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I've often kept my birth stories to myself because they were so easy and met with defensiveness. My awesome midwives helped me understand my natural process and they all went flawlessly.

- Janet C

The world is shifting and many of us are being called to a more balanced lifestyle. Maybe your inner-you is calling into question the state of your immensely-busy, often over-whelming life...and you are being drawn to a simpler, more mindful existence.

It Starts With Birth aims to assist individuals in evolving to a place where they can lead happier, healthier lives, and, in turn, experience a richer, more empowering, and beautiful birth when it comes time to deliver. Birthing with love, and acceptance of self creates a healthier family bond, an easier newborn transition, and ultimately a more engaged community. During my 10 year midwifery career, I have taken great joy and pride in helping people settle into these topics in preparation for their new lives. It Starts With Birth is a reflection of that, and supporting women – not just my clients, but all women - in this capacity remains my goal.

You never know how it is going to go until it’s over: when your labour will start, how long it will last, or what your unique birth outcome will look like! Talk about uncharted territory!

What are women looking for?

Health, support, safe prenatal care, sound advice, reassurance, a natural (and manageable!) birth, and the ability to make the desired changes they have identified for their lives.

We enter pregnancy with our own unique life experiences and, let’s face it: most of us have some kind of baggage! Pregnancy is a time of growth (no pun intended ; )  and change. Perhaps you want to better your physical body, or move into a new home environment; maybe you dislike your job, or are working through past trauma; or, perhaps, you are drawn to acquiring every morsel of information about self-realization that you can! Wherever you are, the time is now, take the first step towards the best YOU!

Most women remember their birthing experience in vivid detail for the rest of their lives, or at least the moments in time most embedded in their heart. We would like to remember only the moments or hours in which we felt powerful, safe, and in love, but tragically we often hold on tighter to the moments of shame, disappointment, anger and frustration instead. Both these sets of feeling are strong, but we can tip the scale to the ones that affirm us, and the life we have created! Let’s strive for the positive and release and learn from the negative.

Society hasn’t prepared us for the most natural experience of our lives: the act of giving life itself. Women report a general fear of birth; of the pain, of the lack of control over their situation; of the fear of what others might think about their personal choices; feelings of vulnerability that manifest as shame; feelings of worry about pleasing others such as family members or hospital staff etc.; and these are listed as their main reasons for not listening (trusting!) themselves. It Starts With Birth is dedicated to navigating the whole you with love through this unknown territory – body, mind and spirit.

So why is such a pivotal, intimate experience entered into with so little idea of what it will actually - or COULD - be like? Why have we obscured the true miracle of life with the vocal, pain-ridden images of the movies and TV? We know to expect pain of course: but how much pain; and for how long? Obviously the reality is that these variables differ from woman-to-woman, delivery-to-delivery; but the overarching message we receive is that childbirth is an excruciating, terrifying experience (only to be relieved by an epidural, or, at long-last the very arrival of our beautiful babies!!). There is so little information shared about how we can be empowered to create beautiful, exhilarating birth experiences for ourselves. That despite the pain, despite the uncertainty, there can be a completely different experience of entering into motherhood: a positive one….

How?

...intuitive birthing: we all have an inner GPS that, if tuned into, guides us to exactly what we need, when we need it. The most important lessons to garner from the journey toward motherhood come from identifying (or simply acknowledging) your emotional triggers, trusting in the process, and surrendering to the unknown, all whilst living the particular Life you desire. Birth not only affects us as women but also profoundly affects our babies and our family: how we approach our births impacts our entire emotional self.

Pregnancy is a time of awakening, growth and birth… Join us on your journey, It Starts With Birth!

Let's Change Your World - Intuitive Childbirth Series
How does It Starts With Birth, Intuitive Child-birthing Series stand out from the others? Simple stated: it’s what you really need!

What You Get:

• Me, a common-sense midwife with an enlightened heart
• The wisdom of the women who have birthed before you
• A unique, affordable, and convenient lifestyle and learning platform
• Open schedule: you can learn and engage at your own time
• One-on-one networking with others if you join our on-line community
• In-depth learning and sharing for life

Register for the whole series (recommended) or pick and choose individual classes that interest you.

Register Today!

Class List.

