In this episode we hear Kam sharing the births of her girls, Nora & Zoe in Prague, Czech Republic. Kam planned for a home birth with both of her pregnancies and experienced really smooth and active pregnancies leading up to the delivery. Kam shares her journey towards finding the right model of care for her and how she went about choosing a midwife and making a birth plan. With Nora she ended up transferring to Podoli, and with Zoe she transferred to Rakovník and both girls were born in...

In this episode we hear Lucie share her second birth, with her son Harry in the UK (Head back to Episode 8 to hear her first birth story with Freya if you haven’t already). Lucie is Czech and her partner is from the UK and she is now based back in Prague where she teaches Hypnobirthing. This pregnancy was a surprise and Lucie shares with us how it was really hard to wrap her head around having another baby while her first daughter was still quite small. Freya and Harry are 2 years apart,...

In this episode I speak to Vinuta (you can listen to her birth stories on Episode 18). Vinuta works within the mindfulness realm and is running the Prague Womens Circle alongside her wellness and aromatheraphy business Aroma Laska. We set out to discuss the wide topic of Postpartum Care and talk about our own experiences and what it looked like trying to meet our own needs next to caring for a newborn. We speak generally about it all and the goal with producing this episode is to follow up...

This episode is part 2 of Carly’s birth stories and this week we hear about her second birth with Rosie. Check back with episode 46 for the first part if you haven’t heard it yet. For this birth, Carly decided to go down a completely different path when it came to preparing for birth. She changed OB, hired a doula, took hypnobirthing and spinning babies classes. She got gestational diabetes in this pregnancy too but with a little one at home it was harder to manage this time around and she...

In this episode, we hear Carly share the birth of her first baby, Santiago in Prague, Czech Republic. Carly is American and her partner is Czech. and they were planning for a birth at a Prague hospital. Carly had a good and calm pregnancy with the exception of finding out that she had gestational diabetes quite late in the second trimester. She was able to manage it herself without medication for this pregnancy and talks us through how it was to manage it day to day. She shares how she was in...

In this episode I share my own second birth with Avi. I was fully set on having a home birth this second time around too and was very intimidated when I found out the rules around working with a midwife here in the Czech Republic. Mind you, this was in 2019, and many things might have changed since then (I hope!) but my journey was pulling me between the fear of having to go through with a system where I didn’t feel supported at all and the hope of having everything play out as I wanted with...

In this episode we hear Amelia share the birth of her daughter Valentina, in Catalunya, Spain in 2020. Amelia is an entrepreneur, yoga teacher and found herself pregnant in early 2020, right before the pandemic started. She shares her journey of single parenting and single pregnancy with the support of her mother. She also shares how the lockdowns became an actual blessing that allowed her to slow down and focus on the pregnancy fully. Amelia’s water’s broke in the morning, early in week 39...

In this episode Tatum shares the birth of her two sons, JP & Liam Lionheart in California. Tatum is a medical doctor in residency and she takes us through what it was like being pregnant and navigating the system while going through med-school at the same time. With her first birth she had an induction that caused lots of extra intervention further into labour. She had an epidural in the end and she describes this labour as being rough, but the moment of birth itself being calm. In...

In this episode we hear Gitanjali sharing the birth of her daughter Lilyana in Berlin, Germany during the pandemic. Gitanjali is Indian and her partner is German and she talks us through their conception journey and what it was like to go through pregnancy in Berlin. Gitanjali shares how important it is to be able to say that we sometimes don’t really like being pregnant, or how we actually don’t hear about the big changes and shifts that can actually happen in the body as we are growing...

In this episode we hear Bruna share the birth of her little boy Noah. Bruna is Brazilian/Italian, her partner is German and while they are currently living in Germany, her birth story took place in Prague, Czech Republic. Bruna shares with us how her journey to her pregnancy with Noah first took her though a miscarriage and how that affected the start of Noahs. We talk about looking for Pre-Natal care that we feel comfortable with and Bruna chose to go with Canadian Medical and giving birth...

In this episode we hear from both birthing partners, Melanie & Tobias sharing the births of their two little ones, Aurora & Indigo. Melanie & Tobias are Swedish, but have been on the road for a few years and they birthed in Bali, Indonesia and Orba, Spain. When they found out they were expecting Aurora, they decided to seek out Ibu Robin Lim a renowned midwife in Bali, to support them through the process of becoming parents for the first time. They share their home birth in Bali,...

In this episode we hear Jana share the births of her two little ones, Valentýnka and Tomášek. Jana is a personal trainer and she was just 23 years old when she got pregnant the first time. We talk about the changes in the body and still being able to stay active up until birth and the importance of working with our breath in labour. With her daughter, she got induced with a sweep at 40+5 and gave birth with the support of midwives in a hospital in Plzeň where her parents live. She got to come...

