Freedom To Birth: Why More Women are Choosing to Birth Outside of the System.

                         By Tiffany Piper, CPM — Shalom Midwifery 

What if I told you that choosing to birth at home isn’t dangerous, it’s revolutionary?

You Have Choices. You Always Have.

Birth has become something most women are taught to fear. It's something you survive. Something you get through. Something best handled by professionals in white coats with machines, protocols, and penis's.

But here's the truth: birth is not a crisis waiting to happen. It’s a physiological process, a sacred initiation, and a moment you deserve to experience in full authority, surrounded by people who believe in you.

And that’s why more women, mothers just like you, are stepping outside the system and choosing homebirth and midwifery care. Not because it’s trendy. Not because they want to prove a point, or "get a trophy". But because deep down, they want their births to mean something. Our genetic makeup as women, believe it or not, were created to need, and even desire, the transformation that unhindered, normal physiological birth gives us. It is a right of passage that leaves us feeling like a piece of us is missing if it doesnt happen the way it was created to.

The System Isn’t Built for Birth, It’s Built for Control.

As a midwife of 20+ years, I’ve walked through birth in both hospital and home settings. And let me say this as clearly as I can: what most women experience in hospitals today is not evidence-based care, it’s fear-based compliance. Read that again. 

Hospital births are often governed by: Shift schedules, Billing codes, Arbitrary time limits, Liability-focused protocols, Coercive language disguised as “standard practice”.

It’s not uncommon for women to be told things like: 'We’re just going to start Pitocin.' 'You’re not allowed to eat.' 'If this doesn’t change by X time, we’ll need to section you.' And one of my all time favorites..... "We can't LET you do that." Excuse me? I digress, that topic is for another time. Anyways, That’s not informed consent. That’s manufacturing obedience. And it’s not okay.

What Homebirth Really Looks Like:

When you birth outside the system, you enter a model of care that is, Relational: You know your midwife. She knows you. Physiological: Your body leads the way. Evidence Based:  Interventions are tools, not defaults. Sacred: Your birth space is protected, peaceful, and respected. Flexible:  You move, eat, breathe, moan, and birth how your body needs to. Empowering: You are not a patient. You are a powerful mother. You are the boss. Homebirth doesn’t mean you’re unattended. It means you’re seen, supported, informed, an active participant in your story, and central to every decision.

Is It Safe?

Yes!

Let’s Talk About That.

Planned homebirth with a qualified midwife and a healthy pregnancy is safe. Studies show: Similar or lower rates of interventions compared to hospitals, Higher satisfaction and fewer birth traumas, Lower cesarean rates (5–10% vs 30–40%), Midwives are trained to monitor for risk and transfer when needed, Most transfers are non-emergent (slow labor, pain relief requests—not flashing lights and panic).

Safety isn’t about location. It’s about respecting physiology and supporting it wisely.

Freedom Looks Like This: Birthing without a clock ticking in someone else’s head. Eating soup between contractions. Laboring in your tub with candlelight. Catching your own baby in yours or your partner’s hands. Feeling your body birth, not being told how to. Breastfeeding, skin-to-skin in your own bed while your midwives cook you and your husband food.  Looking back and saying: “I did that. And I would do it again. Maybe or maybe not anytime soon, but I would do it again!"

This is not romanticism. It’s what birth was always meant to be. Its what we crave deep in our core as women. Its not something to fear. It is something that we GET TO DO! How cool is that?

Why More Women Are Saying “No Thanks” to the System:

Women are tired of feeling ignored, being rushed, having trauma minimized, Getting pressured into inductions or C-sections, Being separated from their babies, Being told “it’s just policy” when they say “no”.

They want truth. They want safety rooted in wisdom, not control. And they want care that believes in them. They want to be informed and have a choice as to what happens to their babies and themselves.

Midwives outside the system, Certified Professional Midwives, Direct Entry Midwives, Traditional Birth Keepers, are answering that call.

I didn’t become a midwife to manage birth. I became one to protect it.

When women are given real information, real options, and real support, they make wise, empowered choices. That’s what midwifery is about. That’s what freedom looks like. And that’s why I’m here, still watching moms catch their own babies, still guarding birth, and still refusing to be silenced.

Your birth is not a medical event, it’s a moment of power. Choose where and how you’ll stand in it. The more you learn about birth the less scary it is.

Ready to Learn More? If you're curious about homebirth, OOH midwifery care, or reclaiming your birth experience, please reach out. I dont have to be your midwife to show you how to use your voice. My goal is to change the future of birth, not to convince everyone to have a homebirth with me. I want you to know all of your options, to have real informed consent so that you can make the right choices for your family. Feel free to follow my blog. This is just the beginning. Prepare for it to get Spicy!