Free Birth - Exploring Autonomy In Childbirth

This week I have Kate on the show, who shares her story of leaving behind her doula path for something that felt more in alignment with her integrity; midwifery outside the system. Kate also tells the gorgeous story of the birth of her own daughter and how her radical work as a birth keeper informed her decisions to have the birth of her dreams.

April is Radical Birth Keeper Month! Every Friday in April we will journey through a different woman's story of her becoming a radical birth keeper. Today I am joined by a dear friend of mine, Isabella. Isabella was a doula in New York City, until this past year, when she made the decision to question everything that felt wrong about her chosen path, and create a better one. Isabella shares her challenges, victories, and wisdom on what it has been like to become a radical birth keeper. Isabella describes her evolution in birth work as a move, "beyond complicity" and now chooses to support women in a way that feels deeply aligned with her own truth. 

This week I invite Jennifer Lahl on the show, who is the Founder and President for the Center for Bioethics and Culture, based in San Francisco. She’s also a documentary producer, having created important films like Eggspoitation and Big Fertility. Today we discuss some of the health risks of egg harvesting and of being a surrogate, as well as some of the deeply concerning language in surrogacy contracts, and the challenges Jennifer has faced as she tries to make legislative changes to protect women. I also share some my experience of the backlash I received in putting out the three part surrogacy series. We also include some great resources at the end of where to learn more.

I am joined today by Nancy Lucina, our in-house shamanic facilitator and spiritual guide. Today we check in with Nancy to hear what she has to share on how to tune into a love filled frequency during these stressful times. "All the right things, at all the right times, in all the right ways, for myself and the highest good of all involved, may it be so." Stay tuned for her meditation and song offerings at the end. :) 

Today I have my friend Simone on the show who tells us the story of her first baby that was born free, outside under a tree, in Mexico. Simone came to choose free birth from watching her own cat give birth, and tells us how it all began with the thought, “If a cat can do it, I can do it.” And so she did. 

This week we are joined by Amanda, who had two truly orgasmic births. Amanda tells us how she learned to be in such deep relationship with her cervix that she could talk with it and even began to see it as the wise woman inside of her. Amanda tells us how giving birth is what truly set her on her sexual journey, inspired by the sheer pleasure she felt in birth.

We are finishing up our 3 part series on surrogacy with our guest today, Yolande Norris-Clark. I credit Yolande entirely for opening my eyes to the ethical problems surrounding surrogacy and I am grateful to be sharing our conversation with you all today.

Growing up with a deep pain for the childless mother, Brianna couldn’t shake the desire to give a woman in need, a child. After birthing her two children, she sought out a surrogacy agency in hopes of both finding the right woman to give of herself to, and also with a secret hope of healing her own birth trauma that she had endured with her first two children. As is so common with surrogate mothers, Brianna tells us of her deep regret. She shares the story of her sheer and total devastation as she realized halfway through her pregnancy that this was indeed her child, and yet had no legal claims to keep him. She tells the heartbreaking story of manufacturing trauma for both herself and her son and why she is now adamantly opposed to the renting of female bodies, and the selling of children.

Alright my friends, the time has come for our Three Part Surrogacy Series. I have been wanting to unpack surrogacy on this show for a while now and offer my listeners a walk through as to why it is inherently anti-feminist and anti-motherbaby. So for the next three weeks we will be doing a deep dive looking at it from every angle, with experts on commercial surrogacy in Part 1 and 3 of this series. We will also have a personal story with our guest next week, Briana, who will be sharing her story of deep pain and regret having signed up to be a surrogate mother. I’m offering this to all of you because until it was spelled out to me, I had never given it much thought and didn’t know enough about it to be critical of it and vocal about the objective dangers. So with that, I hope you will join me today with my guest and personal hero, Marylou Singleton, as we walk through the ABC’s of surrogacy and why it is an industry we are staunchly against - as you cannot be both *for* motherbaby, and for the commodification

I sit down with my friend Kayla and she shares the wonderfully entertaining and wisdom rich story of her first birth, in which she chose to follow her intuition and had a wild pregnancy and a truly euphoric freebirth. Kayla shares how she laughed her baby into the world, her refreshing take on spirit babies, and how she used her breastfeeding challenges as an opportunity to heal her mother wound.

We are joined today by Kristin, who freebirthed her second child. Kristin has so much wisdom to give and her story is simple and sweet. Having had great challenges with breastfeeding the first time, Kristin shares how she took total responsibility for creating a new postpartum story.

I’ve got a very special episode for you today. My friend Anita has a podcast called “The Midwitch” and she recently created a gorgeous and beyond powerful reading of a piece of writing titled "Herstory". The author is Jane Hardwicke Collings, who was a recent guest on this show discussing blood mysteries. When I heard this episode created by Anita, written by Jane, I knew it had to be shared here, far and wide, as I wish for every woman and man on this planet to hear this, take it in, listen to these words, to cry with us, and do better. With Anita and Jane’s blessing, I am sharing with you, “Herstory”. You may want to be somewhere quiet and private, where you can really take this all in, it is sure to rock you. 

This week on the show we have Amanda, who, as a single mama decided to have her FBAC at home with just her friend present.

I am so stoked to be bringing you today the story of an incredible woman, Shylah Ray. Shylah free birthed her child in an off the grid yurt, on Christmas, by candlelight in Southern California. She was also a radical birth keeper for many years, serving women outside the system. She’s also my new favorite musician, so be sure to listen to the end where we share my personal favorite song of hers.

Happy new year everyone! We are opening up 2020 with Mie from Denmark and her remarkable story of choosing to free birth her breech presenting son. Enjoy! Mie's contact info:  www.miemariarose.com miemaria@wiseandwild.org

We are closing out 2019 with a beautiful story. It’s one of loss, reclamation, growth, and freedom. Leah joins me today to share her experience of discovering half way through her first pregnancy that her daughter had passed. Leah speaks to how that inspired her to claim her birth experience in total power, love, and autonomy.

This week I sit down with elder witch Jane Hardwicke Collings, an Australian midwife. Jane's wise musings on our blood mysteries are guaranteed to blow your mind. If you want to reclaim your blood as power, this episode is for you. 

What begins as a public response to a recent podcast episode from Indie Birth that upset us and many women far and wide, transforms into a powerful and insightful round table discussion. We explore the values of the free birth community, how to reclaim and recreate community amongst radical women, and my guests offer a poignant perspective as two women of color as to why trauma informed free birth is indeed, entirely valid.

Today on the show we have my darling friend Katya, sharing with us the story of her third pregnancy and birth. We talk about her wild pregnancy, the days leading up to to her freebirth, the highs and lows of her labor and immediate postpartum. She also lets us know if she did, or did not have the orgasmic birth she was hoping for. And we have something super special to be sharing with you today, Katya’s gorgeous birth video. She’s inviting all of our listeners today to head over to our instagrams and find the link in our profiles. Sign up and receive her jaw dropping stunning birth video in your inbox. It’s one of the most well done, creative, epic captures of free birth I’ve ever seen.

We’re back with Andrea Olsen from Go Diaper free, and today we are discussing potty training with 18 months and up. If your baby is younger than this, go check out our first episode on 0-18 months from last season. Enjoy!