Free Birth - Exploring Autonomy In Childbirth

Today I sit down with Kristy from Australia, who surprised me with her courage and strength. She secretly planned a freebirth, only letting her partner in on her plans. And after a perfect freebirth in her home, she was whisked away to the hospital when her mother called 911. But Kristy not only birthed her daughter that day, she birthed herself, into a fierce and powerful woman, a mother, with a voice, and thankfully, she learned how to use it.

This week I break down all the options of what to do with the placenta and simplify the famous question, "What to do with the cord"? 

This is the third episode of our four part series with Kim, tracking her wild pregnancy and upcoming freebirth. We tune in with Kim in at the tail end of her pregnancy to wrap up her third trimester before she heads into her impending labor. She tell us about her final weeks of dealing with HG, the fears and tests that are new to these final months, and her journey with a doppler. Lastly, Kim tells us her birth vision of her upcoming freebirth.

This week I am back with elder midwife Sister MorningStar, diving into her wisdom of holding Village Prenatal in your community. Her 2 part episode of first season continues to be one of the highest downloaded episodes in Free Birth Society’s history and we are returning today to one of the most common questions I get emailed about. Sister MorningStar shines light on how to organize a Village Prenatal in your community and explains what the framework is. We cover the structure, how to find women, the do’s and don’t, the intention, and Sister even gets me to sing with her.

This week I sit with with Amber, the host of the Medicine Stories podcast. Following her intuition to freebirth with her first child, Amber tells us the refreshing story of how her grandmother and mother came to her in Amber’s time of need to support her in birthing her child. And then a decade later, as Amber prepared for her second child, her beloved mother was tragically killed in a car accident. Amber shares with us the emotional journey of that pregnancy and why she chose to be surrounded by a circle of women in her second birth.

This week I sit down with the incredible Julia Jones from Perth, Australia. We talk about 'baby brain' and the importance of understanding how our brains change when we have a child. We get into the significance of learning about our own ancestors birthing traditions, and Julia shares with us the common practices she’s found in cultures around the world. Julia tells us of her own postpartum experiences and how she learned to lead with the question, “Does this bring me peace and joy?". 

Today we have a wonderful talk between my friend Kristin and I, about her second pregnancy, and first fully autonomous, wild pregnancy. Kristin has much wisdom to share, as she reflects on the lessons she’s learning and how she is navigating this space and time of her life, becoming a mother of two. Kristin was on the first season sharing about her euphoric birth and difficult postpartum, so check that out if you want to hear more from her.

After a terrible first birth in the hospital, Laura knew she wouldn’t return. She resolved to freebirth at home with her second baby, and tell us of the awkward navigation it took being a military family choosing something so radical. Laura came to her own conclusion that to have a licensed midwife in a home birth would be bringing the hospital to her, which she did not want. What would have been a highly medicalized birth in the system, was a normal and ecstatic birth at home, even with her baby’s growth restriction and double nuchal cord. Laura then freebirthed her third child and tells us of her challenging recovery.

I have something a little different for you this week, I’m sharing an interview I did with Katya Nova from her podcast, Honey Talks. I’ve gotten pretty comfortable being the one interviewing so it’s always fun to be on someone else podcast and switch it up! So this time - I’m the one interviewed. Katya and I’s conversation turned into something VERY powerful that I am proud to share here with our listeners. We get deep into some of my favorite topics, conscious conception, sexuality after childbirth, matriarchy, and some pretty personal stuff about me and my life.  

We are back with Kim and our four part series following her wild pregnancy, upcoming freebirth, and four trimester. This episode is catching up on her second trimester. Kim fills us in on her continued journey of hyperemesis gravidarum, navigating body image in an ever changing body, and how she is learning to deal with anxiety. Kim tells us of a turning point after a trip to a hospital.

