I think there's this big lie that we tell women like, you're not strong enough.

There's something wrong with your body.

You can't do this without my help, right, in any capacity.

I think we are really discounting and taking away from women the beauty that is birth, the power that is birth. And I don't think that's fair.

Getting pregnant and giving birth are two of the most exciting things you can ever hope to

experience in this life. The moment you think you could be pregnant,

you're frantically searching for all the best information, which is why you're here today.

I'm Stephanie King and with my many years of experience as a professional childbirth educator,

doula and lover of all things, pregnancy, birth, and postpartum, I'm here to make preparing for

your birth enjoyable, empowering,

and totally easy. Each week, I'll cover different topics, interview professionals, and get

into the nitty-gritty birth stories from mamas just like you. And when you're ready for more,

you can join me in the My Essential Birth course at myessentialbirth.com, where I take you step by step

through exactly how to prepare your mind, body, spirit, and partner for a birth you love.

So let's get started.

All right, welcome back. Today's episode is going to be just a touch different than what I normally do.

I was kind of thinking about what you guys need to hear, really pondering on what's going to be helpful and useful to you moms that are pregnant and coming up to birth and getting ready for all of these big decisions in your life.

And I realize I have all of this information

that is kind of just tucked away back in my mind, like the basis of what I have learned

and why I'm so passionate about what I do. And not everybody has that. And so as I started pondering

and thinking about what would be so useful for you to hear, I realized having kind of an

idea of where we came from and where we are now and why what we're doing right now is so important

...