Comments on: Home Water Birth — Jen Brown

By: Bobby Green

Bobby Green — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 12:54:27 +0000

Thank you for sharing your story. I had a homebirth with my first baby after doing a lot of reading- I too wanted to avoid unnecessary intervention- People looked at me like I had a third eye for wanting to birth at home- but I was confident, and able to trust my two experienced midwives completely. The whole experience from start to finish was calm and empowering. I was lucky enough to be involved in a publicly funded pilot program which is now gathering momentum and support in Victoria- hopefully the government will acknowledge the public interest and the overwhelming success rate of homebirths under the midwifery model so that we can move forward in educating our women and their partners about their birth choices.

By: Audrey Hanson

Audrey Hanson — Mon, 24 May 2010 18:41:36 +0000

This made me cry! I always had wanted to have a hospital birth and of course an epidural to manage the “unbearable pain”. I recently saw a documentary that opened my eyes called The Business of Being Born, about how hospitals speed up labor with drugs all why putting you in the most inconvenient positions to have a baby, all for their benefit and not yours or for your baby. It made me COMPLETELY rethink everything I had ever been taught about childbirth. Thank you for sharing your story!!!

By: Victoria

Victoria — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 04:34:59 +0000

Thank you for sharing your wonderful birth story. I had my daughter when I was 16, and because my Mum and the doctors wanted to make sure I had the most care possible, I was induced after being in contraction free labour for 3 days which made me go into strong labour for 25 minutes (dilating 6cm in that time) before I was ready to push. I started to faint with the pain and was given an epidural. I have never had a problem with the way I gave birth, everyone was very respectful and cared well for me and I have a wonderfully amazing 9 year old. I am now 5 months pregnant with my next baby at 25 years old and have decided on having a natural ‘Hypnobirth’ where I will coach myself through the labour and use self visualisation to get me through the labour and birth. Reading how empowered you felt during the birth of your daughter has spurred me on even more and I KNOW I can do it!!! Thanks so much, you are what makes a really strong woman.

By: Jo Gregory

Jo Gregory — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:55:22 +0000

Reading your birth story made me feel part of a special group of women who go through birth naturally. You are so right, I felt completely empowered after giving birth naturally to a 4.725kg baby girl. The female body is completely amazing. The pain you can endure for hours on end and then the total elation on arrival of your baby. I had Lily in an Auckland hospital with a private midwife as I have a bleeding condition. I needed no medical intervention even though it was a tough birth. My midwife was amazing. I had to stay in the hospital for 1 night as I haemoraged after delivering the placenta. But 24 hours after giving birth, I moved to Birthcare, which is a wonderful facility that women can birth in or transfer to after giving birth. it is just like being at home with 24 hour midwife care, and a chef in your kitchen. It would be great to be able to have a similar system in Australia for those who aren’t able to have homebirths but dont want to birth in the environment of a hospital. When I have a spare hour, I will too share my story on your website. Congratulations on a very informative and much needed site.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:14:04 +0000

Thank you for sharing. Such a wonderful journey – I hope to have the same.