Healing Birth

Anisa shares her story of having a midwife-assisted homebirth with her first baby, and a freebirth with her second. She says that birth can just keep getting better when we take back more of our autonomy, and especially when intentional preconception preparations for mind, body, and spirit are made. Anisa Woodall is a holistically-minded Certified Nutritionist and natural mama of 2 adventurous boy...

Yolande Norris-Clark is a leader in the freebirth, birth-freedom, self-healing, and health liberation movements. She is a spell-breaker, way-shower, whistle-blower, trailblazer, and beloved guide to women all over the world who are awakening to the possibility of giving birth in peace and power. Her mission is to dispel the myth that birth is an ordeal from which women must be "delivered," and to...

Brittany described herself as a "good country girl" when pregnant with her first child. Her wishes for that birth were to merely make it out alive with her baby, and she completely deferred to her private care obstetrician when it came to the birth experience. Now, pregnant with her third baby, Brittany is free birthing, on a cattle station in the middle of the Australian outback, miles from anyon...

Brittany describes herself as a "good country girl" when pregnant with her first child. Her wishes for her birth were to merely make it out alive with her baby, and she deferred to her private care obstetrician when it came to the birth experience. In this part one, she shares her first two births within the Australian medical system, one with OB care, and the second time, with midwives. These two...

After a pregnancy loss, and a history with an eating disorder, Kelly was not in a relationship of full trust in her body when she gave birth to her first baby. She agreed to be induced when her obstetrician pressured her into it, feeling that, her baby was safer outside of her body. Kelly went on have her next two babies at home. Both experiences showed her how trustworthy, indeed, perfectly desig...

In her former role as a newborn photographer, Laura had witnessed plenty of births before having her own. She intuitively felt that something about the experience, as it occurs for most women, was wrong. When it came time for her to have her own first baby, she chose to have a wild pregnancy and free birth, deep in the Peruvian jungle with only her husband present. Recorded at just four months pos...

Have you, or someone you know, conceived a baby during a time in your cycle that didn't fall within the normal, ovulatory window?   As someone who listens to a lot of birth stories, I've heard it happen many times. I always attributed those occurrences to the inherently mysterious nature of pregnancy and birth. But what if there is another explanation? Medical astrology has been in development for...

Milena, the daughter of a licensed German midwife, grew up around babies, pregnancy, discussions about birth, and even attended births with her mom. When it came time for her to give birth the first time, she chose a midwife assisted home birth. But the second time she became pregnant, she was strongly drawn towards having a wild pregnancy and to freebirth. In addition to hearing her two birth sto...

Stephanie shares her two birth stories, both of which took place in a hospital staffed only by midwives, in rural Australia. Her first birth experience cracked her intuition wide open, and she says that it initiated her into the person she was meant to be. Her second birth was a different kind of initiation, which included a complication at the end. During both experiences, she felt very cared for...

Nina was dropped by her midwives at the end of her first pregnancy due to high blood pressure, and had to give birth to that baby in the hospital. The second time she became pregnant, she decided not to engage with the medical system at all. Her blood pressure remained elevated during this pregnancy, but rather than immediately pathologize it based on the numbers alone, she decided to tune into ho...

After becoming pregnant through the intensely medically managed experience of IVF, Kelli planned to step away from that model of care, and birth her baby at home. But after five weeks of exhausting on and off labor, she felt like something was wrong, and agreed to transfer her care to the local hospital. It was there that they discovered the reason for her confusing labor pattern was a previous, c...

With raw emotion and beautiful vulnerability, Mallory shares her three birth stories, and the life circumstances that shaped them. Her first two births took place in a hospital - one quite traumatic, and one not. Her third baby was born at home, with just her husband present. She says that it was this birth that catalyzed her transformation from maiden to mother. And that she wants to share her po...

Clancy spent three and a half years calling in her second child. Swimming in sacred fertile waters, speaking desires into the ethers, dreaming, ritual, ceremony, creating altars, writing letters, journalling, setting intentions, kinesiology, acupuncture, medical intuitive session, not trying, psychics, therapy, family constellations, womb work, chi ne tsang massage, herbs, and vaginal steaming. Yo...

