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In honor of Domestic Violence Awareness month, today’s story comes from a mom who reached out wanting to share her experience, in the hope it might help someone else see their own situation more clearly. She’s asked to remain anonymous. You’ll hear about two pregnancies, a betrayal that unfolded days before her birth, years of gaslighting and divorce court battles, and the friends who carried her through. You’ll also hear the red flags she wishes she had recognized sooner. If anything in this story feels familiar, or if you’re in any kind of abusive situation, please know you’re not alone; help is readily available. You can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline anytime at 1-800-799-7233, or text START to 88788. Here in New York City, the 24-hour Hope Hotline is 1-800-621-HOPE (4673). And if you’re in immediate danger, call 911. We’ll put all of these, plus the resources she recommends, in the show notes for this episode over at birthmattersshow.com Subscribe for email updatesShow notes (transcript, resources, photos)Connect: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | [email protected]

Genevieve Pleasure, a sexologist, doula, and fellow Astoria mom, to talk about her empowering home birth of her 10-pound daughter. Genevieve shares how her traumatic first hospital birth led her to choose a pleasure-based home birth the second time around, walking through her prenatal journey, an unexpected shoulder dystocia during delivery, and the ferocity and power she manifested. The conversation also dives into postpartum recovery, rebuilding intimacy after birth, and how curiosity and playfulness can transform a couple's connection. Subscribe for email updatesShow notes (transcript, resources, photos)Connect: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | [email protected]

