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Into the wild, I'm going into the wild, I am. It's been a wild freedom child, since I left my roots back home. Into the wild I'm good. Into the wild I am. It's been a while, freedom child, since I left my roots back home.
Speaker 1
Welcome to the Free Birth Society podcast. This is a radical space for women who are ready to celebrate their autonomous choices in birth, motherhood, and beyond. Together, we'll learn about wild birth through personal narrative. We'll explore the politics of birth, and we'll analyze everything that relates to our lives as women from a feminist perspective. Here's your host, Emilee Saldaya.
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It's been a wild freedom change since I've left my rules back home.
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Is birth work your calling? Do you long to witness and support the awesome power of women as we make life form kinship and transform the world through undisturbed mother centered birth? In your most expansive vision of your life, are you the authentic midwife
Speaker 1
of your
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community, walking in total grace, reciprocity, and trust with women through the sacred portal of pregnancy and birth? Then our groundbreaking Radical Birthkeeper School is for you. It's an immersive and intensive, fast paced live program in all things authentic midwifery and self mastery that will give you the blueprint and guidance to launch a life altering, world shaking, radical birth brand and business. Think birth business mastermind, life changing coaching intensive, deep dive into all things birth, step by step road map for serving women authentically, and the wise woman initiation that you have been dreaming of, all rolled into one epic program that will change your entire life. It is time to become the lighthouse that guides women home to themselves. Head over to radical birthkeeper school dot com and grab your spot because we are enrolling now, and we always sell out. Say yes to your calling and join us in this revolution of bringing birth back home. W w w dot radical birthkeeper school dot com. Also known as the ocean lady, Josie from Germany went viral earlier this year for the birth she had always dreamed of, her free birth in the oceans of Nicaragua. Today, Josie shares her story of her super fast, simple birth in the waves and how she integrated her experience, what it's been like having such a public, popular story. Enjoy.
Speaker 3
Alright. Welcome, Josie. Hi. So are you calling in today from Nicaragua? Yep. Okay. Cool. But you are from Germany?
Speaker 4
Yeah. I'm from Germany, and I lived since two thousand six in Berlin.
Speaker 3
Okay. And how'd you wind up in Nicaragua?
Speaker 4
We started last year. We moved, first of all, three months in Mexico. We left Germany in July, spent three months in Mexico on an Caribbean island named Sol Bosch, and then we have a look where we have, maybe some opportunities, and then we were looking for Nicaragua and become on September, and now we are here. Oh, fresh. And so this baby that you just rebirthed, was that your first baby? No. That's my fourth baby. Fourth baby. Second rebirth and Yeah. Okay. So it was not not the first time.
Speaker 3
Uh-huh. Well, so your story went kind of viral. Right? Because you are the are the wild woman that wanted to go down to the ocean and birth your baby in the ocean and, you know, those photos went all over. And so why don't you take us to the beginning of your story, tell us about your previous births, and how you wind up being the lady birthing in the ocean in Nicaragua?
Speaker 4
My first daughter my first baby was a daughter, and she was a traumatic ambulance birth in Germany. The ultrasound in the six months were horrible because a doctor was telling me, oh, the baby has a heart disease. Maybe the baby would dying, and I can get an abortion till the end of the pregnancy. Woah. That was a yeah. And that was a big, horrible moment because I'm alone. First, baby in my belly and I ever dreamed about, and then someone tell you, oh, the baby would be dying. And you're thinking about, oh my god. What should I do? And all the roller coaster ceiling and the hormones and everything. And that was the beginning of all the story and my journey to thinking about, no. My inner voice every time tell me everything is good. My baby selfie, my baby is connected to myself. It's so so weird that some other men and women tell me nothing is nothing is good with you. You can't do it. They only tell me what all I can't. You can't this. You can't this. You can't this. There is no one that you tell you, you can do it. It's your body. It's your choice. We are all about it. And so I know that my second baby, I never do it again in the hospital. I'm staying at home. So I gave birth to my first son at home in our bath bathroom in the bath tube, and he weighed four and a half kilos. So nine pounds at home with the hand on his head, and everything was fine. And so I know it for myself. Okay. I can do it without all the hospital thing.
