Mum who gave birth in a forest has the eighth child in the living room
A pregnant mum chose to deliver her twins in her living room, with no medical assistance or pain relief – even filming the entire birth to put online.
Sarah Schmid, 38, who currently lives in Alsace, France, has chosen to deliver all eight of her children at home – with seven of them being ‘free-birthed’, meaning she had no medical assistance throughout pregnancy or delivery.
The mum-of-eight gave birth to her twins standing in her living room – as her other children played around her.
Sarah, who trained to be a doctor but opted to become a stay-at-home mum, has had seven of her children in several places from a Swedish forest, to her back garden, to her living room.
And despite the risks that come with a multiple pregnancy, she again chose to deliver the twins, Samuel and Sarah, now 10 months old, naturally at home.
Since she began her free birthing journey, Sarah has opted to film each of the births and has built up a YouTube following of over 40,000.
Sarah, along with husband Tim, 43, are also parents to Johanna, 13, Jonathan, 11, Emanuel, nine, Elisabeth, seven, Konstantin, five, and Kiran, three.
‘I was surprisingly fearless with the twins,’ said Sarah.
‘I suspected twins when my belly got larger, and as I had monitored all my pregnancies myself, I had taught myself to feel how the baby is lying in my belly.
‘But when I felt it, it was different, and it could only be explained by twins.’
She added: ‘I had always declined having ultrasounds, but as there is more risk with a multiple pregnancy, I had one, to check all was well.
‘I had a friend who was a midwife, and at 25 weeks, I went to her to have a scan done, to confirm that I was having twins.
‘The birth itself only took about five hours and my husband caught both twins.
‘I had a photographer and a friend in the room too, with the other kids able to come in and watch if they wanted for some of it.
‘I had no fear – I prepared thoroughly for a twin birth, and I felt like it was an adventure into unknown territory.
‘I paid more attention to everything, did more research, and talked to midwives.’
Sarah hopes that by sharing her experiences of birth, it will take away the fear for other women and instead empower mothers.
Choosing to have her births in obscure locations such as a forest, Sarah claims it became an experience that brought her closer to nature and made her relax.
Yet she accepts that she has received a fair share of criticism, as some believe it is irresponsible and could result in death.
Sarah added: ‘I would like to educate women so that more will choose their mode of birth not based on fears and feelings of inferiority but based on trust, knowledge, and intuition.
‘I feel like the media promotes birth as a medical emergency where doctors are saving a baby from a screaming mother.
‘I wanted to show that birth can be a joyous, peaceful event in the family.
‘Pain itself wasn’t really an issue – if anything the twins were my easiest birth, most likely because their heads were smaller.’
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