Today on the show I speak with my good friend Karis Harlon. Karis is currently 9 weeks pregnant and is having a wild pregnancy and freebirth. The theme of the podcast is conscious conception and fertility (or infertility depending on the way you look at it!). We talk in detail about her journey to conception this time (which took about 7 months) and the differences of the conception journey with her daughter Finn which took about 3 years. We also talk about Finn’s birth, her struggles breastfeeding, morning sickness, periods, and why she chose not to take a pregnancy test. We have a few good laughs and question everything about why we do what we do in pregnancy and birth. Karis is open minded, truthful, aware and great to chat with. Enjoy!

About Karis: 

Hi! My name is Karis Harlon. I am a passionate, loyal, honest and caring sovereign being, mother, wife, sister, daughter and friend. I love nothing more than connecting women and watching the magic unfold. Birth, pregnancy and motherhood are some of my favourite topics. I truly believe that each conception, pregnancy, birth and postpartum period launches us into some of the most profound growth and expansion of our lives. My three year old daughter was born at home, with the support of a private midwife after an almost 3 year journey to conceive her. I am currently pregnant with my next spirit baby after an incredible 9 month conception journey. This will be a wild pregnancy for us and I am planning on giving birth at home with the support of... well, me. Feel free to follow my very honest and vulnerable journey on my Instagram account Sovereign_mother or connect with me through my business Sovereignbeings.

Love and Blessings,

Karis Harlon

Today on the show I speak with Canadian teacher and homeschooler Jessica Wallace. Jessica part time homeschools her own children as well as tutoring other homeschooled children. She chats about prioritising the joy of learning and how we can view learning as exciting and inspiring rather than a task. We also chat about the Finnish system where transversal life skills are prioritised over a strict focus of academics. When kids really want to learn - it all becomes so much easier! Jessica experience teaching everywhere from Canada, to the cayman island to Australia in various methodologies has produced her very interesting and unique view on education. Enjoy!

About Jessica: 

For the last twenty years Jessica Wallace has been developing and teaching inspirational curriculum (including Waldorf, Montessori, Mainstream, Private Schools, Outdoor Schools, Pre-schools, University and College) in Australia, Canada and the Caribbean, to a wide range of students, community members and organizations diverse in age, socio-economic status, and cultural backgrounds. In the Cayman Islands, Jessica worked as the Education Manager for the National Gallery, the Art Teacher for both the Primary and High side of St. Ignatius Catholic School, an Adjunct Professor for the University College of the Cayman Island’s Teacher Training Program, as well as the Humanities Instructor for International College of the Cayman Islands. Combined with teaching at Haliburton School of Art and Design, Sir Sandford Fleming College of Fine Arts since 2006, completing her Honours Psychology Thesis on “Self-Fulfilling Prophecies and Teacher Expectations in Education” and years of teaching elementary school in Ontario, Canada, Jessica’s experiences have allowed her to create and implement numerous empowering, cross-curricular, nature and community based, student-directed learning opportunities (while integrating all educational aspects of the Australian, Canadian, U.K., and Cayman National Curriculums). Jessica is currently the Director of Inspired Education Perth, a private tutoring company for home-schooled/unschooled/free-schooled students and co-founder of Conscious Education Eco Centre Perth, with Gillian Howarth.

As a published author, Jessica has recently had the opportunity to reach beyond the limits of the education system to work with WA’s ancient Indigenous People, co-authoring the “Biboolmirn Welcome to Country” with local {Ab} Original, Joe Collard. Jessica’s books continue to communicate her passion, energy, and commitment to educating and empowering communities by encouraging creative, hands-on, flexible and open-ended activities that can help people resolve conflicts and problems, develop interpersonal skills, reduce stress, increase self-esteem and self-awareness, develop a growth mindset and achieve insight.

Jessica Wallace has been an avid artist for her entire life, opening her first solo-exhibition before she turned sixteen, exhibiting internationally, and establishing herself as a Professional Artist across the globe. Shortly after she curated the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands UP Exhibition, she began her certification as a Yoga Instructor. Jessica completed her Yoga and Nia Teacher Training in Canada and provided years of children’s yoga classes to local children. Since moving to Perth, Jessica has become deeply engaged with learning from and connecting to nature, permaculture and providing educational opportunities for all ages, outside of the box.

