HeyJaredBirth Untethered
Welcome to Birth Untethered. A sanctuary for truth-tellers, change-makers & advocates of physiological birth. We’re Shellie Poulter & Kemi Johnson: educators & rebels with decades of combined experience in pregnancy, birth & beyond.
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 12
- Latest publication
- Sep 20, 2026
- Audience
- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 5, 2026
Latest episodes
S2E33 - Instrumental Birth Forceps and Vacuum with Dr Stu (opens the original)
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Dr. Stuart Fischbein joins Shellie and Kemi Birthjoy Johnson to discuss instrumental birth, including when forceps or ventouse may be genuinely helpful, the different risks involved, and why essential obstetric skills are disappearing.Together, they explore consent, intervention cascades, medicalised birth, fear-based protocols, and the importance of collaboration between obstetricians, midwives, doulas, and parents. This episode offers an honest look at assisted vaginal birth and why skilled, i
S2E32 - In Conversation with Dr Stu-How Fear, Incentives, and Protocols Turn Birth Into Interventions (opens the original)
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Shellie, Kemi and Dr Stuart Fischbein examine the forces shaping modern maternity care and what happens when we look beyond the intervention itself to the system that created the circumstances for it. We explore how birth care can be shaped by institutional incentives, liability and throughput as much as by evidence , and how time limits, induction, defensive caesareans, routine scanning and licensing can become mechanisms of control rather than genuinely individualised care. We look at how poor
S2E31 - In Conversation with Dr Stu-What Doctors Get Wrong About Safety, Consent, and Birth Outcomes (opens the original)
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In this episode, join Shellie, Kemi and Dr Stuart Fischbein as we explore how birth outcomes can be shaped by system design, not just clinical skill, or lack thereof . We discuss how time pressure, immobility, fear, monitoring and routine intervention can create the very problems they are then used to solve. Epidurals, coached pushing, early admission and continuous monitoring can influence labour, malposition and intervention rates, while evidence is often focused on short-term outcomes and hos
S2E30 - Episiotomy - Part 2 (opens the original)
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This episode continues the episiotomy discussion, focusing on what it is, why it’s used, the evidence against routine use, the risks and complications, and the importance of informed consent. Become an Untethered Rebel: https://birthuntethered.kit.com/products/untethered-rebel-subscription Book time with Shellie: https://www.theserenitydoula.co.uk/bookachatwithshellie Book time with Kemi: https://kemibirthjoyjohnson.com/work-with-me Website: https://www.theserenitydoula.co.uk/birthuntethered P
S2E29 - Episiotomy - Part 1 (opens the original)
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Shellie and Simon break down what this surgical cut actually does to the perineum, why it was normalised for decades, and why the evidence now strongly supports restrictive use instead of routine intervention.Shellie, joined by her husband and co-host Simon, takes you inside the anatomy, history, and real-world consequences of episiotomy. From the pressure of crowning to the structures that can be cut, torn, or damaged, this episode exposes the gap between what birthing people are often told and
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