Pain Free Birth

#38 | Breech Birth with Double Uterus - Sondra Almeter

Get 10% off the Pain Free Birth E-course HERE https://painfreebirth.thrivecart.com/pain-free-birth/ 
Sign up for the Pain Free Birth Doula Mastermind HERE https://pain-free-birth.mykajabi.com/doula-certification-waitlist 
 
Welcome back to the Pain Free Birth Podcast!
In this episode we’re meeting one of my personal doula clients Sondra Almeter - I’ve been hounding her to come on the show for a YEAR and she finally did. I’m so excited to share her amazing birthing stories, including a breech vbac birth. We explored Sondra’s transformative journey into motherhood, starting with her first birth's challenges and the vital role of a doula. From informed consent to the "birth high," and even an unexpected home birth, we celebrated every birth's uniqueness and the miracle of unmedicated experiences.
 
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Introduction to Sondra's Unique Journey
06:02 First Birth Experience: Challenges and Triumphs
12:02 Finding Support: The Role of a Doula
18:00 The Importance of Informed Consent
23:57 Labor and Delivery: Overcoming Obstacles
29:43 The Importance of Support in Labor
35:51 The Role of the Doula
45:41 The Birth High and Aftermath
52:30 Witnessing Miracles: The Impact of Unmedicated Births
01:01:18 The Unexpected Home Birth Experience
01:06:36 Celebrating the Journey: Every Birth is Unique
 
CONNECT WITH KAREN:
Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@painfreebirthwithkarenwelton 
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/painfreebirth 
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/painfreebirth/ 
Spotify Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/5zEiKMIHFewZeVdzfBSEMS 
Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/pain-free-birth/id1696179731
Website - https://painfreebirth.com/ 
Email List https://pain-free-birth.mykajabi.com/website-opt-in 
To connect with Sondra on ig:  @s_almeter

#37 | Birth Belongs to Women and the Future of Doula Work

 Sign up for the Pain Free Birth Doula Mastermind HERE https://pain-free-birth.mykajabi.com/doula-certification-waitlist 
Welcome back to the Pain Free Birth Podcast!
In this episode we’re meeting two doulas, Jessica Grant and Kallie Caton, the founders of the “Birth Belongs to Women” movement. We discuss why birth does, indeed, belong to women, and how the medical system and current social/political movements are unfairly marginalizing women and doulas who believe birth belongs to women. We discuss many of the contemporary debates around being a doula and how Mamas like you can best prepare to work with doulas in today’s climate.
CHAPTERS
00:38 - The origin story of the Birth Belongs to Women movement, and the state of the Doula and medical birthing industries
07:26 - How birth should be (and why the birthing industry system is rigged)
13:13 - Why the phrase “birth belongs to women” is so resonant for some and polarizing to others in today’s social climate
15:37 - “Inclusivity” in birthing
17:33 - Birth Belongs to Women is not anti-trans at all, it is pro-women. Karen’s thoughts on forced gender-inclusive language.
22:53 - Doulas should stay true to themselves regardless of social or political pressure
25:50 - Many women have felt silenced or unable to speak their mind
27:36 - Restoring the sacredness to the experience and tradition of birthing
32:48 - Doula v Birth Worker and how centralized certification regimes effect the Doula tradition
36:53 - Is it possible for doulas to do good work within the hospital system?
38:51 - The doula is not the “rescuer” - and avoiding unfair dynamics between mothers and doulas
40:29 - What women getting pregnant now most need to understand
42:07 - Advice for women who want a doula but still need to give birth in a hospital
46:25 - Doula burnout and creating sustainable work for birthing professionals without “turning it into a business”
53:00 - The true calling and passion of Doulas to serve mothers
55:05 - The “scope” of a doula’s work, and allowing the mother to have room for her own spiritual journey
56:25 - Healthy boundaries in doula work and why clients sometimes need to be turned down
1:00:10 - The future of the doula space
1:05:45 - Why there’s so much fear and dogma in the medical birthing system
CONNECT WITH BIRTH BELONGS TO WOMEN:
Connect with Kallie here: instagram.com/kalliecatonConnect with Jessica here: instagram.com/jessiesvibe
CONNECT WITH KAREN:
Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@painfreebirthwithkarenwelton
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/painfreebirth
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/painfreebirth/
Spotify Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/5zEiKMIHFewZeVdzfBSEMS
Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/pain-free-birth/id1696179731
Website - https://painfreebirth.com/
Email List https://pain-free-birth.mykajabi.com/website-opt-in
Learn more about Birth Belongs to Women → https://www.birthbelongstowomen.com/
 

