Wisdom and Births

Unassisted childbirth is just what it sounds like - giving birth without any 'professional' assistance. Very few women decide to give birth unassisted, it's like the 1% of the 1% of women who give birth at home... but the experiences of those who do are important - their reasons, are valid. So why would some women decide to give birth unassisted? To find out, a large group of women who have given birth unassisted, many of which have had other birth experiences with doctors, and/or midwives, shared their primary reasons for choosing a freebirth. Here are some of their reasons for choosing to stay home and give birth alone. Some women expressed anger, frustration, even resentment towards the medical model of birth as the driving factor in their decision to give birth alone. "Anger at medical professionals and trusting myself to provide better care." " I hoped I would be able to bond with my baby this time (never did before). I also hoped for less emot...

There isn't enough information on statistics and experiences of planned unassisted childbirth... so I've set out to remedy that.  Even though about 1% of women give birth at home, and therefore far less women actually choose to give birth 'unassisted', it is important to hear from these women. We should know about their birth experiences, their reasons for choosing to birth without 'professional' assistance, and the statistics that come from their births. For one, because freebirth may actually be our evolutionary 'norm' - the conditions in which our bodies evolved to give birth.   "Ideally the newborn needs to interact with a mother who has given birth by herself and is therefore in a specific physiological state... to give birth a woman needs to feel secure, without feeling observed, and be in a warm enough place... the birth process needs to be protected against all stimulants of the neocortex."   ~Dr. Michel Odent, Childbirth a...

It may startle a few of you to hear that some women CHOOSE to give birth alone. But truly, this is only startling to our 21st century medicalized birth culture. Giving birth at home was the 'norm' less than a century ago. And giving birth ALONE was the 'norm' for most of our human history. But, enough on that for now... here I'd like to introduce you to a few of the reasons women decide to give birth unassisted by any 'professional' provider - and how some of these reasons reflect a system that isn't supportive of birthing women. Choosing freebirth, or unassisted childbirth (UC), for reasons such as cost and inability to find or afford midwife reflect a situation in which the 'care system' is failing many women, babies, and families. Every woman deserves access to a provider of her choice at a cost she can afford. Period. Other reasons such as anger, resentment, and fear of the medical birth model again reflect our system's failings to provi...

Unassisted Childbirth (UC) refers to birth in which the mother delivers without professional assistance (such as from a midwife or OB) and has also been referred to as 'freebirth'; this does not mean the mother and her partner have not prepared for labor and birth, just that they do not have a licensed professional present when the baby is born. Some women labor and deliver completely alone while others may be emotionally and physically supported by their partner, a friend/family member or a doula. There are a multitude of reasons why women choose to birth unassisted and some women choose to do so because this is the best choice for them, but for too many women, they have to have a UC in order to have their baby at home. In the U.S., 99% of births occur in the hospital, however the numbers of women choosing home birth are growing. Most home-births in the U.S are attended by midwives, however, many states still have laws that prohibit midwives from attending home-births and the ...