Bear Grylls Offers Tips for Surviving a Homebirth

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As the host of Man vs. Wild, Bear Grylls is used to testing his limits. But his skills as a husband were truly put to the test when wife Shara decided to deliver the couple’s third son, 3-month-old Huckleberry Edward Jocelyne, on the couple’s houseboat. In a story for the April 2009 issue of Men’s Journal, the 34-year-old survivalist gave expectant fathers advice on how to “survive” a homebirth.

The couple “both love home,” and after having suffered through “a few bad experiences” himself, Bear admits he’s developed “a pretty healthy hatred of hospitals.” Together they decided to pursue a homebirth, an experience Bear describes as “absolutely brilliant.”

“The cons are that you have quite a lot of blood and gore, and you don’t have the emergency help if it all starts to go pear-shaped. But then again, she feels safe and secure, and she’s got me hovering over her with a toolbox. What more can an expecting mother want?”

Acutely aware of his role in the equation — telling the magazine “all I was there for, really, was reassurance” — Bear used his “homeopathic kit” to distract his laboring wife. “The more pain she was in, the more I was going ‘What are your symptoms?’” Bear recalls. “And then I’d list all these wacky things that homeopathic pills work for.” In the end, Huckleberry was born safe and sound, and an “amazing” Shara left her husband awestruck.

“Girls are so great in a big crisis. I’ve seen it in the mountains, too. Men are all great when it’s quite comfy and there’s lots of bravado, but when the sh-t really hits the fan, it’s the women who often come through.”

In addition to Huckleberry, Bear and Shara are parents to Jesse, 5 ½, and Marmaduke, 3.

Source: Men’s Journal

– Missy

Comments

Sherri on April 13th, 2009

Just gotta say… as someone with the name Marmaduke in my family lines… I *love* their kids rustic, All-American names. I’ll bet Jesse, Duke, and Huck will have one heck of a mischievous & adventurous childhood together!

Kayla on April 13th, 2009

Wow….I thought that was Anna Nicole’s ex Howard K. Stern!

Katie on April 13th, 2009

I love their kids names too!

I wonder if their home birth was unassisted. Because my midwife had plenty of emergency equipment.

Christopher Ronk on April 13th, 2009

My wife had both our children at home with a mid-wife. I would totally recommend have a baby at home.

I’ve experienced hospital births as well and I would take home-births over hospitals any day.

Of course it isn’t entirely up to me.

skunk nuggets on April 13th, 2009

I had an HBAC in early Dec and my midwife also brought emergency equipment. Also, there was hardly any “blood and gore”. It was almost all caught on the chux pads and anything else was easily cleaned up. My kids make more of a mess on a daily basis that my homebirth did.

ilaria on April 13th, 2009

Homebirths are great and safe! Survival skills are needed if you go into the hospital, where pregnancy and birth are treated as a pathology. My third baby was a homebirth…my midwife didn’t make it on time, so it was just me and my husband: the best experience of my life. (But yeah, all emergency drugs and equipment was already at my house)

Des on April 13th, 2009

Another homebirth mama here! I didnt have any blood and gore either (waterbirth) with the exception of a the placenta bucket. HAHA That was not pretty. HAHAHA

MZ on April 13th, 2009

I get the impression from an earlier interview he gave that there was no midwife present. I have to say, I think it’s really risky and kind of irresponsible. Home births are great but midwives are important in case there is an emergency. I mean luckily his wife and the baby were fine, but it would have been terrible if something had gone wrong and there was no trained professional to help!

eternalcanadian on April 13th, 2009

I really hope there was a midwife or an experienced home birth professional there because really, things can and will go pear-shaped in the blink of an eye. Stories like this give the impression all homebirths are safe and that everyone should do it when that is the farthest thing from the truth.

Tee on April 13th, 2009

I have to admit that I’m so excited to hear a celebrity speak out about homebirthing. I admit that as a midwife, I’m partial to homebirth, but I really do believe that it’s a great alternative and healthier way to welcome a baby into the world. While I don’t necessary approve of unassisted births, I have seen couples that have been able to research and study childbirth and have safely delivered their babies without assistance. For example, my sister delivered her first baby in a hospital, her second at home with a midwife and her third and fourth at home unassisted. Baby #5 is due in a few months and will also be unassisted. Mr. Grylls didn’t say if the birth was attended to by a midwife or if it was unassisted. Either way, I’m sure their new baby is beautiful and a wonderful addition to their family. Just for the record, I’m also surprised and pleased to read all the comments before me that are in support of a homebirth.

