She lives in Park City, Utah, and it was her upbringing which made her want to experience birth outdoors. When she realized she was pregnant with her fourth baby, Simone told her then partner Nick of her dream. Initially, she hoped to find a spot near a rock pool and the sea to welcome her baby, but she was living in Melbourne, Australia, at the time and the weather was too unpredictable. She was also worried the beach would be too public. Two weeks before her due date, Simone and her family headed to the house and started scouting out locations. The family got in their car and went to the creek, and after two hours Perouze entered the world as Simone squatted in the stream.
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Sarah Schmid, from Halle, Germany, has six children and gave birth to all of them outside a hospital. After she had her first child with the help of a midwife, she had the rest of her children unassisted — one of them was even born in a Swedish forest. She decided to give birth to her sixth child at home, in their back garden, and uploaded the video on YouTube. After practising medicine for some time and seeing babies delivered, she became inspired to try free-birthing. Sarah wanted to be completely alone so husband Tim was not around during the birth to son Kiran. 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.
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Simone Thurber is 43, a therapist, and a mom of four. Oh yeah—and more than 54 million people have watched her give birth in a stream. Let us explain: When Thurber was ready to give birth to her fourth child in , she knew she wanted this birthing experience to be different from the others. Her previous births had been at birthing centers and at home. Her plan for her fourth birth: To give birth in nature, unassisted. She'd watched a documentary showing Russian women giving birth in the Black Sea, and it inspired the trained doula on a "primal level," she says, to do something similar. At the time, Thurber was living in Melbourne, Australia, and she decided to head north to Queensland, where the weather is more tropical. She planned to give birth in the Daintree Rainforest, traveling with her partner, Nick, and children to the area a week before her due date.
Water slops from the pool on to the parquet where, in a few days, a baby will hopefully be sleeping in a moses basket. Kevin, Karen's husband, strokes her hair from her eyes. Karen moans. Or a caesarean. Between the waves of pain, though, Karen is clearly relieved to be at home and in control, instructing Kevin to get towels from upstairs, cushions from next door and pills from her bag. Upstairs, scented candles surround the bed, ready for when the new family curl up together for the first time. A week earlier, Karen had been very clear on the reasoning behind their choice: "We're not hippies," she said, "but I'm pregnant, not sick, so why should I go into a hospital?
