Happy Homebirth

Have you ever felt like the Lord told you something about your birth… and then watched every circumstance line up to tell you it wasn't going to happen?

 

Gracie Gould is a wife to Jesse and a mama of four in Greenville, South Carolina, where they work with a local Christian theater and homeschool their crew. She came to homebirth by watching her own mother do it — and one of her midwives turned out to be the daughter of her mom's midwife.

 

In this episode Gracie shares four births: a planned homebirth that became a transfer and a short NICU stay, a homebirth in a fifth wheel camper trailer with a double shoulder dystocia, a hospital birth with midwives that surprised her, and a water birth at 42 weeks and 3 days after a pregnancy that tested her at every turn — breech at 32 weeks, GBS positive, two snowstorms, and castor oil that failed her twice. All four of her babies are here and healthy, and her youngest is on the recording with us.

Links

Free workshop, September 21st — Why You've Read Everything and Still Don't Feel Ready: https://www.myhappyhomebirth.com/next

Whole Mother Homebirth: https://www.myhappyhomebirth.com/wholemotherhomebirth (use code PODCAST for 10% off)

YouTube: https://youtu.be/O9mfkLNmTSg?si=xO2ftUXthv4Z5ngQ

Sponsor — Samaritan Ministries: https://samaritanministries.org/happyhomebirth

The moment in labor nobody warns you about
The one idea: the moment arrives for almost everyone, and everything depends on whether she was told it was coming.

The one action: take the Homebirth Readiness Check. And a free workshop is coming.

 

FREE Peaceful Birth Reset: https://www.myhappyhomebirth.com/birthreset

 

Whole Mother Homebirth | https://www.myhappyhomebirth.com/wholemotherhomebirth (use code PODCAST for 10% off)

 

Learn more about Samaritan Ministries: https://samaritanministries.org/happyhomebirth

Have you ever looked at something in front of you and thought, "there's just no way"– no way that's going to fit, no way that's coming out, no way I can do this… and then watched it happen anyway?

 

In this episode, Rebecca walks us through six births, and not one of them looks the same. A 38-hour first labor that ended in a hospital transfer. An eight-hour second birth she almost didn't believe was real. A three-and-a-half-hour third birth that woke her out of a dead sleep. A dreamy fourth birth with three answered prayers. A fifth where she had to do something she'd never tried to bring her baby down. And a sixth– a peaceful water birth where she found herself smiling through the contractions, whispering "birth is easy." We talk about surrender, about God's provision, about the difference between shallow positive thinking and real honesty, and about what it means to stand at the edge of life and death and choose trust.

 

Episode Roundup:

 

Let's start with the variation, because goodness– six births and not one of them matched. Thirty-eight hours and then three and a half. Ten pounds and then eight. Forty-two weeks and then thirty-nine. If you came into this episode hoping Rebecca would hand you a pattern– this is just how my body does birth– she gently took that out of your hands and gave you something better. She gave you a wide, wide field of normal. Your body does not owe you a formula. It's allowed to surprise you every single time, and that's not a problem to solve, it's just the truth of how individual each of these experiences really is.

Next, I can't stop thinking about the surrender. Because underneath all that variation, there was one thing that never changed. Every birth, Rebecca came back to the same place– open hands. And with her sixth, she said out loud the thing that all her positive thinking had never let her say. Walking laps around her driveway with a toddler on her hip, she told the Lord that if He wanted to take her life, or her baby's, that day, she trusted Him with it. And what came on the other side of that honesty wasn't fear. It was peace. She said it herself– surrender and peace, they go together. I don't think that's a coincidence, my friends. I think those two always travel side by side.

And finally, I want to sit with what she said about fear, because it's so important. There's no moral failing in being afraid. Everything we know about fear and tension in labor is still true– and also, you are allowed to come to your Father and say, "I'm scared." That's not weak faith. That's confession. That's honesty. And He can carry you right there in it. Now, does that mean if you just surrender hard enough your birth will be easy and pain-free like Rebecca's sixth? No, of course not– she'd be the first to tell you a peaceful birth isn't a reward for doing it right. But whatever your birth looks like, fast or slow, at home or transferred, it can still be one of the most sacred places you're ever called into. Rebecca called it a privilege. To be called into those places over and over again. I just love that.

Bonus episode this week: Katelyn's solo episode, WThe Moment in Labor Nobody Warns You About, releases Wednesday 9/2.

 

Links:

FREE Peaceful Birth Reset: https://www.myhappyhomebirth.com/birthreset

Whole Mother Homebirth | https://www.myhappyhomebirth.com/wholemotherhomebirth (use code PODCAST for 10% off)

Youtube Episode Link: https://youtu.be/O9FZWWODUqk?si=6nY-6Bvwa1myBBzg

Learn more about Samaritan Ministries: https://samaritanministries.org/happyhomebirth

Bonus solo episode (releases 9/2): 

Rebecca's Instagram: @wellspringfamilywellness
                Facebook: Wellspring Family Wellness 
                Website: www.wellspringfertility.com

Why more research isn't making you feel ready
The one idea: you don't have a knowledge gap. You have an integration gap, and you've been treating one as the other. The one action: take the Homebirth Readiness Check.

 

FREE Peaceful Birth Reset: https://www.myhappyhomebirth.com/birthreset

 

Emily's Episisode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-340-freebirth-story-what-changed-between-her-first/id1446934537?i=1000785405631

 

Whole Mother Homebirth | https://www.myhappyhomebirth.com/wholemotherhomebirth (use code PODCAST for 10% off)

 

Learn more about Samaritan Ministries: https://samaritanministries.org/happyhomebirth

What if you could do all of it right– read every book, listen to every episode, interview the midwife, make the plan… and still walk into your birth completely unprepared?

 

Emily Swann is a wife to John, a mama of three, and the woman behind For the Love of Breastfeeding, where she teaches a bodywork course for babies and toddlers and runs a six-month program for mothers called Guided and Grounded. She's a nurse, an IBCLC, and holds a master's degree in public health and nutrition. She also binge listened to every episode of this podcast before her first baby was born.

 

In this episode, Emily shares three births that look nothing alike. Her first: a planned homebirth that became four days of labor, a house full of onlookers, and a transfer to the hospital. Her second: a baby born at 35 weeks after eleven days of an unexplained 105 degree fever, followed by the NICU and a readmission– and a mother who protected breastfeeding through all of it. Her third: a baby born at home, unassisted and en caul, on the evening she cooked an entire Thanksgiving dinner in labor.

 

We talk about the difference between being informed and being formed, about drama versus transformation, about where a woman's authority goes when she hands it off, and about why the magnifying glass in the lactation world is pointed at babies instead of mothers.

 

Bonus episode this week: Katelyn's solo episode, Why More Research Isn't Making You Feel Ready, releases Wednesday 8/26 and picks up exactly where Emily's first birth leaves off.

 

Links:

FREE Peaceful Birth Reset: https://www.myhappyhomebirth.com/birthreset

Whole Mother Homebirth | https://www.myhappyhomebirth.com/wholemotherhomebirth (use code PODCAST for 10% off)

Youtube Episode Link: https://youtu.be/9QcQb_Sg7Qc?si=bp9JQG4yJPGeqey0

Learn more about Samaritan Ministries: https://samaritanministries.org/happyhomebirth

Bonus solo episode (releases 8/26): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-341-why-more-research-isnt-making-you-feel-ready/id1446934537?i=1000785946382

Emily's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theloveofbreastfeeding

For the Love of Breastfeeding: https://www.theloveofbreastfeeding.com/