Down to Birth
Cynthia Overgard & Trisha Ludwig
<p>Join Cynthia Overgard and Trisha Ludwig once per week for evidence-based straight talk on having a safe and informed birth, which starts with determining if you've hired the right provider. If we had to boil it down to a single premise, it's this: A healthy mom and baby isn't all that matters. We have more than 30 years' experience between us in midwifery, informed rights advocacy, publishing, childbirth education, postpartum support and breastfeeding, and we've personally served thousands of women and couples. Listen to the birth stories of our clients, listeners and celebrities, catch our expert-interviews, and submit your questions for our monthly Q&A episodes by calling us at 802-GET-DOWN. We're on Instagram at @downtobirthshow and also at Patreon.com/downtobirthshow, where we offer live ongoing events multiple times per month, so be sure to join our worldwide community. We are a Top .5% podcast globally with listeners in more than 80 countries every week. Become informed, empowered, and have a great time in the process. Join us and reach out any time - we love to hear from you. And as always, hear everyone, listen to yourself.</p>
- 48 minutes 42 seconds#359 | When VBAC Comes with Medical Assault: Abby's Birth Story
In this episode, Abby shares her VBAC birth story following an emergency cesarean. Determined to experience a vaginal birth, she prepared carefully while navigating limited provider options in Alabama. What unfolded during labor and delivery underscores how provider behavior, rather than maternal physiology, often determines birth outcomes. Abby describes how a manual vaginal extraction caused a nearly catastrophic fourth-degree tear, requiring three subsequent surgeries in the months that followed and significantly disrupting her early postpartum period with her newborn.
We ask Abby whether she has considered legal action against the doctor and hospital, and we explore how birth trauma shapes future decision-making. Abby explains why she is choosing a repeat cesarean for her third baby after this traumatic vaginal birth, and what autonomy and dignity can still look like within surgical birth.
She also reflects on how faith, support, and intentional processing helped her move forward, and what she hopes other women will take from her story.
Learn more about Abby here: http://www.abbyevelynphotography.com
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18 March 2026, 9:00 am - 1 hour 2 minutes#358 | Dr. Sarah J. Buckley on Oxytocin, Safety, and the Biology of Birth
When Trisha was pregnant with her second baby, she read Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering — a book that completely reframed how she understood labor, and to this day remains her favorite book on pregnancy. Trisha's second birth unfolded in just three hours, a stark contrast to her first. That book was written by Dr. Sarah J. Buckley, and we've long dreamed of getting her on the show. That day has finally come!
Dr. Buckley is a New Zealand–trained family physician and leading researcher on the hormonal physiology of childbirth, and today she walks us through the science of oxytocin and why it matters so profoundly in labor. We explore how the maternal brain modulates pain, how safety and privacy influence hormone flow, and why certain features of modern maternity care can unintentionally trigger stress responses that disrupt physiological birth.
This episode is a deep dive into the biology of labor — and what women truly need for it to unfold as designed.
In this episode, we discuss:
- The "Safety Triad": Why feeling private, safe, and unobserved is a biological requirement, not a luxury.
- The Pitocin Paradox: The shocking truth about synthetic "oxytocin", its unknown half-life, and why it doesn't offer the same brain benefits as the real thing.
- The Epidural Gap: How numbing the sensation of labor interrupts your natural hormonal feedback loop.
- The Baby’s Experience: What the fetal catecholamine surge is and what it means for your newborn’s first moments after birth.
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Watch full videos of all episodes on YouTube! Please note we don’t provide medical advice. Speak to your licensed provider for all healthcare matters.
11 March 2026, 9:00 am - 1 hour 13 minutes#357 | Back to Basics: Birth Planning 2.0
Six seasons later, we are revisiting one of our first episodes of this podcast: Using evidence-based care to plan your birth.
Much of what happens in labor is presented as standard, routine, or unavoidable—but that doesn’t mean it’s evidence-based. Birth care hasn’t become more complex because women need more intervention. It’s become more complex because intervention has become the default. If you’ve ever wondered whether what’s happening in labor is truly backed by research—or simply “standard protocol”—this episode is for you.
In this conversation, we get back to the basics, examining how modern birth is typically managed, where that approach aligns with evidence, and where it too often doesn’t. This episode gives you an evidenced-based framework, so you can better evaluate the care offered and recognize when something supports physiologic birth or when it may quietly interfere with it.
Listen with your partner, take notes, and use this episode as a guide for thinking more clearly about the choices that shape your birth.
