09/18/2026
A little more context—I'm blending physiology, evolution, psychology and my own experience.
When I say our bodies could “forget” how to birth, I don’t mean the uterus learns labor like a skill. I’m asking what happens over generations when we increasingly bypass or externally trigger a physiological process that depends on a coordinated cascade.
We know environment, stress and experience can influence gene expression. Humans aren’t exempt from biological change across generations. So what happens if we keep interfering with conception and birth?
Birth also isn’t just mechanical. On paper, the hormonal and neurochemical cascade of physiological labor has parallels with an altered or even psychedelic-like state. Researchers have described a “birthing consciousness.”
That’s what I mean when I say birth is psychotropic. Not that labor is literally the same as taking a psychedelic—but the body creates an altered state on its own for birth. Which is why fear, safety and control matter. Birth can bring your sense of safety, vulnerability, control and surrender right to the surface.
So unprocessed fears + altered state… sounds like a recipe for a bad trip. iykyk 🫠
At 34 weeks we learned our first was breech. My blood pressure had been perfect, but as I tried to flip him and stressed about losing the home birth we’d planned, it began climbing. I transferred and had a belly birth— C-section.
My second was a home birth with a midwife. My third came so spontaneously and fast, I birthed him myself before the midwife arrived. So I’m speaking from a spectrum…
Not every difficult birth is caused by fear and not every intervention is avoidable. But I do think we lose something when we forget just how much the body is capable of without us trying to control the process.
What happens when birth asks you to let go? Can you feel fear without letting it take the wheel?
Birth may be less “mind over matter” and more shut up and enjoy the ride while your body gets the job done.
Anyway… all of this while picking autumn olives 😂
