Reckless or just naive? The mothers who insist on giving birth on their own
The lights were dimmed, candles lit and the room gently warmed and decked in flowers as 30-year-old Cher Sievey felt another contraction grip her body. Her baby was most definitely on its way and she was ready.
There was only one thing missing from the tableau: a midwife. She wasnt stuck in traffic or snow, or dashing to answer an urgent summons from Cher following an unexpectedly early labour. No, the midwife wasnt there because she hadnt been invited. Cher had decided to give birth at home unassisted, with just her husband, photographer William Thielker, to hold her hand.
Cher, a fashion designer and mother of three from Stroud, Glos, is one of a small, but reportedly growing number of women in the UK who, disenchanted with NHS and costly private midwifery services, are opting for a solo or free birth instead.
In charge: Cher Sievey, with her three children (from left) Wilde, Ophelia and Aurora, chose to have a 'solo' birth at home following problems with during a midwife during the birth of Aurora
Its a choice made by 7,000 women in the U.S. every year, but still rare in this country, although Cher is convinced many women do it on the sly by pretending to have been caught out by the early arrival of their babies.
Not surprisingly, it is a concept that fills most midwives and obstetricians not to mention other parents with utter horror.
One doctor said I should be put in prison for what I planned to do, laughs Cher, as the healthy results of not one, but two, controversial solo births 20-month-old son Wilde and three-year-old Ophelia clamber over her on the sofa. One friend called me crazy. I suspect quite a few s! aid the same behind my back.
My midwife couldnt understand why I would want to do such a thing. She felt very let down. But my friends and family, and most importantly William, were very supportive. They understood my reasons and trusted me to do what was right for us.
So why did she do it? Cher, who is still breastfeeding her three-year-old middle child, as well as her baby son, is a strong believer in the power of instincts and letting nature take charge.
I was fit and healthy, she says. I believe I would have had some sense if something was wrong and I needed help. I was prepared to take full responsibility for my actions.
'One doctor said I should be put in prison for what I planned to do.'
Cher says her determination to sever all ties with health professionals came following a bad experience in an NHS maternity hospital when she gave birth to her first child, daughter Aurora, eight years ago.
I had planned to have an assisted home birth. We lived only five minutes from the maternity unit. We got the room all ready: a fire was lit, candles were burning it was all beautiful and my contractions were coming regularly.
I felt in control, relaxed and wonderful. But then this bossy midwife came in, turned on all the lights and started ordering me about. I started to worry and feel frightened as I felt myself losing control. My contractions stopped almost immediately.
Controversial: Solo births are rare in the UK, but around 7,000 women in the U.S. choose the option each year (stock picture)
After 24 hours o! f stoppi ng and starting, Cher found herself getting more anxious. Fear is a great inhibitor of labour that is an established fact, she says.
In the end, terrified and in overwhelming pain, Cher agreed to be taken to Stroud Maternity Hospital where Aurora was finally born, a healthy 8lb 3oz, 24 hours later.
Although I was elated to have a healthy baby, I felt disappointed that the whole birth had been managed by someone else, on someone elses orders and according to their time-frame, she says.
So when she was expecting her second child, Cher was determined to do things her way. An internet search directed her to a home video of a woman in the U.S. enjoying her free birth.
Under British law, a woman is not obliged to give birth in hospital or be attended by a professional. It is only an offence, under the Nurse, Midwives and Health Visitors Act, for someone other than a registered professional to attend a woman in labour, except in an emergency.
Doulas, for example, can offer only emotional support to a mother during labour, and cannot assume the role of a trained midwife.
Cher talked her idea through with William, 31, signed herself off from midwifery care, and made plans to give birth alone. When I told my mother, her first reaction was: Wow, is this what you really want?
Concerned about me, she started asking around. She told me one doctor had said I ought to be imprisoned for what I was doing, which came as a bit of a shock.
The placenta was wrapped in a towel and remained in the bed with Cher and her baby for five days. It was still attached to the newborn via the umbilical cord, until it broke away.
In the end, everything went without a hitch. Ophelia was born after a blissful five-hour labour.
