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9: Behind the Curtain of Labor & Delivery: Rylee’s Freebirth Story
Season 9 Episode 9
What happens when you see behind the curtain of labor and delivery?
In this episode, I speak with Rylee, a young mother who chose to freebirth her first child after working inside the hospital system. From the vantage point of the “business of birth,” Rylee began to question everything she thought she knew about pregnancy. That unraveling brought her face-to-face with the deep dissonance between what she was told was “right” and what her body knew was true.
Carrying that knowing into her own pregnancy, she made the radical choice to step away from the system entirely. Rylee shares what it was like to work as a self-described “fearmongering phlebotomist,” to quit, and then to bring her baby earthside in her own power.
Her story is one of unlearning, reclaiming, and discovering the strength that emerges when a woman finally trusts herself.
What You’ll Hear:
- Why Rylee walked away from working in a hospital
- What it feels like to stand up to doctors and refuse routine procedures
- The hidden link between hospital “convenience” and high C-section rates
- Why even trusted OBs and familiar clinics can still feel wrong
- How she found her rhythm and delivered her baby in a birth pool at home
- The joy of her birth: laughing while pushing, with her mother and husband as witnesses
Timestamps:
[00:00] Introduction
[09:03] Starting to question the hospital method and learning about freebirth
[15:45] Climbing out of the system and trusting her instincts
[19:57] Defying the doctors and reclaiming her sovereignty
[28:15] Realizing that the hospital is a business
[36:37] Choosing who she wanted at her freebirth
[38:14] The psychedelic moment before labor began
[45:40] Moving into the second day of labour, feeling tired, and calling her Mom
[48:47] Exhausted, in a trance, and roaring through the portal of labor
[51:32] Finding her rhythm and bringing her baby earth side in the pool
[58:19] Getting out of the pool, the first cuddles, and delivering the placenta
If you want to connect more with Rylee, follow her on Instagram.
Watch Rylee’s birth video Published on 1 month, 1 week ago