In this episode, Brooklynite Lindsey shares all about her home birth experience with midwives. Lindsey walks through her decision-making process, from being inspired by a doula friend in LA to navigating a long, multi-day labor that nearly ended in a hospital transfer. She shares candid details about the surprise of welcoming a baby girl after months of "boy energy," and the mostly peaceful postpartum period that followed. She also opens up about breastfeeding support, postpartum care, and the very cool bond that formed between her newborn and the family dog. Written Birth Story (Shared with Lyndsey's Permission): Pregnancy and Deciding on Home Birth I found out I was pregnant in August 2024. After talking to my friend Sam, a doula in LA who has worked in both hospital and home birth settings, I decided to pursue a home birth. Sam’s insights into birth made me realize the importance of having a supportive and values-aligned team. I had never considered an unmedicated birth before, but hearing about the risks of working with a misaligned team opened my eyes to the power of choosing the right people to support you during birth. I would describe myself as an experience junkie. I've always been someone who values the journey as much (or more) than the destination, and so the idea of being able to embrace the birth experience for all that it is vs. numbing myself through it just to get to the baby at the end, was very appealing to me. I decided to work with Chloe and Jenna at Cosmos Midwifery. I loved their energy and the fact that there were two of them in the practice, so I'd definitely know the person delivering my baby. I also hired a doula (and meditation teacher) named Lou Read and her energy was also a great fit. I also loved that she had had her own home birth for her son the prior year so she could relate even more. Pregnancy was fairly uneventful and I felt pretty good the whole time. I was lucky to not get major morning sickness and I was exercising pretty much the entire pregnancy. As I approached the 40th week, I started slowing down and began focusing on self-care—treating myself to acupuncture, massages, and long walks to help prepare my body. As a side note, I feel really great about all of the practitioners I worked with throughout the pregnancy - all of them were women with amazing, supportive energy and I really think that choosing the right people majorly contributed to a positive overall experience. I joke that I had this team of witches around me - it felt like the biggest life hack compared to the highly medicalized experiences of my other friends. Labor On April 8th (3 days after my due date), I had a few cramps that slowly intensified. By the night of April 9th, I was sure labor was starting, but it still didn’t fully progress. On the morning of April 10th, my contractions became more regular and painful, so we called the doula and midwives. My husband Kendall was eager for them to arrive, but in retrospect, we definitely called them too early. Chloe arrived that evening to check in on me. She offered to check my dilation, and although I was curious, I didn’t want to know if I hadn’t made good progress. She told me I was about three-quarters of the way there, but when she shared this with me, I assumed she was lying and that I was only about halfway dilated. In retrospect, she told me I was actually six centimeters. Labor continued throughout the night, and by early morning on April 11th, the contractions intensified. Chloe suggested I try resting, so by 5AM, Kendall and I attempted to sleep for a few hours, but I couldn’t get comfortable due to the pain. At this point I was extremely exhausted and doubting myself. Labor had been going for days and now it was slowing down - I wasn't even confident I'd have the baby on the 11th. Chloe recommended an IV to help me regain some strength and as I sat in the living room on Friday morning, I chuckled seeing the IV bag hanging from a plant in my apartment. We also brought in Stephanie, the acupuncturist and Chinese Medicine practitioner I had been working with. She performed acupressure, acupuncture and used herbs to keep things moving. Despite the very mentally challenging labor, I have a very one memory of that morning with all of my witches puttering around the apartment, brewing herbs, giving me counter-pressure, administering needles. It felt like how birth was supposed to be. Later that morning, Chloe and Lou left for a while to give us space, which was disheartening but also necessary. We needed a reset. As soon as they left, things started picking up again and I intuitively started laboring on the toilet. It was the place I could be most comfortable - completely relaxes and in a small dark space. Kendall sat with me there for a few more hours and things really started speeding up. Chloe returned and checked me once more. Despite feeling the urge to push, I wasn’t fully dilated yet. At this point, Chloe accidentally ruptured my waters, and things started to move quickly after that. Finally, I got into the birth pool (which had been inflated and filled since the night prior), but the baby’s heartbeat was dropping with each contraction. I pushed a few contractions in the pool but then Chloe urgently got me out of the pool and indicated that she thought it would be safer if we transfer to the hospital, which would likely involve a vacuum delivery or possibly even a c-section. At that moment, I was open to whatever it took to bring my baby safely into the world. Somehow I mobilized and started gathering my things to move to the hospital. Kendall was visibly stressed, but I was just ready for it to be over. But then, just before we left, Chloe checked me again and realized things were progressing and the baby was tolerating contractions out of the water enough to try pushing at home one last time. I could feel the baby’s head coming down, and at that point, there was no way I was leaving for the hospital with my baby so close to being born. I pushed on my side in the living room, and after what felt like an eternity, my baby was born. At 7:09 PM on April 11th, Callan Eden Dabaghi arrived—healthy and perfect. The best surprise was that she was a girl - we had been convinced from the beginning that it was going to be a boy. It was the best culmination of the marathon labor. Afterwards One of the best parts of the midwifery model is the immediate postpartum care. I immediately got skin to skin with my baby on my living room floor and she latched pretty quickly. The midwives tended to my very minor tear and then they gave us a tour of the placenta. They showed us where Callan had been living for 9 months. They did the baby exam, gave basic instructions for caring for a newborn and then moved us into the bedroom, where we ate dinner prepared by my doula and cuddled up with Callan for our first night of co-sleeping. We didn't leave the house for 7 days after that and it was the most blissful week of our lives :)  Subscribe for email updatesShow notes (transcript, resources, photos)Connect: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | [email protected]

Jillian and her partner Danny share the story of the birth of their fraternal twin boys. Jill recounts a pregnancy full of unexpected twists — from the surprising discovery of twins, to a sprained ankle, a short cervix scare at 28 weeks, and modified bedrest — while drawing support from local twin families in Astoria and other community resources. She describes going into spontaneous labor at 37 weeks and 5 days, delivering both boys vaginally in a remarkably swift 10-hour labor, including a mid-delivery move from the OR back to a labor and delivery suite where she could have a bit closer to the kind of birth she had hoped for. The episode also covers a brief but emotionally intense NICU stay for Owen, the logistical complexity of caring for one baby at home and one in the hospital, the couple's tandem breastfeeding journey with twins, the invaluable support of their postpartum doula, and Danny's candid reflections on being his partner's primary support person in the delivery room — including a very large 2-in-1-ish placenta that almost didn't fit in its container. Subscribe for email updatesShow notes (transcript, resources, photos)Connect: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | [email protected]