#36 | Pelvic Floor Strength For Birth & Postpartum with Dr. Lizzie Kieffer

In this episode, Karen sits down with Dr. Lizzie Kieffer as she shares her personal birth experiences and professional insights. From her hospital birth to her empowering home birth, Lizzie opens up about the lessons learned along the way. Tune in as we dive into why relying solely on kegels might not be the best approach for birth and postpartum recovery, how diaphragmatic breathing helps relax the pelvic floor, and explore practical tips for avoiding severe diastasis recti. Plus, learn how to surrender to the natural timing of labor rather than trying to control it.
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:
Lizzie’s first birth in the hospital vs. her second at home
Why kegels aren't the only answer for pelvic floor health
How diaphragmatic breathing can prevent postpartum issues
The importance of surrendering to God's timing in birth
Tips to help reduce the intensity of diastasis recti
The benefits of training during pregnancy for postpartum recovery
MORE ABOUT DR. LIZZIE KIEFFER:
Lizzie is a doctor of physical therapy, a mom of two, and a strong advocate for movement as medicine. After earning her doctorate in 2018, she began her career in a traditional clinic but soon realized her passion lay in helping women navigate pregnancy, postpartum, and pelvic floor health. Motivated by the lack of specialized information in these areas, she opened her own practice and developed the Mind Body Core programs to empower and educate women worldwide. Outside of her professional life, she enjoys pickleball, hiking, and spending time with her daughters, Mia and Lily, her husband Matt, and their dog Snickers. A lifelong learner, she is dedicated to helping women feel confident, understood, and supported as they embrace the changes of womanhood and motherhood.
Instagram: @doclizziedpt
PRENATAL: Mind Body Core Prenatal Program — Use code: PAINFREEBIRTH for $15 off
POSTPARTUM: Mind Body Core Postpartum Program — Use code: PAINFREEBIRTH for $15 off
Christian Hypnobirthing App — Get one month FREE with the purchase of the Faith-Filled Childbirth E-Course
CONNECT WITH KAREN:
Stay in the loop with Pain Free Birth and become an Insider HERE! Thanks for listening! Get 10% off the Pain Free Birth E-Course HERE!
Grab Karen's Healing Birth Trauma Course HERE. This course is for any woman experiencing trauma in the body. If you're ready to release it, this course is for you.
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#35 | The Power Of Christian Hypnobirthing with Tara Menzies

While Tara was blacking out from pain, losing hope, and believing she didn't have enough faith for a pain free pregnancy, she experienced a deeply spiritual experience that led her to creating the first of its kind, her own app, for Christian Hypnobirthing. Tune in to find out how drastically different Tara's births were with and without the power of hypnobirthing, how our thoughts and emotions can imprint on our babies brains, and how you can use hypnobirthing beyond labor!
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:
How Tara started Christian Hypnobirthing
Dealing with coercion and losing faith in Tara's first birth
How hypnobirthing transformed Tara's second birth
Cultivating peace throughout your pregnancy
Using hypnobirthing beyond pregnancy
Combining faith with neuroscience and how our babies brains are wired
MORE ABOUT TARA MENZIES:
Tara Menzies is the creator of the Christian Hypnobirthing app and the Faith-Filled Childbirth Course. She created the app in early 2018 after the birth of her first son, because she wanted to combine traditional hypnobirthing techniques (breathing and visualisation exercises, positive affirmations etc) with the incredible love, strength and support that come from our Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus and Holy Spirit, to help expecting mamas feel confident relaxed and connected to God throughout their births. The Christian Hypnobirthing app has since become one of the most highly rated hypnobirthing apps worldwide, and has helped tens of thousands of women have more relaxed, confident and faith-filled birth experiences.
Instagram: @christianhypnobirthing
Christian Hypnobirthing Website
CONNECT WITH KAREN:
Stay in the loop with Pain Free Birth and become an Insider HERE! Thanks for listening! Get 10% off the Pain Free Birth E-Course HERE!
Grab Karen's Healing Birth Trauma Course HERE. This course is for any woman experiencing trauma in the body. If you're ready to release it, this course is for you.
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#34 | Jessie’s Redemptive, Spiritually Led, and Unplanned Precipitous Home Birth with Jessie Ritter

