Wise Birth Radio Catskills Birth Collective

With all of the birthy support roles I am currently holding, it may be a surprise that I am not, and have no intention of being a birth doula.
 
But once, long long ago (or at least that's how it feels!), I was! I thought that being a birth doula was path through which I wanted to serve women... at least until I started doing it.
 
I talk about how:
- The sister wound has made it's presence known in my business aspirations. I couldn't really serve women in this way if I din't really even want to be friends with them!
- I balled my eyes out after the first 3 birth I went to - but convinced myself it was from the joy and beauty of birth
-Something deep down inside me knew - with no instruction, example, or experience that what I was witnessing wasn't really birth as some part of my ancestral being knew it to be. It was a gross manipulation/mutilation that we're all supposed to applaud and whisper about 'the miracle of childbirth'
- My one home birth experience as a doula opened my eyes to a brief moment of feeling the true power of a birthing woman, then swiftly shifted to an uncomfortable understanding of my own, and our collective cultural orientation towards 'medical professions' as authority, and therefor all the ways in which we give up our power.
 
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Mentioned in the show:
 
Indie Birth's Sacred Sisterhood Doula Training
Taking Back Birth Episode - When Doulas Become Cogs in the Wheel of Medicalized Birth
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Thanks for listening!
If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a rating and review!
If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at catskillsbirthcollective@gmail.com. We welcome your feedback. 
 
Follow us on Instagram @catskillsbirthcollective for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood.
 
Check out our online, comprehensive birth education course Wise Woman, Sacred Birth to go deeper into self responsibility, trust and connection with your inner self, and knowledge and wisdom of the biological truths of the childbearing year, and connection with other beautiful mamas.

Out lovely friends Ashke and Ian join us today from the end of their sacred window to tell us the story of their son, Cedar's birth.
It is such a joy to hear their story of conscious conception, Ashke's new adventure into studying birth education with Birthing From Within, how Ian's relationship with home birth interfaced with his job as an EMT (such a special crossover), culminating in a fast and healing birth.
 
We talk about the difference between bypassing fear and choosing to face it head on, dealing with external expectations and pressure with humor and grace, and postpartum cooking as community building.
 
It's been so beautiful to walk with Ashke as she enters the childbearing spiral, and grows into a beautiful mother. She has been one of the biggest champions of our work with Wise Woman, Sacred Birth, and we are so looking forward to what the future holds for their beautiful family.
 
You can find Ashke's work with herbal medicines - Maka Pejuta
and on Instagram
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Mentioned in the show:
 
Our podcast episode with Ixchel and Jerry on their beautiful conscious conception process
Birthing from Within
Ashke was one of the first women with access to Wise Woman, Sacred Birth and gave us amazing feedback.
 
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Thanks for listening!
If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a rating and review!
If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at catskillsbirthcollective@gmail.com. We welcome your feedback. 
 
Follow us on Instagram @catskillsbirthcollective for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood.
 
Check out our online, comprehensive birth education course Wise Woman, Sacred Birth to go deeper into self responsibility, trust and connection with your inner self, and knowledge and wisdom of the biological truths of the childbearing year, and connection with other beautiful mamas.

Aiste Gazdar (and her husband Joel) are wellbeing pioneers, community magnetizers, conscious entrepreneurs and full spectrum alchemists leading a movement of transforming humanity’s relationship with nature, food, and ultimately, themselves. They are authors of the innovative plant based and wellbeing book “WILD: Plant Based Recipes & Rituals to Nourish your Wild Essence”. We talk with Aiste today about what it means to slow down, and step into self responsibility and deep connection and care for our bodies. 
 
This is WAY different than any "vegan pregnancy" advice you've ever heard. Aiste's work through her offering, Plant Empowered Woman is a transformative container and a personal and collective invitation to revolutionize the concept of a plant-empowered woman and mother, alchemising depletion into vibrancy in every cell of your being and every area of your life. We talk about minerals, developing relationships with wild plants, and inviting a sense of play, curiosity, and matriarchy into our kitchens.
This is not about a diet, it's about the activation of your plant empowered life, deep nourishment and full spectrum thriving.
You can find her upcoming cohort of Plant Empowered Woman (starting March 10th!) on their website, School of Paradise.
You can connect with Aiste on Instagram - @aisteisis
 
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Thanks for listening!
If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a review!
If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at maible@catskillsbirth.org. We welcome your feedback. 
Follow us on Instagram @catskillsbirth for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood.

We live in such a time based culture. We need numbers to validate everything. We need to "know" when babies are going to be born, when they need to nap, when we are allowed to eat our next meal. But what if this is all fake? Can we throw away the clock and just listen to the flow of our bodies? Lean in to the movements of the sun, of the seasons, of our baby's subtle (or not so subtle) communications.
This reliance on clocks, dates, time, and numbers has such a profound impact on our birthing culture! When is your due date? How much does that matter? What is it calculated based on? How many weeks are you? How many hours does your baby sleep in a row? How often are you breastfeeding? 
I'd like to think that I pose more questions than I answer in this episode a I deconstruct time.
Join me in my time free experiment I mention near the end! Let me know how it feels!
 
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Thanks for listening!
If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a review!
If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at maible@catskillsbirth.org. We welcome your feedback. 
Follow us on Instagram @catskillsbirth for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood.