In this episode, professional dancer and voiceover artist Elisa Toro Franky shares her transformative birth journey with a depth and poetic beauty that makes this conversation truly special. Originally from Bogotá, Colombia, Elisa brings her unique perspective as a performer to the birthing experience, drawing profound connections between dance and labor. Elisa opens up about her conception journey, including navigating two early miscarriages with wisdom and grace, and how she reframed those experiences to move forward with hope rather than fear. She discusses the intersection of dance and pregnancy, how carrying Luna changed her movement practice, and the vital importance of listening to your body with the same attention dancers bring to their craft. The heart of the episode explores Elisa's birth story—from declining induction twice while trusting her intuition, to her decision-making around accepting gentle interventions when she felt ready, to the powerful moment of a very quick pushing stage before meeting baby Luna. She shares candidly about finding her birth team at NYU Langone, working with doula Regina, and the great support of having her mother present from Colombia for over two months postpartum. Throughout the conversation, Elisa weaves in themes of courage, intuition, surrender, and transformation. She speaks eloquently about "becoming the wave" during contractions, navigating the liminal space between her former and new identity, and the essential role of movement and cultural connection in her pregnancy and recovery journey. This episode will resonate with anyone preparing for birth, especially those interested in the mind-body connection, the power of trusting your intuition, and the transformative nature of becoming a parent. Subscribe for email updatesShow notes (transcript, resources, photos)Connect: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | [email protected]

In this episode, it's Karen Yi’s and Kristofer Rios's turn to share their story. As a public radio journalist and a producer of documentaries, they both crave education and information and it shows in their birth choices. They share all about challenges of infertility and advocating for better medical care, to the smart decision to hire a doula and the fast-paced reality of labor. They discuss the importance of building a supportive team, the unexpected moments that shaped their birth story, and the lessons they learned about surrender, resilience, self-compassion and patience with partner and baby.  Subscribe for email updatesShow notes (transcript, resources, photos)Connect: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | [email protected]

Our guest today is Rachael Rose, speech-language pathologist and owner of Creative Speech Therapy in Manhattan. We discuss the identification and treatment of tethered oral tissues (TOTs) in infants, more commonly known as tongue ties and lip ties, and their impact on feeding, speech, and overall development. Rachael explains the importance of early detection and intervention to prevent long-term issues, the importance of trusting parental intuition, the need for a supportive team approach, and the challenges parents face in getting proper diagnosis and treatment.  Subscribe for email updatesShow notes (transcript, resources, photos)Connect: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | [email protected]

Anastasiya and Eric share their candid journey to parenthood, from conceiving after long-term birth control and facing a surprise gestational diabetes diagnosis, to navigating a sudden job loss just days before their daughter’s early arrival. Their story unfolds with an unexpected start to labor in the Poconos, a fast and empowering unmedicated birth in Manhattan, and the vital role of partner support and childbirth education. They open up about the realities of postpartum life—addressing new parenthood’s emotional and practical challenges, breastfeeding struggles, and the process of finding themselves again.  Subscribe for email updatesShow notes (transcript, resources, photos)Connect: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | [email protected]

Jane & Sam, New Yorkers who met in San Francisco, share the story of their unmedicated, physiologic birth attended by midwives in a Manhattan hospital and supported by a doula. A year or so into being married, they decide to try to conceive with hopes of having a baby in the Year of the Dragon as Jane is Chinese-American. To their surprise, they get pregnant immediately after removing her IUD. Given Jane’s background having previously worked for a women’s healthcare tech company, she had learned enough about the maternal healthcare system to know she wanted to strategically position herself for a safe, unmedicated birth and to be well-supported by a doula. Jane also shares a bit about her breastfeeding journey and being well supported by two IBCLCs to be sure baby is thriving and to support her when she had some temporary initial nipple damage. Subscribe for email updatesShow notes (transcript, resources, photos)Connect: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | [email protected]

Today’s birth story is shared by Aatreyi, a podcast listener who worked with a wonderful doula from East River Doula Collective. She shares her experience navigating pregnancy and birth in New York City (as is usually the case on this podcast). Aatreyi also talks about the pivotal role acupuncture played in starting her labor right before her due date, helping her avoid a medical induction. We discuss how the constant focus on percentiles and dilation numbers during her pregnancy and labor often added more stress than clarity, and how she learned to look beyond the numbers to trust her own experience. From switching care providers to finding support through her doula and community, this episode offers a candid look at the unexpected twists and turns pregnancy and labor can take as well as the importance of listening to your own instincts. Subscribe for email updatesShow notes (transcript, resources, photos)Connect: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | [email protected]

