Episode 002 Kristi Rhodes CNM

Kristi Rhodes has worked in maternal-child nursing since 2001. Her start in this career path was as a postpartum nurse in a high risk, high volume hospital in Boise, ID where she fell in love with birth and caring for families. Kristi journeyed into midwifery in 2010 to fulfill her desire to be an advocate and an educator for families, believing that birth is an empowering and transformative event in a family’s life. Kristi promotes physiologic birth and encourages women to be active participants in their care. She attends births at a local hospital where she strives to bring the true midwifery model in to the hospital setting, allowing women and families birth in a way that makes sense individually.

In this episode we talk about:

  • Kristi’s experience as an OB nurse, her passion for helping women and families, and her journey into midwifery.
  • How Kristi and Holly met and their shared passion for supporting the hormonal physiology of birth no matter the circumstances: (home birth, birth center, hospital, complications, cesarean birth).
  • How Mindfulness practice during pregnancy helps women connect to their bodies and their babies,supports the hormones of birth, helps decrease fear of the birth process, and helps women trust their bodies more.
  • How Mindfulness-based birth education can help women deal with the ups and downs that occur during labor and help them let go of trying to control the process… thereby supporting hormonal physiology.
  • Trusting the body’s ability to give birth and supporting the hormones of birth help women and families deal with any complications that may arise during labor and decreases any effects of trauma that may occur during the process.
  • How mindfulness practice during pregnancy can help with early parenting and any issues that may arise with breastfeeding or early newborn care.
  • Most births in the US occur in hospitals and it is possible to have a completely unmedicated hospital birth experience if women are prepared, empowered, and supported.
  • How having her own mindfulness practice as a provider helps Kristi connect more authentically to women during labor and helps offset stress in her own busy life as a midwife and a mother.

Resources: 

https://www.idahostork.com/

https://www.rickhanson.net/books/buddhas-brain/

http://www.calmbirth.org/

https://www.amazon.com/Natural-Hospital-Birth-Best-Worlds/dp/1558328815

https://transform.childbirthconnection.org/reports/physiology

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