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Hurrah! for home births

Meet the winners of our first-ever Home Birth Awards

babyworld.co.uk is the first UK website to recognise the work of midwives who have attended home births. We joined forces with one of the most out-spoken and passionate advocates of home births - midwife Caroline Flint - to help us judge our first ever awards.

After reading and selecting the winners and runners up Caroline said" "Thank you for your wonderful stories - as well as all the stories we haven't published. Stories of determined women and supportive midwives who enter into home births because they need a private and safe environment to give birth in - these stories have given us real joy."

babyworld recognises the need to normalise home birth and make it more accessible as a choice for all women. So many childbirth reports and our own Birth survey highlight that mums are seeking more control, continuity of care and a less medicalised birth. These stories will hopefully inspire many others to go ahead and try a home birth and ,where necessary, cajole and battle with unhelpful professionals to make them realise that it's important to allow mums to choose a home birth as a serious option and not scare them into believing that hospitals are the safest place to have babies.

1st Prize winner: Debbie Gilmour
2nd Prize winner: Barbara Higham
Runners-up

Debbie Gilmour from Renfrewshire, Scotland. Debbie's second birth was a VBAC in water, at home.

Midwife Caroline Flint comments on Debbie's story:

What an inspiring story from Debbie who went into battle to have a home birth, absolutely determined and instead of the opposition she was expecting Debbie met support and openness all the way through from her midwives.

Debbie was determined not to repeat the experience she had with her first birth when she had an emergency caesarean section.

According to Michel Odent, pioneer Obstetrician and natural birth guru, having a caesarean harms a woman's confidence in her body's ability to function normally during labour and for a woman who has had a previous caesarean the best place for her to labour is a place where she can produce oxytocin (also known as the love hormone) and endorphins (the body's natural morphine). He says that women need to be somewhere very private where they can relax and surrender to the sensations of birth. This is what Debbie did.

Her decision however was not without risk. There is a remote possibility that her scar could come apart with the strength of the contractions and this could be dangerous for both mother and baby. This is why the midwives called an ambulance when Debbie's scar began to hurt, but having reassured themselves that all was well they sent it away again.

To have a home birth the combination of a determined woman and supportive midwives is a recipe for success. How kind of Dorothy to come in on her day off, many midwives have great commitment to women and put them first over and above their own plans.

I also suspect that had Debbie ended up with another caesarean after all this, she would have felt better about both her caesareans because she would have felt that she and her midwives had done their very best to avoid one. Congratulations to Debbie and to her midwives.

Read Debbie's story

Barbara Higham from Ilkley, Yorkshire had her third child at 41, at home in a birth pool.

Midwife Caroline Flint comments on Barbara's story:

What an inspiring story this is - a lovely calm, relaxed home birth with an independent midwife. Independent midwives are midwives who work outside the NHS - they earn their living by looking after women (usually for home births) and charging a fee. Independent midwives sometimes accompany women to hospital but their expertise is in home birth.

Interesting to hear what Barbara has to say about Chris's care. How her approach is of least interference - vaginal examinations very rarely or none at all. Chris didn't make the labouring woman feel as if she was under observation.

Mammals (which is what we are - like deer, horses, cats, dogs, sheep, cows, pigs) do not like to be observed during labour, they need complete privacy and reassurance.

Barbara says that Chris said very little and smiled a lot, that she understood the sort of birth Barbara wanted, and that she believed that a woman should do what her body is telling her. For Barbara this quiet, happy, reassuring presence made all the difference to her confidence in her body's ability to give birth beautifully.

Interesting to hear what Barbara says about her husband's relationship with Chris. That Chris's quiet confidence helped Simon, her husband, to feel confident too and he was able to pop in and out whilst looking after their other two children and put them to bed.

And how did it end up? With Barbara settling down in her own bed with her daughter feeling proud and empowered with what her body had just done. For many women the part immediately following a home birth is the most blissful feeling in the world - snuggling down in bed with your baby and your beloved partner feeling proud and clever - marvellous feeling!

Read Barbara's story