Sara, I am profoundly grateful to you for writing this piece. As a mother who probably would have died without emergency medical intervention, and whose baby definitely would have died, little makes me angrier than FBS. It took me years to process the trauma, partly because I had a seriously woo understanding of a preterm emergency c-section as a moral failing that "harmed" my fragile infant, prevented "true" bonding, and denied me a "full" experience of motherhood. For years, I worried that (very necessary) anasthetics harmed my little girl's brain development, feared that lack of exposure to the birth canal ruined her immune system, and feared that the "disempowerment" of surgery left me lacking in some crucial hormonal surge. But the "weakness" I felt was just the aftermath of a lifesaving medical intervention. Obviously, therapy was essential to adjusting my perfectionistic understanding of parenthood, but *your writing* was more impactful than any other influence. So thank you, thank you, thank you again.
So well said, and I’m so sorry for your experience. You speak so well to the way this rhetoric conditions women to internalize the belief that we did something wrong when, in reality, we did everything we possibly could to save our babies’ lives. It makes a medical emergency that is inherently traumatic even more traumatic and anxiety-inducing.
My first son coded immediately after delivery. I have no doubt that the doctor who performed the emergency c-section and the respiratory therapist who sprinted into the OR room and worked on him for several minutes before he started to breathe saved his life. My water also broke in that same pregnancy, but I never progressed beyond about a 7 in dilation even after 24 hours, so who knows if I would have naturally delivered in time to avoid sepsis.
Anyway, as someone who might have died and/or lost my son without medical intervention, I’m sad reading about these women being brainwashed into risking theirs and their baby’s lives.
My reaction too. Literal nightmare for women. We’ve lost so much in such a short amount of time, and a lot of that has to do with SOCIAL MEDIA like always
As a birth worker who has worked directly with families who have been harmed by these folks, I am so glad to see you writing about this. My exposure and dealings with them have been minimal compared to others but I am always fucking floored by the blindness they have to their own whiteness and privilege. and why is the answer to systemic problems about healthcare to “perfection “ and essentialize our way out of this?
A completely separate article could just be about their transphobia!!!
I started following Yolanda over a decade ago when she and her partner were hippy ceramicists making wood-fired pottery from their rural home in Canada. I had two tough pregnancies and while I don’t remember the exact search that led me to her, it probably had something to do with breastfeeding. At one point there was a tragedy - their house (or studio?) burned down. They asked for donations to rebuild, but their former raku pottery business didn’t seem to restart. Instead, she changed her business model from selling ceramics to selling FBS. The right-wing / Christian / anti-feminist content came on strong a few years into that. Watching Yolanda (d)evolve in this way has been really weird and scary.
Abstractly, I understand where freebirthers are coming from since there are legitimate issues with giving birth in hospitals and dismissal of women’s pain, but it’s quite likely that I and my daughters would be dead if not for modern medicine. I did not use any pain management during my labor, but I did get pitocin both times to speed up my contractions after laboring for hours. Also, how do people who free birth get stitched up after they give birth? Do they not experience tearing? Both of my daughters had to stay in the hospital to be treated with for jaundice. Now there’s something going around about people refusing the vitamin K shot after birth, which makes me really sad and afraid for the newborns who won’t get that ability to form blood clots. I didn’t have the best experiences with my doctors or the hospitals, but I am still very, very grateful for modern medicine and sterile medical environments. Sometimes you want to be in a sterile place. That’s purposeful.
“Nutrition influencer Stacey Warnecke died from a postpartum haemorrhage after a freebirth in September, a coroner's court has heard.
The court heard Ms Warnecke gave birth to her son at home without a qualified medical professional present, before her condition quickly deteriorated and she was taken to hospital.
….
The coroner will investigate the circumstances of Ms Warnecke's death, including the practice of freebirthing and its impact on the public health system.”