Speaker 3
And so I do it. Your first birth, was it a vaginal birth?
Speaker 4
Yeah. True. But with all the Awesome. With all the hospital stuff, what do you what do most women know?
Speaker 3
Okay. So then at home, do you have a medical midwife with you for your second birth?
Speaker 4
For the for the second birth, there was a midwife.
Speaker 3
So was there anything with your second birth with the midwife that you didn't like, or was it a pretty great experience?
Speaker 4
Oh, yes. Yes. There was also some ultrasounds chewing they're not ultrasound, but the hard heartbeat looking Software. Control. Yeah. And also fingers in my body in all folds. To be honest, yeah. And also, he was a big baby. Yes. But there was a lot of I was disconnected. It was a home birth, but I also was disconnected, and I don't want to feel like that. There should be the safe space around you when you are at home, but I don't feel so. So that was also the reason that I know okay. Third birth, it's just mine. Me and my baby, nobody else. And I know because two births before, I can do it. So I was sure I make it for my own. The story behind the third birth is a little bit special because we were in a situation we can be together, me and the father, and it was a lot of emotions. This third pregnancy was the most roller coaster emotion thing I ever had. First of all, the pregnancy was a twin pregnancy, but we lost a girl in the fourth month. Mhmm. And so in the third pregnancy was also a lot of doctor appointments, ultrasound, and everything. And till the end of the birth, it was not sure what will happen with the baby maybe because it was so special situation. Sometimes it's not you can imagine before you hold your baby in your hand. So I decide it should be a free birth, just me and the baby, so we have the most space. And so I walked alone also in the same bus in the same bus tube for two hours.
Speaker 3
And your partner wasn't there?
Speaker 4
There was nobody. And is this
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the same father of your other children?
Speaker 4
No. That's the father from the third and the fourth baby. Okay. So we are a big family. Mhmm.
Speaker 3
Okay. So then what happens? How do you wind up in Nicaragua, and and how pregnant are you, and where does this whole idea of an ocean birth?
Speaker 4
The the idea with the ocean birth, I had since the second pregnancy with my first son. So that was an old idea. And on the third birth, it was not possible to give birth in the ocean because I was in Berlin. So I know that I'm sure when we leave Germany and we come here, maybe in the Caribbean or in the Pacific, I have to get birth where I feel it. So there was a big emotion to get breath in the ocean.
Speaker 3
And tell me more about that. Did you have a vision of it? Like, what about it appealed to you, and how did you wind up making it actually happen?
Speaker 4
Yeah. The reason is most important for all the all what I've read and saw about birth is the setting. And I love the ocean. I'm an ocean lover, and I love the beach and everything. I saw before that women gave birth in the ocean, though I was sure it's possible. So there is no reason to not doing this. And yeah. And when I find out that I'm pregnant, then I know I have maybe forty weeks to figure it out to I can I can read everything about what I have to do? I have an app for all the tides, so I know the tides for every hour on every day, the weather. I so I have all on my list to check it to be safe as we can. And all the other things for birth, we prepared by ourselves, so towels and the sea for placenta and all what we need. So there was no point that we're thinking about, oh, we can't do that or, oh, we shouldn't do that. So everything was safe. We prepared everything, and we know everything, what we have to know. So I was, I feel safe, we feel safe, and everything was good.
Speaker 3
Okay. So tell us the story, like, the day that you wake up and how do you pick the beach? And is it a public beach? Are there people around? Like, are you there for most of your labor? Tell me every little detail.
