Key Highlights
- Helen Style says the risks of giving birth without medical assistance are well knownAfter listening to the Guardian podcast series the Birth Keepers, I feel compelled to share my own story.
- I believe that it is important to share examples of a middle way somewhere between free birthing and obstetrical violence.
- Personally, I chose the middle way. My child was born at home.
- At the time, we were living off grid in an isolated village in France.
- We knew of many women who had chosen to give birth at home in our village accompanied by the only independent certified midwife in the area who accepted the risk of accompanying home births in this particularly isolated place. We were also friends with a registered physiotherapist – a mother to three children born at home – who agreed to accompany me throughout my pregnancy and who promised to be with us on the day of the birth of our child. On the day of the birth of my child, guided by our friend, I stayed in conscious movement the whole day throughout the contractions.