	#1 Intuitive Birthing and Beyond What is intuition? How many of us have it? Can it really help guide experiences?
	#2 The Pregnant Body – Do Pregnancy Choices Affect My Birth? Does my lifestyle affect my baby? How do I know what to choose? A discussion on body, mind, spirit and loving life = LIFESTYLE.
	#3 Pregnancy Care – Tests, Procedures and Fetal Positioning What to expect in late pregnancy, with a focus on the importance of fetal positioning.
	#4 Labour and Birth Birth, birth and more birth … what labour may look like! Education is power!
	#5 Comfort Measures and Chakra Energy A look at how you and others can best support your labour: exploring energy work for ideal birthing flow.
	#6 Interventions and Birth Intentions The most common items on the intervention menu and how to create your personal birth intentions.
	#7 What Are My Barriers and Beliefs? A Look at Self and Letting Go! A detailed, honest look at Self, clearing away unwanted baggage prior to becoming a parent; opening your world to love and freedom in anticipation of this life transition … the best gift you can give a child.
	#8 Baby’s First Few Weeks, Including Breastfeeding The early postpartum journey: newborn procedures and all the basics, including baby wearing.
	#9 Mama After Birth The early postpartum journey: from madness to magic, the first minutes to weeks after birth.
	#10 Accepting Acceptance – It’s All About Surrender I’ve got this: a reflection on staying in the moment and manifesting everything I want!

This isn’t just a course, it’s a LIFESTYLE
It Starts With Birth has created something magical, a place to let go of the accumulated ‘noise’ surrounding birth, explore spiritual freedom and to ground oneself in self-love…

It Starts With Birth, Intuitive Childbirth Series is a one-of-a-kind, interactive online program, focusing on traditional prenatal course materials as well as on the spiritual side of birth (a lost piece in Western birth culture!). It is a safe place to explore the potential boundaries we face in giving birth, the fear we have around becoming new parents, and the over-whelming idea of really living life in general!

Register Today!

It Starts With Birth aims to promote a positive birthing experience, spiritual growth, and self-love; a balanced lifestyle.

Angela Schaerer
Founder

Angela is the founder of It Starts With Birth, an online lifestyle and education community aimed at encompassing the whole person: body, mind and spirit. 

Before creating It Starts With Birth, Angela worked for 9 years as a Registered Midwife and primary care provider to over 550 women and their families.  While each of these women’s experience in preparing for labour and the transition to motherhood was unique, Angela came to identify a pattern in the needs that they expressed along their journey. It is in response to these common-denominator- needs that Angela created It Starts With Birth!

Angela studied in the U.S. and graduated from the Seattle Midwifery School (Bastyr University). She spent her early years studying in both Canada and the Caribbean, before settling once again in Victoria, B.C. to practice as a Registered Midwife.

Angela’s passion for supporting women on their journey toward motherhood began many years before midwifery school. In the years prior, Angela studied and taught childbirth education, offered breastfeeding support, and worked as a postpartum and birth doula. Her interests and passion have also led Angela to study homeopathy, holistic nutrition, yoga teacher training, Reiki and spiritual healing (wherein she received mentorship from spiritual healers including a First Nations Haida Shaman).

Angela is a lover of the outdoors; sitting atop her favourite mountain to work, hiking its trails, and sitting with a hot tea and her dogs in the early morning light are amongst her greatest pleasures. Her goal for working with women runs parallel to the desire she has for herself and the women in her own life: to inspire women’s evolution toward the amazing lives they deserve!

Odessa Mckechnie
Virtual Executive Associate

Odessa and Angela are a mother-daughter team. They share a passion for working with women and babies, and are committed to health and wellness, spiritual wholeness, the ‘pursuit of happiness’ and fostering a lifestyle which supports the ‘whole person.’  Along with It Starts With Birth, Odessa has worked as a midwifery office assistant and professional nanny. Caring for children and families in these capacities has been a joy and an inspiration, and it is in large part these experiences that have informed her professional aspirations. 

In 2017 Odessa was certified as an aromatherapist. In 2018 she will begin a post-secondary certificate program in counseling that will put her on the road to achieving her medium-term goal: a Masters in Psychology.

Odessa finds inspiration and peace through early morning dog walks, quilting, growing plants, herbs, and flowers (creating them into medicinal remedies), bee-keeping, reading in her hammock (while her hens and rooster, Ernie, squabble and sing in the garden!), …and SUNSHINE, she LOVES sunshine! She also genuinely loves to listen and learn from others; she has been considered by those who know her to be gifted with the wisdom of an ‘old soul’!

Odessa has always been compelled to help others in any way that she could. It Starts With Birth allows Odessa to share the many things she has learned from her eclectic community, her unique life experiences, and her deeply-attuned intuition. She hopes to empower women through It Starts With Birth to not only prepare themselves for a beautiful, love-filled birth, but also to build a life for themselves and their families that reflect their most true selves.

