Safe in Our Bodies: Reimagining Birth Without Fear

I want to talk about how fear keeps us bound to a model of birth, and of healthcare itself, that is built upon fear. The entire medical establishment creates fear, then sells the solution to it. It offers a safety net that we’re taught to need. So we buy in.

I was partially caught in this myself with my first child. I had just come out of nursing school, immersed in every possible thing that could go wrong. Intuitively, I knew I could give birth outside of this model, but I was in a disembodied state. I reached for the safety net of the hospital.

But the irony is this: the medical environment doesn’t truly feel safe. The idea of safety there is a pretense. How is it safe to be strapped to monitors, to have your movement restricted? How is it safe when the people tending to you are themselves disembodied and disconnected?

My first birth was precipitous, a little over four hours from start to finish. In that sense, the divine protected me. I got what I truly wanted: a natural, unmedicated, vaginal birth with minimal intervention. There wasn’t even time for an IV.

Yet, even with that short window, it was the most difficult and traumatic of my three births. Because I was disembodied. I was operating from fear. I didn’t understand what was happening in my body. I was disempowered at the hands of medical professionals.

By my second birth, I knew I could do it at home. I planned a water birth. I wanted it to feel right for me. But I still hadn’t learned how to fully inhabit my body with the knowing that my body was designed for this. That it is wise.

We are taught to resist our own bodies. To disconnect from our knowing through traumatic imprints and beliefs. I hadn’t learned to truly breathe or feel into the experience. I even needed supplemental oxygen. But ultimately, my son was born safely at home in the water tub.

By my third birth, I had learned how to breathe. How to use my voice. It was the longest labor, around twelve hours, but it was the easiest, most peaceful, most joyful.

It was the birth where I finally understood that birth doesn’t have to be pain. It can even become an erotic, sensual experience when you surrender. When you feel safe enough within yourself to do so.

That time, I was largely alone. The midwife arrived in the last hour to help me lift my baby from the water into my arms. But I did it. I created what I wanted with my mind. My body responded to my mind.

This is what I teach: Embodiment. Returning home to sovereignty within yourself. No longer dependent on the outside world for permission, safety, or approval.

This is true freedom.

Birth can happen in this sphere. You just have to know your truth in a felt way. You have to step into your own authority and claim your right to be the author of your own story, including your birth story.

Join me in reclaiming our power as women, as humans. Let’s create a new version of the world, birthed from within.

We deserve that. Our children deserve that. Let us no longer be slaves to fear in any capacity, especially when it comes to our physical wellbeing.