Pondering Freebirth

I was prompted by a question in a midwifery class I am taking to give my thoughts about freebirth:

I think the whole concept of freebirth, or the fact that we have to give it such a name, is interesting in and of itself. The term “freebirth” usually refers to birth without a licensed professional. It doesn’t necessarily refer to birth without support. I imagine a time when midwives were able to truly support a woman in having an undisturbed birth, or a “free” birth. It feels to me like it’s the medicalization of midwifery that has created the concept of freebirth, as we know it.

I don’t believe healthy women need a medical professional to manage and safeguard their births. The physiological blueprint for birth is intricate and undeniably intelligent. The more I study it, the more I am convinced that the process was designed to be as safe as absolutely possible and that, in most cases, disturbing the process is what makes birth unsafe.

Despite their innate ability to birth without assistance however, most women do want a nurturing support person or a quiet witness to be present at their birth. Traditionally this person would be called a midwife, meaning “with-woman”. Nowadays, people think of a midwife as someone who brings medical knowledge, supplies and protocol into the birth space. Someone who is responsible for the safety of the birth. There is this notion that only when attended by a person with a degree or a license can birth be safe. The side effect of this idea is that modern midwives also tend to bring a certain amount of fear to birth. Because who wouldn’t feel at least some fear when they are the sole person responsible for the safety of the birth! That is a pretty heavy burden to carry. Fear can be sneaky and hide from plain view. It often takes the form of concern, hyper vigilance and the need to manage and control. It also paves the way for protocols and rules. Official rules and guidelines add to this by making the midwife liable not only to the woman and family she is serving, but to the health authorities. It is her responsibility to ensure that the birth process unfolds within a framework that is acceptable to the health authorities. The responsibilities of modern midwives are almost strangling.

The concept of freebirth puts the responsibility for the birth back with the birthing mother and father, and perhaps more importantly back with God or Spirit, or whatever name you choose to give to the power that animates life. I believe, that only when this responsibility is restored to its rightful place can birth truly be “free”.

As elder midwife Whapio says: “It is not my privilege to know another person’s destiny”. To try and control someone else’s birth process and outcome can only spell trouble. There is a very fine line between supporting and interfering. Between helping, in the rare case where help is truly needed, and sabotaging by managing and controlling. Walking this line should, in an ideal world, be the midwife’s foremost priority. Maybe one day, we can get to a place where midwife assisted birth is also “free” birth.