Welcome to the Free Birth Podcast, a supportive space for people who are learning, exploring,

and celebrating their autonomous choices in childbirth.

Together, while unpacked truths, share personal stories, and claim our ability to birth freely

and intuitively.

Here's your host, Emily Saldaya.

Pregnant with her fifth child, Katie shares her first four very different birth stories,

a precipitous first birth in the hospital, an elective induction with her second,

an overwhelmingly fast, unassisted birth with her third, and then finally a nicely paced,

calm and private water birth with her fourth.

We talk about her path towards free birth, and the concerns of birthing this new baby in a

conservative state without a supportive birth community. Katie and her family currently reside

in North Carolina, having had her first four children in Colorado.

Okay, so you have four babies, one on the way. You're just entering your second trimester with your

fifth child. Yeah, crazy. That's kind of mind-blowing. Yeah, I bet.

And was this most recent pregnancy a surprise?

No, not really. I wouldn't exactly say that we consciously conceived, but I've been

feeling this baby hanging around for a while. We said we were done at two, and then number three

was a big surprise, but I'll get into that more. And then number four was planned. And

well, a surprise plan. And then this one, I've just, like, I've been counting five kids,

like, for the last year. I just, like, am feeling this presence. You know, so it was just time.

Cool. Yeah. So how old is your first? My oldest is about nine and a half.

Okay, so talk me through that first experience and kind of where you were at with birth at that

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