Natural Birth Experience: Simone Thurber, a 43-year-old mother, chose to have a unique birthing experience, delivering her fourth child in a stream with no medical assistance. She recorded the entire process, which has since captivated a massive audience of 52 million viewers. Thurber takes pride in the footage and emphasizes that she doesn’t fit the stereotype of a “hippy drippy” mother.
The video, which lasts 22 minutes and 32 seconds, was filmed by her partner back in 2012 and has garnered remarkable attention. It opens with Thurber labouring in a bathtub set up in their garden before she makes her way to a creek in Queensland’s Australian Daintree Rainforest.
Throughout the birth, her partner, Nick, steps in to offer encouragement and support, while Thurber manages the process without a midwife or doctor present. As a trained doula and birth therapist, she relies on her knowledge and instinctive methods. The footage captures her in various positions, breathing through the contractions until she pushes her daughter into the world, with her partner assisting.
After the baby’s birth, Thurber is shown cradling her newborn daughter close, with her other daughters looking on. She explained that she decided to share the video on YouTube to provide a glimpse into birthing naturally in nature, a choice she made in hopes of demystifying the process. The level of attention the video received was completely unexpected.
In an interview with Daily Mail, Thurber reflected on her feelings as the view counts rose. “After it reached 50 views, I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, my friends have seen me naked,’ and by 500, I was truly stunned. Knowing that over 52 million people took the time to watch the birth of my daughter, Perouze, and receiving messages from parents expressing gratitude for the intimacy of the experience, has been amazing.”
Thurber’s desire for her fourth child was to be born in a setting free of medical equipment and hospital environments. “I have always envisioned giving birth in the wild. While historically, women have given birth in natural settings for thousands of years, the idea of modern women squatting in a creek to deliver is unsettling to many,” she remarked. You can read more about her story on deccanchronicle.com.
