To ask if you free birthed?

I just read the article about the Irish lady and it makes you wonder if there is a criminal case to be had by the doula. Clearly she’d been told she was too high risk for a home birth- surely an untrained doula can’t just override that- it sounds almost cult like re the wording of ‘retreat’.

“The doula who assisted Naomi says on her social media that she is a birthing professional, not a medical professional.
The doula also says that women who have had caesareans previously must be informed that they have “options”, including a freebirth, for future pregnancies.

Naomi attended a retreat in April that was run by this doula, alongside other pregnant women.Naomi had engaged with home birth services while pregnant, and been advised that the risk of a home birth was too high for her due to her previous caesareans.

I know 2 women who did it accidentally (both in the car on the way to the hospital) who luckily were fine.

But I know a fuck ton more who would be dead or have dead babies if they hadn’t had medical attention.

I was advised to have a homebirth for DD2 due to how quick dD1 arrived. Safer for midwives to come to me than to risk giving birth on the side of a country lane.

I wanted natural and no intervention. I laboured for 36 hrs without pain relief before having to go to theatre because the baby's position wasn't right. My birth plan was a waste of paper. I now understand why people die in labour.

So basically it's a hell no from me.

and funny how there isn't a "free vasectomy" or "all natural prostate biopsy" movement

always the women who are expected to martyr themselves with no medical care

I'm not. I have never thought home births were a sensible idea. I know of several that went terribly wrong. I can't understand at all why any woman would take a single risk when it comes to the health of their baby. We are all at liberty to make our own choices, but home birth would never have been one of mine.

Modern medicine was developed for a reason. Like fuck would I not have a doctor there. I don't think one midwife is enough for a homebirth. No medics is absolute lunacy.

I considered this for my third, given that my first two were heavily managed due to chronic high BP. Thankfully I didn't do this as my baby was born with a condition that almost killed her and would certainly have done so had she not had immediate medical attention. Even a home birth would have ended the same way.

FFS No
My DS1 had to be resuscitated at birth( cord prolapse) which could not have been foreseen so he would have died
Why would anyone risk that?

I'm playing devil's advocate here but it's worth remembering that there genuinely are women whore so traumatised by horrendous medical birth experiences or other medical procedures that they're unable to trust any HCPs. There may be other factors at play, such as a background of previous low familial engagement with HCPs, or manipulative partners. WoC will sometimes be even less likely to trust HCPs, arguably with good reason. I'm just highlighting that there are women with very very different experiences out there, and not every single woman freebirthing (or attempting to) is doing it for social media likes or to jump on a bandwagon.

Disclaimer: I think it's hard to see it as anything other than a bad choice, but like all bad choices it's sometimes possible to see how people end up there.

I’ve never heard of it as a concept.
but yes, unintentionally we had DC3 at home just my DP and I (and two children asleep upstairs!) due to a very fast labour.
luckily it was all fine, and actually a really good experience.

but I didn’t plan very much at all with the births.
No one can anticipate how painful it will be, for how long, and whether you can cope. You can’t foresee any number of complications. It’s good to have some ideas about preferences but a plan for a natural birth etc is just that, a preference.

No idea why people would put themselves at risk like this. Modern medicine has come a long way and you'd be mad not to be near a hospital. I've done it twice and it was utterly shit both times, needed lifesaving assistance on both occasions

I'm curious (genuinely) to know this group's advice on managing a cord prolapse, a footling breech, an eclamptic fit, and a post-partum haemorrhage.
I'm guessing for the latter your husband would attempt bimanual compression until you could get to hospital for a blood transfusion, but that's not exactly a straightforward manoeuvre without any training.

Yet even most of the posters criticising free births are pro home birth. I'm not sure why 4x the risk of death is absolutely fine but 9x is abhorrent and only crazy selfish women would do it.

Definitely not something I would ever opt for, I wanted a natural birth (no pain relief) in hospital, assisted by a midwife. Had I opted for a free birth, due to complications, I dread to think what may have happened.

I lost one baby, I nearly lost another, she’s with me because of a big team of paediatricians who waited for her to come out and saved her life. No way on this planet would I recommend free birth. We are so lucky to have access to modern medicine, so many babies and mothers died throughout history for the want of it.

These birth fads are great to talk about in theory, but in those moments after you give birth and there is no cry time stands still, and the people you need most are the doctors in hospital. I can’t imagine the guilt of a free birth gone wrong, I really can’t.

My daughter is a healthy ten year old, she’s here because I had a medicalised birth. I’m grateful because that’s all that matters.

Please just go to hospital.

I delivered my last baby by myself - I had a water birth and ‘caught’ her myself. The midwife was incredible, almost silent throughout and just let me and my body do what was needed. It wasn’t something I’d planned but is a very happy memory.

Baby before that was almost a shoulder dystocia at home. Low risk, normal pregnancy.

Would I free birth? Fuck no.

I've never understood the logic of disregarding hundreds of years of medical advancement for the sake of being trendy. It's just stupid.

Your post made no sense to me.

A lot of people would struggle to have a baby, clean up, get the afterbirth out.

It's possible to do alone, but the physicality of it would be really difficult for the majority of women.

@JollyGreenSnake your post makes no sense. It sounds like you don't think that 'survival' is part of normal physiological birth. I do - just so we're clear.

If you have any worries about your hospital, OP, as you mentioned in an earlier post, you can always raise it with your midwife. In between DD1 and DD2, our hospital (a massive London hospital) went into inadequate for maternity. The report literally said "women and babies are not safe in this hospital". I asked my midwife about it, she arranged for me to have a call with the deputy director for midwifery, they told all about what they were doing to fix the issues and extra funding that they had received etc. I decided to stick with them and i had a wonderful birth with DD2, where despite having a very fast and intense labour, i felt really well looked after.

Just because you can; doesn't mean you should

I've had 2 babies - no problems hardly any help from midwife as went into Labour spontaneous and quick (they literally caught baby on the way out both times)

I was gently being pushed into a home birth for number 2 (you are text book birth - was a common saying from my midwife at appointments) but all of the things that could go wrong turned me right off of the idea.

When I gave birth during Covid the midwife was adamant I should have a water birth at home (I know it’s not quite the same as free birth). Anyway I ignored her and even changed hospitals, and luckily I chose to have DC at hospital because I needed a c-section. I dread to think what the outcome might be had I listened to that midwife.

I would strongly urge you not to have a free birth, the most important thing is the baby arrives safely and you are safe also. The risks are far higher with a free birth.

I hemorrhaged, lost most of my blood and my veins collapsed after birth. At home/alone I’d be dead. Don’t be so selfish… a good mother protects her baby and that starts in pregnancy