Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Free Birthing

70 replies

Charlavail · 27/06/2022 13:38

No more babies for me so not something I will ever experience. I wouldn't have minded a home birth with DS2 but PPROM meant I had to be induced. I have just been reading about it on Instagram and wondered if anyone had any experience of it.

OP posts:
HappyCup · 27/06/2022 13:47

Home birthing and free birthing are two different things though? Which do you mean: a home birth with medical professional (midwife, doula, etc) on standby or supporting, or giving birth with no trained medical professionals around?

The risk with free birthing is that you’re relying on (already overstretched) emergency medical help getting to you and your baby if things go wrong, before they go devastatingly and permanently wrong. It’s not a gamble I would take.

Original poster
Charlavail · 27/06/2022 13:52

Sorry I meant to say I fancied a home birth but don't like the idea of free birthing.

OP posts:
RagzRebooted · 27/06/2022 13:56

It's the kind of thing I'd have been keen on when I had my kids (I was young!) but now I'm older (and a nurse) and much more aware of the dangers. I had home births planned with all 3 of mine and only got one of them (DC2) due to complications. One of which was meconium in the waters which I spotted myself and cancelled my midwife and went into hospital and ended up having shoulder dystocia (obstetric emergency) so would have been very dangerous to have at home.
My SIL wanted to freebirth in a hut in a field, ended up with an emergency C-section so very glad she didn't go through with that!

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Families
PeanutButterOnToad · 27/06/2022 14:07

Most women who have had home births (including me) carefully weighed up the benefits and risks and had a Plan B in place if things went wrong. There are trained professionals, ie midwives in attendance. I just don’t understand why anyone would chose to give birth in this day and age without the assistance that is available.

Shmithecat2 · 27/06/2022 14:12

The first thing that springs to mind when I read about women wanting to freebirth is how arrogant, self indulgent and idiotic they are.

HoppingPavlova · 27/06/2022 14:16

Which do you mean: a home birth with medical professional (midwife, doula, etc) on standby or supporting,

uhhm, you do realise a doula is in no way, shape or form a medical professional don’t you? Absolutely anyone can call themselves a doula and offer their services. Rolf Harris could call himself a doula and crack in with it. They have no medical training requirements and no registration requirements. A midwife in the other hand is a trained and qualified medical professional.

HappyCup · 27/06/2022 14:43

HoppingPavlova · 27/06/2022 14:16

Which do you mean: a home birth with medical professional (midwife, doula, etc) on standby or supporting,

uhhm, you do realise a doula is in no way, shape or form a medical professional don’t you? Absolutely anyone can call themselves a doula and offer their services. Rolf Harris could call himself a doula and crack in with it. They have no medical training requirements and no registration requirements. A midwife in the other hand is a trained and qualified medical professional.

Let’s not bring Rolf into it!

Yes. I meant in addition to a midwife. And the etc would be the other supporting birth partners like DPs, DMs and so on. - Sorry, I can see reading back that that’s not clear!

CupidStunt22 · 27/06/2022 14:45

Shmithecat2 · 27/06/2022 14:12

The first thing that springs to mind when I read about women wanting to freebirth is how arrogant, self indulgent and idiotic they are.

Or "fucking morons" as you could also call them.

ChickpeaPie · 27/06/2022 14:47

Glad someone said about doulas not being medical professionals! Although some of them like to think they are 🙈
free birthing is dangerous and selfish imo!

Dogtooth · 27/06/2022 14:49

Home births can be statistically safer than hospital births but you need to be within decent proximity of a hospital, low risk pregnancy, midwife attending etc.

Free births are unattended - might make for good social media if it goes well, gruesome and perilous if it goes wrong. Childbirth might be natural, that doesn't mean it's benign or risk-free.

DratThatCat · 27/06/2022 15:09

A member of my family had a freebirth. The homebirth service had been cut due to funding cuts and she was adamant she wasn't going into hospital. She'd already had one successful homebirth previously (attended by midwives) and thankfully this one also went well but I just couldn't take the risk. If something goes wrong, you're on your own.

OchreLights · 27/06/2022 16:00

I will be planning one as a (fairly likely) plan B.

It will take about 2 hours for a midwife to get to me.
It takes about 2 hours to get to a hospital through an area with no signal/4G (depending which one I'm sent to).
Ambulance, I'm guessing 6hours (probably quicker if baby is born not breathing or something or if heavy bleeding, but still min 30 minutes).
Staying closer to the hospital isnt a viable option.
My last labour was 20minutes.

I'm not stupid, I'm booking a homebirth, I will call a midwife when I'm in labour. But I don't expect anyone to get here in time. So you can be sure I'm educating my self on how to deal with complications alone. Technically, a prepared bba I guess.

Sometimes it is the safest option available, because it's better to plan for it than be unprepared.

Obviously, most complications will result in labour longer than 2 hours so I'll have a midwife to guide me then. But there's a lot of women who live more rurally (parts of Scotland etc), and it's still not wrong to decide it's safer for her individual circumstances.

I won't risk a planned section because you can't then call a midwife if you go into labour first. Obviously that changes if there are other risk factors involved.

