The birth of our babies changed us - with each baby we grew in so many ways… our ability to love, be vulnerable, our trust in each other and our capacity to lean into the difficult, the uncomfortable and embrace the transformation
This has shaped our relationship, as well as how we parent our children
We are Autumn & Jackson and the last four years have been an incredibly transformative journey through the birthing world and parenthood. The freebirth of our second daughter Seven, was (unbeknown to Autumn) filmed by Jackson and once we decided to share on social media, it went a little viral with 4.7 million views on Facebook!!
It was our intention in sharing, to empower other couples to do the same - and since then we have so many folk coming to us asking for advice and guidance, we though we would take some time and make it official… so here we are
WELCOME TO PORTAL OF SEVEN
RECLAIMING BIRTH AS A RITE OF PASSAGE
RECLAIMING BIRTH AS A RITE OF PASSAGE
Our first daughter Solstice, was born at home with midwife support
It was during the pandemic and we knew that we didn’t want to be anywhere near a hospital! But we hadn’t yet begun our awakening to the freebirthing world, so Autumn just did what she thought she had to do - contacted her GP and went to her scheduled prenatal appointments with the midwife. There were no in person antenatal classes on at the time and so Autumn read Ina May Gaskins “Spiritual Midwifery” and decided that if women could birth in buses she’d be good to birth in the comfort of her own living room!
During that pregnancy, Jackson actual said a couple of times, “I’m sure we could do this on our own you know”… but Autumn never really took that seriously and dutifully looked to the midwives for support - it was just by chance that in the last couple of weeks of their pregnancy, an angel of a midwife was gifted to us! She was hugely experienced in assisting homebirths and was a great advocate for women knowing their bodies and their babies and being left alone to birth in peace
Sol was born at home into water on the summer solstice - it was an incredible experience and it was one that set us off on a deep dive into the importance of undisturbed birth
Our second daughter Seven, was freebirthed at home 15 months later
We had the same midwife as who attended Solly’s birth, we declined a lot of the appointments as we leaned further into trust - Autumn became obsessed with the online birthing world, learning so much about physiological birth and the empowerment it offered
We decided early on that we were planning to freebirth, so we had time to explore that - Autumn held a lot of fear around “things going wrong” and Jackson’s blind faith that all would be well infuriated her! Space had to be made to talk aloud, be heard and be held in whatever came up
It was through tough conversations and working through together that we felt confident when labour started! Seven’s birth was incredible - it was the first time both stepped fully into the birth portal (hence the naming of our offering here!)
That birth was a reclamation and a realisation of the power of our knowing and a deepening of our relationship
“This was our ceremony, this was our rite of passage as parents - nothing fancy... just us, big sister Solstice, some drumming, breathing together, cartoons on in the background, a kitten running riot
This was our ceremony... just us, in the comfort of our own home, safely held”
15 months later again, our son Ayre arrived at home after a completely wild pregnancy and unassisted birth
We really felt like we knew what we were doing now! But of course, the conditioning runs deep and there were a few time that Autumn lost trust in herself - she had to keep surrendering to faith and to her bodies deep knowing, A test of intuition, trust and patience for sure!
New levels where certainly unlocked during this pregnancy. And Ayre made a speedy emergence over two weeks passed the 40 week mark
Freebirth is not a trend - wild pregnancy is not a trend
What it is, is a returning to self, a remembering of our power as women, our initiation to motherhood - a practice of trust in our intuition, our bodies and our relationships
In the relationship that grows with our baby, our family and the trust in the men who hold space for us to unfurl into this new chapter of being
Whatever your belief system, whether it be in God or the Universe or nature or whatever - you cannot go through this initiation and not realise that there is something more… something bigger at play
When the portal door between world is open, we are humbled in the realisation that birth and death are so intrinsically linked - they are one and the same thing, and it is that realisation and that trust in the process which accompanies true sovereignty and integrated outcomes
in reclaiming our power we are creating strong foundations for the future of humanity - it is no small feat, and yet it is the most simple and natural process in the world… we are not outsourcing responsibility, we are gifting our children the strength and sovereignty needed to see humanity released to the next stage of being
This is important work, it is not a trend
