we can always add a vaginal exam in but we can never take that experience back so we want to

use these skills and this assessment tool in particular thoughtfully because this matters in any

other part of your life who puts their fingers inside of your vagina really does matter.

And it gives everybody else a false concept of where we're at in the process.

None of that matters to the woman.

I'm Cynthia Overgard, owner of Hypnoberthingthing 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.

We are the midwives from Beautiful One Midwifery, and we have a home birth practice in San Diego, California.

I'm Tiffany.

I'm Kelly.

And we have a really mixed approach in tackling topics all around birth because our background is in being doulas. That's how we kind of like

got our start in the birth world after having our own kiddos in various circumstances and

care models. We both kind of independently were doulas for several years before we pursued

midwifery and something that I have

noticed just as a newer midwife. I was licensed in 2018. We started our practice in 2019.

So we've been going at this only for like five years or so. But what I've noticed in that span of

time is a huge difference in midwives who practice with the

background of just midwifery and midwives who practice with the background of the advocacy piece

of being a doula. It has informed almost everything about the way that we approach informed consent and the

...