The Free Birth Podcast

In honor of Black Maternal Health Week, we have doula- turned -Radical Birth Keeper, Olivyah Bowens, from Baltimore, Maryland on the show today. Olivyah is a mother of two, a perinatal community health worker, a holistic birth educator, and a graduate of Free Birth Society’s Radical Birth Keeper School. After learning about the atrocious maternal mortality rate of Black women in the United States, Olivyah committed herself to understanding why Black women were dying. Olivyah walks us through the intersection of racism and healthcare, and how it directly, and obviously, negatively impacts Black women and their families.  Olivyah will also...

Rebecca left her first hospital birth thinking that the doctors saved her life. She went on to become a doula in the system, but all that did was normalize her traumatic birth experience. After removing her IUD unassisted, Rebecca discovered a newfound trust for her body. When she found out she was pregnant again, she asked for two things from her partner: total trust, and total support to birth unassisted at home. Rebecca herself remained in total trust throughout her pregnancy, despite bleeding often. She birthed her baby in her bathroom, with her family present, and in total power. Rebecca...

On today’s episode, we have Maura Sternberg: a healer dedicated to pelvic integrity, and the radical self-responsibility of the women she serves. We dive deep into the lineages of mainstream self-care practices, and their roots in patriarchy. Maura shares with us the wisdom of the cervix being the base of the vagus nerve, and the importance of somatic healing as a way to dismantle embodied patriarchy.  Connect with Maura: www.blossomingdaughters.com @blossomingdaughters/@callmeawitch   Connect with Rachelle Garcia Seliga: https://www.innatetraditions.com/   Learn more about Byron Katie: https://thework.com/   Cervical Wellness with Denell Barbara: http://www.cervicalwellness.com/   Read A Thousand Names for Joy: https://www.amazon.com/Thousand-Names-Joy-Living-Harmony/dp/0307339246...

Before OBGYNs, stirrups, and forceps, there were wise women, herbal remedies, and soft touches. The procedures which we now view as “normal” in the birth world are actually a fairly recent addition to the patriarchal and medical model of modern industrial birth, and they do not center or serve women. In this episode, we answer the question: “How did women possibly survive childbirth before men and hospitals came on the scene?!” Historian Ana Sabrina walks us back a couple hundred years before men came to “deliver” women from the “pathology” of childbirth. Settle in, and listen with open ears. If...