Jessie thought she was prepared to have a smooth, natural, and pain free birth until... The hospital kept interrupting the labor room, asking for continuous monitoring, and made the birth experience something Jessie never wanted to relive again. When she got pregnant with her second child, Ava, she knew things would be different. She and her husband weren't 100% sold on having a home birth, but that's why we have peace that God's plan is greater. Tune in to hear all about Jessie's redemptive and unplanned home birth.
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:
What a majority of "natural births" look like in a hospital
Shifting the mindset of "women have to be strong"
What created an entirely different experience for Jessie in her second pregnancy
The power of visualization in pregnancy and through birth
How children's temperaments can differ from hospital versus home births
The woman's body: letting go of trauma & knowing we aren't cursed to have painful births
MORE ABOUT JESSIE RITTER:
Mom of two, wife, and musician living in the Florida Panhandle. Jessie had a difficult first birth in the hospital, and an absolutely blissful second time unplanned home birth.
Instagram: @jessie.l.ritter
TikTok: @jessieritter
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
CONNECT WITH KAREN:
Stay in the loop with Pain Free Birth and become an Insider HERE! Thanks for listening! Get 10% off the Pain Free Birth E-Course HERE!
Grab Karen's Healing Birth Trauma Course HERE. This course is for any woman experiencing trauma in the body. If you're ready to release it, this course is for you.
Instagram
Facebook
YouTube

#33 | Birth Can Be Amazing & You Are Elastigirl with Brandyn Gipe

Right after high school, Brandyn witnessed a dear friend having excruciating menstrual cycles. After being prayed over by a team member in ministry school, her friend no longer experienced pain during her cycles! This was when Brandyn's eyes were open to the possibility that we don't have to experience pain and birth can be amazing. This was a very special episode to chat about as Karen and Brandyn shared so many similarities between their births.
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:
Praying to release pain
What a "free pregnancy" is like
"Do I have to go to the bathroom or am I in labor?"
Instant pain relief: the double hip squeeze
How to release tightness in your perineum
Instinctually knowing the "right" and "wrong" birthing positions
MORE ABOUT BRANDYN GIPE:
Wife to Steven, mom to Quinn, dog mom of 3, and currently serving as the communications director at New Day for Children (a faith-based non-profit that supports kids recovered from trafficking in America) in the Shasta County, CA and the surrounding area. Brandyn loves Jesus, fun, adventure and exploring the world. Steven and Brandyn dream of one day starting a home for minor boys recovered from trafficking here in the USA.
Instagram: @brandynpruettgipe
Website
CONNECT WITH KAREN:
Stay in the loop with Pain Free Birth and become an Insider HERE! Thanks for listening! Get 10% off the Pain Free Birth E-Course HERE!
Instagram
Facebook
YouTube

#32 | Impactful Movement & Mobility: The Key To A Pain Free Pregnancy with Gina Conley

In this episode, Gina Conley shares how impactful movement could be supportive for a strong and pain free pregnancy as an industry-leading perinatal fitness provider. What if the answer to a pain free pregnancy and birth was simply understanding the difference in mobility throughout our pregnancies and how we can support our body by moving optimally. I'm sure you've heard of kegels... think of that as step one. Kegels should not be your only form of movement to prepare for birth. Find out what Gina recommends you do in today's episode!
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:
Using fitness to mentally & physically prepare for birth
What you should do beyond kegels to lengthen & stretch the pelvic floor
Mitigating a tight pelvic floor from traditional weightlifting
Using movement to support your labor process
The outdated fear surrounding exercise during pregnancy
MORE ABOUT GINA CONLEY:
Gina Conley is the founder of MamasteFit—a perinatal fitness training facility located in North Carolina. MamasteFit offers in-person and online pre/postnatal fitness training programs. Gina has her masters in exercise science and is a seasoned birth doula. She combines her expertise as both a perinatal fitness trainer and birth professional to provide full spectrum support from conception, birth, and recovery in the postpartum. Gina is the author of Training for Two, a book that explains how to use prenatal fitness to support a strong and pain free pregnancy, as you prepare for birth.
Instagram: @mamastefit
The MamasteFit Podcast
Website
PROGRAM: 40-Week Prenatal Fitness Program
PROGRAM: 40-Week Mini Prenatal Fitness Program
💳📕 PREORDER: Training for Two: Safe & Smart Prenatal Exercises for a Smoother Pregnancy, Easier Birth, and Healthier
CONNECT WITH KAREN:
Stay in the loop with Pain Free Birth and become an Insider HERE! Thanks for listening! Get 10% off the Pain Free Birth E-Course HERE!
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#31 | An Accidentally Unassisted & Pain Free Precipitous Twin Birth with Emma Brake

