Today on the show I speak my good friend and now ex-midwife Norafiah Lever. Norafiah is a picture of integrity and vibrancy. She used to tell me every year that she questioned herself each time she went to renew her registration.  Could she still continue to work in the system that was so egregious to women.   Despite working with the guidelines of private practice, the reporting to AHPRA by other professionals took its toll, and she finally de-registered herself voluntarily.   She does not believe as a midwife that you can truly ‘be with woman’ when theres a conflict of allegiance. Norafiah and I have such a good time on this podcast, having so many laughs and getting all passionate - talking about birth, women’s rights and of course spirituality. 

Today on the show I speak with mother of 3 Mary Allen. After becoming a Doula, understanding real birth and seeing the abuse that occurred in hospitals, she began accepting freebirth clients. When she became pregnant with her third, after having two inductions, she knew  she wasn't stepping into a hospital. Her baby came when she was ready, at 40 weeks and 4 days and was caught into her daddy's arms. She says it was the most beautiful and incredible experience she could have wished for and would do it again and again just for the experience itself! Mary Allen is exactly the kind of freebirth doula you’d want - someone who’s lived it themselves! 

More about Mary Allen: 

I’m Mary, a mother of 3 in the beautiful Fraser Coast, QLD. I'm a doula who supports women who choose to birth undisturbed and completely on their own terms.

Insta - wbdoulaservices

Today on the show I speak with Jamie about the freebirth of her fourth child. After 2 unnecessary caesarean’s - Jaime had a left the system at 30 weeks and had a freebirth for her 3rd. You can listen this story in season 2 of the podcast. 

For 4th, of course, there was no going back and she had a wild pregnancy and freebirth. We get to hear about how this baby come to her, even though her husband had said they were done and challenges with her friends along the way.

Overall though Jamie had uneventful pregnancy and a short 3.5 hour birth. The most remarkable thing about Jamie’s story is, how calm and centred she was when her babe took some minutes to take their first proper breath. 

As we know in hospital this would have been completely pathologised and the interventions would have likely endangered her and her baby. 

Jamie welcomed her baby into the world in their own time by simply talking, kissing and gently stroking him. She says she was not worried once and if you watch the video on her insta @thebondsofbirth you can see how natural and normal this process was for her. 

What I love about Jamie is her no bullshit approach, what you see is what you get. She is so relatable and unpretentious you just want to be her friend. Enjoy this interview of this bold and strong woman. 

More about Jamie: 

My FBA2C, fourth pregnancy, first wild pregnancy, second freebirth; was a journey of how to handle things when shit gets hard and rewriting/changing the cycles and reactions to them instead of falling into the victim mode.

Navigating the loss of friendships and plans constantly falling through whilst trying to set myself up for a relaxed postpartum. Then working through an intense and fast 3.5 hour labour and honouring my babe as he took an extra long time to come into his body.

Today on the show I speak with The Authentic Birth - Emily Lal. Em talks us through her (almost) pain free freebirth. She says in retrospect, she attributes it to the pelvic release work she did in pregnancy. We discuss how getting in touch with our female anatomy, namely our vaginas and breast, can really help us in birth and breastfeeding. Many women never touch there vaginas or breasts much until they become mothers and this dissociation can be challenging. Another interesting thing about her pregnancy was that her babe was breech right up until the day she went into labour. We also talk about fear of death, how this was her healthiest yet heaviest pregnancy, the challenges of working on call as a birth keeper while pregnant and how part of her birth video went viral. Em and I get on oh so well and the conversation just flows - even if we don’t agree on exactly everything, we have the utter most respect for each other that allows an honest conversation. Em is such a rock star who has a wealth of knowledge from her birth work and such a unique perspective of birth. I love this lady and I know you will too. 

More about Em:
Emily is a wife, mother to three children, freebirther and birthkeeper.

Supporting women to birth in full sovereignty and autonomy, Emily has a deep belief and trust in the power and wisdom of women’s bodies and their babies, to navigate the birth process together, uninihibited and undisturbed. She is passionate about bringing women back to themselves and brining birth back to its roots - in the home - rejecting the current medical birth paradigm and its mistrust in women’s bodies.

Today on the show I speak with Fin McKenna Fox from the The Grounded Masculine. Fin is a father of 3, podcaster and empowerment coach for fathers. I get many requests for a podcast from a Dad’s point of view so here it is! We start by hearing Fin’s baptism of fire into fatherhood and how it was mixed with bliss and struggle and then talk through to his journey to where he is today. We talk about how fathers can serve themselves first so they can serve their families and what this looks like practically. We end by touching on his role in his children’s birth (including 2 freebirths) and how it was for him. Fin is such a kind, gentle and compassionate soul who is a champion for fathers and I hope both Mothers and Fathers alike gain some insight and wisdom from this conversation. 

