Surrendered Birth Stories: Your Christian Birth Story Podcast
Let’s explore the amazing world of birth together! Listen for inspiring birth stories and intriguing teachings to expand your knowledge surrounding pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and postpartum life. Each soul-stirring episode is full of heart, passion, and practicality. Join me in this diverse mix of teachings and interviews with real moms and professional birth workers as we seek to more fully understand how God has designed early motherhood and the beginning of life!
Episodes
145 episodes
142: How First-Time Parents Can Be Best Equipped For Birth [First Baby, Natural Birth, Hospital Birth]
Most first-time moms who are planning a hospital birth arrive at the hospital too early, and some of them even get sent home, which can be incredibly defeating as a laboring woman wanting so badly to meet her baby. Thankfully, Emily made some r...
141: Hold Your Birth Plans Loosely, But Not Your Convictions [Home Birth, Hospital Transfer, Natural Birth]
When you’ve already had 3 babies and 2 home births, you plan to have your next baby at home as well. But what do you do when your water unexpectedly breaks and there’s thick meconium in it? You have a decision to make. Do you decide to stay at ...
140: You Should Marry a Husband Who...
This episode is dedicated to my husband, Chris Heeter. He's legitimately the GOAT (and he also taught me what the GOAT meant)! He turned 40 this weekend and I wanted to take the time to celebrate HIM! So this episode is all about how amazing of...
139: A Godly Perspective Leads to a Surrendered Birth [Hospital Birth, C-Section, Postpartum Euphoria]
How do you know you’re pregnant without taking a pregnancy test? How about God simply tells you that you are. That’s the kind of trust and faith that Kayla had with the Lord from the start of her pregnancy, and it would carry her throughout the...
138: A Birth Advocate In A Hospital Setting Is A Must [First-Time Mom, Hospital Birth, Induction]
Sometimes all it takes is one person’s recommendation and you taking it to change your perspective on everything. That’s what happened to Amelia when she read Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth. So she went on to hire a doula and plan a natural chil...
137: Triumph Over Trauma & the Power of Birth Support - Pt. 2 [Hospital Birth, Natural Birth]
When Kathleen was pregnant for the second time, she was understandably anxious about the impending delivery, but this time, per her therapist’s recommendation, decided to hire a doula and went to a different hospital to deliver, and her journey...
136: Keeping Faith Amidst A Traumatic Birth - Pt. 1 [Hospital Birth, First-Time Mom, Birth Trauma]
When you get sent home from the hospital during your first labor because you're only 1.5cm dilated and told you’re in early labor, it can be quite confusing to know when to come back. Poor Kathleen ended up laboring all alone, all night long, t...
135: DOULA DIARIES! 2nd Edition [Delayed Cord Clamping, Amnio Infusion, Unplanned Home Birth]
Today we'll dive into three more birth stories from my time as a doula. I'll walk you through what it was like for me to support these moms during their labors. First up is the story of the very first birth I ever attended as a doula in trainin...
134: Realizing the Gravity of Becoming A Parent [Natural Birth, Car Baby, Home Birth]
When you're wanting a more holistic birth but decide to go to the hospital with an OB care team, things may not turn out how you envisioned. So for your second birth you hire hospital midwives, thinking that will be better, but then realize the...
133: Can Breech Twins Actually Be Delivered Naturally? [Twin Birth, Breech Twins, Natural Birth]
When you’ve only ever given birth outside of the hospital and with midwives…what would it be like to have to birth in the hospital with high risk OB’s? In the state of California, where Breanna lives, midwives are not permitted to deliver twins...
132: Planned Hospital Birth, Accidental Home Birth - Pt. 2 (with Lycie Ross) [Home Birth, Natural Birth]
After having her first two babies in Tennessee, where home birth was more affordable, Lycie and her husband had since moved out to northern California where midwifery was not only way more expensive, but the midwives were also not in line with ...
131: Reclaiming Motherhood After Postpartum Trauma - Pt. 1 (with Lycie Ross) [Nuchal Hand, Postpartum Complications, Postpartum Depression]
When you grow up with a midwife as your mother, and you and your siblings were all born at home, planning a home birth for your first doesn’t seem strange at all. And it wasn’t for Lycie and her husband. While it was long, all was going well un...
