i have just read the comments on this advice in full and I am astounded at the misinformation that people are led to believe. I didn't free birth nor would i want to because i am a sook and wanted pain relief, however having said that there is nothing wrong with doing it.

Yes complications happen, complications happen with lots of things. The rate of natural normal births is very high compared to the complicated ones. I believe sometimes medical interference leads to a lot of complications. The ratio for normal unassisted delivery is much higher than emergencies.

I am sure that if something went wrong that the mother wouldnt be silly enough to not seek help. But it didnt. It seems to me that a lot of you are terrified of what nature made out bodies capable of doing. Labour isn't a scary thing, hospitals, forceps, sissors and knives are. Water birthing at home is a lovely, enjoyable and relaxing way to give birth opposed to being made to sit in a bed on your backside while they montior everything your body does. I wanted to get up and move and they wouldn't let me. i wanted an active labour and wasn't allowed.

Bodies are made to give birth without assistance. The reason most medical interference happens is because its easier for the medical staff, not the mother. That is why they cut you instead of letting you tear. They don't want to have to stitch up the mess later compared to a nice neat cut. Good on you for following your body. I wish I had the strength to do the same thing.

Get informed people!

i think you did a wonderful job. and I am with the comments on the joyus birth forum

Congratulations on the safe arrival of your Bub, and so pleased all was well for you and yours. Personally I could not and would not have attempted an unmonitored birth. My little Ruth would have been still born if not for the quick intervention and experience of the Midwife.

I also was the only one who new that Caty was breech and pointed out that I believed she was, when they scanned they found that not only was she breech, she was not in a position that would have allowed birth without risking her life and most probably mine too. After thinking it through I agreed to having her turned and yes started labour asap. I had a child at home that did not need me taking risks, was my thinking.

The gravestone of my Grandmother is scribed with the names of the children she lost, because there was no medical or experienced help in that area of the UK in the 1920s and 40s. Sadly it still happens in that area of the U.K because medical help is hours away if Bubs is suddenly in distress.

In my view a little inconvenience of having an experienced person close at hand, if needed, is worth the irritations it can have to hold one's live Baby in your arms. Just my opinion, though I am totally for home Birthing and all for, experienced anti natal care even if it just the minimum.

Luv Winnie.xxx

What a lovely story and you are sooo awesome. While I might not agree with not having antenatal care I certainly agree with women having the birth that they want- there is way too much intervention in births these days so women are beginning to beleive they can't do it. I bet you loved "the business of being born" when it came out.

I've had 2 CS due to various reasons and because of family history antenatal care is a must. I would love to see an increase in the number of midwives available for home births. Look at the UK where 30% of mums homebirth due to having lovely midwives to help. No more riskier then a hospital but women are brainwashed into believing hospitals are necessary.

Good on you!!!

Good for you that you were able to do it your way and more importantly, great that you and bub are doing well. I could not do what you did purely because I had 3rd degree tears and a prolapsed vagina with my daughter and with my son, I had to have a ceasar at 41 weeks due to him not being able to get engaged. I admit I am also all for the epidural during labor. Why suffer if I can avoid it? Lovely to see your beautiful family. Congrats to you all.

If you want to risk uour life that is your businies. But to risk the life of the child who because of your wanting to give natural birth with no medical assistance astounds me. Hey more power to you that you came out alright and so did the child. The risks are too high and that the father accepted that way of birth is scary to me.

I know to each his own. But for one who almost lost his mate and his little girl during her birth due to complications is hard to read this article. Thank God for the Dr.s who were there.

Anyways I am glad your alright and so is the child. Good luck to you and your mate.

I'll admit, I missed a lot of my antenatal checks in all my pregnancies and didn't sweat about it at all, and still haven't been for my 6 week post-natal check (it's only been 6 months! LOL) but as for giving birth without assistance - not for me. Sarah tore me and I needed stitches, Aidan I'd have done just fine with, Brendan I could have had problems with because I had Strep B but I'd have been in real trouble because they had to manually extract the placenta as it got trapped behind my cervix - and believe me, I'd have preferred to have to give birth again than go through that again! As for Danny they had to break my waters for him as his pulse was dropping badly because he was under stress, so without medical attention he'd not be here. But yeah, millions of women around the world give birth with no problems at all, so I guess it's a matter of knowing how to recognise if a problem is starting to develop early enough to call an ambulance in time to save the day if something does go wrong.

Wow, you are brave for doing a homebirth let alone not seeing any medical professional.  I must admit i felt secure knowing that things were ok during my pregnancy but i had only good experiences with my midwives...I'm glad it was a positive experience for you and sounds like everything you have wished for. 

 Congratulations on the birth of your son and that you got to have the birth of your choice and that there was no complications.

You are a braver woman then I, I would have to had medical personel around for sure.

Regards Janice

Congratulations on the safe arrival of your son! What a couragous woman you are!

I originally wanted an all natural birth with my boy, unfortunately he had other ideas. Had i not have had anti-natel care, i never would have known that i had placenta previa, and without the help of the nurses in the hospital, i doubt my boy would have survived. After a long hard labour (and trying everything to encourage a natural birth) we ended up having to have an emergency c-section.

