Home births have had a bad press, mainly because they only get publicity when something goes wrong. But, properly supervised, they can be a beautiful experience, one mother tells Emily Flanagan.

THE difference between the births of Gill Gillespie's first two children and her third could not have been more pronounced. She compares giving birth to her first two in hospital to being on a production line with people barking orders and shoving a bewildering array of drugs in her direction.

Third child Sam, by comparison, arrived in a sea of calm, with Gill pottering around her home between contractions, making tea and listening to her favourite music without a sniff of painkillers other than homeopathic remedies and aromatherapy oils.

Gill is among the 2.6 per cent of women in the UK a year who opt for a home birth. She decided to give birth to Sam, now 18 months old, at her home in North Shields because she wanted to feel in more control than she did when giving birth to Matthew, now nine, and Bethany, aged six.

"I found hospital much less personal. There are about 100 people there barking orders at you, giving you all kinds of drugs and you can't move around," she remembers. "In your home environment, you're really relaxed and because you're much calmer, there's less pain. The baby is also happier and calmer. Sam barely cried."

Home birthing recently came under the spotlight when a senior Westminster coroner, Dr Paul Knapman, recommended a change in the guidelines following inquests into the deaths of two breech babies.

The babies died after being starved of oxygen during home births in London and Dr Knapman is now calling for midwives to make clear written records of the dangers of home births for infants in breech position and to encourage mothers to counter-sign them. His recommendations were backed by Professor Philip Steer, obstetrician at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, who says the risk of a breech baby suffering oxygen starvation increases tenfold if it is born naturally, rather than by caesarean section.

Jean Davies, regional officer for the Royal College of Midwives, says most hospitals already have protocols for home births and a woman needing a caesarean would usually be classed "high risk" and transferred to hospital. But before proceedings get to this stage, mothers to be need to find a midwife confident enough to take on the huge responsibility laid on them during home births. Two midwives are needed for every home birth, compared with just one in a hospital.

"It's an enormous responsibility for a midwife to be out there on her own delivering a baby," she says. "Having said that, the Government is committed to providing the opportunities for women to choose to have their babies at home. I think a choice for women is an important civil right."

But the medical world still appears split on the suitability of home births. Many hospitals and doctors prefer women to be in hospital under their supervision, where medical intervention can be used if needed.

It may be for this reason that a recent survey by the National Childbirth Trust revealed that out of 167 heads of midwifery, only half thought their local GPs did not present home births for low risk pregnancies as positively as they did hospital births.

Jean, who is also a practising midwife and mother, says: "Obstetricians do get their knickers in a twist because most of their experiences of home births are when something has gone wrong. They've never seen the benefits."

During Gill's home birth she also had complementary therapist Annie Gray, a registered homeopath, present. Annie is also director of the New Life Trust in North Shields, a charity which offers complementary therapies for people on low incomes. About half a dozen people every year approach the charity for help from its therapists in having a home birth.

"I would say home births are increasing," she says. "What has also changed is the attitude of hospitals, who are being so open to it."

She uses aromatherapy oils and other complementary therapies to help mothers control pain and stay relaxed - even belly dancing movements are used, which, if nothing else, give the mothers something to laugh about.

"Gill's home birth was a lovely, lovely experience. We were all laughing in between contractions," Annie says. "We did an active childbirth, when you move around a lot during labour and use movements like belly dancing, which was originally for women in labour. You don't need painkillers because when you're active, relaxed and breathing properly, the pain washes over you. You're not screaming."

The alternative approach to labour may sound off-the-wall, but there is clearly method in the madness, as Gill testifies.

"I thought, 'no way can I do this without drugs'. But it was an all-round positive experience, the best thing I ever did."