF-CARE.
As moms and women we're so often told not to forget to take care of ourselves, to fill our own cup so that we can pour out on others. And while none of that is entirely WRONG, it often seems shallow or laughably unattainable.
That is until you redefine self-care and bring it into alignment with what your soul is really thirsty for.
In this episode, Lauren and Brooke dig into what self-care is and isn't. We cover:
- How the podcast season break was a self-care thing
- Self-care doesn’t equal "me time"
- Distinguishing between distraction/tuning out vs true self-care
- Lauren’s “cheat sheet” of things to do after a hard birth
- Building in rhythms proactively
- The role of self-talk in self-care
And more!
Grab your mug of hot beverage and listen in.
Mentioned in this episode:
An Invitation to Self-Care: Why Learning to Nurture Yourself Is the Key to the Life You've Always Wanted, 7 Principles for Abundant Living
Connect:
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
- Join Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey Membership - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/holy-wild-birth/support
Today's episode is for those of you who deeply desire a home birth or unassisted birth but whose husbands are not sold on the idea.
We'll cover things like:
❤️ Why dads might be opposed or resistant
❤️ What our response as Christian wives should be
❤️ Tools for having a conversation that might bring you onto the same page
And more!
Oh, and this episode also has a special secret guest appearance that I'll think you'll really appreciate.
We're on a season break after this episode, so we'll see you back here in January.
In the meantime, Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes here: Fill out the form
Other Links:
- Email us to say hi: holywildbirth@gmail.com
- Put in a request for future topics and/or submit a question for future Q&A episodes: Fill out the form
- Apply to tell your birth story on the podcast: sisterbirth.com/podcast-guest
Connect with Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
Connect with Brooke:
- YouTube
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey Membership - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
- Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/holy-wild-birth/support
Preparing for birth without preparing for postpartum is like preparing for a wedding without preparing for a marriage.
Though we obviously think preparing for birth is vital, the truth is that it's only 2-48 hours of your life, and if what follows isn't also carefully set up, the negative implications can be vast.
Listen in on this conversation between two multiparas (moms of many!) who have learned a bit more each time about how to prepare well for this season and ensure we get every last benefit possible out of it.
We'll cover things like receiving visitors, the 5-5-5 "rule", herbs, homeopathy, pelvic floor rehabilitation, the "winter" nature of this time, nourishing food, mothering the mother, doing the emotional work.... and MORE.
This episode was recorded when Brooke was 1.5 weeks into her lying-in period, so she's speaking about this topic while living right in the middle of it. This also means you'll hear baby Gilbert in the background.
Show notes:
- Lauren’s IG post on Winter
- Brooke’s PP “journal” on IG - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8
- Brooke’s postpartum worksheet --> sign up for Brooke's Freebie email sequence and it'll arrive in email #3
- Lauren’s postpartum vision journal
- A Sacred Beginning (book)
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- YouTube
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a FREE, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey Membership - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
- Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/holy-wild-birth/support
Our very own Brooke gave birth to her 6th baby, Gilbert Ignatius, on October 29, and today she's telling her story in conversation with Lauren.
No two births are ever alike, and Brooke had to learn to flow with some things that she didn't see coming. It wasn't without agitation, but it was all purposeful and ultimately beautiful as she practiced flowing with it.
If you prefer to READ a birth story rather than listen, go here.
You can listen to Brooke's previous 5 birth stories on Birthing Outside the Box episode 25 or the Birth Journeys Podcast
Connect with us! holywildbirth@gmail.com
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- YouTube
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey Membership - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
- Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/holy-wild-birth/support
"To rediscover midwifery is the same as giving back childbirth to women." - Michel Odent
Listen in as Hannah tells her story of rediscovering midwifery and everything that has led to the proclaiming of a promise to herself and women she serves. "I don't midwife with the government"
From Hannah:
- Business Instagram
- Personal Instagram
From Lauren: * Instagram * Midwifery consults: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- YouTube
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey Membership - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
- Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/holy-wild-birth/support
If you found out you were pregnant with twins -- both breech -- at 32 weeks and your midwife wasn't able to keep you on as her client, what would you do? Forced to choose between a scheduled c-section or a last-ditch effort to secure a different midwife and keep her home birth plan, Jessica opted for the latter.