Today on the show I speak with postpartum doula and author of the book Nourishing Newborn Mothers - Julia Jones. Julia’s passion is about making sure newborn mothers are just as well looked after as newborn babies. Julia talks about her first and second postpartum period and how she needed for something more. By her third she got it right and had what she calls her ten thousand dollar postpartum. In a world where so much focus is just on the birth - I admire her work in this area and encourage you to explore how you can be looked after in your postpartum. Enjoy!

Julia Jones is a postnatal doula leading a worldwide renaissance in the way we care for Newborn Mothers. She has created a new paradigm for postpartum care by merging traditional medicine and culture with cutting-edge research on hormones and neurology.

Julia is the author of both Nourishing Newborn Mothers - Ayurvedic Recipes to Heal your Mind, Body and Soul after Childbirth and Newborn Mothers - When a Baby is Born So is a Mother (www.newbornmothers.com/books/). Julia is also the creator of the worldwide leading education resource for postpartum professionals: Newborn Mothers Collective (www.newbornmothers.com/training).

Today on the show I speak to Dr Clare Davison. Clare is a privately practising midwife who attends births at home as well as in hospital. She is also an academic who holds a PhD and she is a lecturer in midwifery at Edith Cowan University here in Perth, Western Australia. Clare and I chat all things birth and feminism. We start by chatting about her own births - always my favourite way to start an interview. We then chat about working inside the system, working outside the system, changing the system or maybe creating a new one? Ultimately a birth revolution! Clare is the woman who is changing the face of birth by educating the next generation of midwives and I am very grateful for her work, knowledge and passion.

Dr Clare Davison is a midwife, academic and feminist. Clare is passionate about promoting and supporting physiological birth and working with women so that they can be empowered in their birth choices. Clare combines these passions by working as an independent midwife, providing holistic continuity of care to women; and as an academic teaching and hoping to inspire the next generation of midwives.

Today on the show I speak with American Yoga teacher and Freebirther Erica Davis. Erica free birthed her first baby a little over a year ago, here in Perth, Western Australia. We chat right from the pre-conception phase and her experience of having an IUD removed to her long but beautiful birth. We end talking about the postpartum period and how important it is for us to take responsibility in asking for help, putting in boundaries and ultimately making sure we are looked after. We end speaking about the importance of women connecting and being in their power - and how this can scare some men! Erica is real, fun and has some great insight and views about birth. Enjoy!

Bio:

Erica Davis has always been on a radical path, in search of herSelf.

Wanderlust brought her to Southern California to study photography, then onto Hawaii to study yoga.

Her teaching travels eventually took her to Australia where she met her future husband on a 60km bicycle ride.  They’ve been inseparable since.

Erica’s yoga teaching led her to New Zealand where she directed the best studios in Auckland and cultivated a thriving yoga community for 7 years.

Free birthing her first child fully radicalised her into wild mothering, feminism, sovereignty, and freedom.  It’s now her greatest honour to guide women back to their wild and wise selves through sisterhood and support.  You can find her at thewildkeeper.comn the show I speak with American Yoga teacher and Freebirther Erica Davis. Erica free birthed her first baby a little over a year ago, here in Perth, Western Australia. We chat right from the pre-conception phase and her experience of having an IUD removed to her long but beautiful birth. We end talking about the postpartum period and how important it is for us to take responsibility in asking for help, putting in boundaries and ultimately making sure we are looked after. We end speaking about the importance of women connecting and being in their power - and how this can scare some men! Erica is real, fun and has some great insight and views about birth. Enjoy!

Bio:

Erica Davis has always been on a radical path, in search of herSelf.

Wanderlust brought her to Southern California to study photography, then onto Hawaii to study yoga.

Her teaching travels eventually took her to Australia where she met her future husband on a 60km bicycle ride.  They’ve been inseparable since.

Erica’s yoga teaching led her to New Zealand where she directed the best studios in Auckland and cultivated a thriving yoga community for 7 years.