#9 | Birth Plan 101: Evidence Based Birth as the Safest, Smartest Approach
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Watch full videos of all episodes on YouTube! Please note we don’t provide medical advice. Speak to your licensed provider for all healthcare matters.
4 March 2026, 10:00 am - 1 hour 55 seconds#356 | February Q&A: Tearing vs. Episiotomy, Decels, Posterior Babies, Pitocin, Premature Rupture of Membranes, High Palates, Oversupply
Welcome to the February Q&A! We begin with a brief reflection on a mother's need to find time for play (not with her children but for herself) and creativity during early parenthood, before diving into your questions. Today’s episode addresses a common pattern in maternity care: past birth experiences being used by providers to justify predetermined interventions in subsequent pregnancies.
One listener asked, do women need to get out of the tub for fetal heart rate decels, and is this based on policy or physiology? Is Pitocin given after heavy bleeding in a prior birth justifiable for routine use in a subsequent birth? Additionally, we explore the long-term impact of episiotomies and membrane sweeps performed without consent, and address myths about posterior (OP) babies and whether those conditions are mother-specific or unique to each pregnancy. Finally, we talk about water breaking before labor and how much time most women realistically have before intervention is generally recommended (and whether it is actually needed).
As always, we close with quickies, including our best beauty tips (no, it is not a product you can buy).
Thank you for the excellent questions. Call us anytime at 802-438-3696. That's 802-GET-DOWN! Oh, yeah, if you loved this episode, leave us a 5-star review, and thank you!
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Watch full videos of all episodes on YouTube! Please note we don’t provide medical advice. Speak to your licensed provider for all healthcare matters.
25 February 2026, 10:00 am - 43 minutes 13 seconds#355 | First Birth as a Teen, Next as a Woman: Samantha's Blissful Experience Even with Induction
In today's episode, mother of two, Samantha Collignon, joins us to share two very different birth experiences separated by thirteen years. She gave birth to her first baby at 18 with minimal support and limited understanding of her options. At 31, married and deeply informed, she approached birth with education, confidence, and a strong sense of autonomy, resulting in a profoundly different and blissful birth experience.
Samantha reflects on how age and life stage shaped the way she was perceived by medical providers, shares how IVF factored into decision-making during her second pregnancy, and why an induced labor can still be a everything you wished for in birth.
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Watch full videos of all episodes on YouTube! Please note we don’t provide medical advice. Speak to your licensed provider for all healthcare matters.
18 February 2026, 10:00 am - 56 minutes 1 second#354 | From Trauma to Trust: Moran's (@2lifedoula) Journey to Birth Work and Motherhood
In this episode, we talk to Moran of @2lifedoula, a doula whose journey into birth work was born from her own harrowing transition into motherhood. Moran candidly shares the story of her first birth—a clinical, disconnected experience where lack of preparation and resurfaced childhood trauma led to a "full-blown panic attack" and postpartum depression.
Knowing that wasn't how birth was meant to be, Moran transformed her approach for her subsequent birth, ultimately having a euphoric, spontaneous homebirth. This transformation sparked her 14-year career as a doula and inspired her new book, written for the woman she once was: unprepared, overwhelmed, and unaware of her own strength.
Moran explains why birth is a portal of transformation, regardless of the outcome, and offers a roadmap for women to heal and advocate for themselves, whether you are a first-time mother or a birth professional.
Birthing Without Trauma & Fear
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Watch full videos of all episodes on YouTube! Please note we don’t provide medical advice. Speak to your licensed provider for all healthcare matters.
11 February 2026, 10:00 am - 45 minutes 23 seconds#353 | No Stitches Required: Preventing & Healing Perineal Tears in Birth
Tearing is one of the most common fears around birth—and one of the most misunderstood. In this episode, we talk about what really causes tearing, what the research shows, and what you can do to reduce your risk. We cover perineal massage, positions for birth, breathing and pacing, water birth, warm compresses, and what makes recovery smoother.
Through the episode, we review our followers' real-life "tearing" stories, and provide our commentary, which includes labial tears, scar tissue, pelvic floor recovery, over-stitching and unnecessary repairs, how beliefs and fear affect pushing, poor suturing techniques, the harm caused by routine episiotomies and the so-called, absolutely outrageous, “husband stitch”.
This is an honest, evidence-based conversation about the perineum—how to protect it, how to heal, and what every woman can know before giving birth.
Watch our full Preventing Perineal Tears workshop on Patreon.com/DownToBirthShow.