Speaker 4
So the whole since we arrived in Nicaragua, we take most chances we have to go to every beach we can. So on the Pacific side, there are many beaches with big waves, with surfer beaches. So we are sure, oh, that's not possible. So yeah. That was not just, oh, I wake up and we today, we make it. That was not. So we travel around and see a lot of beaches, and we find a beach that was not that what I had in my head. But another day, there was a beach with natural pools. And then I was thinking about, oh my god. And that beach is just ten minutes with car from our rental house away. So we're thinking about, oh, that would be good. Because the other point was, I know when the birth would start, we don't have much time because every birth was shorter. The first was six hours, the second four, the third two hours, that was my that I focus on okay. When it started, we have just one hour. We have just one hour. Run to the car and it won't fast. So, yeah, we decide us for that beach, and prepared everything. And that was all my thing. I have a lot of focus on the birth time from the baby because the boys before were born one PM and the other were two PM. So I have also focused on, okay, maybe it's a noon baby. So yeah. And the end of the story is Saturday morning, I was with a big breakfast in the kitchen, make pancakes for everybody, and then was a feeling in my inside of me that I'm thinking about, maybe it started. But that was not the date what we have in our head. It was three weeks before. And so I was thinking about I'm not sure, but it's feeling like ask me in ten minutes. Maybe today is the birthday. And so we finished the breakfast. I called a friend, and when she send me because she wanna pick up the kids, and she send me, okay. Give me forty five minutes. And I tell her, oh my god. No. No. We don't have forty five minutes. You have just five minutes to come here, pick up the kids because baby is coming right now. So she pick up the kids. We go into the car, drive ten minutes to the beach, then it was eleven, eleven AM. We take another beach that was not the beach we are focused on because our friend was going with the kids to the beach, and I was thinking about, oh my god. Oh my god. She picked, our beach. Now we have to go to another beach. That was a beach next to the other. We are we're a lot of walking there. So I know the beach also. Good enough to know, okay, we are safe. Yeah. We're driving to the beach. There was nobody. There are a lot of loneliness beaches in Nicaragua. And we arrived to the beach. I have to walk, I'm not sure, maybe one hundred meter to the sand. That is the end of the of the beach. And there was nobody, and we're going into the water, left on the beach with a blanket, all the stuff that we have. And I feel totally safe. So I can feel the first time of all from all the other pregnancies, the fetal ejection reflex. I just heard about it, and I you can't imagine when you just heard it, but I'm in the water. My man is behind me, and I feel like, oh, oh, it's I can't handle it long because I feel like the baby's coming out right now. But Are you are you naked? Oh, I'm naked. I'm naked, but just I just have a bra. I have still a bikini on top. So yeah. So we were in the in the water. He's behind me, and the water coming the waves coming to our back. And he's like my mountain in water. So I was still in the water totally connected. I feel him, and I feel also the baby's coming right now. And so just I'm you lost all the time and everything, but it feels like so far. It was like tap tap tap. And so I feel like the water broke. And just two contractions later, the baby's out. It was so the fastest birth I ever imagined.
Speaker 3
You're kneeling just in the shallow part on your knee.
Speaker 4
Yeah. Because the contract my contractions I ever had feels like bring me to my knees. And yeah. And then it was it feel like I was so relaxed that my buddies let the baby out with just few minutes. So we arrived on eleven, and the baby is born on twelfth in noon. So I got the baby I catch the baby in the water, and I have it, all the pictures everybody knows. And I'm totally overwhelmed with all the emotions, and that was also the first time we know that it's a boy because we don't know. When my feeling tell me it's a boy. So, yeah, there was just a moment in the water. Then I feel I'm I was not sure to get the placenta in water or not, so we decide to go out of the water. There were a lot of towels. We take the baby in the towels. And then I also were kneeing on a towel, and then the placenta was born. And we take all together. I was going back in the ocean to make me fresh and all that blood and everything. And so I make me fresh in the ocean again, and then we take all our stuff, put the baby and the towels and also the placenta because we don't cut the pot. There was a lotus first. I also have a lotus first, the baby before. So we go to the car, take all that stuff, and I take the babies driving it home and all we're going to bed. Going to bed and relax and looking at the beautiful baby, and every it was so relaxed, and it was so it was feeling so good and so simple so simple to give birth when everything around is perfect for you. For the birth giving mom, Everything feels safe. It's such a different to the clinic thing.
