This week, Nikki sits down with Kristen — mother of two — who vulnerably shares what it meant to reclaim her birth story after a deeply traumatic, unplanned cesarean during COVID.

For her second birth, Kristen prepared differently. She did the Push Prep course. She did the inner work. She educated herself. She found her voice. She built a team that aligned with her values. And while her second son was born in Chile with Indigenous Mapuche midwives, in a setting that looked very different from her first experience, this conversation isn’t about one specific kind of birth.

It’s about something much more universal.

It’s about what every woman deserves in birth — whether she’s delivering in a hospital, birth center, or operating room: to feel informed, safe, respected, and like an active participant in her own care.

Together, Nikki and Kristen unpack:
• What birth trauma really is (and how it lives in the body)
• How preparation shifts not just outcomes — but confidence
• The power of advocacy within any medical system
• And how to approach a second birth without fear running the show

This episode is for any woman who has ever wondered: Can I do this differently next time?

Kristen shares:

Being transferred from home to hospital mid-labor in a rainstorm because her midwife had another patient to manage — and not knowing she could say no
The disconnect she carried in her body for years: "I felt a bit dead inside. I felt like my body had failed me"
Why it took 18 months to even name what happened
How her team in Chile asked about her childhood memories, her fears, and her earliest life experiences — before a single clinical question
The transition moment where birth trauma came flooding back and how her midwife held her through it without judgment
"I see you. I respect you. This is not what you came for." The 7 words that changed everything
Birthing a 9.5 lb baby with two pushes after a two-hour pushing stage the first time
Eating chocolate while getting stitched up by a lesbian couple who treated her vagina like a Picasso
What reconnecting with her body felt like after years of disconnect
Her advice to every woman carrying an unhealed birth story into a second pregnancy

Ways to Connect with Kristen:

Kristen's Contact:

Instagram: kristenokeefe | Email: kristen.okeefe2@gmail.com

Midwife Spotlight: Sabina Velasquez
Sabina is a Chile-based midwife who works internationally and has trained around the world in traditional, physiological, and culturally rooted birth practices. She is U.S.-certified in natural breech birth and collaborates with physicians in placenta research and education.

Her care is deeply holistic — honoring birth as both a physical and ancestral experience.
Contact: sagavego@gmail.com or WhatsApp +56976165883

From Cesarean to VBAC: Reclaiming Birth After Trauma with Kristen