130: So You Had A Home Birth...Now What? (with Kayla Heeter)
So you just had a home birth...what do you do next? If it isn't obvious already, home birth is starkly and vastly different than a hospital or birth center birth. But is it any different immediately following the birth?In tod...
129: God Will Meet You In The Mess (with Karyn Dunavant) [Free Birth, Home Birth, Precipitous Labor]
The twists and turns that can take place in our lives as God leads us from one season to another are astounding. From leaving religious cults, and trying to find healing through other churches that then turn around and treat you similarly, even...
128: When God Writes An Even Better Story (with Bess Ragan) [Hospital Birth, Natural Birth, First-Time Mom]
How do you react when you never planned on having children of your own, never planned on having the title “mom” or “dad” but then the Lord changes those plans drastically…and little did you know you’d gain three daughters in a 24-hour period? T...
127: Is Vaginal Birth Possible After 5 C-Sections? (with Amanda Kairdolf) [Hospital Birth, VBAC, Wild Pregnancy]
What do you do when God is telling you one thing, but the doctors and medical system are telling you the opposite? This is a theme that came up for Amanda from before she got pregnant all the way through the births of her six children. The less...
126: Choosing Worship Over Worry (with Nikki Ellwood) [Home Birth, Retained Placenta, Shoulder Dystocia]
When you have a 56 hour labor, that results in a transfer from home to hospital, you would assume all of the trauma from your birth experience is wrapped up in that, right? Not for Nikki, her trauma came about during early postpartum with every...
125: How God Gave Us Bowie (with Christopher Heeter) [Home Birth, Free Birth, Water Birth]
After six weeks of leave, we are finally back to share our most recent birth story! We hope you enjoy listening to all of the details of this birth, which is very unique to all of our other births, and how God used it to bring the concept of SU...
124: Pregnancy and Long Covid Are Like Oil and Water (with Christopher Heeter) [Home Birth, Natural Birth, Midwives Brew]
While I am on a little maternity leave from the podcast, we are replaying all five of my children's birth stories, and we'll end by releasing our newest baby's birth story.Listen in today as Chris and I re-live the birth of our 5th baby,...
123: Can Childbirth Ever Be An Enjoyable Experience? (with Christopher Heeter) [Home Birth, Natural Birth, Painless Childbirth]
While I am on a little maternity leave from the podcast, we are replaying all five of my children's birth stories, and we'll end by releasing our newest baby's birth story.This week, you will hear about the birth of our fourth child. Chr...
122: Going From Zero to Transition (with Christopher Heeter) [Birth Center Birth, Natural Birth, Precipitous Birth]
While I am on a little maternity leave from the podcast, we are replaying all five of my children's birth stories, and we'll end by releasing our newest baby's birth story.To read even more details about this birth and see photos from th...
121: The Day I Pushed Out A Giant Baby (with Christopher Heeter) [Birth Center Birth, Natural Birth, Shoulder Dystocia]
While I am on a little maternity leave from the podcast, we are replaying all five of my children's birth stories, and we'll end by releasing our newest baby's birth story.To read even more details about this birth and see photos from th...
120: Your First Child's Birth Is The Birth Of Your Family (with Christopher Heeter) [Hospital Birth, Epidural, First Time Mom]
While I am on a little maternity leave from the podcast, we are replaying all five of my children's birth stories, and we'll end by releasing our newest baby's birth story.In this first birth, you'll learn that I was young and ignorant t...
119: When Your Second Birth Looks Nothing Like Your First - Pt. 2 (with Ashleigh Jurena) [Birth Center Birth, Car Baby]
When your first labor is 24 hours long, starts with your water breaking and a positive GBS test and you spend the entire thing in the hospital, what can you expect for your second birth? Well, for Ashleigh, it was basically the exact opposite o...
118: The Revelations From Your First Birth Should Change Your Next - Pt. 1 (with Ashleigh Jurena) [Hospital Birth, First Time Mom, Epidural]
When your first labor is 24 hours long, starts with your water breaking and a positive GBS test and you spend the entire thing in the hospital, what can you expect for your second birth? Well, for Ashleigh, it was basically the exact opposite o...