Seacoast Birth Network

Seacoast Birth Network Educating Families of Birth Choices in Coastal Maine and New Hampshire during
pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period.

Seacoast Birth Network was started by Jo Kilburn, seasoned labor doula and childbirth educator. Relocated to Southern Maine from San Diego, CA where I was President of San Diego Birth Network for 4 years and continue as an administrator with their face book page. and as an Adviser for the board of SDBN. My desire is to help improve maternity care and outcomes for laboring women, in our own backyard and provide local families with options, education, and encouragement!

06/09/2026

Beautiful!

06/06/2026

The birth world is full of people trying to sound certain.
Confident.
Empowering.
Expert enough.

Meanwhile women are quietly drowning in shame, grief, confusion and stories they don’t know what to do with.

The birth space does not need more polished personalities.
Or people trying to curate the image of being the “perfect” birth expert.

It needs more people who can sit in the complexity of birth without bypassing it.

More people who don’t panic when a woman says:
“I think my birth broke something in me.”

More people who understand that not every wound is caused by an emergency.
And not every “positive” birth feels okay afterwards.

And while systemic problems in maternity care absolutely exist…
simply villainising the medical system is not the same thing as helping someone heal.

Because sometimes women still carry pain after a medically necessary birth.
Sometimes they feel conflicted.
Sometimes they feel gratitude and grief.
Sometimes the deepest wound is not what was done to them, but the meaning they made about themselves afterwards.

Women do not need birth workers who only know how to blame, reassure or repeat trendy talking points.

They need people who know how to truly listen.
How to stay present.
How to work with stories, identity, grief, disappointment, rage, guilt and meaning.

That’s part of what we teach in Part 1.

Not scripts.
Not saviourism.
Not simplistic answers.

The deeper human skills birth work has been missing.

Become a Birth Story Listener in 2026. Our next Part 1 (of 3 parts total) begins in August. Comment BIRTH for more info.

06/05/2026

Wow!

06/04/2026

The Shadow Side Of The Empowerment Movement

This might be uncomfortable to say.

But sometimes "empowerment" becomes just another standard women feel they failed to meet.

Women are told:

💥Trust your body.

💥Trust your instincts.

💥Know your options.

💥Advocate for yourself.

💥Own your birth.

And these are not bad messages.

Until a woman has a birth that doesn't go the way she hoped.

Then those same messages can become:

⭐I should have trusted myself more.

⭐I should have spoken up.

⭐I should have known better.

⭐I should have been stronger.

What began as empowerment quietly turns into self-blame.

The truth is that birth is not a test of your worth.

It is not a measure of your intelligence.

It is not proof that you are strong or weak.

And a difficult birth does not mean you failed empowerment.

One of the things we see over and over in Birth Story Medicine sessions is women carrying impossible expectations of themselves.

Not because they are broken.

But because they have created meaning from their birth that was never meant to be carried.

Sometimes the most empowering thing is not learning how to take more control.

Sometimes it is finally putting down the story that says you should have been able to control everything in the first place.

05/29/2026

Wonderful information!!

Address

North Berwick, ME

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