Mother's Choice

Producers: Kirsty Thomson and Stephen Taylor

There's nothing unusual about women having babies.

Understandably though, every mother-to-be feels unique.

And Tara Brown is speaking from personal experience.

If all goes well, come October Tara will be a mum for the first time.

Soon Tara will have to make THAT decision - how she wants her baby delivered.

These days, one in three Australian babies are delivered in an operating theatre. Caesarians are fast becoming the norm.

Right at the other end of the spectrum, some women have their babies at home, with no medical intervention at all.

Not a doctor or a midwife in sight.

So, natural or the knife – on Sunday night the intimate stories of women who've already made that difficult choice.

And we should mention some viewers may find some scenes confronting.

Full transcript

INTRODUCTION TARA BROWN: There's nothing unusual about women having babies. Understandably, though, every mother-to-be feels unique and, here, I'm speaking from personal experience. If all goes well, come October, I will be a mum for the first time. Soon, I'll have to make that decision - how I want my baby delivered. These days, one in three Australian babies are delivered in an operating theatre. Caesareans are fast becoming the norm. Right at the other end of the spectrum, some women have their babies at home with no medical intervention at all - not a doctor or a midwife in sight. So, natural or the knife? Tonight, the intimate stories of women who've already made that difficult choice. And I should mention some viewers may find some scenes confronting.

STORY TARA BROWN: It may not look like it, but in a small lounge room in Queensland, Julie Heath has just gone into labour. She's chosen a rare home water birth for the delivery of her fourth child, And she's chosen to do it without help.

JULIE HEATH: It still hurts but it doesn't hurt, hurt-hurt.

TARA BROWN: There are no doctors, no midwives, and no drugs, just her husband, Ben.

BEN HEATH: I'm just here to catch it, that's all.

DR MICHAEL VAN DER GRIEND: Yeah, come on in.

TARA BROWN: A thousand kilometres away in a private Sydney hospital, Dr Michael Van Der Griend and his team are preparing for their second Caesarean delivery for the morning.

DR MICHAEL VAN DER GRIEND: Virginia, can we just have the bed down just a touch?

TARA BROWN: Back in Biloela, Julie and Ben are just moments away from experiencing the pleasure that goes with this pain.

BEN HEATH: Alright?

JULIE HEATH: Yes.

BEN HEATH: Do you want me to grab it?

TARA BROWN: The contractions only started two hours ago...

JULIE HEATH: (big sigh) TARA BROWN: ..but this baby's in a hurry.

BEN HEATH: Very good, very good!

JULIE HEATH: Huh, it's a girl!

TARA BROWN: In the Sydney operating theatre, it's even quicker.

DR MICHAEL VAN DER GRIEND: There we go - head's out.

TARA BROWN: In just three minutes, this little bub is pulled from Mummy's tummy.

DR MICHAEL VAN DER GRIEND: There we go, a little boy.

TARA BROWN: Two families at the most joyous point of their lives. Two perfect babies - one delivered with medical intervention and one with none at all - a snapshot of completely different ways of birthing in Australia in 2008.

JULIE HEATH: A woman can give birth if she was in the middle of a paddock by herself. It's not - she doesn't necessarily need someone else there with her.

GEORGIA SHEAHAN: I don't like the idea of, you know, pushing something the size of a watermelon outside something the size of a golf ball. It just sounds awful and I didn't want any part of it.

TARA BROWN: Natural versus Caesarean. If there's one issue that gets people talking, it's the best way to deliver your baby. With one in three Australia women now having their babies by Caesarean, it's an emotional debate, especially when it comes to women choosing to go under the knife for no medical reason. For fans of natural birth, these women are giving up much more than they gain. For supporters of Caesareans, many do it for convenience and to avoid the trauma and pain of a natural labour. 30-year-old Georgia Sheahan is a dentist with a passion for the piano and a mum to Patrick and Joseph. Very early on in her first pregnancy, with no medical complications, Georgia decided the pain of natural childbirth wasn't for her. Now tell me, is it a case that you're just "too posh to push"?

GEORGIA SHEAHAN: I've heard that expression. If I thought it would be good for my children, if I thought it would help them for me to go through agony for hours and hours, I would happily do it but I, ah, at - maybe I am too posh to push, I don't know. Too scared to push really.

