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Join Cynthia Overgard and Trisha Ludwig once per week for evidence-based straight talk on having a safe and informed birth, which starts with determining if you've hired the right provider. If we had to boil it down to a single premise, it's this: A healthy mom and baby isn't all that matters. We have more than 30 years' experience between us in midwifery, informed rights advocacy, publishing, childbirth education, postpartum support and breastfeeding, and we've personally served thousands of women and couples. Listen to the birth stories of our clients, listeners and celebrities, catch our expert-interviews, and submit your questions for our monthly Q&A episodes by calling us at 802-GET-DOWN. We're on Instagram at @downtobirthshow and also at Patreon.com/downtobirthshow, where we offer live ongoing events multiple times per month, so be sure to join our worldwide community. We are a Top .5% podcast globally with listeners in more than 80 countries every week. Become informed, empowered, and have a great time in the process. Join us and reach out any time - we love to hear from you. And as always, hear everyone, listen to yourself.
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Send us a textAnnouncement: Between now and year-end, we will be releasing a mixture of brand-new episodes interspersed with old-favorites, due to the sudden loss of Cynthia's husband in November. We will be back to our usual production schedule by New Year's. If you'd like to donate a gift to the GoFundMe that was set up for Cynthia and her family, you may do so here. Thank you to everyone for your beautiful messages, gifts and prayers.Please keep an eye out for new content and an expanded D...
Send us a textAt twenty-one years old, Lacey was pregnant with her first child. She was young and healthy and expected everything to go perfectly in her labor and birth. As a result of high blood pressure, she was induced for labor. When her son was born blue and unresponsive with an APGAR score of one, she knew something was off. She held her son for only a minute before he was whisked off to the NICU. Noticing that his ears seemed disproportionally small, her maternal instincts were alert. ...
Send us a textYou may remember midwife Lindsey Meehleis from episode #187 in our first off-the-record-style conversation. When we decide to interview Lindsay, we do so without a plan, knowing that whatever is on our minds will be a worthwhile and impactful conversation. In today's conversation, we chat about the problems with modern medicine, how midwifery has evolved over the years, what breech babies can teach us about our emotions, how Lindsey handles pregnancies that go beyond forty-two w...
Send us a textWelcome to the October Q&A with Cynthia & Trisha. What's the most absurd thing that you've ever heard said to a woman in labor or to you? Today, we kick it off by sharing your anecdotes and our responses. In our regular episode, we answer:If I am planning a free birth how do I know if I have a placenta previa and what should I do? I am twelve weeks pregnant and have extremely sensitive nipples while breastfeeding my toddler. Will this get better or should I st...
Send us a textPostpartum rage is a form of emotional upheaval that many mothers experience but seldom feel comfortable discussing. Today's episode aims to break the silence and offer a compassionate and supportive look into the real lives of two mothers living with these intense emotions. Corrine lost her own mother the day after her son was born. Angela, a mother of five with number six on the way, lost her sister unexpectedly in a car accident on her way to help Angela with childcare. In to...
Send us a textIf there is one best place to begin when it comes to optimizing our fertility, it is with food, and who better to bring us the lowdown on what we do and don't need for fertility optimization than Lily Nichols, RDN, the modern-day-author and guru of all things related to food and pregnancy. In today's episode, she delivers crucial information about how our modern food practices, particularly the standard American diet, set us up for sub-optimal fertility and contribute to the mos...
Send us a textEmotional trauma is stored in the body and can lead to a host of health issues if left unresolved. In this episode, Courtney shares her deeply personal journey of navigating the effects of a controlling and emotionally abusive her mother -- so controlling, in fact, that her demanding mother caused early marital issues for Courtney and her husband. Further, due to being placed on hormonal birth control at a young age, Courtney developed a belief that she couldn’t ovulate or conce...
Send us a textThere are few things a mother can do with such a profound impact as meditation, yet it remains one of the hardest habits to incorporate into one's life, let alone the life of an exhausted, busy mother with a new baby in her arms. In today's episode, Kelly Smith, yoga/meditation instructor and podcast host of Mindful in Minutes, explains the benefits of meditating for as little as just ten minutes a day. We also discuss the various forms of meditation (including guided), th...
Send us a textWelcome to the September Q&A episode with Cynthia & Trisha. Today, we begin with discussing the problem of increased reliance on Google searches and googling our way to answers that require deep introspection and self-trust rather than an automated and potentially biased and generalized result.In our first question, Cynthia & Trisha debate one woman's question on whether or not she should stay with a midwife she does not feel emotionally connected to or fire her late...
