The Stories We Tell About Birth: The Birth Hour Book Launch & Community Conversation

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Doors @ 6:00 PM, First Light Books, Free (but RSVP encouraged)

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Come gather with Austin's birth community for an evening devoted to the stories that shape how we understand birth. Bryn Huntpalmer, creator of the beloved podcast The Birth Hour, returns home to Austin to celebrate the launch of her new book—a collection of forty real birth stories that honors the many different paths families take into parenthood.

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About the evening

Moderated by Austin doula and childbirth educator Joni Edelman, the conversation will explore what we can learn from hearing different birth experiences, how the stories we tell shape our expectations around birth and motherhood, and how families can feel informed and supported while recognizing that every birth is different.

We'll also hear from a local Austin mom sharing her own birth story, bringing the intimate perspective of someone in our community into the room.

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The event will include a moderated conversation, a personal birth story, audience Q&A, and the chance to meet Bryn and connect with Austin's birth community over book signings.

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About the Book

The Birth Hour: Real Birth Stories to Inform, Inspire, and Empower brings together forty real birth stories representing a wide range of experiences and paths to birth—from home births and hospital deliveries to birth centers and international journeys. Paired with practical guidance and a foreword by a certified OB-GYN, the book draws on a decade of storytelling to help expecting parents explore their options, ask informed questions, and feel more confident and empowered as they prepare for their own births.

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About Bryn Huntpalmer

Bryn Huntpalmer is the creator and host of The Birth Hour, the long-running birth story podcast with more than 28 million downloads and over 1,000 episodes. Recognized by TIME magazine as one of the 50 Best Podcasts, The Birth Hour has provided a platform for sharing real birth experiences for more than a decade.

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Her new book, The Birth Hour: Real Birth Stories to Inform, Inspire, and Empower, brings that decade of storytelling into print for the first time. Featuring 40 real birth stories representing a wide range of experiences and paths to birth, the book draws on Bryn's years of listening to and learning from birth stories to help expecting parents explore their options, ask informed questions, and feel more confident and empowered as they prepare for their own births.

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She is also the founder of The Birth Hour's Know Your Options online childbirth education course and continues to support expecting parents through storytelling, education, and access to a wide range of birth experiences and perspectives.

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About Joni Edelman

Joni brings nearly two decades of birth experience, having supported over 500 birthing families. A Registered Nurse with 15 years in labor and delivery and hospice care, she is a trained midwife and childbirth educator with additional training in EFT (tapping), Transformational Breathwork, and Somatic Attachment Therapy. As Director of Doula Services at Austin Birth Company, she works to support families in finding empowerment and agency in their birth experiences. Joni is also the mother of six and grandmother to one.

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