Last Sunday I was invited to speak at the Anarchist book fair in Montreal to talk about alternative/unassisted birthing along with my friend Martine who has also had two unassisted births (and who was present at my last birth). We only had a few minutes each to talk but we talked about our experiences, our paths that brought us to our decision, the way we looked into our fears and how we prepared ourselves. Then we took questions and before we knew it, it was over.

The day continued though and right after us was an unschooling presentation and a talk about free-schools etc., and then finishing off the day with a discussion about  child protective services, which as I am realizing more in hearing about others’ experiences is a very real problem when you are choosing to live marginally.

The greatest part of the day though was getting together with likeminded people, people that I knew, people that I met, people that came from far away and who I might not meet again. When you are together in a group like that, where your choices and beliefs are the “norm” it makes it easier to not just keep going, but to move forward and want to do more.

All in all it was a great experience and I hope to be able to speak again next year and maybe to have even more of a voice in that community.