‘I had no idea I would evolve into a natural birth freak,’ says Ilana Shemesh, an Israeli pioneer in the field of homebirths. Shemesh, who has delivered approximately 7,000 babies, started her career as a midwife working from within the mainstream hospital system. In what she describes as a slow and evolutionary process, she began realizing that hospitals and doctors are not putting birthing mothers’ physical and emotional needs at the top of their priority list. She joins Rogel Alpher in studio to explain how mothers and babies are affected by unnecessary procedures in the conventional birthing process, and why more women should choose natural homebirth.

Playlist:
Judy Cohain – Magic Home Birth
The Obstetricians Song
Helen Reddy – I Am Woman
Peter, Paul and Mary – We Shall Overcome
The Beatles – Let It Be
Peter, Paul and Mary – If I Had A Hammer

Photo: Ilana Shemesh holding her first grandchild, whom she delivered herself.