Healing Birth

Diana Forsell Tayan
  • 4.8 (59)
  • Alternative Health
  • Updated Weekly

Conscious conversations about birth, rooted in trusting the inherent wisdom of our bodies.

  1. 2h ago

    She Affirmed Her Dream Birth Into Reality

    Growing up in Brazil, where cesarean birth is extraordinarily common, Sofia is encouraged by a growing movement of women seeking to reclaim their birth experiences and rediscover the beauty of physiological birth. After a difficult first birth that included two days of labor, an episiotomy, and a NICU stay for her baby, Sofia leaned on the wisdom of her sister, a nurse midwife living in Brazil, to help her process and heal from the experience. During her second pregnancy, Sofia became intentional about the thoughts and beliefs she was bringing into birth. Through a daily practice of gratitude, positive birth affirmations, and scripture, she began replacing fear with confidence, reminding herself, "I can do hard things. I am strong. God will be there with me." When her sister flew in from Brazil just two weeks before her due date, Sofia hoped more than anything that her baby would arrive while she was there. And as fate would have it, labor began with just enough time for her sister to create the peaceful, intimate birth environment Sofia had been envisioning. What was meant to be another hospital birth unfolded into an unexpectedly beautiful homebirth, with Sofia welcoming her baby in the shower, supported by the very woman who had helped her rediscover her trust in birth. This is a powerful story about the words we speak over ourselves, the influence of our beliefs, and just how transformative a positive birth experience can be. If you love the show, I would greatly appreciate a review on  Spotify or Apple Podcasts!  Follow me on Instagram @healingbirth Do you have a birth story you'd like to share on the podcast, or would like to otherwise connect? I love to hear from you! Send me a note at contactus@healingbirth.net Intro / Outro music: Dreams by Markvard Podcast cover photo by Karina Jensen @karinajensenphoto

  2. 2h ago ·  Bonus

    For fans of Lele Pons: Suite 305 with Lele Pons

    Introducing Ep 12. Aniya Harvey: The Villa, Unfiltered from Suite 305 with Lele Pons. Follow the show: Suite 305 with Lele Pons Love Island fans, this is the post-villa debrief you’ve been waiting for. Recorded at Sofitel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills, Aniya Harvey checks into Suite 305 with stories she has never shared since leaving the show. From what really happened behind the scenes to the cast relationships that became even deeper once the cameras stopped rolling. But this episode goes far beyond the villa: Aniya opens up about who she is when no one is watching, the personal dreams and fears viewers never got to see, and the parts of herself she hasn’t talked about publicly before. She also delivers hot takes guaranteed to ignite your group-chat and reveals how she truly feels about becoming TV famous. Surprising, personal, and impossible to look away from, Aniya is out of the villa and showing fans a whole new side of herself. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. DISCLAIMER: Please note, this is an independent podcast episode not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced in conjunction with the host podcast feed or any of its media entities. The views and opinions expressed in this episode are solely those of the creators and guests. For any concerns, please reach out to team@podroll.fm.

    For fans of Lele Pons: Suite 305 with Lele Pons

  3. Sep 27

    From Birth Trauma to Birthworker: Six Births that Changed Everything

    This week's guest shares the remarkable evolution of her six birth stories, from fighting to have her wishes respected in the hospital, to discovering just how beautiful and transformative birth could be at home. After advocating fiercely for herself throughout her first hospital birth, she was left deeply affected by the way she was treated. Her second birth brought an unwanted induction and an experience so difficult that the postpartum depression that followed clouded much of her memory of her son's infancy. By her third pregnancy, she knew she needed something different. She chose the care of a midwife, first in the hospital, and eventually made the leap to homebirth with her fourth baby. That experience changed everything. For the first time, birth wasn't something to endure or recover from. It was beautiful, empowering, and transformative, not only for her, but for her husband as well. She went on to welcome two more babies at home, and after the birth of her sixth, her midwife encouraged her to consider becoming a birthworker herself. Today, she has the privilege of attending other women as they give birth, a calling born from her own journey of discovering just how profoundly different birth can be when a woman feels safe, supported, and respected. If you love the show, I would greatly appreciate a review on  Spotify or Apple Podcasts!  Follow me on Instagram @healingbirth Do you have a birth story you'd like to share on the podcast, or would like to otherwise connect? I love to hear from you! Send me a note at contactus@healingbirth.net Intro / Outro music: Dreams by Markvard Podcast cover photo by Karina Jensen @karinajensenphoto