Today on the show I speak with Aisha. Aisha is a birth worker, mother of 4 and strong Maori woman. After birthing her first in the hospital with a private obstetrician, which ended with her babe in NICU, she decided a different path was needed for her subsequent pregnancies. 

Her 2nd was a home water birth with a midwife and she had a vastly different and positive experience. With her 3rd, Aisha was with a new partner and when he asked about kids - she said she had one non - negotiable - the baby must be born at home. When he whole heartedly agreed - they decided to conceive. For them though, it wasn’t straight forward and ended in an IVF conception. She went on to birth her 3rd also at home with the same midwife. 

4th time around and post pandemic - Aisha had had significant spiritual growth and knew freebirth was on the cards. With another IVF conception - Aisha made some unconventional choices about the IVF process (I found this really interesting). I love Aisha’s story as it tells of how just because we start on one path we don’t have to end on the same path. We always have a choice to change where we are going and what the end destination looks like. Thanks Aisha for your openness with your story. 

About Aisha

35yo mother of 4, 1 hospital birth, 2 homebirths, 1 freebirth, and 2 IVF journeys.

Contact Aisha here

https://www.facebook.com/Honouredbirthservices?mibextid=ZbWKwL

https://honouredbirth.weebly.com/

Today on the show I have first time mama Asha who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as an adult. Going into her first pregnancy she wanted a home birth but of course with her diagnoses the system labelled her automatically as ‘high risk’. Knowing that taking full responsibility for her birth was what was needed, Asha’s journey led her to Freebirth, with the support of her husband and a like minded doula. Asha did have some medical prenatal appointments but always knew she would Freebirth at home. Asha had a very straight forward and uneventful 4.5 hour birth which went so so smoothly. Baby was born healthy and she felt great! Asha then called the hospital to let them know baby was here and all was well. Although they were friendly on the phone - a disgruntled midwife then called child protection on the family and what happened next completely disrupted their postpartum bliss bubble. It’s a lesson on how easily it all can be disrupted when we invite authority into the birth process - at whatever stage it may be. Although all was well with the authorities in the end, Asha gives us some advice of what she will not be doing next time! Asha is such a gorgeous, informed, level headed and logical Mama who was an absolute pleasure to speak with!

Today on the show I have a family interview with Hikari, her husband Yohei and her gorgeous 12 year old daughter Haruko. Hikari hails from Japan and requested we did the interview all together and I am so glad we did. Her daughter helps translate but more importantly it becomes apparent

Today on the show I speak with Neala about her surprise twin freebirth. Neala started her birth journey in the hospital with her first 3 babes but by the 4th had realised freebirth was most in alignment for her and has now had more Freebirth’s than hospital births. For this birth she decided to have a complete wild pregnancy and although she suspected twins she thought maybe it was just a fantasy of hers.  This lady is the queen of Law of Attraction and managed to get the time, length of labour and exact date manifested of the birth of her twins - it really is unbelievable how accurate she was. Her first twin was breech and her second was born en caul.  It’s a powerful and magical story which makes you realise how simple birth is - however it comes. We also talk about her losses and how her first loss was her first freebirth and teacher. Neala is such a bright shining energy and has some much wisdom to share -  this is one you will absolutely want to make sure you listen to!  

Today on the show I finally get to tell you, together with my beautiful husband, Oliver Wenn, the story of the pregnancy and birth of our third child Margot Kimberley Wenn. Margot’s birth was incredibly straight forward and so simple. A 2 hour labour which was in flow the whole time and she was caught in my arms under the wisdom of the stars and universe. Her story is proof that really you need nothing for birth except some safe land to birth on. We discuss the pregnancy and how travelling up to 30 weeks had it’s challenges. How it seems to be a pattern of mine to birth at 42 weeks and ponder if this is my biological norm or my tendency to keep on doing things right up to the last minute and not let go. I also discuss why I didn’t do a pregnancy test this time and how it benefitted me and the pregnancy. We end by talking about how I honoured (although not dogmatically) the idea of the first 40 days and how I had never felt happier in the special postpartum time. Lastly I forget to mention that she was 4.2kg (9.2 pounds) - probably because it didn’t make an ounce of difference to the birth - if anything her birth was my easiest yet even though she was my biggest babe! I hope you enjoy this frank and honest conservation between me and my husband!