Jodi is a postpartum registered nurse and lactation consultant who works at her local hospital. After two very medically managed, in-hospital births, one of her friends shared the concept of freebirth with her, and that there were women choosing a totally different way to walk through their pregnancies and birth their babies. At first, she thought this idea was crazy, but the seed was planted. By...

Kristen is a former nurse of 14 years, who spent most of her career in the NICU. She once believed that home birth should be illegal, and that doctors always knew best. But in 2015, with the birth of her first son, she began to see things differently. She is also one of the co-founders of Canadian Frontline Nurses. In that role, she has been a powerful, public voice advocating for medical freedom...

Neena's first baby was breech at term, so she was given no other option but a planned cesarean. When she conceived again, she knew she wanted a VBAC, but even at her local "VBAC-friendly" practice, she was coerced, gaslit, and shamed, at nearly every interaction with them. Neena's story is an excellent example of how even a highly informed, confident, and, perhaps most importantly, perfectly healt...

Neena's first baby was breech at term, so she was given no other option but a planned cesarean. When she conceived again, she knew she wanted a VBAC, but even at her local "VBAC-friendly" practice, she was coerced, gaslit, and shamed, at nearly every interaction with them. Neena's story an excellent example of how even a highly informed, confident, and, perhaps most importantly, perfectly healthy...

Ada's first baby was born at home, attended by a midwife. The birth was uncomplicated, but she realized in retrospect that the way her midwife handled the birth of the placenta was problematic, and could have caused serious complications. She knew when she conceived again, it would be just herself and her partner at the birth. And that's exactly what happened - in an off grid home, with no electri...

After a hospital birth, then a midwife attended home birth, Brenna was ready the third time to follow the call she felt in her heart to choose freebirth. She describes it as the longest and hardest birth, but without a doubt the most peaceful, redemptive and transformative. Her daughter was born into the arms of her father, into a room full of sunshine, with the sounds of happy tears and rejoicing...

After a birth with many interventions, ending in a cesarean, Tamika's first baby spent a harrowing time in the NICU. When enough time had passed for Tamika to process this experience and heal, she was able to release the heavy weight of guilt she carried. With a deeper trust in her body, she chose to conceive again and gave birth to her second baby, at 43 weeks, in the comfort of her own home. Do...

Kaylee's first birth experience ended in a cesarean, after having been dropped by her midwives' care for going over 40 weeks. She partially credits the events of 2020 as being a huge awakening for her, so when she became pregnant again she knew she no longer wanted to engage with the medical system, and planned a free birth. When she went into labor with that baby, what transpired was a six day lo...

After two hospital births, Danielle decided she wanted her third to be born at home. However, she happened to live in one of the five (now four) states which do not allow licensed midwives to attend VBAC births at home. Listen to find out how she navigated this, and if she got her home birth! Danielle is also a fellow podcaster. You can find her show @birthjourneyspodcast Do you have a story you'd...

After the unplanned, but not traumatic, cesarean birth of her first child, Danielle felt a sense of grief she didn't understand. Despite having a successful VBAC in the hospital subsequently, that same feeling of grief and failure found her in her postpartum time. She eventually experienced post-partum depression severe enough to need medication. Something inside her knew there was a better way. T...

After a traumatic, unnecessary cesarean in an Australian hospital, Rebecca knew that she'd get pregnant again, and would not enter the medical system. She had a completely wild, peaceful pregnancy, and free birth with just her family present. (Be sure to check out our instagram page this week @healingbirth to see photos of this birth, and the "potato embryo"!) Do you have a story you'd like to sha...

Rebecca's first experience with birth was a miscarriage, which, in her words, left her with the beautiful message that "we are mother nature." When she conceived again, she was hit with the firewalk of hyperemesis, an initiation all of its own. She gave birth to that baby in an Australian hospital with midwives. Her story, sadly, is a perfect example of the ways that defensively practiced medicine...