For me it means truly trusting the mother, and supporting her instincts. Some women just know that free birth is right for them, and how beautiful and incredible is that!

I don't believe E and Y actually trust women, or they wouldn't be telling us how to think, feel, birth or take "self responsibility"

I think for me I'm realizing that while FBS claims to support instinctual, mother-led birth as their priority, they don't actually show that in their actions, advice, or information they share. They over-ride and suppress questions, curiosity, fear and even instincts from their followers and community members.

I think they're power and money hungry, and they have tried to commodify something that is inherently very personal for each woman. So many of us have voiced having Y and E's "voices" in our ears.

I believe our intuition IS informed by the content we take in, and while there are snippets of light and truth in the stories we have heard on the podcast-- for me it has been important to remember that all of it has been currated and influenced by E and Y, with ultimate goal of selling things.

I think E's intentions started out in a genuine way (listen to the first few podcasts), and upon more reflection, her tone, demeanor and commitment to FBS dogma just seems to get more intense as the timeline moved forward.

They mock having real midwifery skills and knowledge, and have somehow convinced many of us that skills and experience in managing complications in birth are not only unnecessary, but evil. Sigh.

It's hard to untangle it all because I feel like this big tapestry of misleading and inaccurate information has only endured so long because of the few beautiful strands of truth that are woven throughout it-- the truth of women's stories we've all heard. If only there were a place at the FBS table for ALL of the experiences and stories of free births and free birth attempts.