  4. Sep 20

    The Many Layers of Grief After an Unplanned Cesarean: Part Two of Alayna's Story

    In Part One of Alayna's story, we left off as she made the difficult decision to go to the hospital after developing clear signs of preeclampsia at the end of her pregnancy. As she had been planning to freebirth, she arrived with no record of prenatal care and ultimately experienced a failed induction followed by a cesarean, the last way she had imagined welcoming her baby. But Alayna's story is about so much more than the way her baby was born. In Part Two, she shares with incredible vulnerability about the many layers of grief that followed: being the last person to hold her baby, never seeing her placenta, and coming home to the untouched birth pool, and birth affirmations that had been waiting for a completely different birth. She also speaks honestly about the loneliness and disconnection she experienced afterward, including the painful thought, "I know she's mine, but I don't feel it yet," and why she couldn't bring herself to share her birth story for two months. Alayna is still healing. At the  time of our recording, she only recently has she begun to feel that she holds the whole story of her birth, rather than scattered pieces of an experience she was still trying to understand. Together, we talk about grief, PTSD, the small mercies she held onto along the way, and how this experience is shaping, but not yet defining, the choices she may make in a future pregnancy. If you love the show, I would greatly appreciate a review on  Spotify or Apple Podcasts!  Follow me on Instagram @healingbirth Do you have a birth story you'd like to share on the podcast, or would like to otherwise connect? I love to hear from you! Send me a note at contactus@healingbirth.net Intro / Outro music: Dreams by Markvard Podcast cover photo by Karina Jensen @karinajensenphoto

  5. Sep 13

    When the Birth You Planned is No Longer the Birth You Need: Alayna's Story, Part One

    Alayna's journey to motherhood began with two years of trying to conceive, a season filled with hope, disappointment, and the emotional rollercoaster of waiting for the pregnancy she wanted so deeply. When she finally became pregnant, she thrived in those early months and began preparing for the freebirth she envisioned. But halfway through her pregnancy, life changed dramatically. Her husband was seriously injured in a car accident, leaving him unable to work and Alayna carrying the financial weight of their family while running her own chiropractic practice. As the stress mounted, so did changes in her body. Swelling increased, sleep became nearly impossible, and her blood pressure began to rise. By 38 weeks, symptoms of preeclampsia had become too significant to ignore. In Part One of Alayna's story, we talk about the long road to becoming pregnant, the pregnancy she had hoped for, and the particular kind of heartbreak that comes when you feel your carefully considered birth plans slipping away. For Alayna, it meant confronting the realization that she may have to go to the one place she desperately did not want to give birth: the hospital. If you love the show, I would greatly appreciate a review on  Spotify or Apple Podcasts!  Follow me on Instagram @healingbirth Do you have a birth story you'd like to share on the podcast, or would like to otherwise connect? I love to hear from you! Send me a note at contactus@healingbirth.net Intro / Outro music: Dreams by Markvard Podcast cover photo by Karina Jensen @karinajensenphoto

