Sinopsis
The Free Birth Podcast explores what it means to have full autonomy and choice during pregnancy and childbirth. In a technologically obsessed culture where obstetrics has taken over the managment of women's births in the last century, we now find ourselves with an epidemic of surgical births, countless traumatizing birth stories and a deeply imbedded resistance to the normalcy of birth. Pregnancy is treated as an illness and childbirth as an emergency from which women and babies need to be saved. Before there were doctors, even midwives, there was just...birth. Women have been successfully birthing healthy babies for as long as we have been alive. Birth is a normal physiological event that rarely needs true medical intervention. To free birth is typically associated with the term unassisted childbirth, meaning a person is choosing to birth without medical assistance and is managing her own care. It can also be extended to mean birthing freely within a medical model - if it's clear the pregnant mother is the leader. This podcast is a virtual corner of the universe to celebrate and validate the movement to reclaim birth as our own. Birth is not a medical event. Join us this year as we discuss legal and human rights in childbirth, investigate the different models of care, and hear from women around the world as they tell their stories of birthing freely. *Our intention with this podcast is to lift the voices of people making the decision to opt out of the default medical system and treat their pregnancy and birth as a non medical event, doing what they feel is safest for their babies. This podcast does not suggest that everyone should be seeking similar birthing choices, or that it is the right and only way, but rather to highlight that for some people who choose, free birth is a perfectly safe and viable option. There is enough room in this world for everyone's personal choices, in birth and beyond. www.freebirthsociety.com
Episodios
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Radical Midwife MaryLou Singleton
12/10/2018 Duración: 01h31minThis week I had the honor of talking with a personal hero of mine, midwife Marylou Singleton. Having found feminism at a very early age, Marylou set out on the path of supporting women and families. She has an eclectic and radical background, from living with and training under Ina May Gaskin, being licensed to now unlicensed, and running an alternative community clinic, Marylou possesses a wisdom of the elders that needs to be heard. We dive into the pitfalls of licensing, doulas, the dangers of ultrasound, and how to build community in our own backyards.
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Kim & Her First Trimester
05/10/2018 Duración: 01h39minWe are doing a 4 part series over the next year with my friend Kim in Los Angeles, journeying with her from birth work to leaving the system altogether. Then, into conscious conception, to now having a wild and autonomous pregnancy, and then of course...her upcoming freebirth. This episode is meeting with Kim at the end of her first trimester, wrapping up her journey thus far.
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Birthing Outside in Power & Instinct: Rachel's First Birth
28/09/2018 Duración: 01h27minToday we have first time mom Rachel, whose minimalist approach to life I found quite inspiring. She tells the beautiful story of her off-the-grid freebirth, and we have an important discussion on vaginal tearing and the cultural implications behind it.
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Anna & Her Birthing Wisdom
21/09/2018 Duración: 01h14minToday on the podcast we have Anna, who shares her journey of self discovery through conscious conception, freebirth, and motherhood. We also speak about her relationship to sacred stones and how that led her to create magical stone elixirs to promote healing, awareness, and self care.
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A Ten Minute Freebirth & The Discovery of Self Authority
14/09/2018 Duración: 01h01minHave you ever heard of a ten minute birth? I hadn’t, until I sat with Lindsey and listened to her story. After having four deeply unsatisfactory births in the hospital, she knew she wanted something different with her fifth child. Realizing they wouldn’t be able to afford a midwife, Lindsey chose freebirth and began her life altering shift from playing the good girl, to becoming the self assured powerful woman she is today. Lindsey shares with us the story of her most recent birth, her first daughter, that from start to finish lasted 10 painless minutes.
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You're Not Broken - The System Is Broken: Processing Birth Trauma
07/09/2018 Duración: 01h07minThis week we have a special episode on discussing the experience of and then the healing of birth trauma. As we know far too well, women across the globe are routinely victimized by normalized obstetrical violence and left traumatized from the many ways in which they and their babies were harmed in the system. I am joined by Diana, who experienced the unnecessary yet systematic cascade of interventions in her home birth transfer. This resulted in both a surgical birth she knew she didn’t need, soaked in trauma, with a deep fear of ever having a second child. Surprised by an unplanned pregnancy, Diana faced her trauma, took her healing into her own hands, and birthed in power. If the way you were treated in your birth experience has left you feeling traumatized, this episode is for you. We are here for you, we see you, you are not alone, and you are certainly, not broken.
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A Military Family's Freebirth: Jessyl's Story
31/08/2018 Duración: 01h19minToday on the show we have Jessyl, who after a hospital birth said never again, and freebirthed her second child in her home in Italy, and then her most recent baby in Virginia. Jessyl talks about navigating being a military family and freebirthing on base. She also shares how she dealt with her nervous husband and the actions she took to step outside the system, one birth at a time.
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Birthing Wild & Free On Kauai
24/08/2018 Duración: 01h04minThis week on the podcast we have the beautiful Yoni, who on a whim, pregnant with her second child, journeyed from the mainland to Kauai with her partner to settle in their next chapter of life. She enjoyed a truly autonomous pregnancy with no outside management, and practiced deep listening and connectivity with her baby soon to be born. Yoni shares her gorgeous story of birthing wild and free outside, in the water, under the moon, on sacred land.
