Rachel Ruva: Birth Keeper / Fødselshjælper
PRE AND POST NATAL SUPPORT, BIRTH ATTENDANT, EDUCATOR
WOMEN'S CIRCLES
EMBODIMENT PRACTIONER
PLANT WITCH
CONSCIOUS MOTHERING
What is a Birth Keeper?
A birth keeper is one who keeps the space, keeps the stories, keeps the lineage of birth alive in the sphere it belongs: to women. A birth keeper is a birth WITNESS: someone in the periphery or next to a woman, supporting her as SHE LEADS HER OWN BIRTH. I am blessed to attend home births and hold trusting presence for birthing women, serving them exactly as they need in the moment.
As a Birth Keeper / Fødselshjælper, I provide pre and post natal support, walking with women as they evolve on their pregnancy journeys. I am based in Copenhagen and I attend home births on Sjælland and offer educational services for women & couples, in-person and online, regarding spontaneous physiological birth, FREE BIRTH, the possibility of peaceful, intact origin stories during undisturbed births, the hormonal blueprint of birth and alternative, natural, intuitive-based options that are often omitted in the medical model of pregnancy and birth care.
I take a less-is-more approach to how I show up in the birth space- which is truly opposite the standard of care within the medical system. Because I understand birth works best when uninterrupted, I do not come with a box of techniques to help women 'manage' the experience of birth. Women don't need that. I don't have a heroes cape nor do I believe in the action-oriented pace of intervened, managed birth.
Instead, I follow a woman's lead and tune into what she needs in the moment, returning always to the deep truth that she already possess everything within to birth powerfully and autonomously. She doesn't require a savior or a directive outside force to birth her baby, which is why most often, a trusting, quiet, confident presence in the room is the most supportive offering to her process.
ABOUT ME
Undisturbed, physiological birth has the power to overhaul our entire spiritual + bodily systems, permanently altering and empowering the course of our lives.
Rachel Ruva
Birth Keeper, Mama, Writer
I was born in Ohio, though located my soul-home in California in 2012. In my mid-20's, in a phase of pure freedom, I found myself living in a tantra + permaculture community on a volcanic island in Nicaragua. There I had my very first encounter with a Dane, who less than 2 years later would become my husband.
With the world wide open for me in terms of new opportunities, I took a Women's Wellness Mentor Education and fødselshjælper (birth keeper) education here in Denmark and my fire to serve women and wombs was ignited.
My womb began singing for a child and shortly after, with great love and intention, we conceived our first son. I had a home birth + water birth with a Danish midwife. And though she unnecessarily intervened and disrupted important parts of my birth, the birth of our son still completely transformed the way I experience being a woman. Because, despite her inability to hold space for my perfect physiological expression of birth - my body was incredibly efficient and deliberate. I tasted the fires of my own capacity...and thus began a multi year journey of my own transformation. As a mother, a birth attendant and devotee to women.
The newly accessed POWER and CONNECTION to the brilliance of my body lent me the realization that REVERENCE FOR and PROTECTION OF the sacred birth space is literally the origin of peace. The planet will know peace when women and babies know peace; for this is the place in which the tone of all of life is set.
4 years later we invited a new soul into my womb. I chose to be entirely out of the system for my pregnancy and birth. No scans, no doctors, no midwives. I had a planned free birth with only my partner and best friend (& her 3 month old baby!) present.. which was utterly magical. My dream birth. This process has taught me a great deal about what it can look like to take full responsibility for the process of tending life. And what it feels like to be liberated from the medical kidnapping of women's embodied rites.
** I understand and speak Danish - though switch back and forth between danish and english during sessions, as I am most comfortable explaining and exploring the physiology of birth in the English language. Some clients choose to speak solely Danish in our sessions and during birth, while i go back and forth between English and Danish. This has proven to work just fine for everyone. **
A bit on the credentials and experience side...
I hold a Master's Degree in Speech Language Pathology and was working on rehabilitation units with post-stroke, aphasic and dysphagic adults before my life took an unexpected turn (enter Danish man and love)
I am a certified Women's Wellness Mentor.
I am a fødselshjælper and work as a Sovereign Birth Keeper - meaning I am unattached to the industrial system of birth. NOTE: as a birth keeper, I have no medical experience and provide no medical or midwifery advice or skills.
I have devoted myself to studying, witnessing and reclaiming sovereign, woman-centered births for close to a decade. This is undoubtedly a lifelong devotion.
I have studied Fertility Awareness, ancestral traditions, nutrition, rites of passage, child-rearing, conscious parenting, embodied rituals, the hormonal blueprint, somatic awareness, nervous system regulation and spontaneous, physiological birth for many years.
I am devoted to our Human Genius: I trust fully the capacity of our Original Design and our integral place in the web of life.
I have completed Level 1 of Arvigo Womb Massage Training.
I have studied and worked with herbs and plants as medicine for over a decade.
I am the co-creator of the podcast Birth Heals. It is truly a treasure trove of information- check it out!
I hold seasonal Village Prenatal Gatherings here in nordsjælland, Denmark. It is a super nourishing space where women in the community gather and love-on the mamas to be! Join us next time!
I hold courses and programs to create momentum around our sovereignty and embodied power as Medicine Women. I believe we all carry powerful medicine in our bodies and consciousness, and it is in these intense times that now, more than ever, Mother Earth is calling for us to step into actualizing the gifts we came here with.
