In this special solo episode, Ashley walks through everything that led up to Stellan’s birth, from the journal entry she wrote to him on his due date to the moment her water broke twenty minutes later, through two and a half hours of the most intense and fast labor she could have imagined, to catching him in her own bedroom with Brandon by her side and her midwife barely making it through the door. It is exactly the kind of first-time home birth story Ashley wished she could have found when she was pregnant and searching for proof that it was possible.

Ashley also shares the moments she almost talked herself out of trusting her body, what the OB who told her she was high-risk and that her cervix might not open got completely wrong, and what her midwife team said after the birth that made her cry in the best possible way. She talks about castor oil induction, the fetal ejection reflex, why the shakes after birth might be the body’s way of releasing stored trauma, and what valerian did for her in the golden hour. She also gives a quick update on life with Stellan three weeks in, where she is spending time on Substack, and what is coming on the podcast while she continues her maternity leave.

This episode is for every woman who has been told her body might not be able to do this. Ashley’s story is proof that it might surprise you.

Episode 59 - My Home Birth Story, What Actually Happened, and What I Want Every Woman to Know (32mins)