When it comes to giving birth, most people think about hospitals. However, has homebirth come across your mind? For Sarah and Matthew, halfway through their pregnancy, they explored home birth and changed their providers. This experience turned them into advocates of powerful and transformational births. Listen as they talked about the ways that their preparations differed – Sarah prepared herself emotionally and mentally while Matthew prepared himself physically and logistically. They also touched on the importance of preparing themselves as a couple for parenting two children at once. Finally, they shared the importance of sexuality and intimacy as partners.

Sarah and Matthew Bivens are the creators of Doing It At Home, a platform for empowering home birth content and community. The Doing It At Home podcast started in 2016 when they were pregnant with their first child and switched from hospital birth to a home birth halfway through the pregnancy. Both balanced lifestyle coaches before becoming parents, Sarah and Matthew have taken their past coaching experience and married it with their passion for home birth to make DIAH the ultimate space for home birth empowerment. Together since 2012, Matthew and Sarah currently live in Marietta, Georgia, with their daughter Maya and are pregnant with their second child, due later this winter 2022.

In this episode:

• Sarah and Matthew share their story of how they switched from planned hospital birth to a homebirth halfway through their first pregnancy and how this led to them becoming advocates for home birth.
• It is important to be open to questioning one’s beliefs about birth. This helped Sarah and Matthew make the switch to doing it at home.
• Sometimes, the birth partner can be completely wiped at the end. It is important for your partner to be there for you fully during labor as much as possible.
• Sarah discusses her experience of having two pregnancies, one of which was unplanned and difficult.
• It may take time to reach a place of trusting the process, but it is essential to honor your own timeline.
• The couple shares their experiences preparing for their second home birth, noting that the preparation process has been different due to the addition of a second child.
• Bringing in more sexuality and intimacy into the relationship is in alignment with couples. It is incredibly significant and is a component of health, just like physical and mental health.