BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth recently published a research article investigating the reasons behind why women choose to ‘go it alone’ when giving birth in the UK. Co-author Claire Feeley explains more about their findings in this guest blog

Feeley, Claire Lauren

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ArticleGiving birth and 'going it alone': choosing to freebirth in the UKFeeley, Claire LaurenAvailable at http://clok.uclan.ac.uk/17779/Feeley, Claire Lauren (2016) Giving birth and 'going it alone': choosing to freebirth in the UK. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth Blog . (Unpublished)  It is advisable to refer to the publisher’s version if you intend to cite from the work.For more information about UCLan’s research in this area go to http://www.uclan.ac.uk/researchgroups/ and search for <name of research Group>.For information about Research generally at UCLan please go to http://www.uclan.ac.uk/research/ All outputs in CLoK are protected by Intellectual Property Rights law, includingCopyright law.  Copyright, IPR and Moral Rights for the works on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Terms and conditions for use of this material are defined in the http://clok.uclan.ac.uk/policies/CLoKCentral Lancashire online Knowledgewww.clok.uclan.ac.ukGiving birth and ‘going it alone’: choosing to freebirth in the UK - BMC Series bloghttps://blogs.biomedcentral.com/bmcseriesblog/2016/04/12/giving-birth-going-alone-choosing-freebirth-uk/[05/05/2017 10:57:55]                                                  Giving birth and ‘going it alone’: choosing to freebirth in the UK - BMC Series bloghttps://blogs.biomedcentral.com/bmcseriesblog/2016/04/12/giving-birth-going-alone-choosing-freebirth-uk/[05/05/2017 10:57:55]  About this blog »SUBSCRIBEFOLLOWBMC Series blogClaire Feeley                         Giving birth and ‘going it alone’: choosing to freebirth in the UKABOUTBlogs TopicsGiving birth and ‘going it alone’: choosing to freebirth in the UK - BMC Series bloghttps://blogs.biomedcentral.com/bmcseriesblog/2016/04/12/giving-birth-going-alone-choosing-freebirth-uk/[05/05/2017 10:57:55]Claire Feeley  12 Apr 2016 1There are of course potential risks by ‘going it alone’ or to freebirth, as during birth unforeseen clinical events may occur which threaten the lives of mothers and babies.BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth recently published a research article invesigating the reasons behind why women choose to ‘go it alone’ when giving birth in the UK. Co-author Claire Feeley explains more about their fndings in this gues blog.Why do some women choose to freebirth in the UK?PixabayAs a midwife, one might ask why I would be interesed in the phenomenon of freebirthing, for this is a decision whereby women make an active choice to not have a midwife (or doctor) present at the birth.However, my knowledge as a woman, mother and midwife tells me that childbirth choices are not made in isolation. Rather, they are deeply embedded within cultural, political and social landscapes. This caused me to wonder to what extent a woman’s choice to freebirth was a refection of poor maternity care or provision.There are of course potential risks by ‘going it alone’ or to freebirth, as during birth unforeseen clinical events may occur which threaten the lives of mothers and babies. These are generally rare but do require timely intervention by a trained maternity professional.That said, we do know that there has been an exponential rise in birth interventions such as induction of labours, augmenting labours (speeding them up) and caesareans. Whils life saving for many, their overuse is associated with increased levels of morbidity and 74 68 46 37 29 27 26 23 21Receive the latest BMC Series blog posts straight to your inbox.Receive BMC Series blog related news and updates from BioMed Central.Popular BMC Series Blog tagsHighlightsBMC Evolutionary BiologyBMC EcologyBMC Public Healthecologypublic healthevolutionBiologyconferencesClaire qualified as a midwife in 2011 at Oxford Brookes University, graduating with a Masters degree at the University of Central Lancashire in 2015. During this time she has worked clinically in all areas of midwifery as well as establishing a research career.She is currently enrolled on a PhD Studentship with the University of Central Lancashire.Yes NoSubmitGiving birth and ‘going it alone’: choosing to freebirth in the UK - BMC Series bloghttps://blogs.biomedcentral.com/bmcseriesblog/2016/04/12/giving-birth-going-alone-choosing-freebirth-uk/[05/05/2017 10:57:55]The aim of this sudy was to identify and explore what infuenced women’s decision to freebirth in a UK context.Whils this may be a challenge for midwives to undersand, it is a choice that mus be respected. mortality as demonsrated by the recent Lancet Series.The medicalization of childbirth is a topic of great debate with passionate arguments from both sides. What is agreed is that the safe passage of mother and baby during childbirth is the priority. How that is enabled, however, is of great contention.What did we do?Within this context, I carried out a literature review of qualitative research to answer the quesion ‘Why do some women choose to freebirth?’ The search identifed only four sudies (three undertaken in America and one in Ausralia), none of which were based in the UK.This review identifed common motivations to freebirth including: a rejection of the medical and midwifery model of birth, a previous disressing/traumatic birth experience and a faith in the natural birth process. In addition there was a prevailing sense of women opting to freebirth in order to retain choice, control and autonomy over their bodies during the birth process.In order to see whether UK women held similar issues, the aim of this sudy was to identify and explore what infuenced women’s decision to freebirth in a UK context.We recruited ten women to the sudy, all of which had freebirthed at leas once in the UK. The fndings were complex and deeply nuanced as the decision to freebirth was based on multiple factors.What do our fndings show?Largely our fndings supported those of the metasynthesis which was surprising as maternity services are confgured very diferently in the UK. For many their decision was borne out of a previous negative or traumatic birth experience, which was sometimes compounded by further negative experiences with maternity services (such as when making attempts to book a homebirth).These women described how they had los faith in the maternity services to provide them with the care that they wanted or that they felt they needed.Women frequently referred to how they considered a freebirth was the only option for them to be free from interference and to feel safe. This aspect from a midwifery perspective is deeply 19 19 18healthBMC PsychiatryBMC seriesPopular possMost read Most sharedMeasuring the Four Principles of Beauchamp and ChildressHemophilia: More than a male only disorderThe mortality risks of cigar smokingSlothful trends in evolution: from walking giants to tiny tree-dwellersOur “human” destiny in the post-antibiotic era12345Giving birth and ‘going it alone’: choosing to freebirth in the UK - BMC Series bloghttps://blogs.biomedcentral.com/bmcseriesblog/2016/04/12/giving-birth-going-alone-choosing-freebirth-uk/[05/05/2017 10:57:55] concerning, indicating a wide chasm between the midwifery philosophy of care and care delivery.For other women their decision to freebirth was borne out of a positive experience where they wanted to enhance their birthing experience and a midwife was considered redundant. Whils this may be a challenge for midwives to undersand, it is a choice that mus be respected.Improving maternity services for allThe fact that women choose to freebirth in order to create a calm, quiet birthing space that is free from clinical interruptions and that enhances the physiology of labour, contributes to the body of evidence which seeks to improve maternity services for all.International interes in the phenomenon has gathered momentum in the pas few years. Researchers from the UK, Holland, Ausralia and Ireland are all providing valuable contributions to the phenomenon of freebirthing or birth that sits outside of the current norms of maternity provision.Whils the numbers of women who freebirth are relatively small, it does raise important quesions regarding how maternity care is provided, how midwives can re-connect with women who have los faith in our care and whether our practices always support physiological or optimal birth. AcknowledgementsThis work was supported by the Wellbeing of Women in conjunction with the Royal College of Midwives and the Burdett Trus (grant number ELS505). I would like to personally thank Gill Thomson for her excellent supervision and contribution to this paper.41525171618129516510ArchivesMay 2017April 2017March 2017February 2017January 2017December 2016November 2016October 2016September 2016August 2016July 2016June 2016View archivesLiked the blog? Now read the research:Why do some women choose to freebirth in the UK? An interpretative phenomenological sudyOPEN ACCESSGiving birth and ‘going it alone’: choosing to freebirth in the UK - BMC Series bloghttps://blogs.biomedcentral.com/bmcseriesblog/2016/04/12/giving-birth-going-alone-choosing-freebirth-uk/[05/05/2017 10:57:55]Topics:MEDICINETags:BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth childbirth pregnancyShare this pos< PREVIOUS POSTMeet Jogi and Birgit: scorpion lovers from the Permian period07 Apr 2016NEXT POST >What can bats teach us about human language, diseases, and tequila15 Apr 2016View the lates poss on the BMC Series blog homepageOne CommentBy commenting, you’re agreeing to follow our community guidelines.Your email address will not be published.  Required felds are marked *Comment239      Giving birth and ‘going it alone’: choosing to freebirth in the UK - BMC Series bloghttps://blogs.biomedcentral.com/bmcseriesblog/2016/04/12/giving-birth-going-alone-choosing-freebirth-uk/[05/05/2017 10:57:55]Name *Email *WebsiteAboutAbout our blog networkCopyright informationNetwork BlogsOn BiologyOn MedicineNetwork TopicsBiologyMedicineCommunityNetwork RSS FeedsFollow us on TwitterReplyMaureen Gannon12th April 2016 23:21I can undersand why women want to freebirth when one only has to see the programme ‘one born every minute ‘, to see that midwives and other medical practitioners are not observing evidence based practice, with far too much intervention and disrespect for women. Women have los their trus in midwives and midwives have forgotten that they are the specialiss in normal pregnancy and birth.Giving birth and ‘going it alone’: choosing to freebirth in the UK - BMC Series bloghttps://blogs.biomedcentral.com/bmcseriesblog/2016/04/12/giving-birth-going-alone-choosing-freebirth-uk/[05/05/2017 10:57:55]Community GuidelinesAbout BioMed CentralOn HealthBioMed Central blogBMC Series blogBugbittenRelated BlogsOn ChemistrySpringerOpen blogHealthDeveloping WorldOpen AccessTechnologyPublishingFollow us on FacebookFollow us on LinkedInFollow us on Google+© 2016 BioMed Central Ltd unless otherwise sated. Part of Springer Nature.

Giving birth and 'going it alone': choosing to freebirth in the UK

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