EBB 385 - A Healing Birth Center Waterbirth with Michaela Raines, EBB Childbirth Class Graduate
Evidence Based Birth®
Rebecca Dekker
4.3 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 28 January 2026
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A healing birth can change the way you understand everything that came before it. In this episode, Dr. Dekker talks with EBB Childbirth Class graduate Michaela Raines about experiencing a deeply healing birth after a first birth that didn't go as planned.
Michaela shares her first hospital birth story—including unexpected interventions, a long pushing phase, perineal trauma, and a NICU stay—and how those experiences shaped her postpartum recovery. She then walks us through how education, intentional preparation, and support helped her approach her second pregnancy differently, leading to a fast, unmedicated water birth at a freestanding birth center. Michaela also reflects on how this birth felt both physically and emotionally redemptive and what she would share with parents preparing for a subsequent birth after a challenging experience.
(03:13) Michaela's first birth expectations vs. reality
(04:15) Unexpected interventions, epidural, and long pushing
(08:16) Postpartum recovery and feelings of embarrassment
(09:27) Discovering Evidence Based Birth® and choosing a birth center
(12:10) Preparing mentally for an unmedicated birth
(13:26) Birth center transfer protocols and emergency preparedness
(14:34) Early labor and false starts
(19:40) Arriving at the birth center and a rapid water birth
(21:13) The healing impact of her second birth
(24:58) Freedom of movement and choosing birth positions
(30:35) Birth affirmations that carried her through labor
(31:36) Advice for parents preparing for a healing second birth
Resources
EBB 292 – Confronting the Unknowns in Childbirth with Liesel Teen of the Mommy Labor Nurse
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi everyone. Thank you for joining me for today's episode. Before we get started, I wanted to share a quick |
| 0:05.7 | behind-the-scenes update from Team EBB. We have had a very busy start to the year, and we've been in full |
| 0:11.7 | planning mode for the 2026 Evidence-Based Birth Conference, which will be held online on March 17 and 18. |
| 0:19.2 | This year's theme is building bridges to respectful maternity care, |
| 0:22.7 | and it's at the heart of every session and every conversation we're bringing to the conference. |
| 0:27.9 | All of our speakers and topics are in place, and I'm excited to share that early bird tickets are now |
| 0:33.3 | available, and you can register for the conference starting today. I'm also thrilled to announce |
| 0:38.0 | our keynote speaker, Dr. Jessica Brumley. Dr. Brumley is the current president of the American |
| 0:43.1 | College of Nurse Midwives and we're honored to have her joining us to talk about what it truly |
| 0:47.6 | looks like to build a culture of respect in maternity care. This year, there are a few different |
| 0:52.9 | options for you to attend virtually. |
| 0:55.0 | You can join us for day one of the conference or day two or both days by selecting a day one |
| 1:01.0 | ticket, a day two ticket, or the two-day bundle ticket, all with contact hours included. |
| 1:06.0 | So if you get your ticket to the EBB conference right now, you'll get early bird pricing, |
| 1:10.0 | which is the lowest price offered. And when you register by February now, you'll get early bird pricing, which is the lowest price |
| 1:11.2 | offered. And when you register by February 18, you'll also get access to a special post-conference |
| 1:16.7 | bonus session called perimenopause and the potential implications in postpartum. Just go to eBerbirth.com |
| 1:23.7 | slash conference to check out the full conference schedule, the session topics, and meet our |
| 1:28.6 | amazing speakers. We also have applications open on that page for equity pricing through February |
| 1:34.4 | 27. I look forward to seeing you and hanging out with you online at the EBB conference this |
| 1:39.4 | March. Now let's go to today's healing birth story. On today's podcast, we're going to talk with |
| 1:45.8 | EBB childbirth class graduate, Michaela Raines, about her healing birth center birth story. |
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