It was when Rixa Freeze was in graduate school, studying for a PhD in American Studies at the University of Iowa, that she first heard about unassisted birth.

She had become interested in homebirth and midwifery through her academic work–she did not yet have children of her own–when one of the midwives with whom she had been spending time with told her that some women gave birth without a medical professional present.

She said that while she doesn’t quite remember her initial reaction, she remembers being immediately “drawn” to the concept and “very fascinated with women who did this.”

Women she spoke with who had chosen unassisted births generally had very powerful birth stories to tell her.

“It was really self directed. Women didn’t have to look to another to guide their experience.  I am very independent and self sufficient and those were some things I remember thinking about it just out of curiosity at that time. By the time I got pregnant, a few years after we started trying, I started feeling drawn towards doing it unassisted,” Freeze said.

Freeze eventually ended up giving birth to her first child at home, unassisted, and later wrote her PhD dissertation about the unassisted birth movement. Read her dissertation here: Born Free: Unassisted Childbirth in North America (PDF) .

Freeze did have some practical reasons for choosing the unassisted birth. She wanted a natural homebirth, but did not feel comfortable with the idea of working with the one nurse-midwife nearby. The only other option was a direct entry (non-nurse) midwife, 80 miles away. But beyond that, she said she had spiritual confirmation that it was the right thing for her and the baby at the time.

A Mormon, Freeze has the practice of speaking to God directly through prayer and meditation. Mormons have the concept of God the Father and God the Mother, a kind of Godly husband and wife, she said.

When she was pregnant with her first child, Zari, Freeze said she found herself reaching out more than ever before the Divine Mother, asking her for guidance.

“I did find myself during my birth pregnancy, connecting to my Heavenly Mother. I was like, okay Father, I need to talk to Mother.” Then I would tell Her, “I need your help and guidance, I need you to be there with me for this process. I need a female presence to guide me with this process.”

As she meditated and listened to hypnobirthing CD’s before the birth, a visualization kept coming to her:

“My pregnant self was walking down this long hallway next to Heavenly Mother, this serene woman who led me down to the room where I would give birth. There I had to do it myself. Then after I gave birth, I came out another door where I saw these crowds of women who had gone through this before.”

Throughout the meditation she said felt a sense of real closeness with the Divine Mother and of “needing her with me. I really relied on that heavily during my first pregnancy.”

But Freeze said she wasn’t completely lost with her head in the clouds.

“It’s not like I was totally unaware of things that could happen. I knew quite a bit about birth and it wasn’t like lalala, nothing will ever happen if I trust my body.”

Freeze’s advice: “You shouldn’t have an unassisted birth because you don’t like doctors and hospitals.”

“Lets not oversimplify. It is a huge thing to do and we don’t know the statistics of unassisted birth. I am sure there is a higher mortality rate because you’re not going to catch certain things. Honestly, I don’t think it’s the safest form in terms of sheer numbers. You’re not going to pick up certain things if you don’t listen to heart tones, for example. It shouldn’t be overly romanticized as a choice,” she said.

“Be very careful not to get too starry eyed about it.”

But despite the possible complications, Freeze chose to labor and birth at home with her husband. She gave birth without a trained birth professional present. In her dissertation, Freeze explains that for many women, unassisted birth has become the response to the interventionist overmedicalization that exists in the hospital birth model. For other women, traumatizing past experiences with doctors or midwives leads to the decision. But for Freeze, it really just “the right thing for that baby,” she said, “and for that pregnancy.” She gave birth to her second and third, also at home, but with a trained nurse-midwife.

A religious woman and a feminist, Freeze said she is disappointed that feminism has largely ignored birth as an issue.

“One thing that I feel that’s really sad is that feminism has not gotten on the birth bandwagon. When it comes to wanted pregnancies, its almost a non-issue. Dead silence,” she said. But, she said, it’s “a place where feminism could have a huge role.” There needs to be more respect for women’s dignity and needs in birth, she said.

Feminism should be “trying to have women be the locus of power in the birth place rather than institutions and medicine. I find it really sad that feminism has largely ignored birth issues.”

Beyond that, she said, being a mother has been a real source of power for her and something that she feels has been undervalued by the feminist community.

“I feel like mothering is so undervalued and devalued; it’s made petty and kind of childlike. Our culture has ‘mommy wars”; it infantilizes and devalues the work of mothering at the same time.” She said she feels like there is “basically no social support for mothering in any tangible fashion. By our actions, we don’t value mothers at all. I really value the lived bodily experience of being a mother, being pregnant, giving birth, and breastfeeding. It is so enriching and powerful.”

“In a fundamental way, it’s the source of life and power in this world. It’s this amazing thing we do as women and I really rejoice in that. Not in this gender stereotyped way, but in a fundamental way that’s really powerful.”

“I really value that and I wish there was more appreciation for this thing women do that is so life changing and so necessary.”

An academic, Freeze is aware that many feminists are worried about essentializing women’s experiences and reducing women’s identities to their sexuality or their bodies. But at the same time, she said,”there is so much potential for honoring the real work of mothering, gestating, and breastfeeding and for looking at women in a whole different way that could be a real source of change.”

Rixa Freeze currently runs a blog called Stand and Deliver, which has articles and resources on pregnancy, birth and motherhood.

 Editor’s Note: Photo (top) was originally posted by Katelyn Kenderdine on Flickr. Photo (above) of Dr. Rixa Freeze was originally posted on her blog, Stand and Deliver.