Only once did I feel scared, says Cher. I saw blood and panicked that I ought to be in a hospital, but then she arrived perfectly normally and calmly. Will caught her and placed her on my chest. It was a perfect, blissful moment.
As f! or cutti ng the cord they didnt. Chers research into freebirthing had introduced her to the concept of lotus births, where the placenta remains attached to the baby after birth, and is allowed to fall off, naturally, after a few days.
Its what our closest relatives, the chimpanzees, do, says Cher. I felt it was right that my baby, whod been attached to her placenta for nine months, should be the one to decide when it was no longer needed.
The placenta was wrapped in a towel and remained in the bed with Cher and her baby for five days. It was still attached to the newborn via the umbilical cord, until it broke away, leaving Ophelia with a perfectly healed belly button.
It tended to make people feel queasy, so visitors stayed away, says Cher. That gave me and Ophelia the chance to bond properly.
The placenta was planted in the garden, under a young apple tree.
When she discovered she was expecting for the third time, a year later, Cher didnt even consider involving the health professionals, going one worrying many would say irresponsible step further by refusing to attend a single antenatal check-up or scan.
Cher said her decision to not cut the cord after birth meant she did not get many visitors in the first few days - but it gave her the chance to bond with her daughter
At this point, the couple had moved to Pembrokeshire, where Cher ran a holistic birthing centre for a few months before returning to Stroud in February 2010.
We were living miles from anywhere. I didnt even know where my local hospital was. I did check in with my GP once, but only because I needed him to sign a form, otherwise I wouldnt have bothered. Again, I entirely trusted my body to let me know if anything was wrong.
Yet as any pregnant woman with an internet connection or PregnancyA-Z on her bookshelf will tell you, nature has a way of betraying that tru! st, even in the most carefully monitored pregnancy, often with devastating results for both mother and baby.
'I am all for listening to a mothers instincts... but would her instincts tell her the cord is wrapped around the babys neck, or that the baby is in distress during labour?'
Pre-eclampsia, for example a condition that can develop through high blood pressure and is normally picked up during routine checks is responsible for the deaths of six women, and several hundred babies, each year in the UK.
Then theres the small, but real, risk of further complications such as haemorrhaging in labour, and any congenital abnormalities from which the baby might suffer.
In 2003, a British study of three million births showed that 14 per cent of women having home births ended up being transferred during labour and, of these, the risk of their baby dying increased twelve-fold compared with hospital birth.
A recent U.S. study of 500,000 homebirths reported the risk of infant death being three times more likely than a hospital birth.
As Royal College of Midwife director Gillian Smith commented: I am all for listening to a mothers instincts when it comes to things like feeling a babys movements during pregnancy.
Cher was so confident her body would tell her if something was wrong during her third pregnancy that she refused to attend a single antenatal check-up or scan
But would her instincts tell her the cord is wrapped around the babys neck, or that the baby is in distress during labour? They couldnt, and that worries me.
In the U.S., we are seeing test cases of children suing their parents for alcohol or drug abuse during pregnancy. Would we see children taking their parents to court for not seeking medical help during labour and leaving them with problems? Again, this worries me.
So confident was Cher that when she did eventually! go into labour in January 2010, an emergency back-up plan hadnt even been discussed. There was thick snow outside, so an ambulance wouldnt have been able to get to us if we had called 999, she says without flinching.
Do I consider that reckless? Not at all. A healthy person, giving birth at home is absolutely normal and natural. Whatever happened that night, we would have dealt with it.
Wilde was born after a stress-free, four-hour labour, on a mat in front of the fire. Cher guided him into the world herself, while William supported her. Yet Cher refuses to see herself as lucky or consider the what ifs.
Babies and mothers do die, I know that, she says, matter-of-factly. And I cant answer how I would have felt if anything had happened to Wilde and me, because I wasnt placed in that situation.
I felt it was my body and my baby, and I would decde if and when I received any medical intervention. I wanted to make childbirth the relaxed, family event it should be.
Of course, I dont believe freebirthing is for everyone there are some vulnerable women out there who need support. But for me, nature did know best.
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