In this episode, Emma shares her amazingly unexpected, yet so magical precipitous twin birth. Fascinated by birth by baby number two, Emma had done a lot of research and precipitous births had never stood out to her... that was until the twins came along. Her instincts were on fire. From the midwife being minutes away, husband nearly passing out, and babies coming quick enough she almost forgot to undress?! This birth story is one to remember.
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:
Previous hospital births versus a twin home birth
Feeling contractions! Time for some hot tea? Nope!
Husband's hilarious reaction to a precipitous 34-minute labor & birth
The overwhelm that can come with a birth of this nature
MORE ABOUT EMMA BRAKE:
Emma is a young wife and mother of five. She grew up a missionary kid, marrying her high school sweetheart, a handsome Marine, at 18, and in the following seven years, five sweet little wildlings joined their family! Their youngest three were born at home, including most recently her twins, a precipitous, accidentally unassisted homebirth. It was all rather exciting and very, very messy! These days she's blessed to spend her days at home wrestling what feels like 764 toddlers, telling her husband not to buy it at the store because she can make it at home, and fumbling her way through homesteading, endless home projects, and raising five free range kiddos to love Jesus.
Instagram: @thisredeemedmama
Facebook
Website
CONNECT WITH KAREN:
Stay in the loop with Pain Free Birth and become an Insider HERE! Thanks for listening! Get 10% off the Pain Free Birth E-Course HERE!
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#30 | Whitney’s Deeply Spiritual & Pain Free Hospital Birth: Trusting Her Body & Ignoring Nurse’s Urge to ”PUSH!”

In this episode, Whitney Baggett shares how about becoming a first-time mom, trusting your intuition, and the challenges of falling out of your mental zone in the hospital. As a new mom, Whitney questioned whether she was really in labor or if she was just having contractions. Tune in to hear the interesting story and timeline Whitney gave from the moment she experienced this "back cramping" to the minute she was wheeled into the hospital with shocking news!
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:
How Whitney's singing career helped during labor
Faith impacting labor and feeling so deeply spiritual
Going from feeling scared about birth to feeling empowered
Laboring at home, being transported to the hospital, and having to tune out the noise in the L&D room
MORE ABOUT WHITNEY BAGGETT:
Whitney is a singer & songwriter and CEO of VOW Creative, a video production and social media marketing company. Whitney also runs an inspirational blog called, Vehicle of Wisdom, where she writes about deepening faith and offers bits of wisdom she’s learned along the way.
Instagram: @whitneyvowcreative & @vowtobecreative
Facebook
Twitter
Website
CONNECT WITH KAREN:
Stay in the loop with Pain Free Birth and become an Insider HERE! Thanks for listening! Get 10% off the Pain Free Birth E-Course HERE!
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Facebook
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#29 | Special Episode: Karen’s 3 Birth Stories & Shifting From Pain To Pain Free In One Contraction

**Hey mamas, this episode was recorded with different equipment so please don’t mind the audio, we understand it can be frustrating, but we’ll be back to normal quality next week**
This episode is quite different as Karen is actually the one being interviewed by the host of the Holy Confident Birth Podcast, Eve O'Brien. Check out the Holy Confident Birth Instagram here.
We hope you enjoy this perspective shift as Karen shares her journey with her own pain free births, how she got into this industry, and how she changed the course of her first birth from painful to pain free in the span of just one contraction! In this episode, Karen describes how a pain free birth doesn’t mean you don’t experience hurt or intensity rather you get to enjoy your birth and feel full feelings of ecstasy as Karen has with her own three births.
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:
What led me down the path of pain free births
Trusting my body & putting my faith in God that He created my body to birth without pain
The individual nuances of each of my three, pain free home births
How I was able to switch my birth from painful to pain free in just one contraction
Allowing myself to fall into a deep state of consciousness to tune into my body
Learning the difference between forceful pushing & physiologically pushing baby out
Realizing my first birth experience is what catapulted me into becoming a doula
Experiencing a true bliss, ecstasy, and an intense rush of natural drugs during birth
RESOURCES MENTIONED:
FREE MASTERCLASS {FOR A LIMITED TIME}: Unlocking A Pain Free Birth Masterclass
In this masterclass, with over 10 years of experience supporting women as a doula and childbirth educator, Karen is sharing her best secrets and techniques to help you experience a pain-free, joyful birth. Learn practical ways you can partner with your body to overcome pain and step into an ecstatic, transformational birth. You do not want to miss this powerful masterclass - currently FREE for a limited time.