Podcasts for pregnancy and birth prep

I love podcasts. Especially since becoming a mom. It’s so much easier to listen to things than to read. But listening to audiobooks or podcasts was a prime way that I prepared for my birth. It’s so easy to pop on a podcast and go for a walk or get something down around the house. Here are some of my favorite podcasts for learning more about matters of pregnancy and birth.

The Birth Hour

The Birth Hour is one of the top podcasts available about birth. The Birth Hour focuses on sharing stories from the mouth of the birthing person themselves. And a range of different stories, from the unmedicated home and hospital birth, to more complicated stories that resulted in induction or cesarean birth. The power of hearing stories is great when getting to know how birth works. And none better than hearing the person who gave birth tell their own story with their own emotion and feeling. This podcast is available on most of the podcast apps (itunes, spotify, etc). You can also go to the website to search episodes by topic as well as browse other helpful birth content.
Whatever birth you are planning, the Birth Hour has something for you.

evidence based birth

Another podcast I recommend is the evidence based birth podcast with Rebecca Dekker. Rebecca Dekker is a nurse and a mom and her podcast and educational platform and content is aimed at presenting families and birth workers with the most current research on birth and postpartum. Her podcast present this information, as well as birth stories and information about pregnancy, postpartum and breastfeeding information.

You can either look through the feed to find topics that interest you or search her website for podcast numbers on topics that might be relevant to your pregnancy and birth journey (such as evidence on early inductions, epidurals, doulas, waterbirth, breech vaginal birth, gestational diabetes, type 1 diabetes etc).

Her website is also filled with information as well as resources, like finding an evidenced based childbirth class in your area.

the homebirth midwife podcast

The Homebirth Midwife Podcast is hosted by Portland’s own Sarah McClure & Charli Zarosinski, licensed direct entry midwives & owners of Hearth & Home Midwifery.

The Homebirth Midwife Podcast covers a variety of topic, from homebirth stories to pregnancy and birth information. The content is great for anyone wanting to learn more about birth and hear birth stories. It’s especially helpful if you are planning a birth at home or a free standing birth center (community birth), with topics like postpartum care with homebirth midwives and how midwives approach clients whose water has broke. As well as birth stories from their homebirth clients.

If you’re deciding where to give birth or planning a hospital birth but thinking about changing to a community birth, their podcast is also great, with a few podcasts specifically for people considering having a homebirth (Check out the episodes, “Is homebirth right for me?” and “How to get your partner on board for a homebirth”).

Charli & Sarah’s sense of humor & sweet rapport makes it a fun podcast to listen to, making light of topics that can be awkward (like hemorrhoids in pregnancy & postpartum or cervical exams). I thoroughly enjoy listening to their podcast, and found it especially helpful when I was pregnant and planning my own homebirth.

Charli & Sarah also have an online Childbirth Education Class - which can be found on the Hearth and Home Midwifery Website. And check out their instagram @hearthandhomemidwifery for more childbirth content!

Is it normal? the pregnancy podcast

This podcast was created by Jessie Ware while she was pregnant and follows her along week by week. She is joined by a diverse range of experts, including doctors, midwives, sonographers, anesthetists, home birth specialists, and doulas. In addition to following her personal journey she also answer questions from other pregnant listeners.

One thing that is great about the Is it Normal Podcast is that she is covering a lot of information about early pregnancy and talking about her early pregnancy experience, which is great because there aren't a lot of podcasts or resources that talk about the earlier weeks of pregnancy. Early pregnancy can be a time where you feel a little isolated because you might not yet be sharing your news with the world. The Is it Normal Podcast can be a nice companion for that time, especially to help answer all the questions & worries you might have. Or to relate all the crazy changes that are happening already in your body right from the beginning of pregnancy.

the queer family podcast

In their own words, they are "the podcast all about family but with gay." This podcast covers a broad range of topics from making the choice to have a baby, gender identity in the pregnancy and birth space, surrogacy, IVF, sperm donation, costs of raising a queer family and parenting stories.

Great of course for queer families look to hear about other queer family experiences. But valuable stories for anyone to listen to about experiences of conception, birth and parenting.

For more about the podcast visit their website.