All Birthful Episodes
Pregnant people get bombarded with all sorts of advice: a lot of it unsolicited, outdated, or just plain wrong. In Birthful, working doula and former journalist Adriana Lozada talks pregnancy, birth, and postpartum with top experts and new parents.
Every episode distills the overload of pregnancy information down to the most relevant and useful stuff.
How to Organize Truly Helpful Postpartum Support From Your Friends and Family
Michelle Peterson shares with Adriana a fantastic framework for setting up your postpartum village of support that spreads the responsibility over many people (seven to be exact) so that you are well-resourced beyond the first few weeks of postpartum. She explains how...
Why You Deserve Professional Postpartum Support (And How to Afford It!)
When it comes to postpartum, EVERYONE needs support. And even after accepting that you WILL need the help, it can be tricky figuring out how to ask for it, especially when most of our friends and family members don’t really know how to help (nor have the time!)....
Working with HR to Maximize Your Employee Benefits for Postpartum
Understanding your parental leave benefits— with all its overwhelming fine print— can be a daunting task! To make the process easier, human resource professional extraordinaire Katy Dahl shares with Adriana how to approach the process so that you can not only maximize...
![[Birth Story] How She Was Surprised by Both Birth and Postpartum, but in Opposite Ways!](https://birthful.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Ivy-Tumlinson-family-400x250.jpg)
[Birth Story] How She Was Surprised by Both Birth and Postpartum, but in Opposite Ways!
Ivy Tumlinson shares with Adriana the overwhelming challenges of her postpartum experience after being overjoyed by her fast and furious unmedicated hospital birth. She explains the lactation issues that lead her to exclusively pump and the difficulties in healing her...
What You Need To Plan Your Parental Leave
Perinatal health consultant Arianna Taboada goes through the ins and outs of paid and unpaid parental leave in the United States. She shares with Adriana Lozada how to be realistic about your options for the best possible return to work for you and your family, while...
![[Birth Stories] How She Confidently and Calmly Gave Birth in a Moving Car](https://birthful.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Carbirth3months-scaled-e1685490524675-400x250.jpg)
[Birth Stories] How She Confidently and Calmly Gave Birth in a Moving Car
Laura Loos has had two non-medicated vaginal births, with her second one happening so super fast, that it involved birthing while in a moving car! She shares with Adriana how connecting with her inner voice and trusting the abundant preparation she had done during...
How Your Baby Helps During the Birthing Process
Babies use a set of coordinated movements and specific reflexes that allow them to participate in the birthing process. Adriana Lozada explains how this fascinating process works, and how it helps get them earthside. Powered by RedCircle Listen...
![[Birth Stories] How She Reframed Birth Toward Pleasure and Let Her Power Flow](https://birthful.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Maya-Ehnat-Birthful-Podcast.jpg)
[Birth Stories] How She Reframed Birth Toward Pleasure and Let Her Power Flow
Maya Ehnat was brought up to be comfortable with birth, and so from the get-go, her language and approach weren’t fear-based. Beyond that, much of the preparation she did during pregnancy was guided by a desire to minimize trauma and bring heaps of pleasure and joy...
How to Bring More Pleasure and Joy Into Your Birth (And Why It Makes a Difference!)
If you want to minimize sensations of pain and even move them into pleasure, this episode is for you! Debra Pascali-Bonaro and Adriana explore how you can bring more pleasure and joy into your birth, and why doing so can help you not only have a better experience, but...
![[Birth Story] How Harnessing Her Birth Hormones Allowed Her to Forgo an Induction](https://birthful.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Danellia-Arechiga-headshot-scaled-e1683085519708-400x250.jpeg)
[Birth Story] How Harnessing Her Birth Hormones Allowed Her to Forgo an Induction
When Danellia Arechiga became a gestational surrogate, she felt strongly about having an unmedicated birth at a birth center. Even as her labor plan derailed into an induction, she pushed for few interventions and worked with her physiology, ultimately experiencing...
Helping Your Mammalian Body (and Baby!) Have an Easier and More Connected Birth
During labor, you want contractions that are longer, stronger, and closer together. But why? Dr. Sarah Buckley and Adriana take a deep dive into the amazing and fascinating hormonal dance that happens during the birthing process, and how interventions such as...
