What is "normal" if so many people are risked out of "normal" care?

That time when your waters were open for several days and early labor was finally beginning to brew...🌀😜😭🙏🏻🙏🏻

I’ve said this before and I will say it again, almost every person I have ever walked with in this pregnancy + birth journey has *something* going on that would “risk them out” of regulated care. Whether it is age, weight, “overdue”, waters open “too long”, baby in “wrong” position, prolonged labor, history of bleeding, high blood pressure, baby “too big”, baby “too small”, etc. etc. etc.

This begs an important question: If barely anyone fits in the “normal” box meant to keep people “safe”, is the box really normal or based on safety at all? Or is it based on the illusion of control? You can guess my opinion here, I’m sure.

You will notice that I am using quotations a lot here--that is because these are not problems, or complications...unless they are. To discern whether something is a variation or a complication, it takes a pregnant/birthing person *knowing* themselves, their baby, and body deeply, and (if they so choose) a support person who has developed a soul-level connection with them and their baby, who is informed not only by their skills + knowledge but most importantly by their relationship with the person they are serving.

This way of caring for pregnant + birthing folks is utterly impossible in the medical industrial complex, including licensed midwifery, where regulations, protocols, and rules are LEGALLY REQUIRED to come before the practitioner’s relationship + allegiance to their own wisdom and that of the human they are serving.

For this and many other reasons, there will ALWAYS be families who seek support and care outside of an unethical system, and I and an ever-increasing community of attendants will be there to support them.

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Amara, the powerful mama in these photos, would have been “risked out” of care several times over if she had chosen the regulated model of medical management, i.e. birth center or licensed midwives, like many, many other pregnant/birthing folks have over and over again.

Later this week Amara and I will be jumping on an IG Live where she will recount the swirling, potent tale of her autonomous pregnancy + birth, and all the challenges + triumphs that made up this sacred initiation orchestrated perfectly by spirit for her and her sweet babe 🌸 Look out for an announcement about timing of the IG Live--we’re thinking probably this Sunday afternoon 😍😍😍

📸: Yours truly