Nikko Kennedy is a perinatal quantum biology practitioner and certified labor and postpartum doula. She has a B.S. in Biopsychology from the University of Oregon and is the creator of Brighter Days, Darker Nights, a Substack publication dedicated to promoting circadian rhythmicity and quantum wellness in pregnancy, birth, and postpartum.
Nikko created a discount for you lovely listeners on her Substack subscription! Use this link for 15% off. 
 
You can find her on her website, or Instagram. 
 

You can hire Nikko for virtual and in-person doula services, 1-1 coaching, and online and in-person presentations and workshops. 
She is also a frequent podcast guest.

 
You'll hear about:
The cycles of life! ♬ We are all existing in cycles within cycles. Both the 24 hour, circadian rhythm and the 28 ish day infradian rhythm  are present for women. Men exist in the circadian rhythm, but also have a 6o day cycle that is not often talked about.
Optimizing your circadian rhythm for fertility (it can help prevent issues in pregnancy!)
Our digestion is also controlled by circadian rhythm. This can affect how much of our nutrients we can actually use.
A brief breakdown of negative ions - what the confusing jargon actually means
How melatonin is a reproductive hormone! In pregnancy, a lack of it is implicated with pre eclampsia, growth restrictions, etc.
There are even more potential melatonin disrupters in pregnancy (think bright bathroom lights multiple times a night, fridge light blasting during your midnight snack.)
First trimester is a really important time to focus on sleep - this is when your placenta is being formed! Try to honor your sleep needs (even if it seems excessive..)
All these principles align with traditional care - to nurture cells at level of mitochondria. (Makes sense that as we were more connected with the earth, we instinctively knew what we needed to feel good!)
We are wired in connection to the sun and the earth - earth has an electrical charge that our bodies are attuned to - connecting to the electrical field of the earth has 'scientifically proven' benefits. It's not woo!
Access to nature is completely missing from maternity care at a time when we are most sensitive, we are put in an incredibly artificial environment.
Sunlight help facilitate huge surges of serotonin - this might be what gives women transcendental experiences during birth! This alongside melatonin also helps regulate pain! 
Examples of these principles in her own birth stories
How to work with this in the north - we have minimal light, no vitamin d, not much grounding - but our bodies know how to deal with this! We shift from a vitamin d reality to a melatonin reality. This even impacts our sleep schedule
Balanced circadian rhythm knowledge is so coherent with postpartum principles! And can have huge impacts on newborns as well (like affecting jaundice!)
How maternity wards and NICUs can catch up with the times. There's so much evidence for implementing small shifts which can facilitate healing.
How supplementing melatonin could be a helpful for preeclampsia (but not recommended for every day, daily use.) We naturally create our own melatonin! Through multiple different pathways!
Super trendy red light therapy is just mimicking fire light! Maybe you don't need to buy a super expensive light box, do you have access to fire?
My continued hunt for restless legs relief...
Setting up a grounded sleep environment with a building biologist! (I had no idea those existed!)
How all this information coheres into her own life with four kids. (It's not actually that complicated.Get outside first thing in the morning!
Eat protein, nutrient dense breakfast shortly after waking up
Spend of time outside during the day
Lights off after sundown (or before sunrise)- no blue light
Having warm lights, close to the floor or using candles.
Creating a calm, relaxing sleep environment that honors each kid's developmental stage.

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Me

We've talked a lot about how modern midwifery fall short of truly supporting the physiology of birth, and honoring the sacred aspect. You can hear my personal experience of this in my birth story (and here's part 2) . It's subtle, but after Olin's birth, I know I want something different next time. So I decided to think out loud for you today: why do I still want a midwife at my future births?
 
You'll hear about:
An update - including an exploration of my own views on my worth, and how I'm shifting stories to one of expansion. (Using tools we talk about in our course, Wise Woman, Sacred Birth.)
How Sara's birth story and video re-inspired me to imagine the type of midwife I am calling in.
This is a topic full of nuance, there is no black and white. There is a midwife for very woman, no one way of serving is better.
Midwives are all their own people with their own stuff! Just because a midwife is labeled as whatever, means nothing about the way she practices, what she believes, her trauma and training and stories, etc.
I don't feel like I NEED a midwife! I don't need someone to do testing and offer education. I don't need a 'professional' to be on hand to make birth safe. I don't need to be saved.
But I WANT someone to hold space. To reflect myself back to me. To anchor me so I can dive deep into personal transformation.
The difference between that and doing nothing. Because that kind of support often looks like doing nothing. And why I want this support from a midwife as opposed to a friend, my mother, etc.
I can feel the skill set I'm looking for in a midwife when I am holding MotherCircle. It's a powerful attunement. Clicking in like this is an everyday super power.
My mantra for my next birth - what I want a midwife to help me hold
How I'm already calling in the energy of my future midwife
Midwifery involves the physical and the spiritual - just holding one or the other does not a midwife make.
I don't want to birth alone! I don't think most women do. I do think most women deep down would want different support than what is offered, hence the allure of freebirth.
My prayer for the world: Make your own decisions! Ditch the dogma Feel what is deeply right for you, regardless of anyone else.
 
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Mentioned on the show:
 
Sara's most recent birth story
Do Midwives Make Birth Safer - Taking Back Birth
My own birth stories (part 1 and part 2)
 
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Thanks for listening!
If you’re enjoying our show, please leave us a review!
If you have anything you want to hear more about, or any questions you'd like us to address, please reach out at catskillsbirthcollective@gmail.com. We welcome your feedback. 
 
Follow us on Instagram @catskillsbirthcollective for more musings and information on wholistic pregnancy, physiological birth, and intuitive motherhood.