Home Birth For Every Body

I’m turning 39 today, and I’m having a special birthday edition podcast called “Home Birth For Every Body.” In honor of the miracle of birth and birth work, my guest for this birth-centered podcast is Gloria Gonzales Campise, who, in addition to being a long time friend, sister, and ally in support of all things fantastic, has recently graduated from midwifery school so that she can be a home birth midwife. 

In my own life, I have done many things that are empowering, creative, and wonderful, but few of them come close to the incredible journey to motherhood that I have undertaken. In particular, my birth story is something that I look upon with utmost admiration for my own powerfulness. Shout out to Colleen Donovan Batson, who helped me realize my birth dreams with my son as my primary midwife for my home birth. 

Gloria, in so many ways, has helped shape me into the strong woman that I have become. In addition to facilitating powerful women’s practice circles which I had the privilege to attend in a circle of sisters for several years, Gloria and I have shared the journey of attachment parenting styles and homeschooling our children. As our kids have grown, we’ve gotten together to enjoy a Bajo (or yoni steaming practice) with herbs from our gardens. 

I asked Gloria to join me because I feel like birth, and particularly getting to birth with a supportive midwife, is an ancient practice that needs to be brought back into the modern fold. I have had the great luck of having many friends who are midwives and doulas, helping women become empowered to have the birth they want. 

Both Gloria and I are committed to anti-racism, and doing what we can to deconstruct racism in ourselves and the world. As Gloria’s love of birth has developed into a career path over the last few years, she has shared with me about the unfortunate statistics of birth outcomes for BIPOC parents. In the podcast she describes more specifics about the ways that she (and others in the birthwork movement) believe that we collectively can take the tragic “-isms” out of birth. 

Additionally, our June 16th recording date was right in the middle of Pride month. In honor of all the LGBTQ+ birthing folks out there, Gloria and I decided to call this episode Home Birth for Every Body. Because home birth has better outcomes for everyone involved (the mother and the baby), championing home birth is an obvious choice. But the wording is also because part of Gloria’s training has been about the evolving world of midwifery and particularly how to be more inclusive to the queer families who also absolutely deserve to have quality birth support. 

We weave the terms mother and birthing person throughout the episode to create inclusivity for all the non-binary parents out there who are a minority that also deserve quality home birth experiences. 

Thanks for tuning in for this special birth edition, and I hope that if you’re considering having a baby, you’ll consider having a midwife to help care for you along your journey to parenting from conception to postpartum. If you’re not a parent or if you are consciously choosing not to have children, I honor your choice, and also, invite you to listen in because Gloria (and many midwives) also offer services like pap-smears and STI screening for anybody who needs them. 

At the time of this podcast publication, Gloria is offering free 1 hour consultations for midwifery services; Gloria is serving the inland Mendocino County and Sonoma County areas. You can contact her directly at gloria@peoplesmidwifery.com or by calling (707)621-5012