In this episode we hear Mandalei share the birth of her son River in Dublin, Ireland. Mandalei tells us about her Womb Healing Journey and what she went through to both physically and emotionally heal herself to make space for a new partner and baby in her life. In her mid-30’s she found out that she had fibroids and she shares what she medically went through as well as emotionally to heal from that experience. She really wanted to become a mother, but as she didn’t have a partner in her life...

In this episode we hear Irina share the birth of her daughter Charlotte in Berlin, Germany. Irina suffered from uterine myomas before pregnancy and she shares how that affected her and her partners journey to becoming pregnant in the first place. From the beginning when she found out she was pregnant her doctor recommended a planned c-section because of her pre exciting condition and she spent her pregnancy planning for that. Irina had an active pregnancy and we talk about the benefits of...

In this episode we hear Chantelle sharing the birth of her son Oliver in April 2020. Chantelle is originally from Canada and her partner Jan is Czech. She shares her quite easy way into getting pregnant and a more anxious first trimester, having fears about miscarriage and how she managed to find support through that time. While having a great second trimester, full of energy and being amazed at what her body could do she planned for a hospital birth, but as the due date came closer the...

In this episode we hear Louise, who is Danish and lives in the Czech Republic, sharing the births of her two little girls Julia and Selma. She shares her journey of making the decision to become a parent in her mid-30’s and what it looked like for her and her husband Pavel to navigate the system once they found out they were having their first baby. Louise shares the difference in the care from her home country and how hard it can be to navigate a system that is unfamiliar while trying to ask...

In this episode we hear Alisa sharing her journey to parenthood with her baby Aveline. Alisas pregnancy was a surprise both for her and her now boyfriend Pierre and she tells us the story of how they met and conceived and decided to spend their lives together. The pregnancy was event free and Alisa shares how she implemented her yoga practice while her belly was growing. Towards the end of the pregnancy Alisa experienced some symptoms like extreme itching and other signs that something wasn’t...

In this episode we hear Alex sharing the birth of her five little ones. Alex is a birth photographer and she’s sharing her journey towards stepping fully into being a birth worker while having her babies. We talk about all things birth, like choosing your OB, following your gut-feeling, induction, c-sections and how important it is to try to create your own safe space to feel empowered though our birth experiences. Alex is very passionate about lifting up the fact that every birth is...

In this episode Anna shares the birth of her two little ones, Ted and Martha, with us. Anna is a Hypnobirthing teacher based in East London and she shares her journey of becoming pregnant the first time and ‘going with the flow’ towards her first birth experience. She was induced at 40+1 and had an assisted birth and an episiotomy as well as experienced a postpartum haemorrhage. In between her two births she discovered Hypnobirthing and did a course which dramatically changed her view of...

Carly shares her three birth stories with us with her three girls, Hazel, Olive & Juniper. Hazel and Olive were born in Texas in a birth centre and Carly shares how it was like to navigate the health care system and looking for a provider. Olive was a frank breech baby and Carly shares her journey towards trying to find support for a vaginal delivery and she managed to find a team of midwives who delivered Olive. The whole family then moved to the Czech Republic and Carly shares her...

In this episode we hear Tera sharing the birth of her daughter Hanna in Reykjavik, Iceland. Tera is Czech, but spent some time working in Iceland where she met her partner. Tera tells the story of how they met and found out early on in their relationship that they were going to be parents and how everything unfolded. She received care in the Czech medical system for a few months before changing over to the Icelandic one and she shares how fundamentally different the care was between these...

I this first episode of 2022 we hear from Alex as she shares the birth of her little girl Avalon. Alex shares her journey of going through a previous miscarriage in California and what kind of support and clarity that experience brought her and her husband. They eventually started to plan for a baby and she shares their journey toward becoming pregnant as well as going through the pregnancy and planning for a birth during COVID-19 in Prague, Czech Republic. Alex talks about finding her way...

In this episode I tell my own first birth story with my son Phineas from 2016.  Phineas was born in London and I tell you our story of how we ended up there as a family and how it was navigating care within the NHS and deciding on a home birth halfway through the pregnancy. I also talk about trying to get a job while being pregnant and how small I felt when I would get declined because I was expecting and I also hope I really share how much I truly love brith stories and how helpful they have...

In this episode I speak to Nyssa and she’s sharing her birth story from Melbourne, Australia with her daughter. Nyssa and her partner chose to hire a private midwife and still go for a hospital birth within the public system and they had a very good experience. We talk about wishes for birth and how important it is to give consent and to be able to debrief the experiences that we have. Nyssa gave birth to her daughter with a bit of assistance, including epidural and forceps and she had an...