Yogagirl on her “wild pregnancy”: No position

Swedish yoga influencer Rachel Bråthén, who is best known as Yogagirl, has been named the world’s most powerful influencer in the fitness category by Forbes. After 12 years in the Caribbean, she has moved with her family to a farm in Uppland.

– I’ve regretted it a little in the last week, but otherwise it’s been fantastic, she says, referring to the cold April weather that has been.

Rachel Bråthén has recently been involved in several social media storms. A year ago, she came out with the fact that she eats meat and dairy products after previously being a vegan advocate. Something that caused disappointment and anger among some of her followers. She even received death threats.

– I was vegan for a very long time, before it was trendy. And has been on and off for 15 years. Then I started to feel very bad, but I had the big identity of “being a vegan”, so it took several years to dare to eat differently, she says, adding that she stuck to veganism for three years too long.

– Changing your mind is part of growing up, you get new information.

Chose a “wild pregnancy”

This summer, she had her second child and even then aroused strong reactions after she chose a so-called “wild pregnancy”. This means that the pregnancy is unsupervised and that you do not have any check-ups at the maternity care.

– For me, it’s about doing what feels intuitively right for me, and I think every woman should be allowed to do that.

She says that she does not trust the healthcare system and uses natural remedies instead of going to the doctor if she feels unwell. It would take something like breaking her leg for her to go to hospital, says Rachel Bråthén.

– For me it was therefore not a great life, I almost never seek medical care for anything.

Gave birth at home

Rachel then chose to give birth at home without access to a midwife. The phenomenon is called “freebirth”. For her, it was mainly about “being in control”.

– There are risks to everything, but the risk of something going wrong is very, very small, says Rachel.

Changing opinions about “wild pregnancy” and “freebirth” is not something Rachel Bråthén thinks she will do.

– It was not a choice I took as a stance, it was a very intimate choice for me personally.

She thinks it is important that the debate has arisen in Sweden, which does not offer home birth as an option across the country.

– I’m not saying that everyone should do it, it was right for me. The work the fantastic midwives do in Sweden, who support home births, is extremely important.

Midwives Association about the risks

Three notable deaths have occurred in connection with home births in recent years. Midwives were involved in all three cases, and the women were sent to hospital but the children did not survive, according to the report The Gothenburg Post.

Eva Nordlund at the Association of Midwives does not want to comment on the deaths specifically in Efter fem, but says that home births can involve a risk. Although deaths are rare.

– It can be a bit of a gamble, we are there because we are used to looking, listening, gathering information, listening to fetal sounds and have knowledge that we have worked on for a long time, she says and continues:

– But I agree with Rachel that we need to individualize care and be where the women and families are, and then the safest thing for some might be to give birth at home.