Eve Magazine: Freebirthing, Would you lock out the midwife?
Meet the new ‘freebirthers’, who believe mums know best – strictly no docs, no drugs, no help allowed.
Sharon Wright reports

“On the night Tabitha O’Melay went into labour, there was no grabbing the pre-packed hospital bag while husband Karl pulled on his trousers in a panic and bundled her into the car. There was no ringing a midwife to say: ‘Get here quick!’ either. Tabitha turned off the lights and spent most of her labour alone, finally calling Karl so he could help her catch their baby.

Tabitha, 26, didn’t give birth to her third child without any medical assistance by accident. Seven-month-old Anatoly’s birth at their home in Missouri went exactly to plan. ‘I learned from my previous births that I didn’t want anyone observing me except Karl and my children,’ she says. ‘During labour with Anatoly I realised I didn’t even want them. I felt more calm and safe hiding in the birth tub or in the dark, alone. Giving birth without an audience just felt right.’

Welcome to freebirthing – a world where no doctors or midwives are allowed. This radical new trend is growing fast in the States, where going solo is a reaction to what freebirthers see as the medicalisation of birth gone mad. Almost a third of all births in the US are now Caesareans, the number rocketing by 40% in the last decade. Strict protocol on what counts as a ‘normal’ birth makes interventions such as induction, drugs and surgery routine. And with no NHS and complicated health insurance rules, a hospital birth can cost more than £3,000.

Freebirthers say hospitals have turned a natural process into a medical crisis. They are usually women who hated a previous hospital experience and are determined to have a natural birth this time round. But in states where it’s illegal for a midwife to attend a home birth or where it will cost you up to £1,800, people are turning to DIY. There are no official freebirth statistics, but the internet buzzes with women swapping stories.”

Jenny Hatch
To Subscribe to this Magazine Go Here.