Mother-of-five Caitlin Twidale, from Chinchilla on Queensland’s Western Darling Downs, decided to free birth because she was unable to find a midwife to help her deliver at home.

A free birth is different from a home birth, in that there is no midwife or medical staff present.

Ms Twidale said she made the decision after extensive research and said it was the right decision for her family.

“We had quite a traumatic experience with my second born,” she said.

“This being my fifth child I was hoping for a water birth and a home birth and being in a rural area there was just nothing like that.

“A midwife would have been my first option but once I started looking into it I would probably choose free birth.”

Ms Twidale, who is studying to be a childbirth educator, said she undertook extensive research.

“It’s all about giving women options and it is, after all, the woman’s choice how they chose to do it and with whom and how much research they do,” she said.

“We did have access to hospitals and medical care as back-up if we needed it as well.”

Gino Pecoraro from the Australian Medical Association cautioned women against the practice and said the safest place for women to give birth was in a hospital.

“I’m afraid we do have data suggesting that women who do have their babies at home are increasing the chance of an intrapartum death or problems with the baby suffering from not getting enough oxygen,” Dr Pecoraro said.

“There is also an increased risk to mothers themselves.”

Midwives trained to respond

Liz Wilkes from Midwives Australia said midwives were trained to respond if something went wrong.

“We can see very subtle changes in birth … but if you’re birthing by yourself then the chances are that those subtle changes won’t be picked up in a period where appropriate action can be taken,” she said.

“I do agree that it is their body and they do have the right to choose and I understand that they are very well-educated women, generally speaking.

“It is a very normal life event for most people, but when it goes wrong unfortunately it can go quite badly wrong … they often don’t know what they don’t know.

“You can’t know what losing a baby is like unless you’ve lost a baby.”

Ms Twidale said if she decided to have more children she would have another free birth.

“It was absolutely amazing. It was so peaceful and it was less stressful,” she said.

“My oldest two boys were there to watch Memphis come into the world, which was absolutely amazing.

“They were ecstatic they were so happy … I had prepped them on everything that had happened.

“They went to school pretty much straight after. We packed their lunches after he was born and they went to school just with this story and they were so excited and told all their friends that they absolutely loved being a part of it.

“It still makes me smile, I get goose bumps, it was just the most beautiful experience.”

Dr Pecoraro from the Australian Medical Association warned it was an unnecessary risk to take.

“We don’t need to reinvent the wheel. It’s quite clear that it’s safer to have your baby in a hospital.”

“There is internationally accepted data and data from Australia that quite clearly shows the risk of adverse outcomes including stillbirth and problems with the baby not getting enough oxygen during the delivery that are increased if the baby is born at home.

“All doctors believe that a person can make decisions for themselves, provided they are of sound mind. All we ask is that people are given all the correct information to guide their decision.

“I think it’s sad if we have adverse outcomes that could have been prevented.”

Dr Pecoraro said fewer than 1 per cent of mothers chose to homebirth and the number of women free birthing is an even smaller proportion of that.

But Ms Wilkes from Midwives Australia said the data was difficult to analyse.

“With maternity data we typically see results of perinatal data that’s collected on a state and federal basis three years after [the event],” she said.

“We are seeing figures from 2013 now, so it’s tricky to know because three years down the track you get the data.”

This post originally appeared on ABC News.