This is her amazing story of overcoming the voices of fear and doubt around and within her, tuning into the Good Shepherd's still, small voice... and then using her own voice with strength and clarity to give her babies the birth she knew was meant to be.
Tune in for this juicy and moving story which is also sure to boost your faith!
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- YouTube
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey Membership - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
- Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/holy-wild-birth/support
In this episode, Lauren and Brooke have a meandering conversation about all the varied aspects of preparing for labor -- mind, body, spirit, heart! Since Brooke is currently in the thick of this process, she'll share a bit from her own current experience. And at the end, you'll get to hear Lauren read a beautiful description of an Anointed Birth.
Show notes:
-Christian Hypnobirthing app, Made for This Birth app, birth affirmations track from Natural Christian Mommas
-Sarah Buckley’s hormonal physiology of childbearing
-picture book recommendations
-Progressive muscle relaxation resources
-Letter to first time moms: “is this really labor?”
-Fears Release document freebie (from Brooke)
-Holistic Nesting Guide freebie (from Brooke)
-Birth dream board freebie (from Lauren)
- Holistic, faith-based childbirth education/preparation membership
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/holy-wild-birth/support
"They're giving credit to the wrong things! GOD is the one who deserves the credit."
This was Audrey's lament as she listened to free birth and birth story podcasts during her last pregnancy. Where she could so clearly see GOD's hand at work on behalf the mother's and babies, the credit was being given to everything and everyone BUT God.
Audrey longed to tell her stories and then to point to God as her source and provision and protector, and that's exactly what she does in this episode of Holy Wild Birth.
Through three very unique births, Audrey listened for and heard God's voice. He led her graciously through a breech hospital birth on an operating room table, a precipitous birth on her kitchen floor (which her midwives barely made), and a completely wild pregnancy and free family birth in her master bathroom.
The stories themselves are completely engrossing, but what's even more special is the way she highlights God's hand in them and His goodness toward her.
You'll walk away with so many nuggets of truth from this long but worthy episode.
Connect with Audrey:
- Read her birth stories
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- YouTube
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey Membership - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
- Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/holy-wild-birth/support
Cindy (from episode 15) is standing in for Brooke today in this "conversation episode" on the role of food in the physiology of birth. Very vital information here, so be sure to take loads of notes. You'll glean so much from the combined wisdom of Lauren and Cindy on this topic, whether you're an expectant mom or a midwife/birth keeper.
Grab Cindy's nutrition guide graphic for pregnancy and nursing.
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- YouTube
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey Membership - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
- Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/holy-wild-birth/support
This is an "extra." I (Brooke) just had it on my heart to insert a little bonus episode into our lineup here in which I share about the journey of my current pregnancy in real time, at 38 weeks, as well as my birth vision/intention for my 6th home birth and postpartum time.
It's unscripted and a little rambling, but it's real and hopefully somewhat interesting! And I can't wait to record ANOTHER bonus episode down the road that tells my birth story.
So listen in on my story and my process -- mind, body, spirit, heart -- during my 6th pregnancy at age 42.
Mentioned in this episode
From Brooke:
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox (my maternity leave "gift" to you)
- The birth story of my 5th baby
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/holy-wild-birth/support
Cindy vulnerably shares birth and battle history in this episode. Both her literal births of her children and battle with postpartum depression, and also her birth into becoming -- and recently UN-becoming -- a CPM. You will hear her how she let the Lord defend her after a fierce attack came her way after a tragic birth outcome.
Cindy is a dear friend to both Lauren and Brooke, and we're excited for you to hear her beautiful heart for God and for women and her quest to live in integrity as a midwife, even if that means voluntarily giving up a certificate that "legitimizes" her work to the world.