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Just Stay Home: Lel's Story
10/08/2018 Duración: 53minThis week we are joined by Lel from Tasmania. Having suffered a fourth degree tear that required surgery immediately following her unmedicated hospital birth, she was surprised to find no care providers would support her in a second vaginal birth. Facing a completely unnecessary and unwanted c-section, Lel randomly discovered Free Birth Society’s Instagram page, and then this very podcast. Lel tells us her story of birthing her second child, with just her husband and son by the fire, in her home.
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The OB/GYN Whistleblower
03/08/2018 Duración: 01h19minToday we are joined by Dr. Eden Fromberg, an OB/GYN from New York who, get this, truly supports female autonomy, self authority, and freebirth. Dr. Fromberg shares her story of coming to OB/GYN and being appalled at what she saw in the system, witnessing abusive games and sexualized violence in the medical field. It became a mission for her to finish her training and present another way for this field to, quite literally, operate.
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Finding Yourself Through Birthing Alone
27/07/2018 Duración: 41minWe are joined this week by Morgan from Florida. With a history of sexual abuse and after experiencing obstetrical violence in her first two births, Morgan knew she would be staying home with this new baby. She shares her raw and real story about surprise pregnancies, overcoming addiction, and her discovery of self love through her freebirth. Finding no support in her husband to birth at home on her own terms, Morgan tells the incredible story of how she labored while he slept, and birthed the baby alone in her bathroom. In that experience, Morgan found a level of power, love, and confidence that would change her life.
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When Birth Returns to a Village in Alaska
13/07/2018 Duración: 01h21minToday we are joined by Becca, who lives in a small village in Alaska. Due to colonialism, there hadn’t been a homebirth in this village for over 100 years, as everyone now leaves to have a medicalized birth. Becca decided not to follow suit, and tells the story of how she chose to have an unassisted pregnancy and birth in her home.
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Intended Freebirth - Surprise Breech
06/07/2018 Duración: 01h04minIt's our first breech episode! And a surprise breech no less. We are joined by Cari from Nebraska, who after her first birth in the hospital was told she was unlikely to have another vaginal birth. Cari tells her incredible tale of going past 42 weeks and birthing her daughter who was surprisingly breech with her cord wrapped around her neck three times.
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A Truly Wild First Freebirth
29/06/2018 Duración: 01h02minI’m excited to share with you today a truly joyful and fun story. We are joined by the wise, intuitive, and oh so lovely, Alexandra from the mountains of Northern California. She tell us about her idilic first birth, off the grid, in her Yurt. For her birth, she was snowed in with just her partner and her wolf dog, Avalon who played quite the role in her story. Alexandra shares how both she and her partner used plant medicine to flow with the power of birth and tells us all about her placenta tacos. Lastly we have a great conversation around learning to trust ourselves and heighten our intuition through honoring our own boundaries.
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Just Stay Home: Zsudayka's Story
22/06/2018 Duración: 01h14minAfter being abused in the system in her first birth, Zsudayka knew in her next pregnancy she would not return to the hospital. She tells us what it was like to navigate a nervous partner and how she made a compromise of receiving obstetrical prenatal care for her partner's comfort with her second pregnancy. She describes her experience of being a black pregnant woman in America and speaks to the systemic racism in healthcare. Then of course, Zsudayka shares her gorgeous free birth story. Lastly she tells us about her current pregnancy, in which Zsudayka has enjoyed doing completely on her own.
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How I Untransferred Myself While Pushing: Host Emilee Saldaya Tells Her Tale (Part 2)
04/05/2018 Duración: 42minHow I Untransferred Myself While Pushing: Host Emilee Saldaya Tells Her Tale (Part 2) by Free Birth Society
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Birth & Her Many Lessons: Host Emilee Saldaya Tells Her Tale (Part 1)
26/04/2018 Duración: 51minPart 1 of my birth story is up!
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Steamy Chick: The Vaginal Steaming Guru & Her Free Births
20/04/2018 Duración: 56minToday on the show we have Keli, AKA Steamy Chick, the woman behind the new yet ancient vaginal steaming movement. I have been hearing women rave about the benefits of vaginal steaming for years and was thrilled to find out this badass mama had also free birthed her two children. Keli shares how unacceptable she was treated by her doctor in her first pregnancy and how she ultimately decided she wanted to rely on her own instincts and see what birth was really about. And of course, we get into vaginal steaming and how it can be used for postpartum healing.
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Unpacking Ultrasound With Yolande Clark
12/04/2018 Duración: 01h07minToday on the show I have the brilliant Yolande Clark from New Brunswick, Canada. Yolande is a traditional birth attendant, writer, and educator of autonomous birth. We dive into the controversial topic of using ultrasound technology as a part of routine care in pregnancy; a subject Yolande has spent the last 18 years researching. We discuss what exactly they are, the studies, the social impact of this technology, risks vs benefits, and of course we share our many opinions. Check out Yolande’s 3 part episode series on ultrasounds out now on her podcast "Bauhauswife".
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The Journey To A Painless Birth: Chelsea's Story of 4
06/04/2018 Duración: 58minToday on the show we have Chelsea from Idaho. She shares her journey of birthing her first two children in birth centers and then free birthing her next two babies at home. Chelsea shares her wisdom on how she chose to fiercely protect the privacy of her birthing choices. We talk about how Chelsea went through every labor stage prior to her final birth of her daughter and achieved a painless birth experience.