To find this desperately sad? TW: freebirth death

[ExtraHotDoubleShot]

I just feel so sad for her husband and little boy. I also understand why she didn’t want to go into hospital. Feels like women are stuck between a rock and a hard place with childbirth at the moment.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/jun/20/stacey-warnecke-melbourne-influencer-died-freebirth-inquest-ntwnfb

Yes! I only realised what was happening when my waters broke in the car on the way to the hospital. It was crazy because I'd already had a baby but this felt nothing like my previous labour. I just thought I was dying from some sudden unknown medical emergency.

I don't like to think about everything that could've gone wrong. Very grateful that we were both healthy.

Probably still not really in the "freebirth" spirit because I didn't do it intentionally. I would consider a home birth with a third though.

Thanks!

But then my friend lost 1.8L and was home 36hrs later. Not even anaemic. The body adapts to lose a lot of blood at the time of birth. That's why you can go and give blood while not pregnant and feel woozy but lose 800mls at a normal birth and not feel the same effects.

I’m glad you and your baby were both fine. I loved my home births. It’s so lovely going to sleep in your own bed with your baby.

Hundreds of thousands of women and children still do, but they are mostly brown and far away

Wow. That must have been a massive shock. 😮
I know it happens on occasion.

@Lmnop22 This is simply incorrect.

Para 2 in particular provided me with the evidence that for my subsequent babies I was in fact safer at home than at hospital, especially in light of the fact that NHS maternity care is reported to be lacking.

The correct facts are:

In the UK, a planned home birth is generally as safe as a hospital birth for women with a low-risk pregnancy having their second or subsequent baby, according to data from the landmark <a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=web&rct=j&url=www.nct.org.uk/information/labour-birth/planning-birth/home-birth-right-decision-for-me&ved=2ahUKEwjW3fbml6-XAxXYgf0HHXLvEhsQy_kOegoIAggACAAICBAB&opi=89978449&cd&psig=AOvVaw0jLHHxcTSGfAgWQ0AhkdwZ&ust=1791712627593000" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Birthplace National Study. 1, 2]

Safety by Pregnancy Type

• Second and Subsequent Babies: Planned home births have no increased risk of adverse outcomes for the baby compared to hospital births, and they result in significantly lower rates of medical interventions (such as C-sections, instrumental deliveries like forceps, and episiotomies). 1]

Thank-you, for your detailed explanation.

I guess I was somewhere between the two.

They are absolutely devastating stories and thankfully are rare. Adam Kay writes about that woman because it was rare. He doesn't write about the straightforward births because he didn't see them, midwives see those. And he would have had no experience of home birth at all. At the risk derailing the thread I found his book patronising and unpleasant. Avoiding that sort of man is one of the reasons I planned a home birth.

I know, right?
Most of Africa is known for 'freebirth'. They just call it 'not having an access to healthcare'.
Maternal and neonatal death rates are horrifying.
Here you can go to a hospital birth room,
you get someone you want come with (I recommend your bestie if she works in healthcare, or your mum),
midwife will occasionally peak in to check on development,
if needed midwife stays,
if needed they call a doctor,
you are meters away from all amazing specialist equipment, monitors for yourself and a baby, incubators, blood for infusion, etc
if needed there are lots of other doctors, midwives, nurses only seconds away.
You absolutely can let reception know your mother-in-law is not allowed in. They will tell her it's rules, not that you barred her.
They even have this giant pools and poo fishing nets. You can't have bubbles. I hold that against them. Their excuse is that they need to see what is happening.
What's to stress about.
Surely, if there is neglect, that needs to be addressed, but that doesn't mean we need to start pushing whole human out in our own living rooms.
Also, birth is messy. Let someone else clean-up.

“but that doesn't mean we need to start pushing whole human out in our own living rooms.
Also, birth is messy. Let someone else clean-up.”

For most of human history babies were born at home. I pushed ‘two whole humans’ out in my own living room! The clean-up was easy.

Quite often you are doing your baby harm with medical intervention though, it feels like the second you step into hospital you’re coerced into inductions and all sorts of things that bring on labour when your body and the baby isn’t ready and then obviously increases the risk of baby’s heart rate going up, having a c section or PPH.

This is exactly the reason why homebirths for subsequent babies and low risk pregnancies do not carry any greater risk than birthing in a hospital. Because a lot of the negative outcomes in a hospital would have been preventable if women could just be left to birth. People choosing a homebirth have often done a lot of research into it and to what would happen in each outcome.

I think those critical of homebirth and grouping it with freebirth don’t fully understand just how equipped those midwives are. Lots of women still have a PPH with a homebirth and it’s controlled with injections/massage and they’re successfully transferred. There have been accidental breech births at home in this country with no issue, and shoulder dystocia is also common but private and homebirth midwives are generally more trained for these scenarios than those in hospitals.

All those positive stories don’t make the news though.

But what about mother-in-argument.

There is a problem with access to modern health care across Africa but freebirth is not commonly practiced. Most women give birth assisted by midwives - some "traditionally" trained and others with western medical training, or a combination of the two.

This. Medical over-intervention is a huge problem in hospitals, which can lead to severe complications.

If it wasn't for the cascade of interventions then there wouldn't be so many women fearing hospitals.

For most of human history we died much earlier.

It’s much more of a communal and supportive event. Mothers, grandmothers, and experienced female relatives stay with the woman to offer physical and emotional help.

It wasn’t a problem. My husband’s parents lived abroad, and I only had my dad, who did come and visit a week after I had given birth.

A complaint was made because she was given the options available to her? A homebirth is usually a sensible suggestion for women who have precipitous labours. They can call the team as soon as they think things are starting, will have someone with them quickly, and are less likely to give birth at home alone or on a roadside trying to get to hospital.

You also cannot say that a shoulder dystocia and subsequent PPH would have happened at home. This occurs more commonly in hospital where women are more likely to be labouring on their backs, have epidurals, or receiving synthetic oxytocin infusions. So without knowing all the details of the intricacies of your sister’s circumstances , no one can possibly say whether a homebirth was an unwise suggestion.

If a person managed to survive childhood and reach adulthood, their chances of living into their 50s, 60s, or 70s were quite common.

I know! Everyone who didn't die, lived!

Great point! Also if they did happen at home many homebirth or private midwives are trained in shoulder dystocia and know positions to best get the baby out. (Unfortunately community midwives in the hospital are not as trained in things like this and breech birth. The over medicalisation of birth now means that midwives are losing essential skills but that’s another rant 🤣) and PPH can be controlled at home with an injection the midwives carry until you can be transferred to hospital.

Oh absolutely. But among the throng there is generally at least one woman from the community who is skilled at helping women give birth.

Unless they gave birth without medical care.