TARA BROWN: Georgia is part of a growing trend of women opting out of labour, giving Australia one of the highest Caesarean rates in the world. And it's not just the pain. Georgia says too many things can go wrong with a natural delivery.

GEORGIA SHEAHAN: You know you can get a cervical prolapse, you can get tears, so there's all those unpleasant things, from a mother's point of view. But I was also terrified of things that can go wrong for the baby. You can have, you know, shoulder dislocation, you can have the cord wrapped around the neck and, at the end of the day, I wanted a child, not a childbirth.

DI BAKER: Morning.

TARA BROWN: But 37-year-old Di Baker was less concerned about the risks and more interested in convenience. She owns a baby boutique in Sydney's affluent Double Bay and fits the perfect current Caesarean profile - high-earning career woman who likes order in her life. So there's not an overriding attitude of "there's no pushing down here, darling?" There is, isn't there? Is there?

DI BAKER: Look, I knew I never wanted to push. I knew before I even met my husband so, it's - girls plan for their perfect dream wedding. I planned for the perfect pregnancy.

TARA BROWN: And now Di has the perfect family - 5-year-old twins, Madison and Phoenix, and husband Fred. For Di, even having twins, there was no medical reason for a Caesarean and she has no regrets. Do you feel any less of an achiever because you didn't go through the natural birthing process?

DI BAKER: No, not at all. I admire women who do the push. I must say, I have great admiration for you but, no, not at all.

TARA BROWN: With four kids, 36-year-old Tara Darlington knows what it's like to push. But she's also felt the surgeon's knife and, after experiencing her Caesarean, supports natural childbirth even more.

TARA DARLINGTON: Caesareans are major abdominal surgery, so if I'm a perfectly healthy mother, a perfectly healthy baby, personally, I wouldn't add in something that's going to create a risk for convenience.

TARA BROWN: Tara believes giving birth is such a natural part of life she wants to share it with the world in all its confronting glory, making a film of one of her deliveries.

TARA DARLINGTON: I felt like I could do anything after that. You know, it's like "well done!", you know? I'd just done this amazing, you know, just gone through this amazing experience that is quite transforming.

TARA BROWN: With her second child Akira, Tara was forced to have a Caesarean because of a medical emergency.

TARA DARLINGTON: It was much harder bonding. I mean, I was laid up in hospital for longer. It was harder to carry him... So if it saves your life what can you say but if it wasn't necessary I wouldn't choose it.

DR MICHAEL VAN DER GRIEND: This is an elective Caesarean. We are not expecting a low placenta or any unexpected bleeding.

TARA BROWN: So the elective surgeries you do Michael, what is the main reason?

DR MICHAEL VAN DER GRIEND: Most of it is maternal choice, it is maternal request.

TARA BROWN: In just fours years obstetrician Michael Van Der Griend has seen Caesar rates jump from one in four to one in three deliveries He has done many of them and knows the risks.

DR MICHAEL VAN DER GRIEND: You tend to lose a little bit more blood with a Caesarean section birth compared to a straightforward delivery. Your risk of infection or wound infection or urinary tract infection is higher. But all of those things, even though I've named them, are significantly low in my experience in a straightforward elective Caesarean section.

TARA BROWN: And for the babies, some delivered by Caesarean need special care to help with their breathing. This little boy, just five minutes old, is no exception.

DR GARTH LESLIE: That's right, a few big breaths, that will help.

TARA BROWN: But paediatrician Dr Garth Leslie isn't too worried. Is that a consequence of having a Caesarean or do you see the same in natural deliveries?

DR GARTH LESLIE: You see the same in natural deliveries but its a bit more common after a Caesarean because they haven't been... ..had their lungs squeezed down through the pelvis during the labour process.

JULIE HEATH: Desperate for a brother.

TARA BROWN: For some there is too much medical intervention. When I first met 27-year-old Julie Heath, a mum to three girls, she was getting close to giving birth to her fourth child, and this one will be born at home. Julie is bucking the trend of Caesarean by having this baby with no assistance.

BEN HEATH: See ya, kids.

