Crowd-Birthing: The Trend of Getting Everyone inside the Delivery Room

(Photo: George Ruiz)

Not too long ago in the US, it was normal for fathers to wait outside the delivery room for the birth of their children. The mother, along with a doctor and nurses, would handle the delivery alone. Later, the father was allowed to be present.

The Daily Telegraph reports that increasingly, more people are present in the delivery room: family, friends, and anyone accessible through WiFi. When it comes to childbirth, there’s no such thing as “too much information”:

For women in their teens and twenties, an average of eight people are now present at some point during the birth, according to a survey by video blogging site Channel Mum.

And the results also showed that childbirth is becoming increasingly public, with almost a quarter of mums sharing the experience through social media.

Siobhan Freegard, founder of Channel Mum said: "The younger generation share are used to sharing every aspect of their lives, so why not birth? Many women feel it is their biggest achievement and so want to share the moment with all of those closest to them.

We did not crowd-birth for our kids. But our first child was born in a teaching hospital. There was a seemingly non-stop parade of medical students and interns interested in seeing more than we wanted them to see. I eventually shooed them out.