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults: Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- YouTube
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Embrace Birth Journey Membership - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
- Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/holy-wild-birth/support
Yes, we know you don't know what a hearthmother is. But let your curiosity about it hook you in to give this episode a listen.
The concept of hearthmother is a very personal one for Lauren, one which the Lord has been fleshing out over the years and has grown to include a model of sorts for finding your way into wholeness and health in virtually any area of life, but for our purposes here, in regards to pregnancy, birth, and motherhood.
This episode is long and may require a couple of listening sessions to finish up, but it's RICH and we couldn't imagine shortening it.
ALSO: Be sure to grab Lauren's gift of PDF with a visual and write-up about The Way of the Hearthmother as well as a template for care providers to use this model in their own practice. You might even want to download it before you begin listening, so that you can follow along.
Read in this episode:
"Hearthmother Calls" by Katlyn R.H. Hudgins; The Pretentious Toad
From Katlyn:
- Website
From Lauren:
- Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com to set up a midwifery consult
From Brooke:
- YouTube
- Faith-Filled Home Birth Workshop - a free, 3-part video series delivered to your inbox
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Embrace Birth Journey Membership - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
- Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/holy-wild-birth/support
Brittany has five babies before the one whose story she tells in this episode, but this 6th baby was her first home birth.
And it also included some rather unusual elements. You'll love hearing about how she and her team navigated the unusual sorts of curve balls that occurred in this labor and the role that prayer played in it.
This story was recorded in the context of Virtual Sister Circle call -- a bi-weekly community and mentoring call that's part of Brooke's Embrace Birth Journey --- and is now being shared here on the podcast with Brittany's permission.
Be prepared to flinch with sympathy and then to have your jaw hit the floor... well, those were two the reactions that came up for ME as I heard her story.
Email us any time at holywildbirth@gmail.com
Mentioned in this episode:
Embrace Birth Journey Courses/Membership
From Lauren:
- Need a Midwifery consult? Email lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- YouTube
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Embrace Birth Journey Membership - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
- Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/holy-wild-birth/support
Cervical dilation, the 5-1-1 rule, stages of labor.
We've become rather obsessed with finding ways to describe the "pattern" of "normal" labor and assessing its progress. But what if the methods listed above are lacking and possibly even misleading us into conclusions (and interventions) that do us a great disservice?
In this episode -- which piggy-backs off Sharon's birth story in episode 9 -- we explore alternative ways of understanding and "assessing" the flow of labor. We think you'll find this new perspective refreshing and freeing.
Mentioned in this episode:
- Lauren's Observing Labor Progress <<
When you are choosing birth that’s outside of the mainstream, it’s common to wonder to yourself, “Can I really have a smooth home birth for my first baby?”Yes! “Surely, not two in a row?” Yes! “For my third, it must be my time for that metaphorical shoe to drop?” Then what if it's so far from being a "textbook" labor that you're pretty thrown off and have to mentally re-adjust over and over? Such was Sharon's experience. She had Lauren in her corner and more importantly God guiding her to release her fears and trust and in the end, was able to surrender to her "a-typical" labor progression. You'll love the twists and turns and happy ending of this birth story. In our next episode, you'll hear the midwife's (Lauren's) perspective on this story, too, so stay tuned for that.
Mentioned in this episode:
Sharon is a doula herself and you can find her on IG: @_wildwisdomdoula_ Sharon’s Doula Alyssa: @breathingthroughlifetampabay From Lauren:
Instagram: @anointedbirth For Virtual Midwifery Consults Email - lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
Instagram @sisterbirth YouTube Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can) Embrace Birth Journey Membership - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community) Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/holy-wild-birth/support
Ok, if you're a Christian planning a natural birth, you've probably heard the descriptor of "pain-free" tacked to the front of the word birth. Sounds good, right? Who wouldn't want that?
Lauren and Brooke have both had what could be called pain-free births and yet they don't really care that much. Why? Because God's purposes for His daughters in childbirth so greatly surpass the physical sensations or lack there-of that whether or not there is pain is really more of an after-thought.