We are kicking off 2019 with an absolutely beautiful story, woman, and family. If you follow me on instagram you may notice I’m a tiny bit obsessed with Hannah-Grace and her adorable family. So - I’m really excited to bring you this episode, about Hannah-Grace and her deeply spiritual, deeply intentional journey of her pregnancy and birth with her first child, baby Koa. She speaks to how her birth renewed her vows with the universe, and how she said yes to all the work intrinsic to walking this path. She shares how she found fearlessness and painlessness in her meditation practice, and that preparing for her birth felt like preparing for a sacred ceremony. And stay tuned till the very end because we include a little treat.

We’re back this week with Andrea from Go Diaper Free. This episode is all about Elimination Communication. We’re here to demystify it and to give you both the tools and confidence to get you and your baby started. Let’s teach our babies diapers are not their toilet and experience deep levels of connection and communication when we honor their dignity and instincts. And by the way - yes you can do this, and it’s actually, really truly, not hard.

Today’s episode is with Andrea, from Go Diaper Free. But this show isn’t about Elimination Communication - it’s about Andrea, and her journey to freebirth. Her first birth was sabotaged by her midwives, sending her into postpartum depression. She then moved to a state where midwifery was illegal, so with her second she began compassing towards doing it at home on her own. Andrea is brutally honest about her own journey of facing her fears and how much work there was to do within herself to finally freebirth her fifth baby in her full power.

This week we have Emily, a beautiful woman from New Zealand, who settled with her partner in Portugal, where she now lives off the grid. Emily shares the journey of following her truth to birth her son alone with just her partner, and the story of her daughter’s birth who was a surprise breech.

When Pheonix became pregnant with her first child, she was living in Atlanta, and was self admittedly still a girl. But the birth of her son launched her into a discovery of self love and conscious living. Pheonix moved her family to Hawai’i, and pregnant with her second child, found herself homeless for many months trying to find her new flow. Her story ends happily with a gorgeous example of ecstatic birth and authentic midwifery.

This week we are doing a deep dive into all things TIES. We are joined by the lovely Jacqueline Kincer, who’s an IBCLC in Arizona. She answers a ton of my questions. We get into lip ties, tongue ties, even buccal ties. She tells us ways to self assess yourself or your baby and what you can do about it. Jacqueline also shares some thoughts on alcohol, diet, and smoking while breastfeeding.

This week we have Debbie from Utah sharing the story of her first two births in captivity and then the freebirth of her third. After a mixed bag of experiences in the hospital with her first two, Debbie realized early in her third pregnancy that she wanted to have an unassisted childbirth. Using the tools of hypnobirthing and by way of lots of research, she got ready for an ecstatic birth. Debbie birthed just she had envisioned. Lastly she shares why she chose to go to the hospital after her birth and thankfully, had a positive experience.

This week we are joined by Kate from New Hampshire, who free birthed both her children. Kate shares how she decided birthing independently with her first child was the safest decision for her family. In the telling of her birth stories, she tells us about how she cried on the phone to Ikea customer service in early labor in one birth, and went to a doula interview in the next! Kate’s stories are such perfect examples of how simple but yet, highly individual each person’s births are. And as always get into a talk about doulas and midwives.

Today we are joined by Rose from the South Coast of New South Wales. After a fairly challenging and dramatic first home birth, Rose was dead set on not having another child for some time. On a trip back to Australia from the Caribbean where her partner was working, she discovered she was pregnant yet again. On the brink of Hurricane Irma, she was separated from her partner for many months, who got stuck in the Caribbean in the aftermath of the disastrous hurricane. Rosie stayed in Australia with family and decided to freebirth. She experienced a simple and painless ecstatic birth with her daughter. She also talks about having her toddler son at the birth, her regret of ultrasounds,, and the lessons she learned from both her births.

This week we have Stephanie’s story of freebirthing her twins. Stephanie explains that she would have much preferred to have had the presence of midwives but when she was risked out from the licensed midwifery practice, she was backed into a corner. She had to choose, either return to the hospital where she had been abused in her first birth, or stay home and have a normal family centered birth. And so... she did just that.