Free Birth Society

Today we pivot to directly discuss hospital culture and the regularly violated legal and human rights of women. I am privileged to be joined by an incredible lawyer and human rights activist Hermine Hayes-Klein, founder of Human Rights in Childbirth. She worked for five years to organize international conferences of maternity care stakeholders to discuss women’s fundamental rights in childbirth. Hermine is a huge force in advocating and shifting the focus on the huge gap in care between honoring legal rights in the medical field and the reality of todays modern day birth culture. We also talk about what’s a doula to do, understanding client legal rights, the ethical obligation of doulas, the problematic of scope of practice, and the downside of professionalism.

Disclaimer: Free Birth Society, LLC of North Carolina shares personal and educational stories and experiences related to freebirth and holistic care. This content is not medical advice, and we are not a licensed midwifery practice. Testimonials reflect individual experiences; results may vary. For services or scheduling, contact [email protected]. See full disclaimer at freebirthsociety.com/youtubeterms

This week I’m joined by Kristin from Orange County, California who shares her intimate story of self discovery through pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. I particularly love Kristin’s story because she chose to work with a regulated midwife and created a way to still be the captain of her pregnancy and birth. Kristin also shares about her struggles postpartum with breastfeeding due to her son’s lip and tongue ties, and speaks to how the postpartum period is a true journey of the underworld.

Disclaimer: Free Birth Society, LLC of North Carolina shares personal and educational stories and experiences related to freebirth and holistic care. This content is not medical advice, and we are not a licensed midwifery practice. Testimonials reflect individual experiences; results may vary. For services or scheduling, contact [email protected]. See full disclaimer at freebirthsociety.com/youtubeterms

Who knows what a FBA5C is? That’s a free birth after 5 c-sections. This episode goes out to all the moms with previous c-sections being told that subsequent surgery is the only way. Carrie, from Southern California tells her story of needing to find a better way. Pregnant with her sixth baby and having no one in the medical models willing to support her, she decided to stayed at home with her husband and birthed her baby in her bath tub. Carrie is freshly postpartum at the time of this recording, basking in the ease of recovery and the newfound joy of breastfeeding after her first vaginal birth.

Disclaimer: Free Birth Society, LLC of North Carolina shares personal and educational stories and experiences related to freebirth and holistic care. This content is not medical advice, and we are not a licensed midwifery practice. Testimonials reflect individual experiences; results may vary. For services or scheduling, contact [email protected]. See full disclaimer at freebirthsociety.com/youtubeterms

Katya Nova's Birth Journey: Part 2 by Free Birth Society

Disclaimer: Free Birth Society, LLC of North Carolina shares personal and educational stories and experiences related to freebirth and holistic care. This content is not medical advice, and we are not a licensed midwifery practice. Testimonials reflect individual experiences; results may vary. For services or scheduling, contact [email protected]. See full disclaimer at freebirthsociety.com/youtubeterms

I’m super excited to be releasing a two part episode with my new dear friend Katya who just recently had her Free Birth in the Dominican Republic about a month ago. Part one dives into the depressing birth culture of Dominican Republic and Katya's pretty wild first birth, where she had to spend the majority of her labor driving six hours to reach home and had a traditional birth attendant waiting for her. Katya also shares her list of fearful possibilities she had to come to terms with in order to free birth her second baby.

Disclaimer: Free Birth Society, LLC of North Carolina shares personal and educational stories and experiences related to freebirth and holistic care. This content is not medical advice, and we are not a licensed midwifery practice. Testimonials reflect individual experiences; results may vary. For services or scheduling, contact [email protected]. See full disclaimer at freebirthsociety.com/youtubeterms

What would our society look like if males and females of all ages understood the basics of fertility? What if growing up we were taught truths instead of lies about sex and pregnancy? We have to start somewhere so this episode is for anyone who doesn’t yet know the ABC’s of how to track and understand fertility. I’m joined by birth worker and science nerd Jessica Austin from Vancouver, Canada who goes through the simple steps of how to use FAM to both conceive a child and to not conceive a child. I do want to note that we do not discuss STD’s in this episode, Fertility Awareness Method is simply a tracking method to understand when a woman is fertile and when she is not. It does not in any way protect people from sexually transmitted diseases. FAM should be used in alliance with proper STI screenings and communication with partners.