Sara, I am profoundly grateful to you for writing this piece. As a mother who probably would have died without emergency medical intervention, and whose baby definitely would have died, little makes me angrier than FBS. It took me years to process the trauma, partly because I had a seriously woo understanding of a preterm emergency c-section as a moral failing that "harmed" my fragile infant, prevented "true" bonding, and denied me a "full" experience of motherhood. For years, I worried that (very necessary) anasthetics harmed my little girl's brain development, feared that lack of exposure to the birth canal ruined her immune system, and feared that the "disempowerment" of surgery left me lacking in some crucial hormonal surge. But the "weakness" I felt was just the aftermath of a lifesaving medical intervention. Obviously, therapy was essential to adjusting my perfectionistic understanding of parenthood, but *your writing* was more impactful than any other influence. So thank you, thank you, thank you again.
Oh my gosh Katherine your air quotes are doing so much work here - the moral value judgements placed on modes of birthing are so, so, so much.
So well said, and I’m so sorry for your experience. You speak so well to the way this rhetoric conditions women to internalize the belief that we did something wrong when, in reality, we did everything we possibly could to save our babies’ lives. It makes a medical emergency that is inherently traumatic even more traumatic and anxiety-inducing.
My first son coded immediately after delivery. I have no doubt that the doctor who performed the emergency c-section and the respiratory therapist who sprinted into the OR room and worked on him for several minutes before he started to breathe saved his life. My water also broke in that same pregnancy, but I never progressed beyond about a 7 in dilation even after 24 hours, so who knows if I would have naturally delivered in time to avoid sepsis.
Anyway, as someone who might have died and/or lost my son without medical intervention, I’m sad reading about these women being brainwashed into risking theirs and their baby’s lives.
This combined with everything else happening is just …. We are in a genuine nightmare timeline.
My reaction too. Literal nightmare for women. We’ve lost so much in such a short amount of time, and a lot of that has to do with SOCIAL MEDIA like always
As a birth worker who has worked directly with families who have been harmed by these folks, I am so glad to see you writing about this. My exposure and dealings with them have been minimal compared to others but I am always fucking floored by the blindness they have to their own whiteness and privilege. and why is the answer to systemic problems about healthcare to “perfection “ and essentialize our way out of this?
A completely separate article could just be about their transphobia!!!
ONE MILLION PERCENT YES
I started following Yolanda over a decade ago when she and her partner were hippy ceramicists making wood-fired pottery from their rural home in Canada. I had two tough pregnancies and while I don’t remember the exact search that led me to her, it probably had something to do with breastfeeding. At one point there was a tragedy - their house (or studio?) burned down. They asked for donations to rebuild, but their former raku pottery business didn’t seem to restart. Instead, she changed her business model from selling ceramics to selling FBS. The right-wing / Christian / anti-feminist content came on strong a few years into that. Watching Yolanda (d)evolve in this way has been really weird and scary.
Abstractly, I understand where freebirthers are coming from since there are legitimate issues with giving birth in hospitals and dismissal of women’s pain, but it’s quite likely that I and my daughters would be dead if not for modern medicine. I did not use any pain management during my labor, but I did get pitocin both times to speed up my contractions after laboring for hours. Also, how do people who free birth get stitched up after they give birth? Do they not experience tearing? Both of my daughters had to stay in the hospital to be treated with for jaundice. Now there’s something going around about people refusing the vitamin K shot after birth, which makes me really sad and afraid for the newborns who won’t get that ability to form blood clots. I didn’t have the best experiences with my doctors or the hospitals, but I am still very, very grateful for modern medicine and sterile medical environments. Sometimes you want to be in a sterile place. That’s purposeful.
This is the stuff of crazy. And I feel such fatigue about it all. When does it end
I thought you might be interested in this article from here in Australia : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-10/stacey-warnecke-free-birth-death-coroner-investigates/106124514
“Nutrition influencer Stacey Warnecke died from a postpartum haemorrhage after a freebirth in September, a coroner's court has heard.
The court heard Ms Warnecke gave birth to her son at home without a qualified medical professional present, before her condition quickly deteriorated and she was taken to hospital.
….
The coroner will investigate the circumstances of Ms Warnecke's death, including the practice of freebirthing and its impact on the public health system.”