Mum shares video of her giving birth to sixth baby in her garden
The mum-of-six has given birth to all of her children outside of a hospital
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Your support makes all the difference.A mum gave birth to her sixth child unassisted in her garden - and then uploaded the footage to YouTube where 1.4 million people watched.
Sarah Schmid, from Halle Germany, gave birth to all of her children, Johanna 11, Jonathon, 10, Emanuel, eight, Elisabeth, six, and Konstantin, three, outside of a hospital so when it was time to give birth to her newest son, Kiran, she decided to do it in the comfort of her own backyard.
Speaking to The Sun, the 36-year-old said that she was inspired to adopt “free-birthing” after training to be a doctor and seeing babies delivered.
Although she gave up practising medicine to become a mum, the experience put her off medically-assisted births.
“There I watched people giving birth in a hospital and I thought, ‘I can’t do this. It isn’t relaxing,’” she said.
With her first child, Schmid’s labour was helped along by a midwife - but by the birth of her second child she felt she could successfully undertake the birthing process completely by herself after reading literature on the subject and becoming a “baby expert.”
When Schmid gave birth to Jonathon in 2008, it was in a Swedish forest - completely alone.
Although her husband Tim, 41, arrived after to take photos, Schmid endured the four-hour labour by herself - so she could deal with her own fears.
“I didn’t mind Tim not being there. I knew he had fears about the birth - especially because it was unassisted. But I felt I had to deal with my own fears first,” Schmid recalled.
With all of the following births, Schmid recorded herself - but Kiran’s birth in September 2016 was special because it was during the day so the couple’s other children could watch.
After having Kiran at the couple’s home in France, as the other children looked on and played on the playground, Schmid uploaded the birth to her YouTube channel where it has received more than 710,000 views. Another video of the birth garnered 700,000 views.
As for her thoughts on the thousands of strangers watching the intimate moment, Schmid is pleased because it allows people the chance to “see birth, and especially birth without intervention.”
“A woman looks like a woman. It is the most natural and normal thing in the world. I don’t think it’s strange,” she said.
An increasing number of women are turning to home births or free birthing as an option, especially if the idea of a medicated or medically-assisted birth is unappealing, according to the study "Planned home birth: benefits, risks, and opportunities."
Published in the journal International Journal of Women’s Health, the article references other studies that have shown home births are linked to increased birthing satisfaction for mothers.
There are risks with home births, however - including the potential for “adverse neonatal outcomes” such as a baby in breech position.
In countries where hospital births are the norm, doctors discourage mothers from home births because of the risks associated.
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