We are closing out Season 2 with the final episode of following Kim and her freebirth journey, bringing us to today’s episode: her freebirth and fourth trimester. Be sure to go back and listen to to the previous 3 episodes that follow her wild pregnancy and preparation for her upcoming birth, which includes her challenges with hyperemesis and the many lessons conscious conception, pregnancy outside the system, and impending labor taught her.
Jun 14, 2019•1 hr 3 min
The word that comes to my mind when I think about this week’s guest, is refreshing. Sabali is a true inspiration to me, with her deep sense of self and no bullshit attitude. In Sabali’s first birth, she was literally abandoned by her birthing team during her home birth, and therefore eventually transferred herself to find support. So when she got pregnant with her second child, she was already highly attuned to what did and didn’t feel right. So halfway through her second pregnancy, she left her...
Jun 07, 2019•1 hr 1 min
Brandi impressed me with her self awareness, humility, and connection to truth. After a typical industrialized birth, she goes on to have a surprise breech birth, in the water, at home. Then has another child at home, midwife attended. It’s with Brandi’s fourth daughter that she decides to freebirth, in the very bus her family lives in. Brandi shares her honest journey with her many lessons, in this week’s episode.
May 31, 2019•1 hr 3 min
Over a decade ago, my friend Nancy attempted a home birth in Sweden that was unfortunately sabotaged by licensed midwives. This launches Nancy into healing, learning, and even becoming a birth worker. Finding herself with a new partner, in a new country, Nancy describes the beautiful journey of consciously conceiving her son in Mexico and birthing him in total power and freedom.
May 24, 2019•1 hr 3 min
I am thrilled to be sharing this interview today with the lovely Jinti Fell, who, you could say, comes out of the closet about her freebirth on today’s episode. Jinti was thrown into motherhood with an accidental pregnancy and while she had a wonderful birth, she was left less than satisfied with the treatment by her midwives. Then, practicing conscious conception to call in her son, she finds herself deep in her own shadow work to prepare for her new child. Jinti shares openly about the highs a...
May 17, 2019•1 hr 50 min
Today on the show I sit down with Samantha Zipporah, an educator on body literacy and womb sovereignty, with an emphasis on conscious contraception and pregnancy release. We cover a lot in this episode, focusing on contraception, abortion, and miscarriage outside of the medical paradigm.
May 10, 2019•1 hr 18 min
This week I sit down with Mitzi, who first shares her heartbreaking story of violence in the system. After her unnecessary c-section, Mitzi left England and returned home to Canada. In her second pregnancy, she found support in the wonderful traditional midwife, Gloria Lemay, who supported Mitzi in her powerful vbac. Then, Mitzi is shocked to become pregnant with her third child. She decides to freebirth on the tiny island where she herself was freebirthed, and so she did.
May 03, 2019•1 hr 7 min
Gloria, to me, represents the power of woman. After the staff at the hospital attempted to sabotage her birth, Gloria demanded her epidural be turned off and did what she could to birth her baby her way. She left knowing she would not be back. 8 year laters, Gloria finds herself pregnant with twins. She made plans to birth her children her way, at home, and she did. At 34 weeks, Gloria birthed her twins at home, with her second baby breech, born in the caul.
Apr 26, 2019•1 hr 5 min
Alright friends, this is the episode you have been waiting for. I sit down this week with the smartest woman I know, and one of my dearest friends, Yolande Clark. Today we are diving into some of the cornerstones of industrialized prenatal care, the gestational diabetes test, the GBS test, ultrasound technology, and navigating RH Factor. If you want to learn more, join our mailing list to hear about the release of Yolande Clark's upcoming book.
Apr 19, 2019•1 hr 22 min
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.
Apr 12, 2019•57 min
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"?
Apr 05, 2019•50 min
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.
Mar 29, 2019•58 min
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...
Mar 15, 2019•1 hr 5 min
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 b...
Mar 09, 2019•48 min
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?".
Feb 22, 2019•57 min
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.
Feb 15, 2019•57 min
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 bab...
Feb 08, 2019•1 hr 15 min
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 childb...
Jan 26, 2019•1 hr 12 min
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.
Jan 18, 2019•1 hr 10 min
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.
Dec 21, 2018•1 hr 16 min
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 final...
Dec 14, 2018•1 hr 18 min
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.
Dec 07, 2018•59 min
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.
Nov 30, 2018•1 hr 4 min
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.
Nov 23, 2018•1 hr 10 min
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 bir...
Nov 16, 2018•55 min
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 alway...
Nov 02, 2018•1 hr 16 min
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...
Oct 26, 2018•1 hr 13 min
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.
Oct 18, 2018•1 hr 26 min
This 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 o...
Oct 12, 2018•1 hr 31 min
We 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.
Oct 05, 2018•1 hr 39 min