TARA BROWN: But you know it was only a hundred years ago that one in 50 women died in childbirth and lots of babies died too?

JULIE HEATH: Obviously the Caesarean is now in, and it saves a lot of babies but I think it's a bit overused.

TARA BROWN: Home is Biloela in country Queensland and at the local hospital there are no water births which is what Julie really wants this time to manage her pain. I'm picturing this with contractions. This is not a good scene.

JULIE HEATH: It's all right, my contractions are good.

TARA BROWN: So Julie turned to the Internet to buy a do-it-yourself birthing bath for her do-it-yourself birth at home. It's husband Ben's job to blow the thing up and help Julie get through the birth.

BEN HEATH: I'm not really nervous about it you know, it's just another labour but we'll be doing it at home, so...

TARA BROWN: But the responsibility kind of falls on your shoulders this time.

BEN HEATH: Yeah, a little bit.

JULIE HEATH: I think we need to go back to the stage where women were trusted to give birth because that's what their bodies are naturally designed to do.

TARA BROWN: There are risks - the baby could be born with the cord wrapped round its neck but with the hospital literally a minute and a half away Julie is unfazed. So in your view, to experience a water birth, which is what you really want, is worth the possible risk to your baby?

JULIE HEATH: Well when you put it like that it sounds bad. Well I don't think there will be a huge risk.

TARA BROWN: Have you had many reactions where people have said, "What? You are doing what?"

JULIE HEATH: Well, I haven't told a lot of people because I don't want to hear that reaction.

BEN HEATH: Are you alright? Do you want me to rub your back?

JULIE HEATH: No.

TARA BROWN: When Julie's baby decides to arrive it's in the middle of the night. And the delivery is calm and dignified.

BEN HEATH: Very good. Very good.

JULIE HEATH: It's a girl.

BEN HEATH: Another bloody girl. Another bloody girl.

TARA BROWN: The baby girl seems healthy... ..but there are anxious moments. Julie is worried by her own bleeding and calls for an ambulance. While the blood loss is not unusual they decide to take her and the baby to hospital for a check up. But sometimes it can be so much worse.

DR MICHAEL VAN DER GRIEND: Home births... ..when they go great are great. But when home births go wrong and you don't have back up it can be a disaster.

TARA BROWN: And you are left to clean up the mess?

DR MICHAEL VAN DER GRIEND: Ah, yes.

TARA BROWN: But Dr Van Der Griend believes in most cases, vaginal births and elective Caesareans are equally safe. While he prefers to deliver babies normally he thinks Caesars should always be available.

DR MICHAEL VAN DER GRIEND: I think a woman has the right for choice and I think in 2008 the safety of that as an alternative to a vaginal birth or a normal delivery is still... it's on par with it. I think women should still have that as an option.

TARA BROWN: And Di Baker is certainly happy with her Caesarean choice. She has had no trouble bonding with her kids and believes her body is in better shape for it.

DI BAKER: In order to keep everything intact, um, I wanted to have a great sex life, I wanted to enjoy intimacy with my husband and have total fulfilment.

TARA BROWN: Well so when you say "keeping everything intact", what do you mean exactly?

DI BAKER: It is like the unspoken myth, women don't want to talk about it. Things certainly have to open up for baby to have to pass through and things don't necessarily remain intact down below.

TARA DARLINGTON: She is going to have a major operation to protect what she thinks is going to affect her sex life, which it may not.

TARA BROWN: Does natural child birth affect your sex life?

TARA DARLINGTON: It hasn't affected mine. We've got four kids.

TARA BROWN: And now, so do Ben and Julie Heath. So are you going to introduce me to your beautiful daughter?

JULIE HEATH: This is Aurelia Isobel Heath.

TARA BROWN: She's beautiful isn't she? Just 14 hours old, their baby daughter is perfect.

JULIE HEATH: She's a little chubba.

TARA BROWN: No matter their choices, all these women got what they wanted - beautiful, healthy babies. And an experience, whether through Caesarean or natural delivery, that is all their own. Does anything beat the experience you've just had?

JULIE HEATH: It's empowering, it's I can do something and I can do it well. I'm born to have babies I think.