Freebirthing

Freebirthing (also called unassisted childbirth), where you give birth to your baby at home without any medical assistance, isn’t common – but the trend is rising and as many as 7,000 babies are born at home each year in the U.S without a physician or midwife in attendance.

Some women do see it as the ideal way to deliver their babies naturally, in a calm, relaxed setting as opposed to the medical management of birth that can happen in a hospital. While a midwife-led birth in a birthing center can help women achieve this, birthing centers are few and far between and medical malpractice insurance means that it can be difficult to find a midwife who will assist at a home birth. Some states even prohibit midwives from attending at a home birth. For many other moms-to-be, it’s a financial decision born out of the reality of no maternity cover on their health insurance and a hospital birth that will likely cost thousands of dollars.

However, while home birth is relatively safe for a healthy mom-to-be who’s had a pregnancy free of complications and whose baby is healthy and full-term, the idea of giving birth without a trained midwife in attendance has alarmed obstetricians. They fear that delivering in this way could potentially risk the lives of both mom and baby if complications occur during labor.

Why do women want to freebirth?

Many moms-to-be feel that the way in which modern birth is managed disempowers them and creates the impression that labor and birth are a medical emergency that that women can’t cope with unless they use strong pain-relieving drugs.

It’s true that women’s bodies are designed to give birth and that (assuming there are no complications) a more natural, active birth can help their contractions work more efficiently to deliver their baby faster and safely. Freebirth advocates feel that going into a hospital makes it more likely that they will be guided towards having the kind of birth they had hoped to avoid – that simple issues might be perceived as a crisis by their carers, that women will be told what to do and when, and that they might end up caught in a spiral of intervention that ends with an assisted delivery or c-section.

What happens in a freebirth?

Freebirth is all about tuning into your body’s signals and needs without any interference. You give birth without the aid of doctors or midwives, although you’ll likely have family or friends there to provide emotional and physical support. You’ll determine the course of your own labor and your birth partners will help you but as far as deciding what positions you use and when to push goes, it will all be up to you. You won’t be checked at all during labor to see how far you’ve dilated, and your baby’s heart rate won’t be monitored.

Is it safe?

Freebirth advocates refute the myth that hospitals are the safest place to give birth to babies. While women rarely die in childbirth nowadays, the freebirth movement believes this is more to do with the fact that women are healthier and more physically capable of giving birth – unlike the last century, when they often were in poor health and malnourished.

The American College of Gynecologists and Obstetricians opposes home birth due to safety concerns. Doctors point to statistics showing that medical advances in the areas of pregnancy and birth cut infant and maternal mortality in the U.S  by 90 percent during the 20th century, and emphasize that even if a woman has an uncomplicated pregnancy, labor and birth are unpredictable.

The vast majority of the time, it goes smoothly and mom and baby are absolutely fine afterwards. But problems do happen, and can worsen rapidly. Yes, women were built to give birth – but the pain of contractions can drain you so much you don’t have the strength to push out your baby when the time comes. Babies can get stuck if they're in an awkward position, making them harder to deliver, the umbilical cord can slip down ahead of them in the birth canal, cutting off their supply of oxygen. Heavy bleeding after the birth can cause problems. It can all be exacerbated by the fact that some moms who freebirth don’t have prenatal checks, so they might be unaware if their baby has a problem or isn’t in a good position for birth – for example, breech – when contractions start.  

Obstetricians and midwives are trained to identify when and where things might be going wrong, and to deal with emergencies. All the assistance you would need to ensure your baby’s safe delivery are immediately to hand in a hospital or birthing center.

Is it legal?

Freebirthing presently is legal in every state except Nebraska.

The information in this feature is intended for educational purposes only. If you have any concerns about your health, the health of your child or the health of someone you know, please consult with a doctor or other healthcare professional.

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