You might get a nurse who is totally supportive, like has gotten a lot of rest before her shift,

who is treating this like a sacred opportunity, who is available energetically and physically,

you know, all the things, or you might get one who is, you know, spread really thin,

working with five other women

on the same floor and going to trigger your abandonment wounds.

We could get either thing.

So we talk about those realities and coming to terms and coming to peace with this decision, right,

and knowing that anything is possible in this space. How do we try to know

everything and then release the control over it? And that's the kind of like psycho-emotional work

and radical self-responsibility that has to be done in pregnancy. It's not just taking a Pilates

class and a birth class and taking the right vitamins. It's like, how do we do

all of this psycho-emotional work to prepare and also be at peace and trust and surrender to the

process? I'm Cynthia Overgard, owner of Hypnoborthing of Connecticut, Childbirth Advocate, and

postpartum support specialist. And I'm Tresha Ludwig, certified nurse midwife and international board certified lactation consultant.

And this is the Down to Birth podcast.

Childbirth is something we're made to do, but how do we have our safest and most satisfying experience in today's medical culture?

Let's dispel the myths and get down to birth.

Hi, I'm A. La Quenka. I'm a birth dula, birth educator, and birth trauma alchemist. I'm based in Miami, Florida,

and I am here to serve families and women everywhere.

I have never heard that term before, and you just definitely highlighted the topic of this

conversation. You're going to have to explain to us what it means to be a birth trauma

alchemist. Yeah, of course. I started working with this term about three years ago when I was in a

...