In this short series, we're speaking with women who have been free-birthing long before it became trendy, back when it was called Unassisted Birth and there weren't very many resources devoted to it, let alone a society devoted to it.
Each of these women chose free birth for reasons that essentially come down to their faith.
In this episode, we’re joined by our friend Heather Meyers, a mama to 8 living children (5 - kind of 6? - of them born unassisted).
Among other things, you'll hear about:
- First freebirth in 2012 - it was called unassisted then
- First were precipitous home births with hands-on midwives
- Twins were a freebirth in the hospital
- She herself was born at home and grew up around home birth culture, apprenticing with a midwife after high school
- Her husband’s roll in the decision to birth unassisted for the first time
- Off-grid camper birth
- Activist tendencies tempered by humbling experiences
- Why unattended births make sense for her personality
- Her second-trimester loss at home, unattended
- Not about performance, but presence
- The unassisted hospital birth of her twins at 26 weeks
- Freebirthing with helping friends and kids around vs. with just her and her husband
- How labor patterns aren’t predictable or “normal” after you have several babies
- avoiding adamant checklists or “shoulds” about a birth and just asking Him who’s supposed to be there and for the next steps
- When Jesus says “follow me,” and it means taking some gutsy leaps
- Her usual DIY prenatal care routines (And ways she broke from them when led to do so)
- How birth resets her bond with her husband and her confidence in him
- Times she has shown up to support other women in their births
- Why your “yes” is a responsibility and investment
Mentioned in this episode:
SHOW NOTES “FOOTER”
Connect:
From Lauren:
From Brooke:
Intro and Outra Music Credit -
Betty Dear By Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