  6. Sep 6

    A Freebirther Heals Her Relationship to Midwifery

    After going into labor unexpectedly at just 35 weeks with her first baby, Hannah's plans for a midwife-assisted homebirth quickly turned into a hospital transfer and a traumatic experience that left her feeling deeply let down by the very system of support she had trusted. She went on to freebirth her next two babies at home, experiences she remains incredibly grateful for. But looking back, Hannah can also see how her choice to birth without professional support was shaped, at least in part, by what she had experienced the first time around. By her fourth pregnancy, something had shifted. She no longer felt like she needed to do it all on her own. She wanted support, and for the first time since her first birth, she felt ready to invite a midwife back into her birth space. She experienced weeks of exhausting, mind-bending prodromal labor before Hannah finally welcomed her fourth baby peacefully at home, surrounded by her midwife and supportive friends. This is a story about much more than one homebirth. It's about the ways our previous birth experiences shape the choices we make, the difference between choosing independence and feeling like we have no other choice, and Hannah's journey toward healing her relationship with midwifery and allowing herself to be supported again. You can listen to both of Hannah's powerful, previous birth stories here: Trusing Birth at 35 Weeks A (Surprise!) Breech Freebirth  If you love the show, I would greatly appreciate a review on  Spotify or Apple Podcasts! Follow me on Instagram @healingbirth Do you have a birth story you'd like to share on the podcast, or would like to otherwise connect? I love to hear from you! Send me a note at contactus@healingbirth.net Intro / Outro music: Dreams by Markvard Podcast cover photo by Karina Jensen @karinajensenphoto

  7. Aug 30

    Raised on Homebirth, Then Thrust Into the Hospital System

    As the oldest of 13 children, nearly all of whom were born at home, Evelyn grew up with homebirth as her normal. Naturally, when she became pregnant with her first baby, she planned to give birth at home, too. But at 36.5 weeks, a violent case of food poisoning unexpectedly sent her into labor, just days before she would have reached the 37-week cutoff for a midwife-attended homebirth. Suddenly thrust into the hospital system without a plan in place, Evelyn experienced a birth she describes as traumatic, followed by feeding challenges that made an already difficult transition into motherhood even harder. Then, just three months postpartum, Evelyn discovered she was pregnant again. Coming to terms with another pregnancy so soon was difficult, especially while she was still carrying the trauma of her first birth in her body. Throughout her second pregnancy, Evelyn intentionally worked to somatically process and release what she had experienced, while preparing for the very different birth she hoped was possible. This time, she gave birth at a birth center in a peaceful, fast, and deeply healing experience. Evelyn's story is a beautiful example of how profoundly different two births can be, and how healing can happen when we give ourselves the space to process what came before and step into birth again with new support, trust, and possibility. If you love the show, I would greatly appreciate a review on  Spotify or Apple Podcasts! Follow me on Instagram @healingbirth Do you have a birth story you'd like to share on the podcast, or would like to otherwise connect? I love to hear from you! Send me a note at contactus@healingbirth.net Intro / Outro music: Dreams by Markvard Podcast cover photo by Karina Jensen @karinajensenphoto

  8. Aug 23

    After a Traumatic Freebirth, a Healing Homebirth

    Today's guest reached out to me just after welcoming her fifth baby at home, in what she described as a deeply healing birth. Her journey to this birth was shaped by four very different experiences before it, including a hospital birth, two previous homebirths and a traumatic freebirth with her fourth baby. Looking back, she doesn't blame freebirth itself for what happened. Instead, she recognizes that there were moments when she needed support and didn't seek it, an experience that profoundly changed the way she approached birth the next time around. For her fifth baby, she chose to birth at home again, this time with trusted support around her. What unfolded was the beautiful, attended homebirth she had hoped for and an experience that helped bring healing to the birth that came before it. In this episode, she shares what her five births have taught her about intuition, support, and knowing when to reach for help. She reflects on why she still believes in the beauty of freebirth while also recognizing that, sometimes, having the right person beside you can be lifesaving. Most of all, her story is a reminder that healing doesn't require us to erase or reject the births that came before. Each experience can shape us, teach us, and become part of the mothers we are becoming. Find Desirae on Instagram @womb.2.grow If you love the show, I would greatly appreciate a review on  Spotify or Apple Podcasts!  Follow me on Instagram @healingbirth Do you have a birth story you'd like to share on the podcast, or would like to otherwise connect? I love to hear from you! Send me a note at contactus@healingbirth.net Intro / Outro music: Dreams by Markvard Podcast cover photo by Karina Jensen @karinajensenphoto

See All (283)

4.8
out of 5
59 Ratings

About

Conscious conversations about birth, rooted in trusting the inherent wisdom of our bodies.

Information

  • Creator
    Diana Forsell Tayan
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    283
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Show Website
    Healing Birth

You Might Also Like