A Little About Me

Hi, I'm Callie!

I'm a wife, mama to two little boys, homeschooler, doula, midwifery student, and the woman behind Earthly Motherhood. But if we're being honest, most days I'm just trying to get through our homeschool lessons, keep everyone fed, and find a little time to work on the million projects I've convinced myself I need to start.

If you've followed me online for any length of time, you've probably figured out that I have some pretty strong opinions about health and motherhood. I love a good conversation about physiology, nutrition, and all the little things that influence our health. I'm also not particularly afraid to question something just because it's widely accepted. But I wasn't always like this.

I became a mother at eighteen, and I remember being so sure of myself. I had strong opinions about just about everything, especially when it came to medicine. I trusted the medical establishment completely. I had even written papers about the dangers of the anti-vax movement, and I genuinely didn’t understand why anyone would question the recommendations of medical professionals. Looking back, so many of those opinions were simply things I'd grown up believing. My mom had a lot of influence on how I understood health, and I had never really felt the need to question any of it. I thought I knew what I believed, and I was perfectly comfortable with that.

My first son was born at thirty-three weeks by emergency cesarean. It was a traumatic experience, and because everything happened so quickly, I ended up having surgery before the anesthesia had fully kicked in. You might expect me to tell you that this was the moment everything changed, that I came away from that birth feeling betrayed by the medical system or disconnected from my body.

But that's not what happened at all.

I actually felt incredibly powerful. The nurses, doctors, and people around me told me how brave I had been. They told me I was a hero, that I had put my baby's life before my own, and that my willingness to endure what I had gone through had helped save him. I was proud of myself, and I trusted every person who had been involved in his birth. I never once considered that anything could have been done differently. It wouldn't be until much later that I started looking at that experience through a different lens.

And funny enough, the thing that started all of this had absolutely nothing to do with birth. It was breastfeeding.

I had started learning more about milk supply and I found myself questioning some of the information mothers were being given. I was shocked by how advertising and commercial interests could shape the way women understood breastfeeding and their own ability to nourish their babies. I remember realizing that there was an entire side of these conversations I had never even considered. It wasn't that I suddenly knew better than everyone else. It was that, for the first time, I understood how much I didn't know. And once that door opened, I just kept walking through it.

I started paying more attention to what we were eating. At first, I was simply just trying to eliminate high-fructose corn syrup from our diet, which seems almost laughably small compared with the things I spend my time researching today but that's genuinely how it happened. One little change would lead me to another question, which would send me down another rabbit hole, and before I knew it, I'd spent an entire afternoon reading about something I hadn't even known existed that morning.

Food became nutrition, nutrition became a deeper interest in how our bodies function, and eventually I was looking into everything from childhood development to hormones, the nervous system, and the environments we live in. And naturally, somewhere along the way, I found myself coming back to birth. Only this time, I had years of learning behind me, and I was asking questions that had never occurred to eighteen-year-old me. I started revisiting my first experience and thinking more carefully about the decisions that had been made, the physiology of labor, and how much I wished I'd understood before becoming a mother.

My life had also become considerably more complicated than the one I had imagined at eighteen. I had experienced pregnancy loss, struggled with fertility, and spent a great deal of time trying to better understand my own body. I’ll share more about those stories elsewhere, because each one deserves more than a paragraph on an About Me page.

But what matters here is that all of those experiences changed the way I approached my own health and motherhood. When I eventually chose to have my second son at home after my previous cesarean, I wasn't doing it because I wanted to prove something or because I needed a birth experience to restore my confidence. I'd already spent years developing my confidence. I trusted the understanding I'd worked so hard to build, and after carefully considering my options, I made a decision that reflected my convictions at the time.

My homebirth was an incredibly meaningful experience, but I don't think it was what taught me to trust myself. I think I was able to make that choice because I'd already learned how. And honestly, that's probably the biggest difference between the mother I was then and the mother I am today.

At eighteen, I was so sure of myself because I thought I had everything figured out. Now, I'm sure of myself for a completely different reason. I know I can learn. I know I can change my mind. I know that if something challenges what I believe, I can look into it, consider the evidence, and come away with a different understanding without feeling like I've somehow lost a part of myself. I'm confident in the way I raise my children, the values that shape our home, and the decisions my husband and I make for our family. Of course I make mistakes. I still have questions. There are plenty of subjects I don't know nearly enough about. But I don't feel the need to have everyone agree with me anymore.

