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Evidence Based Birth®Author: Rebecca Dekker, PhD, RN Language: en Genres: Health & Fitness, Kids & Family, Medicine, Parenting Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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EBB 385 - A Healing Birth Center Waterbirth with Michaela Raines, EBB Childbirth Class Graduate
Wednesday, 28 January, 2026
A healing birth can change the way you understand everything that came before it. In this episode, Dr. Dekker talks with EBB Childbirth Class graduate Michaela Raines about experiencing a deeply healing birth after a first birth that didn't go as planned. Michaela shares her first hospital birth story—including unexpected interventions, a long pushing phase, perineal trauma, and a NICU stay—and how those experiences shaped her postpartum recovery. She then walks us through how education, intentional preparation, and support helped her approach her second pregnancy differently, leading to a fast, unmedicated water birth at a freestanding birth center. Michaela also reflects on how this birth felt both physically and emotionally redemptive and what she would share with parents preparing for a subsequent birth after a challenging experience. (03:13) Michaela's first birth expectations vs. reality (04:15) Unexpected interventions, epidural, and long pushing (08:16) Postpartum recovery and feelings of embarrassment (09:27) Discovering Evidence Based Birth® and choosing a birth center (12:10) Preparing mentally for an unmedicated birth (13:26) Birth center transfer protocols and emergency preparedness (14:34) Early labor and false starts (19:40) Arriving at the birth center and a rapid water birth (21:13) The healing impact of her second birth (24:58) Freedom of movement and choosing birth positions (30:35) Birth affirmations that carried her through labor (31:36) Advice for parents preparing for a healing second birth Resources EBB 292 – Confronting the Unknowns in Childbirth with Liesel Teen of the Mommy Labor Nurse EBB 318 – Advocating for Waterbirth in Hospitals with Dr. Liz Nutter, DNP, CNM, and Retired Lieutenant Colonel
