The Renegade Mama

Wow - here we are at the last episode of season 3! I was pondering what I should do for the last episode and then I thought - a lot of people have been asking to hear the speech I did at the Australia Homebirth Confernce in November last year. So here it is! The title of the presentation is: Freebirth - Taking Radical Responsibility. For those of you that already understand freebirth - I hope that it is affirming and uplifting. And for those who those of you who are still learning about freebirth - I hope it gives you some insight and understanding! I will be taking a break off the podcast till the end of the year and my energies will be focused on creating my upcoming Freebirth documentary. I will also be focusing on some teaching - so watch this space for classes in person and online. Enjoy this episode of my summations and thoughts on freebirth.

Today on the show I speak to Fiona about about her two vastly different births. For her first Fiona found out via ultrasound that her babies organs were forming on the outside of his body. An elective c-section was strongly advice and she consented under duress. She ponders if these early ultrasound may have contributed to this condition and talks about how the over medicalisation of this pregnancy made it very hard to connect in with her baby. After her baby was born - shockingly they overdosed her baby with drugs when a nurse missed a decimal point while administering. This delayed the surgery because her babe needed to recover from this first. After this experience Fiona knew next time would be different and decided on a freebirth and wild pregnancy. She had no scans and rather tapped into her intuition as her guiding beacon and light. Fiona’s freebirth was a long 48 hour labour with a trip to the hospital in between but the end stage was fast with her baby being born 20 minutes after waking up from a nap. Her placenta took 36 hours to emerge - although she suspects it detached much earlier. Breastfeeding was a dream - again a vast difference from her first where she only got to hold her son 3 days after he was born. Fiona’s story is a remarkable journey from polar opposites end of the spectrum. I just love this stories of where women return to their power despite their previous experiences. Thank you Fiona for sharing your story from such a warm and heart centred place.

More About Fiona. 

Standing as a beacon for heart-centered mamas, I’m cultivating a community of soul-aligned women living abundant lives of ease, standing in absolute power, and advocating for freedom in all aspects of life. Together, we're redefining motherhood, one sovereign choice at a time.

Today on the show I speak to Prue about the wild ride that led her to freebirth. Starting at 14 Prue started dabbling in drugs and alcohol. By her 20’s she realised it had become an addiction and she checked herself into rehab. She then ended up at the other end of the spectrum on extremely strong anti-depressants which she said made her a zombie and literally drool. She ended up weighing 100kg and knew something needed to change. She got off the pharmaceutical drugs and started body building but got down to a very unhealthy 35kg. When she finally let go of that and returned to a healthy weight and got her period back (which she had lost because she was so thin) she fell pregnant with her first. Her daughter was born in hospital and although straight forward for a hospital birth - it  still wasn’t the best experience and in the proceeding weeks she felt like something was off. At 6 weeks postpartum Prue was diagnosed with cancer and she tells us of how she felt like she was in a glass house looking at her daughter, not be able to be with her, bond with her or raise her in this hard time. Cut to covid - Prue felt forced to take the Pfizer vaccine and ended up with Pericarditis from it. This time Prue took the natural route and healed herself. This crazy story ultimately ended (or begun) with Prue choosing to Freebirth her next child - her little boy Koa. Although she had hired a midwife - she had always planned to not call her on the day and thats exactly what she did. Prue had a beautiful and simple birth at home despite a nuchal hand being present. I love Prue’s fire and passion and her commitment to being vulnerable and open so others can learn from her story. Thank you Prue! 

More about Prue:

35 year old mum to a 5yr old girl born in hospital and a 8MO Boy freebirthed at home. Some obstacles in life to get here has been: Addiction, rehabilitation, eating disorders, cancer and vaccination reaction during covid. As a result of the vaccine reaction I endeavoured onto a successful self healing journey after ditching the recommendations of the cardiologist and GPs. I turned to holistic healing where I tried everything you can imagine from homeopathy, ice baths, saunas, yoga, anti inflammatory diet and the list goes on. Through discovering the power of the body and it’s healing capabilities it was a no brained and complete certainty that freebirth was my dream when I fell pregnant with my second child.

Today on the show I speak with Cass about her 2 freebirths. I love a story where first time Mums freebirth. Cass herself was born at home and we hear the story of her growing up on the Wolery - the longest running intentional community in the south west of Western Australia. Even with her upbringing there was still some undoing of conditioning to be done and she dipped in and out of the system during the pregnancy. By the end of her pregnancy though she felt confident and ready - telling her birth plans to anyone who would listen. Cass tells us about her 12 hour labour where she went to her Dad’s house to birth - an hour drive from the shed they were living in. The birth was beautiful and straight forward and although she said she bled more than expected - she felt just fine. For her second she had a complete wild pregnancy - not even doing a pregnancy test. The birth was exactly how she and envisioned except a lot faster - only 2 hours! Cass is an absolute pleasure to talk with and is so logical and intuitive with her approach to birth. I loved hearing her stories and how birth is almost always just so simple! 

