Giving birth my own way was so empowering

How Naomi's experience spurred her to help others

- RAMAZANI MWAMBA

GIVING birth to her first child at the hospital was never on the cards for Naomi. A trained doula, she already knew how to conduct a home birth and said the recent death of her mother plus the disproportionately high mortality rates of expectant black mothers - meant another hospital visit would be 'triggering!

Instead, she welcomed her son submerged in a rented pool in the living room of her home in Moss Side. "My son was born at home; after the birth everyone left, we had a shower, we cleared the placenta because it was still attached and then we went to bed," said the 39-year-old.

"It was so empowering to have control over what happens next. Being able to go to sleep in my own home and being able to wake up with a new baby, it was a beautiful experience." "I'd say I supported my own birth rather than delivered my own baby," she joked.

"There were still midwives there and the father of my son, my sister and my grandmother. But I was very adamant about how I wanted it."