By Kaili Brooks
Pregnancy and childbirth is a time of immense transformation. For some women it is the most beautiful day of their lives, but for so many more, the process of giving birth is a traumatic memory marked by surgery, violation, and a loss of control. In an act of conscious rebellion against this standard, women are choosing to look to the past and choose to birth the way we were always intended to: unmonitored, unmolested, and free. One such woman I talked to, “Dana,” describes her birth as being, “incredibly straightforward without any drama.”
“I was in early labor for a few days prior to giving birth. I went about my days as usual, attending to my home and my 2.5-year-old. The night before she was born, after my toddler and husband fell asleep, I labored throughout the night, mostly in bed with my husband and toddler sleeping through it. I would wake my husband for encouragement and hold his hand during most contractions. By the early morning, I was feeling discouraged, feeling like baby wasn’t going to come for a while. I was wondering if my contractions were ‘productive.’ I did have feelings, probably an hour or so before she emerged, that I couldn’t do it anymore. It was 8:00 a.m. when I felt I needed to have a bowel movement—I moved to the bathroom, realizing that it was the baby I was feeling coming down. Without thinking, I got down onto my hands and knees and started involuntarily pushing. It was the most incredible feeling—I couldn’t stop it and didn’t want to! I remember being in shock and amazed as I thought I had another whole day of labor ahead of me. I called in my husband as I felt her head emerge and by 8:15 a.m. she was born into my husband’s hands while my son waited in the bedroom, watching from a distance. My husband passed her to me through my legs and I was overcome with joy.”
In the holistic community, we are very aware of home birth, but Dana’s birth was different from those we may be familiar with. She had chosen to birth in bliss, with only her husband and son in attendance. There was purposefully no medical presence, no doula, and no midwife—a truly sovereign birth.
Sovereign birth is birth that serves the mother. It centers on her choice, and her choice alone. At the center of sovereign birth is the idea that birth, much like life, sex, and death, is natural and in most cases, occurs perfectly without the need for interference. Described by sovereign birth worker, Reilly Campbell (see page 79 for more from her), sovereign birth is similar to shamanism. It is a deep connection to yourself, your baby, the Earth, and all the women who came before you. For more from her or many women, their sovereign birth includes the presence of a wise woman or doula who remains completely hands off and offers only the support the mother requests herself. They are not a medical professional: they do not seek to “fix” her birth. They are responsible TO the mother, not responsible FOR the mother and baby. The birthing woman is responsible for herself and her baby and takes absolute control of her own experience. Sovereign birth is many things, but it is certainly not new. Until the dawn of modern obstetrics in the mid-to-late 19th century, almost every woman birthed at home, and unless a medical professional was invited in, birth was a private and sacred affair.
Under this umbrella is freebirth, such as the one Dana experienced. Coined by the late midwife and activist Jeannine Parvati Baker, freebirth defines a birth that takes place without the presence of a hired birth professional. For most women, this looks like her and her partner. Hand in hand with freebirth often comes a wild pregnancy, where a woman chooses to eschew testing, ultrasounds, medications, and any sort of traditional monitoring one may undergo in the medical system. Named by Yolande Norris-Clark, renowned freebirther of ten children, to choose a wild pregnancy is to embrace all of the “wildness” that comes with pregnancy and birth. Morning sickness, cramping, mood-swings included. You live your life and your pregnancy the way you want to, with what feels good and right for you, without the prying eyes of an outside source.
This may sound frightening, as everyone has heard of the horror stories surrounding pregnancy and birth, but everyone has heard of freebirths occurring perfectly without realizing it! Think of all the babies born in the back of cars or apartments, coming too fast to make it to the hospital. Those, though not willingly chosen, are freebirths. The stories we are told and in turn tell ourselves about birth have the power to change attitudes. The medical system is designed to pathologize and weaponize every symptom someone may have, whether real or perceived. The same is true for birth. Obviously, there are true medical emergencies. However, false emergencies occur more often than not, resulting in women being overly monitored, receiving unnecessary tests, being induced early, or in many cases, given c-sections which were entirely unneeded. In the system, you are subject to a cascade of interventions, from epidural and Pitocin to c-section, and these all seek to separate you from the process of birth. Not only that, but they can also make it hard to connect to your child in the postpartum period causing issues with breastfeeding and bonding. This story has been told time and time again, and it has grown stale.
The reasons women may have for choosing freebirth often mirror the reasons a woman might have historically chosen a home birth. These include not wanting to birth in the medical system with the invasive testing and monitoring one is subjected to, wanting to birth in a place they feel safe, not wanting their baby to be subjected to circumcision or involuntary medical procedures, ad infinitum. However, not all homebirth midwives are created equal. For many women, the presence of a federally licensed professional indicates that they are beholden to the medical board as opposed to the birthing woman. This is not to say all homebirth midwives behave in this manner, as of course incredible, women-centered midwives exist. However, due to the way the medical system and licensing process within the legal system function, a medical midwife may in fact just be mirroring hospital interventions within the home. A medical midwife is also required to transfer a woman to the hospital if she feels it is necessary, when again, for most women it is a false emergency. For these reasons, a woman may not want to take on the risk of hiring a professional who may interfere in her birthing process.
So far, I have not addressed your likely main concern, and that is for the safety of the mother and baby. It is true that wild pregnancy and freebirth can result in injury and death. This is also true for births that occur within the medical system. The crux of the argument for sovereign birth is that true emergencies are rare. Undisturbed birth is what our body is designed for. Is it worth the risk of entering the system and facing all the aforementioned troubles on the off chance that your birth may be atypical? For many women, it is not. For Dana, the freebirther featured in this article, she feared the interventions of the medical system far more than anything else.
Even for those who do not choose a freebirth, the implications of the existence of freebirth should be taken into consideration. The medical industry is not dedicated to the wellbeing of the birthing woman and needs to undergo serious changes if it is to serve us. Most women in today’s society are not comfortable with the idea of freebirth, and that is their sovereign choice to make. The issue is with the lack of viable, woman-centered options. At the very least, better full-service birth education needs to be implemented so that women feel confident in the choices they are making surrounding their bodies. Instinctual birthing and mothering need to be brought back into focus. What are we biologically designed to do? How do we fulfill our body’s wants and needs in today’s modern world? Women and babies deserve better. Sovereign birth not only brings a child into the world, it also brings to fruition the idea that you know what is best for your mother-baby dyad.
Ultimately, I don’t seek to tell you that you must birth a specific way or choose freebirth. However, I urge you to choose the birth that you want, not the birth that you are told that you need. Own your choices, and know that in the end, you hold 100% responsibility for your body, your birth, and your baby. Do the deep research, trust in the ancestral wisdom of your body, and let no one tell you how to birth.
Kaili Brooks was born, raised, and resides in Ypsilanti with her husband and toddler son. She is the calendar editor for The Crazy Wisdom Community Journal and a Secondary English Education major at EMU. If you are interested in learning more about Freebirth, as there is so much more to learn and discuss, begin at freebirthsociety.com. Keep your eyes out for a sovereign birth education course coming to Ann Arbor in Summer, 2025 taught by Kaili Brooks and Reilly Campbell. Brooks can be reached at kailimbrooks@gmail.com.
Related Content:
Pregnancy and childbirth is a time of immense transformation. For some women it is the most beautiful day of their lives, but for so many more, the process of giving birth is a traumatic memory marked by surgery, violation, and a loss of control. In an act of conscious rebellion against this standard, women are choosing to look to the past and choose to birth the way we were always intended to: unmonitored, unmolested, and free. One such woman I talked to, “Dana,” describes her birth as being, “incredibly straightforward without any drama.”