Pain Free Birth

#104 | Free Birth, Medical Emergencies, and the Truth No One Wants to Talk About 02.06.2026 54min

Can you trust your body completely and still acknowledge that medical emergencies sometimes happen in birth? In this episode, Karen shares a perspective she's never publicly discussed before and diving into the recent conversations surrounding free birth, birth emergencies, and the growing divide between the natural birth community and the medical model of care. This conversation is not about fear. It's about wisdom. It's about holding confidence in the body's design while also recognizing th...

#103 | 29 Days Overdue & Fully Trusting God: The 3-Push Joy Filled Birth She Prayed For 26.05.2026 54min

What would you do if you were 29 days overdue… and everyone around you was afraid? In this episode of the Pain-Free Birth Podcast, Karen sits down with Christine Janicke, a mom of five, who shares her incredible story of carrying her fifth baby to 44 weeks + 1 day before experiencing a beautiful, natural home birth. Christine opens up about the intense mental, emotional, and spiritual journey of waiting far beyond what most providers (and most people) would consider “normal.” From navigating ...

#102 | After Birth Trauma & C-Section, She Had a Supernatural Hospital VBAC at 40 19.05.2026 1val

Could you trust your body after a traumatic birth experience? In today’s episode, Karen sits down with Connie Johnson, a mom of four from Phoenix, Arizona, who shares her incredible journey from a traumatic military hospital birth and C-section to experiencing three redemptive VBACs—including a completely peaceful, supernatural hospital birth that ended with her baby being born before the doctor even made it into the room. This episode is a powerful reminder that hospital birth does not have ...

#101 | Planned Hospital Birth Turned Peaceful Free Birth in a Truck 12.05.2026 47min

What started as a planned unmedicated hospital birth quickly turned into an unexpected free birth on the side of the highway. In this episode, Selina shares the incredible story of giving birth to her posterior baby in the front seat of a truck before ever making it to the hospital. From laboring alone in her bathroom to feeling her baby’s head in her own hand, this story is filled with faith, surrender, instinct, and the undeniable power of the female body. This episode is an emotional, empo...

#100 | From Maiden to Mother: A Special Mother’s Day Message from Karen 05.05.2026 38min

What if motherhood isn’t something you’re losing yourself in… but something you’re being reborn through? We are celebrating 100 episodes of Pain Free Birth! In this episode, we are re-airing a powerful message from Karen on the transformation from maiden to mother and the sacred, often overlooked rite of passage that motherhood truly is. With Mother’s Day as the backdrop, this conversation honors both the beauty and the weight of motherhood. Karen speaks directly to the em...

#99 | When God Rewrites Your Birth Plan: A Miraculous Breech Hospital Birth 28.04.2026 47min

What would you do if your dream birth plan completely fell apart… and still turned out better than you ever imagined? In this powerful episode of the Pain-Free Birth Podcast, Karen sits down with Brie Kuikahi, who shares her incredible first birth story-a breech hospital birth during COVID that she describes as “better than I imagined” and “absolutely perfect.” After planning for a natural birth center experience, Brie’s baby remained breech, and due to state laws, no midwives were able to su...

#98 | How to Get Your Husband On Board with Home Birth & Prepare for Birth like a CEO 21.04.2026 1val 13min

What if the most important factor in your birth experience isn’t where you give birth… but how safe you feel? In today’s episode of the Pain-Free Birth Podcast, Karen sits down with trauma healer and embodiment coach Monica Yates to unpack her powerful first-time home birth story and the mindset, preparation, and support that made it possible. From having a husband who was initially 100% against home birth… to witnessing a complete transformation after experiencing it firsthand, this co...

#97 | Home Birth vs Hospital Birth: What’s ACTUALLY Safer? 14.04.2026 58min

Is home birth actually safe… or have we been asking the wrong question all along? In this nuanced episode, Karen dives into one of the most debated topics in the birth world: home birth vs hospital birth and what’s truly the safest option. Instead of taking sides, this episode breaks down the evidence, the misconceptions, and the emotional layers behind birth choices so you can make a decision that feels aligned, informed, and confident. You’ll learn why “safety” isn’t as black and white as w...

#96 | From Pushing Through to Feeling It All: A Marine Mom’s Pain-Free Birth Journey 07.04.2026 1val 8min

What if birth didn’t have to be something you “push through”… but something you fully surrender to? In this episode of the Pain-Free Birth Podcast, Karen sits down with Zatha Aiken, a former U.S. Marine Corps Intelligence Officer turned stay-at-home mom of three, who shares her incredible journey from control, compliance, and “pushing through” to complete surrender, trust, and experiencing a pain-free birth. After her first birth within the medical system and a second free birth, Zatha ...

#95 | Fear Free, Pain Free, and Joyful Twin Home Birth 31.03.2026 43min

What would you do if doctors told you to abort one of your twins… with no medical reason? In this episode of the Pain-Free Birth Podcast, Karen sits down with Victoria McGuckin, a mom of three who shares her incredible twin home birth story. After being labeled “high risk” and pressured into a highly medicalized birth plan, Victoria chose a different path rooted in faith, trust, and physiological birth. Her story is a powerful reminder that birth is not something happening to you. It’s someth...

