Traditional midwifery touchstone for free birthing women :)
Hello,
My name is Liv. I've been both intrigued and haunted by this sub since it's dawn. Tonight, I feel like adding to the noise in hopes to make genuine connection(s) and offer traditional midwifery support and perspective to free birthing mothers; as I find most women choosing free birth actually prefer a touch stone to the ancient wisdom of midwifery in their childbearing years rather than throwing baby out with the bathwater.
Both of my “wild” pregnancies/“free” births have had huge variations of normal (measuring 10+ weeks ahead for months - not twins, retained placenta - 5 days, both of my daughters have cystic fibrosis - the medical industry calls this a lethal genetic disease, multiple breastfeeding complications because of cystic fibrosis, the list goes on). I’ve found it extremely comforting to face those variations with the wisdom within coupled with the wisdom from true traditional elder midwives.
Maybe there are women here who desire a similar comfort.
This July I willingly birthed my second daughter alone on my bedroom floor. I was soon flooded by the warmth of my eldest daughter, mother, sisters, husband, and midwife.
I've never identified with FBS definition of free birth. "Free"ness in birth is a posture that is not subject to the external. Regardless - my births have indeed been free. Years and months later, I'm still consumed by the thrill, the joy, the suffering, the relief, the ever-present and ever-evolving free-dom of my births.
I have been a practicing traditional midwife in the state of GA for 5 years. I completed a 4 year PEP apprenticeship with NARM in 2020. I chose to forgo the CPM title. I was privileged with a robust and sensational traditional training, witnessing over 200 home births with two incredible elder midwives.
The RBK opened the same year I graduated. I remember thinking "shit!!! I need this asap!!!"
Yeah. The marketing was that good. Or I was that blind. Both/and.
I was planning to enroll and went to the first Matriarch Rising Festival in 2021 to get a feel for the FBS in real life. Upon arrival, my body entered fight or flight. Legit chills, heart palps, sweats, migraine. My mind could not figure it out. I tried to chill and could not escape the feeling of danger even though everything was seemingly magical. By the end of the first day, I knew it would be impossible to sleep there. I called my mom in a full blown panic attack and decided to leave. While driving off of the property, my body finally purged whatever the hell was going on. I vomited 6x at the edge of the driveway. Pulled onto the main road and felt instant relief.
I never knew why my body couldn’t be there. I chalked it up to maybe a tree was going to fall on me in the middle of the night and my body was trying to save me.
Looking back, I think there was more than just the threat of a tree falling. And needless to say, I didn’t take the RBK.
There is nuance to everything and I grow in my capacity to hold the spectrums. It’s rarely black and white.
Instead of the RBK, I nestled into an independent home birth midwifery practice championed by my elders. My practice has brought me the joy of witnessing/serving 70+ women in birth - forever grateful to sit at the altar of life/death in humility and service.
Thank you dear women who have invited me to your threshold.
As I settle into mothering two daughters, my desire is to be a little less off call and pour my midwifery energy into women who are desiring a traditional midwifery touchstone whilst planning a free birth - whether that’s conception, pregnancy, birth, or postpartum.
If you’re curious and would like to connect, you can read more about me/my story/philosophy and can reach out to me on my website linked below.
xoxo liv
Posted Oct 30, 2025, 4:04 PM UTC