All Births are Created Equal — 066

Today’s guest, Marlene Ehrler, is a doctor of Naturopathic Medicine and comes from a long line of holistic healers. She founded Motherhood Medicine, a health and wellness resource designed to assist women on their journey to motherhood. And, she hopes to reawaken a woman’s inherent, natural healing abilities by providing lifestyle information without the bias of traditional marketing tactics through her Land and Spirit Project. Marlene’s first pregnancy was labeled as high-risk due to her Type 1 diabetes. Her insurance insisted she see a traditional OB/GYN and required her to give birth in the high-risk ward of the hospital, not at home with a midwife like she wanted. Bucking the system, she and her husband prepared for a home birth in spite of what they were told. Marlene learned the hard way that birth is the ultimate initiation into the lack of control that typifies motherhood - and when things didn’t go according to plan, she had to learn to integrate and heal from the trauma she experienced during a very difficult birth and postpartum period. During our conversation, she shares the powerful ways that she experienced healing, what it is like to raise a Spirited Child, and how this all integrates into her practice. Expectful is a guided meditation app for each stage of the motherhood journey — you can sign up for an exclusive one-month free trial here! In This Episode: What motivated her to study Naturopathic Medicine How Type 1 Diabetes played a role in her delivery Her plan to have an unassisted home birth How doctors diagnosed her false ailments The pain of the knife when two epidurals failed Having a Cesarean after her baby was already crowning Having an absent birth The power of a rebirth ceremony Raising a Spirited Child How the power of language helped her heal Her goal to empower women with basic, foundational health and lifestyle information through her new project (link) The influence of Dr. Weston Price How to get a free one-month trial of guided meditations through Expectful Show Notes: Motherhood Medicine @MotherhoodMedicine on Instagram The Land and Spirit Project Expectful — One Month Free Trial for MotherBirth Community Members