Embracing Freebirth: Trusting Your Body's Natural Wisdom

I’m sharing a personal story in this post from something that I’ve never talked about before. It's not because it's secret or even that vulnerable, but in some ways, it seemed so insignificant that I forgot about it. Yet, reflecting on it now, I realize it holds valuable lessons about trusting our bodies and embracing the natural process of birth.

Obstetrics, Gynecology and the matrix of fear

Whether it’s hormonal contraceptives or managing a pregnancy as if it’s a “medical condition” - modern gynecology and obstetrics biggest flex is infiltrating your mind with fear of the female body. The underlying message is clear: our bodies can't be trusted.

For instance, if you have heavy, painful periods, you're often prescribed hormones to shut off your own hormone production. And during pregnancy, the narrative is dominated by what could go wrong. You’re subjected to endless tests, each one potentially leading to more anxiety and interventions.

One example of this during pregnancy is routine ultrasounds. If something is “found” on an ultrasound that is “alarming” to the medical team, they often recommend more frequent ultrasounds or more invasive medical testing, like an amniocentesis, which is a process of taking a sample of amniotic fluid from the womb.  

My journey with ultrasounds 

Personally, I don’t get routine ultrasounds during pregnancy. The reasons are varied: ultrasounds can damage live tissue, they can only lead to more testing and the information they provide would not change my decision-making process. This has been a learning process for me.

During my first pregnancy, I reluctantly had an ultrasound. It was quick and not in a standard prenatal care setting, but it never felt right. By my second pregnancy, the decision to skip ultrasounds was easy. This choice saved me from unnecessary worry, which became very apparent after my daughter’s birth, and allowed me to trust my body's natural process.

My second pregnancy progressed normally without any concerns. I knew my baby was head down based on my own body mapping. Her birth was straightforward: about four hours of active labor and 30 minutes of pushing. Despite intense back sensations, particularly around my sacrum, I trusted that all was well.

Interestingly, my baby was born a bit asynclitic, meaning her head was slightly tilted. I only realized this because of her head molding after birth. If I had been told about her position during my birthing process, it might have caused unnecessary worry and impacted my birth experience negatively.

She was my biggest baby so it seemed totally appropriate that in retrospect she was my “hardest” to push out but even so it didn’t feel hard at all in the moment. It just felt like birth! I wanted my baby to come out and she did. Pretty straightforward really. 

A 2 vessel cord  

As we settled in, I was so wrapped up in initiating breastfeeding and introducing her to my older son that once the cord was limp and cold, I just wanted it taken care of. We did tell her what we were doing and thanked the placenta. Then, Thomas cut it and we clamped it. It was quite uneventful.

In fact, at first many months went by and I didn’t reflect back on that much at all but I had an image that I kept in my mind…

It was the image of her cord right after cutting it. It only had two vessels. I was very very observant during this birth as taking full responsibility for me meant I wanted to examine the placenta myself and assess the baby myself, etc etc.  

Cords “should” have three vessels - two arteries and one vein. I remembered this from my first midwife showing me but also it’s something that is routinely “checked” at the 20 week anatomy scan.

My baby, who is now 5, was perfectly healthy. Later, I looked more into the two vessel cord stats and it is pretty rare (1 in 100 births) but is associated with other abnormalities. With medical management it does lead to more ultrasounds, more testing and generally more management.

When I read that, I thought wow what a blessing that I didn’t do any of that! What a gift to move through my pregnancy without a fabricated worry based on one small piece of information. 

Reclaim your power

During pregnancy we do become more porous in many ways as our bodies shapeshift and we get rearranged on all levels to welcome new life. For those receiving medical management, it’s the perfect storm for infiltrating someone with fear based belief structures that completely lack trust in the intelligence of nature. 

We each have the choice to step out of the matrix of fear and reclaim our own power. This doesn’t mean you never get any type of testing but it does mean that you think critically about why and what information it will provide you. It also means considering the “risk” of navigating worry and fear whether you’re pregnant or not! 

Fearing our bodies is not the solution.All the work I offer is based on this truth: female physiology works well. It doesn’t require medical management for bleeding and birthing.  

Choosing birth outside the medical paradigm and embracing holistic prenatal care, is about trusting your body and its natural processes. It's about breaking free from the matrix of fear and reclaiming your power. If you’re ready to take control of your pregnancy and birth experience, consider joining the Vital Pregnancy Collective where I share more deeply about thriving during pregnancy and moving towards birth feeling confident and capable.