In today's episode, we're joined by Priscilla and Micah, who share their deeply personal journey from miscarriage to a blissful home birth experience. They open up about the challenges of navigating their birthing location and provider and how they had their choice to plan a homebirth affirmed in several ways throughout pregnancy, including through their own research, doula, and birth class. They detail the spiritual, emotional and physical rollercoaster of pregnancy after loss as well as the importance of trusting one's body and instincts. Their story is a testament to resilience and the support of a loving community of women. Quick content warning: there is not only mention of 1st trimester pregnancy loss, but also a bit of a scary mention of blood loss after birth when they decide to transfer to the hospital after birth to be sure that the whole placenta was delivered due to its unusual shape (spoiler alert: it ends up being a false alarm, as you might have seen in this episode’s title).  Subscribe for email updatesShow notes (transcript, resources, photos)Connect: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | [email protected]

Following Michelle’s first baby’s unmedicated hospital birth, which she shared in Episode 86, Michelle is surprised to be told at around 39 weeks that she needs to go straight to the hospital to be induced due to gestational hypertension. She advocates to go home to say goodbye to her son and grab her bag. Once she checks into the hospital for the induction, it goes much more efficiently than anticipated and she’s able to give birth again without pain medications and this time without tearing, using all kinds of proactive comfort measures with the support of her husband and doula. She also describes some of the guilt she felt and grief she experienced in having a second baby at different points in pregnancy and beyond. This story will be particularly supportive to folks who have hypertension, are being induced, and/or are having a 2nd baby or are thinking about it for sometime down the road. Subscribe for email updatesShow notes (transcript, resources, photos)Connect: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | [email protected]

In this episode, Liz and Kevin open up about their journey through pregnancy, sharing their firsthand experience with white coat hypertension and the challenges it brought. They discuss the pressures they faced around induction, their decision to delay an induction in hopes of an unmedicated birth, and the lessons they learned along the way. They also talk a bit about breastfeeding and how identifying and correcting a tongue tie their son had helped resolve issues they had early on. Liz and Kevin offer encouragement and practical advice for others navigating similar choices, highlighting the importance of informed decision-making and self-advocacy in the birthing and early parenthood journey. Subscribe for email updatesShow notes (transcript, resources, photos)Connect: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | [email protected]

In this episode, we welcome Alaska McFadden—birth doula, childbirth educator, lactation counselor, and occasional home birth midwife assistant—who shares her powerful transition from birthworker to birthing person. Alaska opens up about her path to pregnancy after a previous loss, navigating conception at 37, and the emotional complexities of carrying a baby after supporting so many others in doing the same. Alaska discusses the challenges of pregnancy, including managing a large fibroid, fears of intrauterine growth restriction, and the emotional weight of going 42 weeks and 5 days—setting a new “record” for this podcast. She shares deep reflections on the mental and emotional toll of late pregnancy, her experiences with Dreambirth visualization, and how her community of birthworkers supported her through it all. This episode is a raw, reflective look at what it means to trust your body, make nuanced choices around risk, and still feel the full range of vulnerability—even as a seasoned professional. From making a Guinness pie in early labor to the intense moment of not feeling her baby move, Alaska takes us through the physical and emotional terrain of her labor, birth, and transformation into parenthood. Subscribe for email updatesShow notes (transcript, resources, photos)Connect: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | [email protected]

In this episode, Lisa reconnects with Ann Morris—doula, childbirth educator, and mother of two—to hear the powerful story of her second birth: a planned home birth after a positive hospital experience. Ann shares why she chose midwifery care, how her husband became her “moula,” and how she prepped mentally and physically for a peaceful, water birth at home. From laborade popsicles to postpartum healing and navigating breastfeeding challenges, Ann offers practical tips and emotional insight into birth, motherhood, and trusting your intuition. A must-listen for anyone planning a home birth, considering birth work, or seeking inspiration for informed, empowered choices. If you haven’t heard her first birth story, you can listen to that way back in Episode 25. Subscribe for email updatesShow notes (transcript, resources, photos)Connect: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | [email protected]