Today on The Natural Birth Podcast we have Maria. Maria is a mama of one living in Glasgow, Scotland, originally from Lithuania.  She struggled with PCOS for most of her late teens and twenties, but was only diagnosed later in life. This allowed her to finally try to heal herself, because conventional medicine doesn't provide a way to "heal" PCOS. After a 2 year detour into detoxing and the vegan world, it was the pro-metabolic way of eating and focusing on good quality animal foods that helped her heal and bring her period back that had been pretty much absent for over 10 years. She and her husband thought that it would take them years to conceive. But little did they know that finding out she was pregnant would be their Christmas gift in 2022, only 8 months after her period came back. Ever since she started thinking about birth she knew she wanted a home birth, it just felt right. She had a close friend who had had two home births and this helped her convince her doctor husband that it's the best choice for them. Their birth was a natural water birth at home with two great midwifes from NHS. It wasn't without challenges though as her waters broke but labour didn't establish until 42 hours later. This taught her great lessons of patience and surrender. And today she is very grateful for a positive and empowering first birth experience. Curious about Maria? Find her on Instagram as @maria_arbell Curious about Needed? Find out more at thisisneeded.com  Use the code THENATURALBIRTHPODCAST for 20% off your first month. Find All of Anna’s Links & Resources here: https://www.sacredbirthinternational.com/links-podcast --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thenaturalbirthpodcast/message