Doctors slam mum who gave birth with the family dog looking on

A lot of people like to treat their dog as another member of the family, but is letting them look on while you give birth going too far?

A woman who gave birth to her baby at home in a bath with her husband and dog nearby has been slammed by doctors who are calling it a ‘reckless’ and ‘dangerous decision’.

The video of the precious birthing moment was originally shared to the popular Australian Birth Stories Instagram account, that supports many homebirth stories, however, the post has since been removed.

Jessie Goetze from Port Douglas is the mother in the video and says she always intended to have a home birth, saying she was “wanting to be in control of my body”.

“This sets you up to have a positive obstetric history,” she said.

“I knew that if I felt safe and supported in a loving environment, that the birth would be easy. And it was — easy and pain-free.”

The video shows her sitting in the bath while her partner helps deliver their new baby. Meanwhile, the family dog is seen getting very curious about all the commotion and pops it’s head right next to the tub.

Obstetrician Dr Michael Gannon was clearly taken aback by the video after claiming it was’dangerous’ and ‘beggared belief’ that someone would promote giving birth in the bathtub next to a family pet, according to The Daily Telegraph.

The idea of homebirths being considered dangerous has further been backed by research in the Medical Journal Of Australia in 2010 that revealed babies delivered in home births were seven times more at risk to die from complications than those born in hospitals.

Coincidence or not, just weeks after her home birth to baby Mahli, mum Jessie posted a photo to her own Instagram account, where she detailed some post-birth complications she went through.

“After such an easy pregnancy and birth little did I know the difficult journey we would be taken on,” she said.

“After 5 weeks of intense pain, pumping every two hours to feed and me being hospitalized after getting a blood infection via my terribly wounded nipple, and seeing many many specialists Mahli was finally diagnosed with tongue, lip and cheek ties.”

“After the laser to release them and 6 weeks of 4 hourly stretches our breastfeeding journey finally began.”

Thankfully both mum and bub are now healthy and enjoying their time as a family – including the dogs, we would assume.

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