Free birthing her first child fully radicalised her into wild mothering, feminism, sovereignty, and freedom.  It’s now her greatest honour to guide women back to their wild and wise selves through sisterhood and support.  You can find her at thewildkeeper.com

Today on the show I speak with Finnish architect, philosopher and creator of The Free To Heal method Maria Nordin. Maria’s journey is an interesting one. Born with two uteruses she had two highly medicalised pregnancies including one c-section. In her journey to health and realising her own power Maria’s 3rd pregnancy was completely different and she had a beautiful homebirth. Something she never thought was possible. We chat about breech birth and how using her method she was able to help her baby turn from breech to head down. I really love her work and currently doing her course which is super interesting so far. Enjoy!

Biography:

I studied architecture at Aalto University in Helsinki and philosophy of architecture in ETSAB, Barcelona. I hold a Master of Science in Architecture degree with an emphasis in history and theory of architecture. After my studies I became interested in the impact that architecture and indoor air and have in human health, and so I became an Indoor Air Specialist. I worked as as specialist of hyper-healthy housing a and office spaces for almost 10 years. During that time I fell mysteriously ill and became hypersensitive to environmental factors. I searched help form doctors, specialists with no success. My personal experience encouraged me to investigate the power of the mind and consciousness. In few months I cured from my sensitivities and other health problems by using a neuroplasticity. For two years I studied the power of the mind and developed a method that leverages concepts of neuroplasticity, microbiome modification and unconscious stress elimination to truly transform your health & life. And this is something I want to teach everyone else. With gratitude and love, Maria

Maria's website: www.freetoheal.org

Today on the show I speak with Dr Rixa Freeze. Rixa's PhD is all about Freebirth in America and she herself has also had a combination of free births and midwife attended births at home. We chat through her 4 births - including one birth where she preformed resuscitation on her baby girl. We also chat about Rixa’s non for profit organisation - Breech with out Borders and how vaginal breech birth in todays world is nearly extinct. Rixa is a lively academic who has studied birth extensively but also has lived it herself. I really like our conversation.

Please visit the below links to find more about Rixa and support her important work.

Reteach Breech fundraiser:  https://chuffed.org/project/reteachbreech

Breech Without Borders: breechwithoutborders.org

Stand and Deliver: http://rixarixa.blogspot.com/

Inga’s birth story and video with neonatal resuscitation: http://rixarixa.blogspot.com/2011/03/ingas-birth-story-part-1.html

Bio:

Dr. Rixa Freeze has a PhD in American Studies from the University of Iowa. Her doctoral studies focused on the history of healthcare and medicine with specialization in pregnancy, childbirth, and maternity care. Her dissertation examined why women in North America choose unassisted home births. She has published two articles about home birth: “Staying Home to Give Birth: Why Women in the United States Choose Home Birth” (JMWH 2009) and “Attitudes Towards Home Birth in the USA” (Expert Review of Obstetrics & Gynecology 2010). In 2018 she published the article “Breech birth at home: Outcomes of 60 breech and 109 cephalic planned home and birth center births” with BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth. She published another article about breech in Midwifery Today ("The Bottom Line on Breech") and a book chapter “Freebirth in the United States” in the book Birthing Outside the System: The Canary in the Coal Mine.

Rixa's current research interests include human rights in childbirth, autonomy and informed consent, and vaginal breech birth. She worked as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Wabash College from 2011-2019. In 2018 she founded Breech Without Borders, a nonprofit organization dedicated to translating existing material about breech into multiple languages and to making information about breech more accessible to both parents and health care professionals. In addition to running Breech Without Borders, she teaches vaginal breech training workshops with Dr. David Hayes.

Today on the show I speak with Anita Katherine better know as The Midwitch. Anita describes herself as a womens circle facilitator, birth activist and run her own podcast - The Midwitch. We start off speaking about women’s circles and how they were a catalyst for her stepping into her own power. We then talk about her first birth - which was a homebirth with the community midwifery program. She says she had a beautiful midwife and a beautiful birth but didn’t realise she had choices - she just felt “lucky” she had been accepted into the program and that she better “tow” the line. She discusses - not thinking for herself at times in this birth - something I can completely relate to! Her second pregnancy though - she decided to step into her full power and had wild pregnancy and freebirth. We also touch on fears and doubts when you have decided to freebirth, siblings at birth and struggles in the post part period. I really enjoyed talking to Anita as she was so on the same page as me and I hope you do to!

Biography: Anita is a mama of 2 and a birth and space holder, walking women through the inner work of birth preparation.