Hi, women, before we dive in today, I need to name something important. This episode,

along with all episodes that you will hear until our winter break in mid-December, was recorded

before my birth prior to mid-August. Since then, our family has walked through the unimaginable.

Our son was stillborn, and we are in deep mourning.

As the show's air, you'll hear and see you pregnant,

which now feels incredibly painful and weird, given that you are holding the

sacred knowledge of what came after. So please forgive the dissonance. These stories still deserve

to be shared and heard. We welcome your prayers, your loving thoughts, and your support as we navigate this spiral of such deep grief.

I hope you find resonance and nourishment in this conversation today.

Thank you.

Welcome to Free Birth Society.

I'm Emily Saldaya, and this is where we break the spell of medicalized birth.

Remember what's been forgotten and rise together into our birthright to live birth and mother as sovereign women.

All right. We're diving in, Rachel. Sweet. Welcome.

Thank you.

So, yeah, I'm excited to have you here and, you know,

uranize pre to this episode connection is a, well, in some ways a tragic one and also about the birth of your child, which is not tragic.

You know, but I just feel like I need to name out the gates the thing that connected us, you know, which was we had a graduate from R.B.K., a very beloved woman named Candice, who was your birthkeeper out in Colorado,

and she got hit and killed in a car accident nine days before you gave births. Is accurate yeah nine days so that was how i came to interact with you was finding out about her death and somehow connecting with you on Instagram,

you know, with you about to birth, your first baby,

and just us exploring, you know, if there was anything I could do to help you,

you know, connect to someone else or anyway, we just lightly, you know, kept in touch

...