Herejustforthisone · 27/06/2022 16:41

‘Free birthers’ are thick as shit. They have to be.

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 27/06/2022 16:51

I had my first DD with no medical professionals present... unplanned. It was actually in hospital too (wasn't believed to be in advanced labour!). It was terrifying. I went into shock afterwards and don't really remember it. I honestly don't understand why anyone would plan that.

With my second, I had a planned homebirth and was prepared for the possibility of her coming quicker than the midwives (it was considered safer for them to come to me than the other way round as they didn't want a baby born at the side of the road). It was amuch calmer environment.

I know a few people who planned freebies during Covid as they didn't want to go to hospital and home births were suspended. I understand the logic but not the decision, as the truth is no one knows how the birth will go.

Shmithecat2 · 27/06/2022 19:20

CupidStunt22 · 27/06/2022 14:45

Or "fucking morons" as you could also call them.

Show quote history

🤣 yep, that also.

MolliciousIntent · 27/06/2022 19:25

@OchreLights you sound incredibly sensible, practical and reasonable, I wish you all the best with your baby and I hope you have whatever support you require on hand when the time comes.

Wouldloveanother · 27/06/2022 19:26

I think very, very few people would freebirth if they had to sign a disclaimer to waive any emergency medical care.

AWhistlingWoman · 27/06/2022 19:28

DC4 was an unattended homebirth. It was really scary delivering her myself and I have no idea why anyone would choose that for themselves and their baby! I just keep trying to make a plan for what I would do if she was born not breathing and how I was going to catch her as I was alone.

Very fast labours, DC4 was born in 30 mins. Fortunately the previous DC were all born in hospital. DC1 died despite the best efforts of all the medical staff, DC2 would also have died if she had been born at home and I would have died having DC3 at home. So feel very lucky that DC4 and I lived to tell the tale.

Foldinthecheese · 27/06/2022 19:37

I had one, accidentally. She just came out a lot faster than we were expecting. The only time I felt afraid was just after she was born, when I was holding her, and I suddenly realized it was just my husband, the baby and me. She was very quiet, but her colour was good and it was soon clear that all was well.

I wouldn’t freebirth intentionally, but I would absolutely have a home birth were we to have another, but as it happens, we are done with babies.

Wouldloveanother · 27/06/2022 19:39

OchreLights · 27/06/2022 16:00

I will be planning one as a (fairly likely) plan B.

It will take about 2 hours for a midwife to get to me.
It takes about 2 hours to get to a hospital through an area with no signal/4G (depending which one I'm sent to).
Ambulance, I'm guessing 6hours (probably quicker if baby is born not breathing or something or if heavy bleeding, but still min 30 minutes).
Staying closer to the hospital isnt a viable option.
My last labour was 20minutes.

I'm not stupid, I'm booking a homebirth, I will call a midwife when I'm in labour. But I don't expect anyone to get here in time. So you can be sure I'm educating my self on how to deal with complications alone. Technically, a prepared bba I guess.

Sometimes it is the safest option available, because it's better to plan for it than be unprepared.

Obviously, most complications will result in labour longer than 2 hours so I'll have a midwife to guide me then. But there's a lot of women who live more rurally (parts of Scotland etc), and it's still not wrong to decide it's safer for her individual circumstances.

I won't risk a planned section because you can't then call a midwife if you go into labour first. Obviously that changes if there are other risk factors involved.

Would you consider being induced slightly ahead of your due date to ensure you are in hospital? Or would they not let you do that?

cfh2287 · 27/06/2022 20:07

I had an accidental freebirth when my daughter was born in the car on the way to the hospital. Luckily we were both absolutely fine and in hindsight it was really nice to give birth with no-one talking to you/checking anything/internal exams etc but I remember at the time feeling terrified that something would go wrong and we wouldn't know what to do. She was my third baby though so labour was much easier and quicker than with the first two. It was also a great feeling to arrive on labour ward, once the ambulance picked us up, having already given birth and just got to have the tea and toast and relax!

Wasywasydoodah · 27/06/2022 20:13

At least 2 of my 3 births would have ended up with someone dying if I’d freebirthed. It’s easy to get caught up in dodgy though processes on the internet with all this though.

mindutopia · 27/06/2022 20:13

I’ve had all my babies at home, but personally no I wouldn’t choose to have an unattended birth by choice. My midwives have been wonderful and very cautious and with their guidance and intervention, I would have been to hospital in about the time it would have taken to clear and clean the theatre for a c-section. But I personally think birth is an experience when you fold into yourself and need someone outside of you to keep an eye and make sure you and baby are healthy and well while you get on with things. I’m not having any more babies but if I was I’d very much prefer to birth at home but definitely with support of a midwife.

BertieBotts · 27/06/2022 20:22

Home birth is sensible in most cases unless there's particular risk that requires use of hospital equipment, Freebirth is pretty nuts and dangerous.

I don't get what would be the point of denying somebody emergency care if they choose to Freebirth though? Why would you want somebody to sign that waiver?

MrsTerryPratchett · 27/06/2022 20:30

I mean freebirth is what we all used to do thousands of years ago. Maternal mortality wasn't, you know, great.

I think people have forgotten what modern medicine has done for us.