Holistic Pregnancy

Nina Spears, aka The Baby Chick, has spent over a decade supporting moms as a birth doula, postpartum doula, childbirth educator, and massage therapist. She's also the founder of Baby Chick, a digital resource with close to 3,000 free articles for expecting and new parents, and the author of The Baby Chick Guide to Positive Pregnancy.
In this episode, we talk about the two things that actually move the needle in pregnancy prep: education and support, and why neither one works well without the other. You can fnd Nina at https://www.baby-chick.com/ or connect with her on Instagram or TikTok.
We're covering:
Why information alone doesn't prepare you for birth, and what actually does
The social contract, and why you have to invest in your village before you need it
Why "my husband has two weeks off" is not a postpartum plan
Practicing positions, comfort techniques, and hard conversations before labor, not during
Why every birth, including scheduled C-sections and epidurals, benefits from a doula
Grab the book: The Baby Chick Guide to Positive Pregnancy
Want more postpartum prep resources? Check out Blood Bone + Broth!
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*As always, this podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice.
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NEXT STEPS:
>> Courses
>> Email list
>> FREE nutrition guide
>> Postpartum cookbooks
 
Please consider leaving a rating and review to share the love! :)

This month we’re answering your questions with guest cohost Sarah Marie Bilger. We cover everything from protein needs and prolapse to placenta encapsulation, BV options, and what we’d tell our first-time-pregnant selves.
In this episode, we cover:
How much protein you need during pregnancy, and whether that changes postpartum
When the umbilical cord around baby’s neck is a concern, and why so many doulas say it’s usually normal
Whether a fast birth or a fast pushing stage can contribute to prolapse
Whether placenta encapsulation is worth it
Your options for treating BV during pregnancy: antibiotics, herbs, or other protocols
Our thoughts on breastfeeding in public
What to do when you and your partner disagree about keeping baby’s name a secret until birth
When to start going back to church postpartum, and whether to stay home in the early weeks
What we would tell our first-time-pregnant selves
Listen to Sarah on the Entering Motherhood podcast!
Want your question answered in next month’s Q&A? DM us on Instagram at @holisticpregnancy.co or email taylor@holisticpregnancyco.com.
🎉 Birthday special: Take 50% off all courses with code BIRTHDAY at holisticpregnancyco.com/courses! Valid thru Thanksgiving (11/26/26!)
Got a topic you want covered? Fill out this form
Want to be a guest? Apply here
____________________________________________________________________________
*As always, this podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice.
____________________________________________________________________________
NEXT STEPS:
>> Courses
>> Email list
>> FREE nutrition guide
>> Postpartum cookbooks
 
Please consider leaving a rating and review to share the love! :)

Informed consent isn't a form you sign at intake, it's an ongoing conversation that should happen before every intervention. This episode is a framework, not a fear tactic, walking through what informed consent actually means and the questions worth asking before you agree to anything in labor.
In this episode:
What informed consent actually is, beyond signing a form
The four components: risks, benefits, alternatives, and your right to refuse
What a real informed consent conversation should sound like from a provider
A simple framework of questions to use in the moment
Why true emergencies work differently, and why that doesn't undo the rest of the framework
Your right to change your mind, even after you've already said yes
Ready to get informed for your own birth? Check out Unshakeable Birth!
Got a topic you want covered? Fill out this form
Want to be a guest? Apply here
____________________________________________________________________________
*As always, this podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice.
____________________________________________________________________________
NEXT STEPS:
>> Courses
>> Email list
>> FREE nutrition guide
>> Postpartum cookbooks
 
Please consider leaving a rating and review to share the love! :)

Gina Mundy has spent over 23 years as a birth injury attorney, analyzing labor and delivery cases to understand why things go wrong, and how families can prepare before they ever step into a delivery room. She's the author of A Parent's Guide to a Safer Childbirth and host of The Childbirth Attorney Podcast.
In this episode, we talk about the patterns Gina sees over and over in birth injury cases, starting with Pitocin and artificial rupture of membranes. Gina walks through what "slow and steady" actually means with an induction, what the drug manufacturer's own guidelines say about dosing, and why breaking the water is rarely the risk-free intervention it's presented as. She also shares what a Cochrane review of 15,000 deliveries found about doulas and outcomes, and why she recommends one to every family she talks to.
In this episode, we cover:
The pattern behind most birth injury cases, and why spontaneous vaginal births are rarely involved
What "slow and steady" means with a Pitocin induction, and what the manufacturer's own guidelines recommend
Why breaking the water is treated as routine, and what it's actually correlated with in her cases
How to tell when you're being pressured into an intervention versus given a real medical indication
What the research says about doulas and C-section, operative delivery, and intervention rates
Connect with Gina at https://GinaMundy.com or on Instagram at @ginamundy.
Get the book: A Parent's Guide to a Safer Childbirth
Listen to The Childbirth Attorney Podcast
Ready to get informed for your own birth? Check out Unshakeable Birth!
Got a topic you want covered? Fill out this form
Want to be a guest? Apply here
____________________________________________________________________________
*As always, this podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice.
____________________________________________________________________________
NEXT STEPS:
>> Courses
>> Email list
>> FREE nutrition guide
>> Postpartum cookbooks
 
Please consider leaving a rating and review to share the love! :)

Dr. Laura Brayton is a holistic chiropractor and functional medicine practitioner with more than 20 years of experience helping women optimize fertility, pregnancy, and maternal health through root-cause medicine and holistic lifestyle practices. She's the host of the Well-Adjusted Mama podcast and creator of the documentary Conscious Conception: An Empowered Pregnancy + Birthing Story.
In this episode, we talk about what conscious conception actually means and why it starts well before a positive pregnancy test. Dr. Brayton breaks down how the nervous system affects fertility, why stress can signal the body that it isn't safe to conceive, and how epigenetics means both partners' health, not just the mother's, shapes the pregnancy to come. She also gets into the toxin load hiding in everyday products, the gut-fertility connection, and why she has couples do a preconception cleanse together.
In this episode, we cover:
What conscious conception means, and why it's relevant even if you're years away from trying
How a stressed, sympathetic nervous system can work against fertility and conception
Why 50 percent of baby's genetics and toxin exposure come from the partner, and what that means for preconception prep
The environmental toxins worth addressing first, and where to find better product alternatives
How gut health and food sensitivities tie into hormone balance and fertility
Practical ways to get a reluctant partner on board with preconception changes
Connect with Dr. Brayton at https://www.drlaurabrayton.com or on Instagram at @drlaurabrayton. You can also listen to Well-Adjusted Mama!
Ready to prep for pregnancy? Check out Real Food Prenatal!
Got a topic you want covered? Fill out this form
Want to be a guest? Apply here
____________________________________________________________________________
*As always, this podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice.
____________________________________________________________________________
NEXT STEPS:
>> Courses
>> Email list
>> FREE nutrition guide
>> Postpartum cookbooks
 
Please consider leaving a rating and review to share the love! :)