Monique de Moor
Managing Executive Editor

Monique is passionate about a myriad of things, but not least, she has a passion for people – for sharing stories and for connecting through our stories. Monique joined the It Starts With Birth family at its inception and delights in the ways in which its members not only encourage and inspire one another, but also encourage and inspire her in her own Life journey. Monique is the mother of two little girls and works tirelessly to ‘reinvent’ herself to foster in her the “Mother” she aspires to be. Growth and change are at the heart of her journey, and Monique pours her all into doing just that for the sake of building a richer, more whole-hearted life for herself and for her girls.

Doing “meaningful work” – work that serves others – has always been the driving force in Monique’s career and educational pursuits. She completed her undergraduate degree in Sociology at the University of British Columbia before volunteering overseas – in Kenya. Thereafter she studied International Development, followed by a post-graduate certificate in Food Security through Humber Collage and Ryerson University respectively. But it was after her two girls were born that the real ‘learning’ took place. As an eventually-single-mom, Monique reveals that parenthood – for all its blessings – is, for her, an excruciating journey of over-whelming love, self-doubt, worry and emotional/physical exhaustion. It Starts With Birth presented itself at the unique time in Monique’s life when she had vowed to change this trajectory of ‘hardship’ toward – instead – a path of greater JOY, fulfillment, and connectedness.

Such journeys cannot be made alone. It is said that it takes a village to raise a child…and indeed it does, but it also takes a village to support the growth of adults into “Parents”! It Starts With Birth is that village and that tribe! We are there to support, nurture, encourage and inspire one another to live more authentically, more mindfully, more whole-heartedly, and this, by extending the invitation to share our lives – our victories and our struggles – so that each one of us can be our very best selves for ourselves and for our children.

Shea Michelle
Photographer

Shea is the primary photographer, and videographer for It Starts With Birth.

After working in the veterinary field for 20 years, she decided to shift focus in her career and went back to school to learn photography so that she could begin her life as a creative. While completing her degree, Shea had an opportunity to photograph the birth of her best friends’ baby. To say that experience changed her would be an understatement. All that she thought she knew about the birth experience and becoming a mother was over shadowed by the powerful emotions and spirituality she observed in the hours she spent watching her friend work hard to bring her baby earth-side, hold him for the first time. That experience left Shea with a deep passion for labour, delivery and postpartum. She used her skills as a photographer to document women during their pregnancy, birth and motherhood, offering honest and raw imagery that honours the sacredness of raising children.

It is her hope, by sharing the authentic experiences and emotions in her images that women become empowered to communicate with others the triumphs and the struggles of motherhood and a community of support for families can grow.

When she is not photographing mothers, births and babies, she enjoys time outdoors in nature with her husband Greg and their hounds. Shea is passionate about a plant-based, sustainable and ethical lifestyle and hopes to one day build an earthship and live off grid on the west coast- growing her own food and living a simple life in nature.

View more of Shea's work at: https://www.coastallifestylesphoto.com

Seanna McDonald
Executive Associate/Doula

Seanna is the newest addition to the It Starts With Birth team. She is a doula, and mother of 2 older children, her daughter was born in hospital with a doctor and her son was born at home with a midwife. She also has 2 grown step children.

Seanna has always been drawn to babies and pregnant bellies. Her experience with midwives throughout her pregnancy and the incredible home birth of her second baby left her wanting to know more about normal birth, and inspired her to become part of a movement to embrace, empower and support women throughout their pregnancies and births.

She took her doula training in 2002 and has since gone on to support dozens of families. Every single mama was a warrior for her baby. She believes every woman has their own story to tell and to this day she is in awe of the experience and the incredible strength of women.

Birth is an unpredictable, epic event encompassing the body, mind and spirit.

It Starts With Birth is dedicated to being a world leader in the art of teaching intuitive childbirth education and supporting lifestyle evolution. Our vision is to provide an informative, engaging, supportive, online culture.

It Starts With Birth honours pregnancy, birth and early parenting as a spiritual journey.  Focusing on inner wisdom, evidenced-based information, and clinical experience, It Starts With Birth offers a positive shift from contemporary childbirth education that goes beyond the single act of childbirth, and encompasses, instead, a lifestyle.

Inspiring confidence while guiding families and individuals to follow their intuition, It Starts With Birth focuses on letting go of expectations and preconditioned ideas of what birth should be; producing more positive birth experiences regardless of birth- setting or circumstance. 

Discover the confidence and power within; evolve!