9: Behind the Curtain of Labor & Delivery: Rylee’s Freebirth Story

Free Birth Society

Emilee Saldaya

Society & Culture, Self-improvement, Education, Arts

4.6 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 26 September 2025

⏱️ 72 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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 here.

Find more from Emilee on Instagram, YouTube and the Free Birth Society website.

Disclaimer: Free Birth Society, LLC of North Carolina shares personal and educational stories and experiences related to freebirth and holistic care. This content is not medical advice, and we are not a licensed midwifery practice. Testimonials reflect individual experiences; results may vary. For services or scheduling, contact [email protected]. See full disclaimer at freebirthsociety.com/youtubeterms.

Transcript

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0:00.0	My brother-in-law said, you can't work at coffee shops forever.
0:03.9	You should probably become a phlebotomist.
0:07.8	I was a fear-mongering phlebotomist who told you you should do it.
0:11.8	I need to quit this job.
0:13.0	I can't believe that I'm doing this.
0:14.4	It's pretty obvious that all of this stuff is designed to fracture mother-baby and to dampen your instincts.
0:20.5	Some part of us always knows.
0:23.6	And then it becomes this question of how online is that voice. Once you have that feeling of
0:30.1	having a baby, it quickly came over me and was overwhelming how badly I wanted to have a baby.
0:35.9	By 15 weeks, I fully was like, no, this is what I'm doing.
0:39.1	I am not wavering in this.
0:40.8	I ended up releasing that pregnancy.
0:42.9	I'm thankful for that experience.
0:45.7	I also was not ready to have a baby at that moment.
0:48.0	We had so much going on.
0:49.1	And processing through that was also really hard at the same time of having an injured partner who is just miserable.
0:59.1	Hi women, before we dive in today, I need to name something important.
1:04.6	This episode along with all episodes that you will hear until our winter break in mid-December
1:10.2	was recorded before my birth prior to mid-August.
1:16.1	Since then, our family has walked through the unimaginable. Our son was still born, and we are in deep
1:25.6	morning. As the show's air, you'll hear and see me pregnant, which And we are in deep mourning.
1:31.2	As the show's air, you'll hear and see me pregnant,
	...

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