Today on the show I speak to mother of eight Elise. After losing her first (and only girl) in a hospital birth, Elise was devastated. She talks us through the process of being told her baby had died during labour and how having nearly every intervention possible didn’t save her baby. She doesn’t vilify the hospital or staff but rather reflects that sometimes as sad and as grief struck as we are - death happens. She then describes how her subsequent 3 pregnancies were test heavy and scheduled inductions. For number five she was with a new partner and decided on a homebirth with midwife which was a big change for her. Number 6 was an unnecessary home birth transfer and number 7 another home birth. For her last Elsie finally decided on a wild pregnancy and freebirth. Having experienced death of a baby first hand - Elise knew this was the safest option for her and her baby. She describes this birth as redeeming of her past traumas and cemented her trust in herself and her husband. 

More about Elise -

Hi, I'm Elise, a mum to a boisterous boy tribe! 

Having started my family journey young and green, I've moved through many levels of utilising the system, from blindly trusting.. to wholly trusting myself. 

After my first birth ended in tragedy, I learnt many lessons with each subsequent birth.. and an now a fierce advocate for women embracing bodily and birth autonomy.. and birthing in their own power. 

My family happily live outside the norm on a daily basis, as Unschoolers, life-learners, free birthers and (semi!) homesteaders.. generally finding our path off the beaten track.

As many of you are aware, in the mainstream media recently there has been a great deal of interest in freebirth. With numerous sensationalist articles flying around I thought it would be of interest to the listeners to hear a response. So on Saturday afternoon this week, as I hung out my washing, I dialled the number of my good friend and authentic birth keeper Emily Lal. As she picked up in Melbourne, I asked her if she’d jump on a zoom call to share her thoughts. It was a hard yes and just hours later - there we were chatting in-between putting our babies to bed on the other side of the country. Emily and I share our personal reasons for free birthing and how we see it as the safest way to birth. We ponder over the double standards held with freebirth and medically attended births and question why freebirth deaths are almost always consider ‘avoidable’ yet a hospital death is rarely spotlighted and considered ‘unavoidable’. We respond to some of the comments in the articles circulating and rejoice in the fact that we have a media outlet to share our thoughts where they will be heard in their entirety and not misconstrued. This focus in the mainstream media really excites me and I thank the journalists for bringing freebirth the zeitgeist and minds of people who may not ever considered or heard of it before. Freebirth is changing the world for the better and this is only the beginning.  Enjoy.

Today on the show my husband Oliver Wenn and I discuss 10 reasons why we homeschool and why you might want to too. 

In recent years the new wave of homeschooling has increased exponentially. Why is this so? Well - here are our top 10 reasons of why we homeschool: 

1. Intuitively feels right

2. Freedom and sovereignty

3. Keeping the light in their eyes ablaze 

4. Travel

5. Play

6. Mixed age learning

7. Family comes first

8. We create the culture, ethics and value for our children

9. Likeminded community

10. Kids can learn at their own pace

I hope you enjoy this personal insight into why we do what we do! We’d love for you to join us! 

Today on the show I speak to the wonderful and bubbly Sarah. Hailing from Ireland - Sarah is a natural story teller and you just won’t be able to stop listening to this one. Sarah has 3 children and has had 4 losses. She is the epitome of ‘high risk’ for the system! Having had a c-section with her first, an advanced maternal age because she is 40, she’d had significant postpartum haemorrhages and also had taken a cocktail of drugs to ‘sustain’ this pregnancy - she had all the high risk boxes ticked. Sarah talks us through her absolutely horrific first birth where she was taken for a c-section at 10cm dilated - she was separated from her baby and only met her many hours after. Her second was a VBAC in hospital and although at the time is was comparatively amazing - in retrospect she realises all the flaws there. For her last pregnancy - she decided to freebirth late into the pregnancy and had the most amazing perfect birth. Sarah tells us how she handled her postpartum haemorrhage at home - clue - just look to nature. She finishes by telling us how amazing the feeling is after a freebirth and how she believes every mother deserves to feel this. You can hear in the interview how genuine and necessary this feeling is. Sarah is an absolute delight to listen and I hope you get as big a thrill out of listening to her as I did.