Psalm & Zoya--the unassisted homebirth of our twins.

I contacted Mindy Goorchenko about the video of her homebirth, in part because I am so dismayed at the increasing inability to birth breech babies or twins in hospitals or even birth centers. I had read Mindy's post on the doula listserv about the unassisted homebirth of her two babies, the second of whom was breech, and thought perhaps this would be a good video to review here in these pages. It is an astonishing video--full of interesting moments, and wonderful attitudes!

I knew Mindy was an experienced childbirth professional who had birthed two babies previous to her twins. The video opens with Mindy just a week away from her due date talking into the camera all the while rubbing her belly. She said that she was feeling fine, and that she'd be excited for them to come out soon, but added while looking down at her belly, "Whenever you're ready is just fine with me." A little more than a week later, the camera returns with Mindy in labor and focusing in on her breathing as she uses a birth ball to go through a contraction.

Though they talk about a birthing tub they've rented, most of the rest of the taping happens in their bathroom, which is tiny and provides some very challenging moments for Mindy's husband, Alex, who is the cameraman! Mindy is on the toilet, deep into active labor, as her toddler son watches her curiously and nurses. Mindy laughs at one point, and says just what I was thinking, "My son is helping me progress with nipple stimulation!" Though it's difficult to see while she's sitting, you can see the amniotic sac starting to bulge through her vagina.

Then it is time for her first baby to be born, and she is on the floor in front of the toilet. On hands and knees, she guides her first baby out. He is head down, and passes quickly and easily. We see Alex carrying around and filming the newest addition to the family, Psalm, until faintly in the background, we hear Mindy gearing up to birth her second baby.

When the filming begins again in the bathroom, Mindy is standing for a bit, and I am a little disconcerted at first glance because I don't understand what I see. Later, I understand--she's tied off Psalm's cord with a shoestring. Mindy prepares for the second baby, again in hands and knees, checking with her hand to ascertain the baby's position. She says a swear word and her husband asks her, "What is it?" She replies, "A foot." He asks what he should do, and she very calmly tells him not to do anything but film. He zooms in, and to and behold, there's a whole leg sticking out! She maneuvers her body position a bit and uses her hand to free the baby's other leg, gives a mighty few pushes, and baby number two is born! Their first girl, who they name Zoya.

And now for the shocker--I have heard in the beginning of the film that she's gained 80 pounds. Indeed, I've never seen such a big belly. Now as the screen lights up with the babies' full names, I nearly fall out of my seat at their weights: Psalm weighs 7 lbs. 10 oz, and Zoya weighs 8 lbs. 11oz.! That's 16 lbs and 5 oz of pure baby that Mindy carried all that time--and everyone is healthy and happy. Amazing!

Later, I read Mindy's birth story in her own words on a website. She talks about why it was unassisted--after struggling to find a midwife that wasn't fearful, and who would support the birth their way, Mindy and Alex chose a midwife who was three hours away. Because their previous two labors were relatively short, they knew it was a good possibility they would do this alone.

The midwife arrived about 45 minutes after the births, and did the assessments and measurements. Mindy ends her birth story saying, "All in all, I gained 80 pounds during this pregnancy and it was by far my easiest and most favorite of the three."

I came away from the video (which I had to watch twice in a row) with one central thought. There were several aspects of this birth experience that most people have never seen before, and things I may never see again. An unassisted birth with calm parents who really trusted, not just that Mindy could birth normally, but that her pregnancy need not be "high-risk"; full-term twins; twins of a size considered large even as singletons; an uncomplicated breech birth; and babies who seemed to know that their parents would let them do this at their own pace. I'm sure we could find childbirth professionals who would call each of these aspects 'risky' individually and downright 'impossible' collectively. But my parting thought was: If more mothers could birth in their most comfortable, instinctive states, what might we see or experience that current popular thought deems "Impossible"?

DVD available at www.unassistedchildbirN.com for $39.95