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Watch full videos of all episodes on YouTube! Please note we don’t provide medical advice. Speak to your licensed provider for all healthcare matters.
4 February 2026, 10:00 am - 1 hour 4 minutes#352 | January Q&A: Water Birth Myths, Breaking Waters, Cord Clamping in C-Sections, Fetal Monitoring, Wake Windows, Frozen Breastmilk
Welcome to our first monthly Q&A episode of Season 7!
In today's episode, we discuss why C-sections are sometimes framed as “prevention,” how fear around tearing, fetal monitoring, or cord concerns impacts clinical decision-making, and why breaking the bag of waters is still routine practice despite clear risks and limited benefit. We explain what delayed cord clamping looks like during a cesarean and why vague language like “misplaced cord insertion” can unknowingly lead to unnecessary intervention. Additionally, we talk about nursing while pregnant, early breastfeeding challenges, frozen breastmilk, feeding to sleep, and other common postpartum concerns. Lastly, Barbara Harper joins us to dispel the fear around water birth by explaining the exact physiology of newborn transition under the water.
As always, thanks for calling in with your questions. Call us anytime at 802-GET-DOWN (that's 802-438-3696).
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Watch full videos of all episodes on YouTube! Please note we don’t provide medical advice. Speak to your licensed provider for all healthcare matters.
28 January 2026, 10:00 am - 47 minutes 27 seconds#351 | Inside A Difficult Breastfeeding Journey: Flat Nipples, Tongue Tie and Slow Weight Gain
In this episode, Jessica shares the breastfeeding journey she never expected. After a smooth birth at a birth center, feeding quickly became complicated: flat nipples, an early nipple shield, a missed first feeding window, a significant tongue tie, and a baby who grew increasingly sleepy and underweight. What followed was weeks of pumping, weighted feeds, donor milk, tongue-tie revision, and the ongoing effort to understand why breastfeeding wasn’t working despite doing everything “right.”
Jessica describes the emotional strain of those early weeks, from feeling inadequate to questioning her own anatomy, and the constant fear she was letting her daughter down. This conversation brings needed attention to the realities behind many breastfeeding challenges and the gaps that leave mothers without the support they need.
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21 January 2026, 10:00 am - 34 minutes 15 seconds#350 | Breastfeeding Q&A: Nursing Boundaries with Toddlers; Breast Milkshake; Strong Let-Downs; Fast Flow; Oversupply; Vasospasm
In today’s breastfeeding Q&A, we take calls from mothers facing the challenges that often arise well beyond the newborn phase. We begin with a question about nursing an eighteen-month-old who lifts his mother’s shirt the moment she sits down, and what healthy boundaries can look like when a toddler is still deeply attached to nursing. From there, we address concerns about forceful letdowns, oversupply, pumping routines, and the role of pacifiers when feeding becomes overstimulating for the baby. We also take a call from a mother with a three-week-old who experiences gas and discomfort at the breast, and we discuss the differences between oversupply, fast flow, and the possibility of oral restrictions.
Today's conversation highlights how individual feeding dynamics are and why a tailored approach is always necessary.
Thank you for your thoughtful questions and for your continued support of the show. To submit your questions for a future episode, call our hotline at 802-438-3696, that's (802) GET-DOWN.
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Watch full videos of all episodes on YouTube! Please note we don’t provide medical advice. Speak to your licensed provider for all healthcare matters.
14 January 2026, 10:00 am - 1 hour 1 minute#349 | The Supermom Complex: Trying to Do it All with Dr. Morgan MacDermott, NMD
Dr. Morgan MacDermott, NMD, a naturopathic medical doctor specializing in perinatal and postpartum health, joins us to explore why postpartum isn’t simply a recovery period—it’s a complete physiological and emotional transformation. We discuss why American culture celebrates productivity instead of rest, and the critical role of the “5-5-5 rule."
As the conversation unfolds, we move into the realities of early motherhood—how high-achieving women struggle with loss of control, the connection between personality type and postpartum mood disorders, and why relying on intuition matters more than parenting scripts, tracking apps, or “doing it right.” We also talk about the myth of the woman who can do it all, the importance of presence over perfection, and how stability—not constant stimulation—is what children remember and rely on most.
Together, we examine how modern mothers can reclaim postpartum and motherhood as a sacred and restorative experience, and how that same understanding can shape calmer, more confident parents -- and children -- in the years that follow.
Dr. Morgan MacDermott on Instagram
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