From the moment I entered the hospital to deliver my first child I knew this was not the way it should be. My son was born after 8 hours of labour with no drugs. I suffered an episiotomy as well as verbal abuse from the attending nurse.

It was during my second pregnancy that I first discovered UC (unassisted childbirth) on the internet. I was captivated by pictures of a woman delivering her baby as her children watched. Although I felt compelled to investigate more about this topic I didn’t mention it to anyone else. This was about the time I decided to leave my family physician and seek out a midwife. My husband knew I was not happy with a male doctor who could not possibly know, nor would he ever know, what birth is really all about.

My second child was delivered at home with a midwife. Even this caused friends and family to show concern that I would be putting baby and myself at risk. After 2 ½ hours of labour, I delivered a 9lb 2oz baby girl with little more than a couple of skid marks.

While I was pregnant with my third child I had considered UC but I was hesitant to discuss this with my husband James. We bought a house and moved out of the area my midwife works in. At 26 weeks I found myself without a midwife to assist my home birth. The thought of having to go back to delivering in a hospital frightened me. I continued to get more and more information about UC (including Unassisted Childbirth, which James and I read together) and slowly started talking to James about it.

At first James was a little reluctant to have the baby at home without a midwife. Being a Paramedic this went against all of his training but he was able to see past that and realize that UC was the most natural choice. I still had prenatal check-ups with a new family physician, a female also expecting her third child. Although I felt very comfortable with her I knew I could not let her know of my intentions.

Two weeks before my due date I went into labour. Lying in bed beside my sleeping husband I began to have what I thought were very intense Braxton’s. Within a few minutes I realized they were the real thing and before I could complete the thought, my water broke.

I woke James up and he followed me to the bathroom where I sat on the toilet to catch the fluid. James told me he was going to get the materials we needed ready but to his surprise everything was set up. Before the contractions started I had a feeling it was going to be that night so just in case I got everything ready. Foil wrapped receiving blankets in the oven; OB kit out ; plastic sheets set out in the bathroom and bedroom; etc.

I got into the bath once the contractions got more intense but found it wasn’t the right place this time. James had put some plastic sheets on the bed and the floor and covered these with blankets. Over the next hour I moved from the bed to the toilet and then to the floor. The entire time James was so attentive, giving me water, rubbing my back, and offering words of encouragement.

I was on all fours when suddenly I felt the head coming down. I told James that the head was coming. He took a look and said “I don’t see anythi…OH IT IS THERE!” Seconds later the head delivered with the cord around the neck. James unwrapped the cord and out the baby flew. I looked down between my legs to see two little legs...it was a girl. James suctioned her and gave her to me to wrap in warmed receiving blankets and rub her back. She let out a soft cry and opened her eyes. I let out a sigh of relief. All I could say to my husband was, “She is so beautiful and WE did it!!” James clamped and cut the cord once it stopped pulsing while the baby nursed quietly. Five minutes later the placenta delivered.

After only 1 hour and 20 minutes of labour, I delivered a healthy 8lb,12oz girl with absolutely no complications!! I had no swelling and very little bleeding.

We called a neighbour to come and stay with our other children, who were still sleeping in their rooms, while we went to the hospital to be checked over. I had decided to do that due to a positive strep B test. I also believed I was taking the chance that my doctor would throw me out of her practice for doing this. It is very difficult to find a doctor who is accepting new patients, let alone a doctor as good as she is. Although we let on to the doctor that it was not an intentional UC, I know she knew that it was our intention all along.

I delivered on my hands and knees, the way I was sure I would have with the other two if I had been allowed to let my body decide my position. Like my other two babies, this baby was posterior. This time I did not have the excruciating back labour, and I attribute this delivering on all fours. My body, and nobody else, knew the best way to deliver my baby!!

Whenever I tell people that she was born with just my husband and myself in attendance I get a similar response: you're brave; you're lucky nothing went wrong; or just a horrified look. I often think to myself, I’m not the brave one…brave is subjecting yourself and your baby to all the hospital procedures. It is really too bad that our society has us so brainwashed into thinking childbirth is a medical emergency and not a natural bodily function.

I do not hesitate to encourage women to trust their bodies and to think outside the societal box. Even if I help only one woman to see that medical intervention in childbirth is dangerous, I feel I have contributed to making UC an acceptable way of birthing in our society.