Good on you for doing it how you wanted, but there is no way i could ever give birth without a professional present. I would be far too worried about what could go wrong.

Cass xxxx

Firstly, congratulations on the arrival of your son. I admire that you did things this way and it worked out - although it raises many concerns for me and I wouldn't recommend doing it without having been to anti-natal appointments, etc. Yes, I know we know our bodies next, but what if there had been something wrong with your baby....like a friend of ours that had to have her son operated on in-utero as his organs were growing on the outside of his body. Also I think babies need to be checked over by a medical professional after birth to make sure everything is ok - your baby not feeding when he was born and only feeding 3 times the next day is not a good, no matter if he is healthy now or not.

Question - how do you get a birth certificate for a baby that nobody has witnessed being born? I have so many questions but this is the one that is playing on my mind the most.

Please don't take offense to anything I have said, it is all just my opinion and I am all for home-births but think some type of medical professional should at least be present in another room.

Good for you on doing what was right for you! Thank you for sharing your story. I so wanted this story to be my own! I looked into it in Darwin but wanted the "mobile midwives" to attend. However, things don't always work out as planned and it all changed when I found out I was having twins! So my homebirth dream was shattered due to the risks. ..etc.  Love your work! T xox

Congratulations im glad it turned out the way planned. I know if i had of done that at home my kids wouldnt be here today unfortunatly. My mother in law is a nurse and she knows this doctor and his wife and they had a home birth. She had warned them go to the hospital with your first as anything can go wrong. They didnt listen to her and all sorts of things went wrong. There was no medical equipment for baby and she was quickly rushed to hospital. The baby survived luckily. I think they will think twice for next time. We have a great Maternity Hospitals and im glad i was in the best in WA

 It took guts and determination to give birth the way you wanted- Congrats and well done!!!

this is such a wonderful story and I am in Aww of you.

I wish I could of done with with my kids. The hospital treated us like crap with Alex and they thought I was too young as well as I looked 5 months prenant, they kept asking if my dates were correct. GRRRRR I had 3rd degree tearing with him. with Charlie that was the pits as we had a storm that burst my waters (barametric pressure) and then the miswife pulled on my placenta tearing it and causing me to bleed out. they had the blood ready for a transfuse.  :(

I am sooooo happy that you had such a lovely and relaxing birth.

Congrats on the arrival of you baby boy!......Enjoyed reading your story, I dont think i could have done what you did and if i had tried my kids wouldnt be here today.......But everone to their own and glad you could do it.

Congrats again

Hugs Tee

wow what an incredible story, well done!!! i would never have the guts. good on you! xoxo O and CONGRATULATIONS!

So glad you were able to have the birth that you wanted

But I could never deliver like that in a million years

Well done and  CONGRATULATIONS !!!!

xxx

Congratulations... Awesome story..  Not sure I could do it though.. :) Well done.. And congrats to you and your family.

Congrats!!! Wonderful birth story soo glad to hear all went soo well for you!!!!

Congratulations on a successful birth of your own choice.  You totally deserve your 'babymoon'.  Loved the pics in your blog, what a gorgeous fella!

Peace
EF.x

Congratulations. You are a very brave and determined woman. Good for you! Enjoy your baby. I would however never would have had the courage to do what you have done.

Hi MCM

Firstly, congrats on a safe arrival. please dont take this personally but i would not recommend in a million years anyone miss antenatal appointments, u/s or check ups. if its available to you why not make sure your baby has the best chance of surviving.

Im glad it all turned out ok for you in the end...It just seems a bit risky for the baby. I hope you have had your baby checked up by a professional since the birth.

xoxo

Hi honey,

Thanks for sharing your story with us all . .. I was drawn in from the start and found myself reading with avid interest, the idea of an unassisted birth has always appealled to me but sadly my body always shuts down and I have to have emergency c-sections or lose my babies . . .

You are so lucky and congrats on knowing to listen to you body and let mother nature do the work . .  BUT the biggest CONGRATS is to J for making his way into this world  . . . .

cheers Kellz

That is exactly what I wanted, but our hospital frowns upon such things and if we had gone down that road and something had gone wrong, we could have lost all our kids to welfare for being 'irresponsible parents'.

It sounds like the best option, because us women do know (especially after 2 or more babies) what is what and how to deal with it all.  We also know when something doesn't feel right.

I do have some questions though.  What about the requirement of a doctor/midwives signature for the birth registration?  I was under the impression you can't have your child legally registered without their signatures, which they will only give once they have delivered the baby

What about the clean up afterwards?  How do you dispose of the placenta etc.  I can just imagine some poor guy sifting through the rubbish and finding it in there one day, and then freaking out there might be a baby somewhere too. 

While Les and I aren't planning on having any more, I'd like to have as much info about unassisted births as possible, just in case.

Congrats hun, you did a wonderful job, I think you should start and advocacy group in Australia about it.

WOW....... I loved reading your experience. Good on you for going through it the way you planned to!!!! The pics look great too!

Wow!!! What a story and an experience. After a very hard labour than ended up in an emergancy c-section with my first and a c-section with my second. I would have loved to do it your way but i don't think i would have the guts to do it. Well done, what a beautiful baby.

Juzzy xoxo