Giving Birth Unassisted: an Option for Me

This is an article I wrote for the Pampers website, but it was rejected because unassisted birth is not considered safe by the medical community. I was encouraged by my readers to share it here instead. Thank you for reading and for your continued support. I hope you enjoy it.
(Also published on The Birthing Site)

Giving Birth Unassisted: An Option for Me

Before I got pregnant I thought birth was inherently dangerous and all women needed to be in the hospital to give birth. I'd never heard of women giving birth unassisted, and even the idea scared me. Through personal experiences and time I've come to reconsider my previous ideas, and I now embrace the idea as an option for expectant women.

As I've come to understand it, the concept of giving birth unassisted is when an expectant mother plans to birth without a professional care provider present, but it's sometimes used to describe a situation when a woman's labor goes so fast that she doesn't get the care she planned for. I've heard stories of women who unexpectedly gave birth at home, in the car, or somewhere else, often on the way to the hospital. A friend of mine recently had an unexpected unassisted birth when her midwife didn't arrive in time for the home birth. My friend had her husband's support and gave birth to a healthy baby.

I have a few friends who planned to give birth unassisted for various reasons. Some of my friends requested the presence and support of family members or friends, and some of them chose only to be supported by their husbands. Their reasons are intensely personal, and none of them made the decision lightly. My friends felt confident in being able to give birth without professional support, but they also took precautions by educating themselves and having supplies available, as well as being close to emergency services. I've read some amazing birth stories of birth transfers under emergency situations which ended well even when quick action was needed.

The idea of giving birth unassisted doesn't scare me like it used to. One thing I've learned through my own birth experiences is that I can give birth with very little support or intervention. When I gave birth without medication in the hospital there was very little the staff did for me. They mostly watched to ensure that all was well, and I did the work myself. These experiences helped me plan a home birth with my fifth child. I knew I could give birth without the machines and other things at the hospital because I'd done it even while in the hospital. I hired a midwife to support me, and I'm glad I did. I had an unexpected breech baby and my midwife helped me through it to have a vaginal breech birth.

Because of my growing comfort level with the process of giving birth, I'm personally open to the option of giving birth unassisted in the future. My friends who gave birth unassisted had prenatal care and prepared by doing research and learning what to have ready and what to watch for. They have wonderful stories to tell about the births of their babies.

Radio Broadcast About Planned Unassisted Birth

A friend of mine, knowing about my interest in Unassisted Childbirth, recently shared this with me:

LDS Liberty: Freedom to Birth

It's an hour-long radio broadcast by a couple discussing their planned unassisted home birth. They explain their reasons, preparations, reflections, and spiritual inspiration. They are of the LDS faith (Latter-day Saint, or Mormon), so the broadcast has heavy religious undertones.

I loved it so much that I saved a copy of the broadcast to my computer, and shared it with everyone I know.

Here's my all-time favorite quote from it:

"Would you want doctors? Yes, to set bones. We should want a good surgeon for that, or to cut off a limb. But do you want doctors? For not much of anything else, let me tell you, only the traditions of the people lead them to think so; and here is a growing evil in our midst. It will be so in a little time that not a woman in all Israel will dare to have a baby unless she can have a doctor by her. I will tell you what to do, you ladies, when you find you are going to have an increase, go off into some country where you cannot call for a doctor, and see if you can keep it. I guess you will have it, and I guess it will be all right, too."

- Brigham Young, October 9, 1872, Journal of Discourses, page 255

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Kasie's Story of Her Unassisted Water Birth

The unassisted home waterbirth of Nikolai Francis~5/5/09

I knew I would be meeting my baby that day around 6:30 a.m. That's when the contractions started coming regularly. It was still early labor, so I was able to get Gabriel and Joseph off to school, and finish up some things around the house. I put in a load of laundry, and swept the floor. Once the boys left for school, around 8:00, Stephen and I got in the shower and I started to have more intense contractions, but still not too bad. We had been planning on going grocery shopping that day, and I briefly contemplated going along, since I'm kind of particular about certain things that I like to buy, but I quickly thought better of it. The contractions were coming faster, every 6-7 minutes, and stronger. This was around 9:30. Stephen, Bobby, and Persephone left for the store at that point. I did the dishes, because I knew that would be the last thing I would want to think about once he was here!

The birth pool was already inflated, so when I was done with the dishes, I started filling it. The water felt amazing! The hardest part was having to get out of the pool and walk to the kitchen to shut the water off when it went cold. I was on my hands and knees to keep my belly underwater, since it hadn't filled enough yet. I was having intense contractions at that point, breathing and moaning through them. Stephen and the kids got home around 10:30, and he was back and forth between checking on me, getting the kids settled, and putting groceries away. Once we had hot water again, he finished filling the pool. I lost track of time around then.

I stayed in the pool for awhile, and started to feel the urge to push. It wasn't constant, so I just went with it, and did what my body was telling me to. I reached in and felt my bag of water bulging, and the baby's head. What an awesome feeling! I continued to push when I felt like it, but after awhile of the baby not coming down at all, I was getting frustrated, and hot from being in the water. Stephen spread some blankets on the bed, opened the window, and helped me out of the pool. The cool air felt good, and I continued to moan through the contractions, pushing when I felt like it, and taking full advantage of the rest in between. In those few short minutes in between contractions, I felt like I was in another world, totally removed from everything around me.

I had expected my water to break on its own, but it hadn't, and it didn't feel like I was making any progress bringing him down. On top of that, I was experiencing very intense back labor, which led me to think that he was posterior (face-up), with the hardest part of his head pressing against my spine. I told Stephen if he did nothing else, I needed him to lay into my lower back, to put all of his weight into it. I told him not to worry about hurting me. The counter pressure was the only thing that brought any relief. I started to get cold then, so I climbed back into the pool. I alternated between moaning and being completely silent with each contraction.

I felt my water bulging again, but couldn't feel the baby's head anymore, so we decided to break it on our own. Stephen sterilized a pair of fingernail clippers and tried to do it himself, but said he couldn't feel what he was doing. I took the clippers, reached inside, pricked the sac, and immediately felt the fluid rushing out. I was on my hands and knees, so I asked Stephen if it was dirty or not, and he said no. All of a sudden, I felt a massive urge to push, and went with it. In between urges, I'm telling Stephen to get the video and digital cameras ready. I remember saying "He's coming, he's coming". and Stephen asking me if he was crowning yet. I was still on my hands and knees, but flipped over when I felt his head crowning. I eased his head out, and what a wonderful feeling! Once his head was born (he was face down, so he must have turned in the birth canal), I checked for a cord around his neck, but there was none. I was just in awe as I held his head in my hands. He was between worlds. His shoulders came in another few pushes, and his body just slid out. There was no pain in the actual pushing, crowning, and birth of his body. It felt good and such a relief!

I brought him up to my chest, and just wept. I'm crying as I type this. As much as I planned and hoped for a wonderful birth experience, I could never have imagined something so beautiful. There are no words to do it justice. I will carry this experience with me for the rest of my life, hold it close to my heart, and be forever thankful that I was able to bring my son into the world in such a peaceful, gentle way.

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