Many thanks both for this podcast. There’s a lot of really useful information in it. I am so grateful to our local midwife who encouraged us to have our children at home.
Thanks too to Ahmad for checking out the claim re what the Old Testament says. It’s very important that we don’t compromise telling truth about one subject by carelessness in relation to other topics.
As to Old Testament laws, the New Testament has plenty to say, not least the letter to the Hebrews which calls the covenant of the Old Testament “obsolete” (Hebrews 8:13). BTW, Hebrews is a great letter to read to put the Old Testament in perspective, and to explain its fulfilment in Jesus.
As to organised religion, ignore the many “blind guides” and instead look to the words and actions of Jesus – who is unique in so many ways.
I am also reminded of this from Exodus 1 re the heroic midwives of ancient Egypt:
"The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.”
The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live.
Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”
The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.”
So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own."
Kemi - thank you for everything you do and everything you are 💜
I absolutely love everything you guys say in this interview, including the (very much required imo) swearing 😅...
When I was pregnant, age 41, everything that happened to me at the hospital was wrong, from getting my weight wrong, to refusing to give me a nuchal test and scaring and coercing me into giving them £400 for a DNA test, to not bothering to put toilet paper or even soap in the toilets where you had to try to pee into a thin tube but obviously peed all over your fingers, to the unfriendly, indifferent staff, to be told to take aspirin which made me bleed out of every orifice and get petechiae but insist on me carrying on with it because of 'my age' (I didn't).
I'd leave each consultant appointment physically shaking and in tears, in total fight or flight - because I'd have had a 'growth scan' (because of 'my age') showing that my placenta was perfectly healthy, then have a consultant (a different one each time) say "BUT your placenta could fail at any moment because of 'your age'. You need to say yes to an induction!"
I was also told if I didn't have the induction I'd still NEED to be lying still, flat on my back on a bed so that I could have monitors on me.
There was no reason to say this. I was a nutritional therapist. This baby was planned.
I had prepared my body and had researched everything. I was taking healthy snacks to the NCT appointments rather than eating the shitty free donuts etc. More than that, I intuitively knew this was a healthy pregnancy and the scans showed that!
Thankfully my GP Surgery Midwife was amazing and when I broke down in front of her and said I felt like running away to give birth alone in a forest (but couldn't because it was winter), she said "You know, they haven't said this to you, but you CAN have your baby at home"
---- I didn't actually know that that was an option!
She sold it to me, saying it would be cleaner, calmer and I'd actually have a midwife
(that part didn't quite happen due to them not believing I was in labour on the phone but...it was cool)
She'd also told me - - - and this is something I've found so many women do not know - - - that this was MY body, MY baby and I couldn't be forced into anything I didn't want - that would be actual assault.
I ended up having an amazing and calm labour at home and gave birth to our baby in our living room with soft warm fairy lights and a Christmas tree (for the forest effect)
I had the best and easiest labour and birth out of everyone in my NCT class - and they were 10 years younger than me.
I always thought I'd have a baby in a hospital with ALL the pain relief, but once I actually got pregnant I started to realise that my body and baby knew what to do and the hospital is the last place I'd ever get natural oxytocin.
Many thanks both for this podcast. There’s a lot of really useful information in it. I am so grateful to our local midwife who encouraged us to have our children at home.
Thanks too to Ahmad for checking out the claim re what the Old Testament says. It’s very important that we don’t compromise telling truth about one subject by carelessness in relation to other topics.
As to Old Testament laws, the New Testament has plenty to say, not least the letter to the Hebrews which calls the covenant of the Old Testament “obsolete” (Hebrews 8:13). BTW, Hebrews is a great letter to read to put the Old Testament in perspective, and to explain its fulfilment in Jesus.
As to organised religion, ignore the many “blind guides” and instead look to the words and actions of Jesus – who is unique in so many ways.
I am also reminded of this from Exodus 1 re the heroic midwives of ancient Egypt:
"The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.”
The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live.
Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”
The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.”
So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own."
Kemi, you're absolutely wonderful, and mentoring other midwives to share your skills and hopefully pass them on again is the most amazing thing to do.
My experience of childbirth is what first woke me up to how broken the medical system is and I've never trusted it since.
Thanks to both of you for another amazing podcast 🙏❤️
Luuuuv Kemi, such a wise straight talking woman! 💖
Kemi - thank you for everything you do and everything you are 💜
I absolutely love everything you guys say in this interview, including the (very much required imo) swearing 😅...
When I was pregnant, age 41, everything that happened to me at the hospital was wrong, from getting my weight wrong, to refusing to give me a nuchal test and scaring and coercing me into giving them £400 for a DNA test, to not bothering to put toilet paper or even soap in the toilets where you had to try to pee into a thin tube but obviously peed all over your fingers, to the unfriendly, indifferent staff, to be told to take aspirin which made me bleed out of every orifice and get petechiae but insist on me carrying on with it because of 'my age' (I didn't).
I'd leave each consultant appointment physically shaking and in tears, in total fight or flight - because I'd have had a 'growth scan' (because of 'my age') showing that my placenta was perfectly healthy, then have a consultant (a different one each time) say "BUT your placenta could fail at any moment because of 'your age'. You need to say yes to an induction!"
I was also told if I didn't have the induction I'd still NEED to be lying still, flat on my back on a bed so that I could have monitors on me.
There was no reason to say this. I was a nutritional therapist. This baby was planned.
I had prepared my body and had researched everything. I was taking healthy snacks to the NCT appointments rather than eating the shitty free donuts etc. More than that, I intuitively knew this was a healthy pregnancy and the scans showed that!
Thankfully my GP Surgery Midwife was amazing and when I broke down in front of her and said I felt like running away to give birth alone in a forest (but couldn't because it was winter), she said "You know, they haven't said this to you, but you CAN have your baby at home"
---- I didn't actually know that that was an option!
She sold it to me, saying it would be cleaner, calmer and I'd actually have a midwife
(that part didn't quite happen due to them not believing I was in labour on the phone but...it was cool)
She'd also told me - - - and this is something I've found so many women do not know - - - that this was MY body, MY baby and I couldn't be forced into anything I didn't want - that would be actual assault.
I ended up having an amazing and calm labour at home and gave birth to our baby in our living room with soft warm fairy lights and a Christmas tree (for the forest effect)
I had the best and easiest labour and birth out of everyone in my NCT class - and they were 10 years younger than me.
I always thought I'd have a baby in a hospital with ALL the pain relief, but once I actually got pregnant I started to realise that my body and baby knew what to do and the hospital is the last place I'd ever get natural oxytocin.
Beautiful ❤