Speaker 3
And how old is your is your newest baby now?
Speaker 4
The newest baby is, since yesterday, five months.
Speaker 3
And how has the last five months been, especially with the popularity of your story?
Speaker 4
Oh my god. I never I never had imagined that it's not possible to be somewhere. And it it not not possible to sit somewhere drinking a cup of coffee because everybody's come and say, you're the ocean lady. Can I make a picture? Can I make a picture from the baby? Can I hold the baby? I hold the baby. And everybody wants hold the baby. And when we are days before on an island, there is, my favorite hotel and bar. There were coming people to me. I I sit there for a couple of coffee with my husband, and they're standing beside me and making pictures. They want to make pictures and hold the baby. They're like, oh, yeah. You are I remember you. I see you in your I see you in the news. Yeah. It's really crazy, but there are also really, really, nice people. They're coming across and say, oh, I saw you. You are so brave and everything. And every time I tell them, it's not brave. I just give birth. It's just me. It was not a a big deal for me. It was just gives birth. Like, I dreamed about
Speaker 3
it. Nothing more. Like, online, have you gotten any negative any criticism or
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anything? Not in PM. Not in PM. I know that there are a lot of not nice comments about all the news, but I don't read it because all the negativity. I don't have space in my life. And all the PMs on Instagram or on other channels I have, I can I get the women are really inspired? They are thankful. Most of all thankful. In this time, we are important to know and to support all the women. Most of all, the support. The missupport all women get and all mothers. There is a time of mother bashing. It's not it's it's too big. It's too big. It's too hard. And all the question in my head is why mothers doing and acting like against other mothers? Why we can't all be together? Because the most important point after giving birth is the postpartum time, and there should be a village. Because everybody knows to growing up, one child needs a whole village. But the time now, there are so many mothers totally alone without nothing, with no support, with no intuition, with no connection to herself, to the baby, and to all around. So we have to be together as sisterhood. Motherhood motherhood is the best that you can get because, yeah, my decision to giving birth is good to be inspiring and to give all the other moms outside support what they need. It's important. I think it's important to tell the mom you can do it. We are where in in in case of giving birth, where are all the situation is like, it's my body, it's my choice. Where is it? Sometimes the printed of clothes let us know just do it, Why we don't just do it when it's in case of giving birth? Why not every woman knows, just do it. Yeah. Well, you did, girlfriend.
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Love
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it. Awesome. Well, I love your story. Thank you so much. Thank you for your time and for your willingness to share this awesome story.
Speaker 4
I'm thank you, Emilee, that you are inviting me in your show.
Speaker 2
And that's it for today, my sisters. Check out everything we do, including one on one and group coaching. Learn about our private membership, in person retreats, and more on free birth society dot com. Our online courses are on free birth society courses dot com, including our flagship course, the complete guide to free birth. Don't miss the radical birthkeeper school if you're ready to become the authentic midwife that women are searching for. Together we rise, and the revolution starts inside each of us. I'll leave you with our Freebird Society theme song, Wild Woman by Aruba Redd.
Speaker 5
I honor you for the wisdom you held, the ancient traditions of plant medicine and womb magic. Magic. I feel the spirit of the ancestors as I place my hands upon my belly. This sacred portal will be honored. Eons upon light beams of survival, withstanding the eradication of our power by design. I will not allow the separation of our young to be forced upon me. My sisters will no longer birth in captivity. The picket line redefined from burning our wild women to paralyzing us and drugging our babes. Strapped down in a clinical white bed drying up the milk from our breasts, keep your needles. My family will never again be doomed to chase those dragons all your poison. We reject your fear. We choose love, everything with intention. Death, ascension. I will fly and bring her back to the star.
