Have you seen this video? Are you among the 16 million people around the world who’ve watched it?
It depicts Californian mother Audra Lynn and her husband Paul Sykes calmly birthing their second child at home in a small pool.
The video has been watched by more than 16 million people. Via Facebook.
In the video Audra squats in a pool in her living room. She is half-submerged in the water, naked from the waist down and with her husband looking on she carefully checks her baby’s position in her vagina with a mirror before she groans slightly and forcefully pushes her baby out, catching him in the water and then releasing her emotions in tears of joy as she cradles her newborn son.
Two minutes is all it takes. Two minutes in which she is a wonder and a goddess. It’s hard not to watch it without being amazed at just how effortless her birth is, how graceful she is. How beautiful the birthing experience is.
Its hard not to watch it without thinking 'Gee that looks easy. I could do that.'
The video depicts Californian mother Audra Lynn and her husband Paul Sykes calmly birthing their second child at home in a small pool. Via Facebook.
The video has been shared by the homebirth midwife Lisa Marie Sanchez Oxenham of Sacred Journey Midwifery, on her Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube pages.
Leaving 16 million people (and growing) around the world with the impression that home birth is always effortless, easy and always safe.
An impression that is incredibly dangerous.
Yes, home birth CAN be safe.
Yes, this home birth, Audra Lynn’s second WAS safe, as are millions of others around the world. But to categorise all home births as safe and effortless is a great concern and the fear with viral videos depicting home birth as effortless, easy and intervention free is that they polarise the birthing experience into two distinct camps.
Home births = easy and natural. Hospital birth = medicalised and painful. This is an incredibly troubling distinction to make.
Top Comments
Let's celebrate that we've been shown how beautiful and simple birth can be - a normal life event for a change. WHO figures alone show that 85% of women can birth safely without any interventions which shows us yet again how women's bodies are nature's perfect design to carry, birth and breastfeed our young. Let's celebrate that!
Oh wow...Whose perception of homebirth is this? So negative and really not helpful. We really have to watch our language when we speak about birth and make sure that we don't push our own personal beliefs and perceptions onto women. There's so much negativity already out there, it makes a nice change to see such a normal positive birth story (wherever it took place). Women who choose homebirth are sometimes forced underground and choose to birth alone or take risks simply because they are not supported here in Australia. We take choice away from women when we dictate what is best for them. Couples need to be educated on both the risks and the benefits then we need to give them the right to make their own decisions and 'allow' them to be responsible and accountable for those choices. I've witnessed many beautiful births just like this, so to say that it's "not realistic" is untrue...it happened so it is realistic!