Bearing Birth
A birth story podcast highlighting the emotional impact of birth, the immediate postpartum period, and the years beyond. Hosted by Jordan Monir, a postpartum doula and Sophie Holliday, a perinatal mental health therapist.
Jordan and Sophie aim to provide a platform for those who have experienced or supported childbirth in sharing their unique story. Both fierce advocates of mental health and community support, Jordan and Sophie attempt to reduce the stigma of openly discussing the challenges (and joys!) experienced in pregnancy, birth and early parenthood. Join us as we chat with a range of guests - from regular folks to birth workers - to explore the magic of healing through storytelling!
Bearing Birth
Babies Are My Jam
In this episode, we chat with Dr. Emily Knell Spaeth, founder of Be Well Baby PDX, a Portland-based practice providing holistic prenatal and infant care services. Emily is a neonatal and perinatal physical therapist, yoga instructor, massage therapist, and lactation consultant with years of experience supporting families with newborns. Emily is an expert in her field, incredibly passionate and fulfilled by her work, and a pillar of support to families and other birth workers alike.
More impressively, Emily is also a mother of three under five! Emily clearly loves babies and supporting other parents with babies. In this episode, Emily leads us through the ups and downs of each of her three planned home births including navigating an unexpected transfer of care due to infection, delivering during the COVID pandemic, and an anterior cervical lip. Emily describes how her mindset shifted with each subsequent pregnancy and birth experience and how “knowing too much” can sometimes hinder trusting your intuition. Emily shares how her family unit had to break itself down following the addition of each new baby only to build itself back up stronger and with more love to go around.
Emily is a fierce advocate for integrating babies into everyday life and so beautifully allows her professional work to inform her mothering and vice versa.
Content warnings: feeling unsafe in a hospital, working in a NICU environment, feeling judgment from a birth team, covid, brief mention of death and death in childbirth, and brief mention of blood loss or hemorrhaging post-birth.
References Mentioned by Emily
Emily’s website https://www.bewellbabypdx.com/
Emily’s lactation support group https://bewellbabypdx.as.me/lactation
Emily’s courses https://www.bewellbabypdx.com/courses
Emily’s yoga classes https://www.bewellbabypdx.com/yoga
Barb Suarez https://bbsuarez.com/
Megan Peterson: Tenderevolution - Now Megan Wilde - https://www.thetenderevolution.com/
Dawn Albert - Courage to answer https://www.couragetoanswer.com/
Angela Truby - Glow Midwifery https://www.glowmidwifery.com/
Morgan West- Hummingbird midwifery htt
Website: bearingbirthpodcast.com
Instagram: @BearingBirthPodcast
Email: bearingbirthpodcast@gmail.com
Free Bearing Birth Podcast Resources
To learn more about Jordan or her work as a postpartum doula, family photographer, or infant sleep specialist: bunandbundle.com
To learn more about Sophie or her work as a perinatal mental health therapist: midmaplestherapy.com
Share your birth story!
If you are interested in sharing your birth story with our podcast, please get in touch via email or DM us on Instagram! We’d love to hold space for your unique perspective. We can accommodate guests in-person or virtually from any location in the world!