#94 | 45-Minute, Pain Free, Unplanned Freebirth (after a 36 hour labor with her first) 24.03.2026 41min

What if your second birth could be completely different from your first...even after a long, difficult hospital birth? In this episode of the Pain Free Birth Podcast, Karen sits down with Sarah Tollison, a nurse and mom of two from South Carolina, who shares the incredible story of her 45-minute, pain-free birth. After experiencing a 36-hour hospital birth with her first baby, Sarah hoped her second birth would be different , but she never expected labor to progress so quickly. Sarah shares w...

#93 | You're Not Underprepared- You're Overstimulated: Why Your Nervous System is The Key to a Pain Free Birth 17.03.2026 42min

Are you preparing for birth by gathering more information… but still feeling anxious and overwhelmed? In this episode of the Pain Free Birth Podcast, Karen dives into one of the most common mistakes first-time moms make when preparing for childbirth: focusing almost entirely on gathering information instead of regulating the nervous system. While education is valuable, Karen explains how consuming too much information (especially when it’s filtered through fear or anxiety) can actually dysreg...

#92 | A First Time Mom's Pain Free Home Birth in Sweden 10.03.2026 59min

What happens when you learn to meet the power of contractions instead of fearing them? In this episode of the Pain-Free Birth Podcast, Karen welcomes Petronella, a first-time mom from Sweden who shares her incredible pain-free home birth story. Despite home birth being rare in Sweden, Petronella followed her intuition and chose to give birth in the place where she felt safest (her own home). Petronella describes how years of hearing positive birth stories from her mother and witnessing friend...

#91 | Oxytocin, Epidurals, and the Truth About Physiological Birth with Dr. Sarah Buckley 03.03.2026 1val 11min

What if labor wasn’t random? What if bonding isn’t luck? What if your brain is biologically designed to change in birth? In this profound and science-rich conversation, Karen sits down with Dr. Sarah Buckley, family physician, researcher, and pioneer in physiological birth, to unpack the true hormonal science of labor and postpartum. Dr. Buckley has spent decades studying oxytocin, the primary hormone of labor, bonding, and breastfeeding. In this episode, she explains how birth activates the ...

#90 | From an Excruciating First Labor to a Pain-Free and Fear-free Birth 24.02.2026 39min

Can birth really be different the second time? What if releasing fear was the missing piece? In this episode of the Pain-Free Birth Podcast, Callie shares her redemptive Christian home birth story after experiencing an excruciatingly painful first labor. At just 22 years old and pregnant with her second baby, she knew she could not walk into birth carrying the same fear and tension that defined her first experience. In this conversation, Callie shares how understanding the fear–tension–...

#89 | The 5 Steps That Actually Matter to Prepare for a Natural Birth 17.02.2026 1val 5min

Are you planning an unmedicated birth… but wondering if you’re actually doing enough to prepare? In this episode of the Pain Free Birth Podcast, Karen breaks down the five essential steps to preparing for a natural, physiological birth with intention. Not just hoping for one. Not just writing a birth plan. But truly preparing your mind, body, and spirit for the birth experience you desire. If you’ve been binging birth stories and thinking, “I want that too” but still feel unsure where to star...

#88 | 42 Weeks Pregnant and Her Body Birthed Without Pushing 10.02.2026 46min

What if going past your due date wasn’t a problem to solve? In this Karen sits down with Pinsi Lei, a mom of three and business coach from New York City, to share one of the most jaw-dropping birth stories ever told on the show. After two long, medicated hospital births, Pinsi experienced an unintentional unassisted home birth at 42 weeks. With no pushing, no tearing, and a nine-pound, ten-ounce baby born standing up through the fetal ejection reflex, this story is a profound testimony to wha...

#87 | Breaking the Fear and Trusting God Through a First-Time Home Birth 03.02.2026 40min

What if fear doesn’t have to be part of your first home birth experience? In this episode of the Pain Free Birth Podcast, Karen Welton sits down with Katie Brambila, a first-time mom and midwife-in-training, to share her incredible, God-filled home birth story. Katie brings a unique perspective to birth. Before becoming pregnant, she had already spent nearly three years in midwifery school and attended close to 100 births, most of them at home. Despite her extensive experience, Katie still ha...

#86 | From Fear to Power: How Trusting Her Body Changed Everything in Birth with Polina Westcott 27.01.2026 1val 5min

What happens when a woman stops outsourcing her intuition and starts trusting her body? In this episode, Karen sits down with Polina Westcott, creator of Sensible Mama, to share two transformative home birth stories that radically changed the way Polina views birth, fear, pain, and personal authority. Polina opens up about her first pregnancy, where everything seemed medically “normal” until routine testing suddenly turned her pregnancy into a problem to be managed. When questioning protocols...

#85 | How Nervous System Regulation Shapes Pregnancy, Birth, and Healing with Dr. Scherina Alli 20.01.2026 58min

What if pain, stress, and even birth trauma weren’t things your body needed to “push through”, but signals your nervous system was asking for safety? In this powerful and deeply grounding episode, Karen sits down with Dr. Scherina Alli, a network spinal chiropractor specializing in nervous system regulation, somatic respiratory integration, and care for pregnant women, babies, and children. Together, they explore how the body holds emotional stress, why babies are communicating far more than ...