Join us as we explore the theology of pain, the "curse" on Eve in the garden, why pain-free births end up happening (or not), redemptive suffering, expecting the goodness of God in birth, and what a better focus and goal might be instead of pain avoidance.
Mentioned in this episode:
- Genesis 3:14-19
- Fear-Tension-Pain cycle
- Eve and Mary (a profound painting depicting the redemption Christ brings)
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults
- Email - lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- YouTube
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Embrace Birth Journey Membership - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation (courses + private community)
- Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/holy-wild-birth/support
Meet Sarah - mama of two, holistic dietician, and amateur crocheter -- as she shares with us her birth stories on today's episode.
She shares how her primary birth goals shifted from Safety&Survival to Peace&Power and what a difference that shift made.
What struck me most about my conversation with Sarah is how eloquently she weaves deep truths and profound insights into her telling of her stories. She encountered God in some really poignant ways in her second birth, and I know you'll me encouraged by every detail of it.
As always, the choices, beliefs and opinions of the mamas sharing their stories are as individual as the storyteller herself and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs or recommended choices of Lauren and/or Brooke.
Get your Holy Wild Birth STICKER.
Resources Mentioned in this Episode:
- Episode 6 - Safety is Not The Point
- Proverbs 3:5
- Natural, At-Home Miscarriage
- Christian Hypnobirthing app (especially love the Scripture Track)
- Romans 8:19-23
- Embrace Birth Journey courses (Brooke's holistic home birth course, an older version of which Sarah took during her second pregnancy)
- Reishi mushroom (for postpartum support) - use Sarah's sponsor number to get her a small referral bonus (10002299008) or 30% cheaper if you sign up for a wholesale membership
- Sarah's fave holistic nutrition resource
Connect with Sarah on IG
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults
- Email - lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- YouTube
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Embrace Birth Journey Membership - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation
- Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/holy-wild-birth/support
Type "Natural induction methods" into the Google search bar and you'll find loads of information about DIY things to try at home to make labor start. Ask your midwife and she'll probably have a few more tricks up her sleeve to offer up should you so desire/need.
But...
- Can an induction ever be natural?
- What reasons are given for seeking to induce "naturally" outside of the hospital?
- What makes those reasons so compelling?
- Is there a time and a place for that?
- What is the actual BEST strategy for getting labor started? (It might surprise you!)
Join Lauren and Brooke for a conversation about all of that and more.
Get your Holy Wild Woman Sticker here.
From Lauren:
- Email - lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- YouTube
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Embrace Birth Journey Membership - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation
- Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/holy-wild-birth/support
Lauren and I got to sit down and hear our mutual friend, Angee (a traditional birth attendant and mama to 6) share a deep dive retelling of the birth of her son Killian. It was a quick birth full of happy surprises and loads of redemption.
If you're curious about how a traditional birth attendant navigates her OWN birth, this one will be a fun one for you.
She also shares meaningful insights about marriage healing and postpartum rest.
As with all birth stories shared on this podcast, the choices, beliefs, and opinions of the mamas sharing their stories are as individual as the storyteller herself and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs or recommended choices of Lauren and/or Brooke.
Connect with Angee:
- Website
- IG
- Blog post and photos of Killian's birth story
- Email Angee - nebraskabirthkeeper@gmail.com
SHOW NOTES “FOOTER”
From Lauren:
- Email Lauren - lauren.rootedineden@gmail.com
From Brooke:
- YouTube
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Embrace Birth Journey Membership - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation
- Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/holy-wild-birth/support
When it comes to making birth plans, safety is often a top-of-mind concern. This leads into the concept of understanding and weighing risks, real or perceived, and looking around for strategies, protocols and practitioners who we feel will minimize risk and ensure saftey. But what if, like my flock of chickens locked up too long in a small chicken run, the parameters we put into place to protect ourselves and our babies end up costing us something(s) even more valuable?
Tune into this episode to unpack the myths of safety and risk, in which a real-life metaphor from Brooke's experience of chicken keeping ends up being a helpful framework. (Who would have thought?!)