Tara on April 14th, 2009

Our second child was an unassisted birth, and it was fantastic. UCers do not do so lightly, but with the best for mother and baby in mind. For the healthy mother and baby a homebirth is *at least* as safe as a hospital birth. I wish more women would consider them, and perhaps we could lower the rate of iatrogenic complications.

Shelly on April 14th, 2009

eternalcandaian – plesae try to post something positive and supportive every once in awhile….
I love Grylls and I’m happy that they got the homebirth that was so very important to them. I did get a chuckle out of the “blood and core” comment given what he sometimes sees and eats on his show. ) Congrats to them!!

Grace on April 14th, 2009

The mental image of this scene is pretty fantastic; Shara with everything under control, and Bear hovering with a toolkit, muttering about homeopathy. On a houseboat. Hee.

Guaili on April 14th, 2009

Homebirths, yeah!!! i had mine in november and it was perrrrfect! while there are risks, especially having one unassisted, i am a firm believer in intuition. people filled with worry and paranoia have skewed intuitions moreso. i know from experience! the best thing to do is let go all of the fear and just feel. God played a huge part in my decision to have a homebirth because i feel God is a big part of my intuition! if something is wrong, I KNOW! and we have to have faith and encourage each other to just listen to our bodies. if a mommy has any real and sudden doubts, she knows its hospital time! she’s already had kids so clearly, she’s about as self-trained as she needs to be and i’m sure she knows her body very well. now that i’ve done it with a midwife, i think i could do it without one if i had to, but i would like the extra hands, input, and encouragement again. in some states, midwifery is illegal, so i might just wing it if we happen to move into any of these states in the future! hahahahaha… cheers everyone!

Anna on April 15th, 2009

They recently did a study among 530.000 women about safety of home births in the Netherlands because 1 third of the births is home birth here. It turned out there was no difference in safety between home birth and hospital birth.

CelebBabyLover on April 15th, 2009

Shelly- I get what you mean about the “blood and gore” comment. However, I think it’s a bit different when the “blood and gore” are coming from you or someone you know. I’m not even all that squeamish when it comes to blood and things like that, but I can see how seeing that stuff come out of your signifcant other could be a bit of a gross-out factor!

Kelsey on April 15th, 2009

Rustic, All-American names? They are a super British family, they probably didn’t have that in mind.

daniella on April 15th, 2009

I have found my new celebrity crush.

Amanda on April 15th, 2009

I’m all for homebirth as well. My younger sister was a homebirth with midwives present, and I’ve done extensive research on the subject over the years, all of which pointed to the fact that it’s just as safe, if not more so for a low-risk pregnancy, than a hospital birth. It’s nice to hear celebrities supporting it as well!

I’ve got two kids, both delivered by midwives. Unfortunately, they were both hospital births. The first one I was going to deliver at the midwife’s birthing center, but she was on vacation the week my daughter was born, and the midwife on call was from a different state (we live in a tri-state region) and wasn’t licensed for the state where the birthing center was. As a result of that, I ended up having to go to the hospital-the last place I wanted to be, and the options at the county hospital where we are SUCK. The room is far from homelike, you can’t wear your own clothes even afterwards, and between the PA squawking 24 hours a day and the helicopter traffic coming and going (the helipad was right by the birthing center), I’d have gotten more sleep at the firehouse (my husband and I are both volunteer firefighters)! Having to go to the hospital in an ambulance (fast labor) didn’t help one bit. Needless to say, I didn’t want to even CONSIDER the hospital again.

With my second child, the midwives in our area only did hospital births(the other one had closed down her practice due to malpractice insurance hikes). With my labor history, we were reluctant to travel elsewhere for fear of a highway delivery, so we were pretty much stuck with the county hospital and its limited natural-childbirth options again. The births went well, but I would much rather have had the option of having my kids at home, preferably a waterbirth (they didn’t even have TUBS at our hospital, and the shower temperature never got above lukewarm-not very relaxing at all!) If I could do it over again, I would rather have had a homebirth option available. Sadly, our state doesn’t seem to be very homebirth-friendly. I hope the situation reverses itself before my daughters grow up and have kids of their own. I want them to have that kind of freedom that bureaucracy and locality cheated me out of.

To all those who had homebirths or support them, I salute you! It’s nice to have allies on the subject! Cheers!

MArko on April 15th, 2009

I applaud all the women who do all the extensive research and preparations for a safe homebirth, and who go through it with courage, poise, and strength. As a medical professional who’s witnessed several very scary emergency C-sections as a result of homebirth complications, I just feel like it’s my responsibility to really emphasize the importance of doing your homework. Yes, it can be beautiful and, in most cases, safe. But please do your research, have a connection with a hospital and an OB *just in case*, and predetermine a “bail-out point”. It’s like any important event in life: have a Plan B