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Kristie is a three-time “free birther,” having delivered all of her children at home, unassisted — without the presence of a doctor, midwife or any other medically trained attendant.

Her firstborn was birthed on a yoga mat, her second and third in a birth tub. There were candles, crystals and burning sage at her daughter’s birth last year. At one point, while pushing hard, Kristie wondered, “Why am I not feeling the head yet?” Her mind started racing: Am I pushing against a tilted cervix? Am I pushing against a cervix that’s not fully open?

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“I just prayed to the universe, to God,” the Canadian woman said on a podcast for the Free Birth Society. “I tapped into my baby, ‘Can you please show me what’s going on?'”

She kept pushing until she finally felt the head, shoulders and body come out. As she held her daughter’s head out of the water, Kristie “soaked up that beautiful baby bliss.” Her husband and 11-year-old helped her out of the tub.