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- "She will be saved in childbearing" passage -- 1 Timothy 2:15
- Home Birth Outcomes study
- The Highest Goal of Birth (and IG post)
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults
From Brooke:
- YouTube
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Embrace Birth Journey Membership - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation
- Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/holy-wild-birth/support
After years of infertility, Jalina was led through healing and went on to have 4 sons, though not without significant losses in between. While her first 3 sons were all born in hospitals (albeit barely, in the case of #3!), she always felt she was missing out on something, and that the thing she really needed had nothing to do with the hospital. When she found herself pregnant with her 4th, it didn't make sense to go to the hospital again... but the leap from there to free birth wasn't an easy or light decsion. All the same, God led her and her husband to that plan, and with Brooke in their corner as a virtual birth keeper, they had a totally unassisted birth between dinner and bedtime on an ordinary weekday night.
Please note: the personal choices and beliefs of the mothers sharing their stories are as individual as the storyteller and are not necessarily advised by nor reflect the beliefs of Lauren and/or Brooke.
Look up Jalina for Doula Support and Birth Photography in Upstate NY/Vermont:
- Website
- IG
- FB
- Written version of free birth story
- Story of infertility and loss
- Guest piece in a book on infertility and loss, written by Jalina and and Anthony
- The Police Chase Birth (blog post)
From Lauren:
- Midwifery consults
From Brooke:
- YouTube
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to a confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Embrace Birth Journey Membership - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation
- Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/holy-wild-birth/support
Lauren and Brooke have each had free births and are supportive of them. But we're also supportive of midwifery (I mean, Lauren IS one!)...
But what does the word "midwife" mean anymore? Doesn't it seem like that word gets applied to lots of very different sorts of birth attendants?
What do the letters after her name mean? What if she doesn't have any letters? How much do those letters (or lack thereof) really tell you about what sort of a midwife she is? What makes someone a midwife and what are her roles and functions?
And how do you go about choosing one? Does it matter if she's a believer?
You won't walk away from this episode with a one-size-fits-all guide to finding/selecting a midwife but you will walk away with some great questions to ask yourself, discuss with your husband, and pray through. Don't miss it.
References related to this episode:
- Shiphrah and Puah, the midwives in Exodus 1:15-20
- Types of Midwives
From Lauren:
From Brooke:
- YouTube
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - a 5-part high-level roadmap to confident home birth (pay what you can)
- Embrace Birth Journey Membership - comprehensive and holistic faith-based home birth preparation
- Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - a FB community
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/holy-wild-birth/support
Nikita's first two babies were born in hospital, even though she dreamed of a home birth both times. It was for her third birth that her dream came true. Following the direct leading of the Lord, she and her husband stepped into a peaceful unassisted pregnancy and a joyful unassisted birth.
Please note: the personal choices and beliefs of the mothers sharing their stories are as individual as the storyteller and are not necessarily advised by nor reflect the beliefs of Lauren and/or Brooke.
Resource mentioned in this podcast:
- Trust God, Trust Birth Workshop - 5-part, pay-what-you-can home birth class
- Natural Christian Home Birth (Assisted and Unassisted) - FB group
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/holy-wild-birth/support
What is autonomy and how does it relate to radical responsibility? We'll unpack the meaning of these concepts and their application to pregnancy, birth (and beyond)! Grab practical tips for walking joyfully in your responsibility as a pregnant woman, and consider the big picture theology behind this invitation, too.
We welcome your thoughts and reflections on this subject, too. Shoot us an email at holywildbirth@gmail.com.
Find us both online
Lauren's IG: @anointed birth
Brooke's IG: @sisterbirth / sisterbirth.com
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/holy-wild-birth/support
In this episode, we'll introduce ourselves - Lauren Hall (Rooted in Eden) and Brooke Collier (Sister Birth) and let you in on the winding path that led us into birth work, to one another, and then to the creation of this podcast. You'll see the fingerprints of God all over this origin story! You'll also hear more about what to expect in this space moving forward.
Lauren on IG
Brooke on IG
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/holy-wild-birth/support