And I think that kind of confidence has been one of the greatest gifts motherhood has given me.

So, How Did This Become Earthly Motherhood?

Well, originally, I just wanted to make a little money on social media. 😂

I'd watched other women share their lives online and turn it into something profitable, as we all have. I started creating content, but it didn't take long to realize that what I actually enjoyed most was sharing the things I'd been learning.

I'd post about something I found interesting, another mother would have a question, and suddenly we'd be having this wonderful conversation about a subject neither of us might have brought up otherwise. I loved discovering that other women were just as curious as I was.

Over time, I started recognizing familiar names in my comments and messages. Women would reach out about things I'd shared, ask where they could learn more, or simply want to talk through something they'd been thinking about.

It became a little community of women who enjoyed asking questions and exploring different perspectives, and I found myself looking forward to those conversations more than anything else I was doing online.

I also started noticing how much of my own learning had come from being willing to go beyond the surface of a subject. I'd spend hours researching something that had started with the simplest question, and I genuinely enjoyed being able to share what I found with someone who wanted to understand it, too.

Of course, I've learned that not everyone wants to spend their evenings reading about physiology or examining the origins of their health beliefs. And that's perfectly fine.

There was a time when I felt like I needed to help everyone around me. I'd evaluate their health concerns and explain the root causes to them even when they weren’t ready to change their lifestyles.

Thankfully, I've grown out of that.

I know now that you can't make someone curious. You can share what you've learned, offer your perspective, and be available when someone wants to have that conversation. Beyond that, everyone has to find their own way.

As my interest in women's health and birth continued growing, I eventually began studying midwifery and working as a doula. It felt like a natural extension of everything I'd been learning and sharing for years, except now I had the opportunity to build meaningful relationships with women during one of the most important experiences of their lives.

And I love that no two women need exactly the same thing from me.

Some want to understand every stage of labor. Some need help preparing their partners. Some want to explore their previous birth experiences, while others are looking for someone who will sit with them, listen, and help them feel a little less overwhelmed.

Getting to know the woman behind the pregnancy is one of my favorite parts of this work.

And When I’m Not Doing All of That…

In reality, most days I'm just trying to get through our homeschool lessons, convince my toddler to eat something other than air and a banana, and get both boys to the park before we all collectively lose our minds.

I love an unnecessarily expensive coffee, wandering through thrift stores, finding little goodies for our home, and shopping for things I probably don't need. I'm almost always in the middle of some project I've convinced myself will be quick and easy, only to realize I've somehow created three more projects in the process.

When I do get a little time to myself, you'll usually find me creating content, working on Earthly Motherhood, or researching something entirely too deeply. I'm the kind of person who starts looking up one little question and somehow ends up three hours later reading about a subject I didn't even know existed that morning. And honestly, I love it.

I spend time connecting with mom friends, going out to dinner with my husband, and ending the day watching a good movie on our ridiculously gigantic television with the surround sound we're probably a little too excited about.

That's really it. I have strong beliefs about health, faith, motherhood, and the way I want to raise my family, but my life isn't some unattainable picture of natural living. I'm still a regular mom trying to keep everyone fed, enjoy the little things, and drink my coffee while it's still hot.

I just try to be intentional about the decisions I make along the way.

If You've Made It This Far...

Well, now you know quite a bit about me. Probably more than you expected when you clicked on an About Me page. 😂

Earthly Motherhood has become a place where I get to share so many parts of my life that I care about, from physiological living and motherhood education to the birth work that has become such a meaningful part of what I do. But underneath all of that, I'm still just a woman who became a mother young, started asking questions, and never really stopped. I don't expect everyone who finds their way here to share my beliefs or make the same choices I have. That's never been the point. I simply hope that by sharing my experiences, the things I've learned, and the questions that have shaped my life, I might offer something meaningful to another woman who's finding her own way through motherhood.

And if you're one of those women, I'm really glad you're here.

With love,

Callie