Disclaimer: Free Birth Society, LLC of North Carolina shares personal and educational stories and experiences related to freebirth and holistic care. This content is not medical advice, and we are not a licensed midwifery practice. Testimonials reflect individual experiences; results may vary. For services or scheduling, contact [email protected]. See full disclaimer at freebirthsociety.com/youtubeterms

Today on the show we have writer Jennifer Margulis from Oregon. Having four children of her own, she has birthed in hospital, at home with both licensed midwives and a traditional midwife, and free birthed her last baby. Author of the books Your Baby Your Way & The Vaccine Friendly Plan, Jennifer offers both a professional and person insight into birth culture today.

Disclaimer: Free Birth Society, LLC of North Carolina shares personal and educational stories and experiences related to freebirth and holistic care. This content is not medical advice, and we are not a licensed midwifery practice. Testimonials reflect individual experiences; results may vary. For services or scheduling, contact [email protected]. See full disclaimer at freebirthsociety.com/youtubeterms

Today on the show we have the incredible Patrice from New Jersey. Patrice walked into her first birth experience at 20 years old feeling confident in her body and in her ability to have a normal unmedicated birth. She was quickly silenced and given pitocin without her consent or knowledge. Patrice was forced to stay in bed in excruciating pain for 30+ hours, denying the epidural laying there suffering. Somehow deep within her, Patrice knew this wasn’t right and that this wasn’t her body’s fault. She left the hospital knowing she would never go back. She then went on to have two midwife assisted births and five miscarriages. Finally with her fourth, and then fifth, Patrice had family centered free births. We also can’t help but get into an in depth conversation about midwifery regulation, eating placentas, and the questionable ethics of doulas. This interview is one for the books.

Disclaimer: Free Birth Society, LLC of North Carolina shares personal and educational stories and experiences related to freebirth and holistic care. This content is not medical advice, and we are not a licensed midwifery practice. Testimonials reflect individual experiences; results may vary. For services or scheduling, contact [email protected]. See full disclaimer at freebirthsociety.com/youtubeterms

Today on the show we have Melissa from the UK. After a wonderful first birth with midwives in hospital, she became obsessed with birth and was left shocked to realize how uncommon a positive birth in hospital was. Pregnant with her second, Melissa chose to stay at home and have a free birth, to then be harassed by child protective services and even had the cops bust into her home. After a wonderful home birth Melissa was quickly left traumatized by being attacked by social services for almost a year. Pregnant again with her third, Melissa blazed her own path and made her birth her own.

Disclaimer: Free Birth Society, LLC of North Carolina shares personal and educational stories and experiences related to freebirth and holistic care. This content is not medical advice, and we are not a licensed midwifery practice. Testimonials reflect individual experiences; results may vary. For services or scheduling, contact [email protected]. See full disclaimer at freebirthsociety.com/youtubeterms

Today on the show we have Jenny Hatch, who you may say has experienced it all. From having a full on mental break down after her first birth, to a c-section due to breech presentation with her second, she went on to fire her doctor while having her VBAC, then had a postpartum hemorrhage at her first home birth. Finally with her fifth child, Jenny gets to experience an uncomplicated ecstatic free birth. Jenny’s journey is quite the wild tale offering tons of insight and wisdom into the journey of a mother.

Disclaimer: Free Birth Society, LLC of North Carolina shares personal and educational stories and experiences related to freebirth and holistic care. This content is not medical advice, and we are not a licensed midwifery practice. Testimonials reflect individual experiences; results may vary. For services or scheduling, contact [email protected]. See full disclaimer at freebirthsociety.com/youtubeterms