![[Birth Story] How Her Goals of “No Epidural and No Whining” Helped Her Befriend the Labor Pain](https://birthful.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_8025-1-400x250.jpg)
[Birth Story] How Her Goals of “No Epidural and No Whining” Helped Her Befriend the Labor Pain
Celeste and Claudiu Bancos share their perspectives of their son’s birth (who chimes in too!), often surprising each other with moments the other didn’t remember or knew about. Ultimately, Celeste achieved her birth goals of not whining and avoiding getting an...
The Purpose of Childbirth Pain
Rhea Dempsey is one of the foremost thinkers on the topic of working with pain in childbirth. She shares with Adriana the physiological purpose of pain during labor, why it gets such a bad rap, and suggests the pain relief paradigm is a medical construct that...
![[Birth Stories] Birth Is As Mental and Emotional As It Is Physical](https://birthful.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Megan-Othling-headshot-400x250.jpg)
[Birth Stories] Birth Is As Mental and Emotional As It Is Physical
Megan Othling explains how birth can happen as much in your head as in your body and how facing the unexpected feelings she was having during the birth of her third child was just what was needed for them to be born. She shares with Adriana the profound growth and...
Getting Comfortable With the Intimate Nature of Birth
Pregnancy is a great time to realize what the heck motivates your choices as you venture into the great transformation of birth and becoming a parent. Nekole Malia Shapiro shares with Adriana how using the embodied approach of connecting with yourself and your body...
![[Birth Story] So Was It a Waterbirth?](https://birthful.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/DSC_0081-e1679453614605-400x250.jpg)
[Birth Story] So Was It a Waterbirth?
Hailey McHone’s first birth was what her OB called "a textbook hospital delivery," which came with an epidural-Pitocin combo, and, frankly, little consent. She talks with Adriana about getting more intentional with her wishes and choices for her second birth and...
Transformation Through the Holistic Stages of Birth (Part Two)
We try to make birth practical by measuring, overseeing, and monitoring it… when really, it’s an experience that flows seamlessly from one stage to another, taking the birthing person deep into their physiology and intuitive altered states. Whapio Diane Bartlett...
Transformation Through the Holistic Stages of Birth (Part One)
We try to make birth practical by measuring, overseeing, and monitoring it… when really, it’s an experience that flows seamlessly from one stage to another, taking the birthing person deep into their physiology and intuitive altered states. Whapio Diane Bartlett...
![[Birth Stories] How She Got Through a Week of Prodromal Labor by Embracing It](https://birthful.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/AAC-400x250.jpg)
[Birth Stories] How She Got Through a Week of Prodromal Labor by Embracing It
Adriana Aleman Crane’s first birth involved several days of prodromal labor— and if you don’t know what that is, you really want to listen to this episode! But her second birth? Her husband almost missed it! She shares with Adriana Lozada that sleep is glorious,...
Understanding Acupuncture From a Physiological Lens (and Why You Shouldn’t Fear the Needles!)
Acupuncture can help alleviate nausea, constipation, and back pain. It can encourage breech babies to flip and labor to start. But how does it work, and what does it feel like? Acupuncturist, massage therapist, and birth doula Dr. Patrick Boswell talks with Adriana...
![[Postpartum Story] Coming to Terms With the Baby She Got](https://birthful.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Victoria-Wilson-with-baby-400x250.jpg)
[Postpartum Story] Coming to Terms With the Baby She Got
After giving birth twice before, Victoria Wilson thought she had “life with a newborn” pretty much figured out. But when her third daughter was born fussy, frustrated, and just wouldn’t settle, Victoria was thrown for a loop. Was this just who her baby was? Or was...
How to Sleep Better While Pregnant
It’s estimated that about 80% of pregnant people experience insomnia by their third trimester, and newer research is showing how melatonin and circadian rhythms may impact fertility, implantation, miscarriage, risk of preeclampsia and postpartum depression. Mar De...
![[Birth Stories] Can You Wait to Push Until the Doctor Arrives?](https://birthful.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Alyssa-Jennings-headshot-400x250.jpg)
[Birth Stories] Can You Wait to Push Until the Doctor Arrives?
After a difficult first labor with interventions she was unsure about, Alyssa Jennings was determined that her next birth would be on her terms. Little did she know that she’d be having to contain the fetal ejection reflex until her doctor arrived! Alyssa shares with...
How Prenatal Yoga Can Help Protect Your Energy (And Why This Is Important!)
You’ve probably been told to do prenatal yoga, but is it really for you? Trauma-informed yoga teacher Abigail Lauren Geller says not if it’s another overwhelming thing on your to-do list! But if you are curious about the benefits of prenatal yoga for your body, your...