Send us a textWelcome to our second 'Breastfeeding Q&A' episode with Trisha & Cynthia. We open with an inspiring success story of a mother whose baby did not start breastfeeding for the first time until around five months of age. Additionally, we answer the following questions:I tried everything to increase my supply and stumped every lactation consultant I met with; is this going to happen to me again and what could have been the cause of my low milk supply?I have low milk supply and...
Send us a text"Hi I’m Olivia. I was a patient of Dr. Javaid Perwaiz, so, I don’t trust you." Each time Olivia met with a new medical provider, she prefaced her introduction with the above statement. Olivia was a patient of Dr. Perwaiz for many years before he was sentenced to 59 years in prison after a jury convicted him on 52 counts of health care fraud arising from performing medically unnecessary procedures including irreversible hysterectomies. Eventually, Olivia found a team of pro...
Send us a textTaylor Westenberger celebrated her baby shower at 33 weeks pregnant with her first baby. Little did she know, two days later she would go into labor and give birth to a 4.5 pound baby boy. Her birth experience, while generally smooth, involved the absence of her husband due to Covid protocols and an unconsented episiotomy. She was encouraged to breastfeed in the NICU, but when it came to taking her baby home she was warned about the dangers of co-sleeping and told horror stories...
Send us a textWelcome to the August Q&A episode with Cynthia and Trisha. Today, we start by discussing various experiences in which mothers feel a visceral response to a family member, friend, or provider crossing a boundary with their baby--think kissing your baby without permission. In our first question of the episode, we invite Carly Hartwig from @cleanlivingwithcarly, to explain how to understand our fertile window and ovulation through assessing your cervical mucus. Next, Cynthia pr...
Send us a textIf you've ever felt that your husband is falling short or if you are a dad looking to be more available to your wife, this episode is for you. Today, we chat with Dan Doty, the co-founder of Fatherhood Ready and a passionate advocate for expectant dads. As a father of three, Dan brings his unique perspective on building a men's organization focused on emotional growth, exploration, and connection. His journey from wilderness guide to fatherhood expert was shaped by his transform...
Send us a textWere you billed erroneously for your birth, or charged for something frivolous like "skin to skin contact" or "out of hospital birth"? Did you receive an exorbitant hospital bill for services you may not have asked for or even incurred? Are you worried that your hospital bills are going to go unpaid? Did you want to leave Against Medical Advice (AMA) but were told your insurance would not pay for your services? In today's episode, we invite Sue Chamberlain, a medical billing pro...
Send us a textHyperemesis Gravidarum (HG) is not morning sickness, but rather a potentially life-threatening complication of pregnancy that may cause weight loss, malnutrition, dehydration, disability due to severe nausea and/or vomiting and can cause long-term health issues for mother and baby, including death. Today, we are joined by Kimber W. MacGibbon, executive director of the HER foundation, and Ashton Paige Clark, a wife and mother who experienced HG in five pregnancies. Together, they...
Send us a textWelcome back to the July Q&A with Cynthia & Trisha. Today we kick off the episode with one mother's story of her transition from OB to midwife to an unintentional free birth her 9 pound, 4 oz baby born at home in her bathroom and then the premium medical bill she received from her OB for "extra counseling time." Next, we jump into our questions starting with:Do twin moms need extra medical help to get their labor going because the mother's uterus is more stretched out?Wh...
Send us a textDr. Joel Gator Warsh is a classically trained integrative pediatrician with a holistic health practice in California. His approach to care puts parents at the center of the decision-making process. In today's episode, we discuss the key questions parents should ask when interviewing a pediatrician (and yes, you should interview numerous pediatricians before choosing the best fit for your family), including: How to talk about the vaccine schedule; The benefits and risks...
Send us a textThe importance of healthy oral function is essential not only for infant feeding but also for a person's entire life. Poorly shaped palates, low resting tongue posture, restricted tongues, and mouth breathing are all common signs of oral restrictions or tension that can begin in the womb and influence one's health from infancy through adulthood. In today's episode, Jeannie Nelson, a speech and language pathologist from Breathe Eat Sleep Talk joins us to explain what myofunctiona...
1Send us a textIn last week's episode (#272) you met legendary midwife-author Nancy Wainer. Well she's back today for Part II, where she joins us in a Q&A-style episode to answer our listeners' questions. Nancy experienced the first planned VBAC in the United States and she coined the acronym itself in her first book, Silent Knife, published in 1983. She has over 40 years of birth experience and has supported women through some incredible births that almost certainly would have resulted in...
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