Empowering or TMI? Moms are sharing 'unfiltered' home birth videos, offering a raw glimpse into one of life's most intimate moments. - chof 360 news

For Cait Scudder, the decision to share video footage of herself delivering her son in a water birth back in 2022 wasn't a complicated one. As founder of the Millionaire Mother community and a homesteader in Maine, the mom of three has always felt that her chosen work has been to empower women to recognize their own strength — like going through childbirth.

“The footage was not professional,” Scudder tells chof360 Life. “It was captured on an iPhone by the backup midwife as my son was crowning, revealed my full — and I mean FULL — naked backside to the internet and didn't hold anything back." But it was important to share, she adds. "It felt essential to me as a mentor to mothers to show the process for what it is.”

And Scudder isn’t alone in her beliefs that mothers should better understand the process of childbirth — even if that means that what were once very private moments can now be found on Instagram feeds. Influencers such as model Iskra Lawrence and YouTuber Brooklyn McKnight of Brooklyn & Bailey fame have also shared intimate footage of their home births on social media — with no detail (blood, blurred-out body parts, bath water) spared. In Lawrence's case, that resulted in some criticism; “birth is not shameful,” she shot back at commenters who called her "unfiltered" birth footage inappropriate. But others have applauded both moms for shedding light on their raw experience of motherhood.

Even midwives are joining the mission to educate through real-life videos. According to a 2023 study, 65% of the images and videos shared by midwives in the U.S. featured home births.

Does the slow creep of childbirth footage into our feeds suggest that society is more accepting of the full experience of pregnancy, birth and motherhood? Here’s what mothers and experts say — and what they hope others understand the next time they scroll across a crowning mother in a birthing pool.

Understanding the why behind the share

While some people may raise an eyebrow or keep scrolling past a “graphic” home birth post, videos like the one Scudder shared seem to be raising fewer eyebrows than in the past. Bryana Kappadakunnel, a licensed marriage and family therapist and founder of Conscious Mommy, says this movement gives women an opportunity to better understand the birthing process without relying on an animated version of birth they might still recall from their first cringe-inducing sex ed classes in school.

“Movie after movie, TV show after TV show presents hospital births that are completely unrealistic,” Kappadakunnel tells chof360 Life. “But for people who want to give birth at home, there is very little positive representation available. For instance, the first home birth I ever saw was [actress and talk show host] Ricki Lake's in the documentary The Business of Being Born. I watched that movie over and over again. I couldn't believe what the female body was capable of enduring.”

Nkem Ndefo, a registered nurse, nurse midwife and founder of Lumos Transforms in Los Angeles, says empowerment can be an important factor in understanding why someone might want to share their birthing experience on the internet.

“In many ways, this visibility is a gift,” she says. “It allows people to see the full range of birthing experiences, helping to demystify what can feel like an unknown or even frightening process. For many, watching real birth stories helps reduce unnecessary fear and builds a sense of connection and community. It reassures people that birth is not something to be afraid of but rather a powerful, deeply human experience.”

Evolving perceptions … maybe?

Women are typically conditioned to cover up or feel discomfort when it comes to their bodies and the way in which they function, whether that’s hiding feminine hygiene products in their shopping carts or covering up while breastfeeding in public.

While recent data shows that acceptance and normalization of breastfeeding in public settings is slowly evolving to be more positive, the most recent data also shows that roughly 23% of Americans still don’t find it acceptable to breastfeed in public.

“The idea of what’s ‘too much information’ has always depended on the community you’re in,” says Ndefo. “Some communities have always embraced birth and feeding as natural, everyday parts of life, while others have struggled with stigma and discomfort. So while social media has definitely allowed for more openness, there’s still a lot of variation in how these experiences are perceived.”

And these variations in acceptance and regulation can also be seen on the different social media platforms. Lawrence's home birth video was given a "sensitive content" warning later, and Ndefo says that it’s not uncommon to see images of breastfeeding mothers blurred, censored or shadow-banned. “So in many ways, breastfeeding and birth have never had the chance to be considered 'too much information' because they’ve been policed out of public view,” she says.

To share or not to share

In Scudder’s experience, sharing her home birth video has been extremely rewarding. While Instagram initially removed the video after a couple of days on the grounds that it violated community standards, Scudder says the post was reinstated after she challenged the violation. She notes that many of her 60,000 followers have reached out with supportive feedback.

“The replies I received were 99% so positive, supportive and overwhelmingly grateful to showing the raw, real reality of birth,” she says. “Most of the women who messaged me privately and left a public comment said it left them in tears and inspired hope for their own journey.”

But if you’re considering posting your own home birth experience, experts say to be aware that not every response will be positive. “Remember this: You don't need to defend yourself,” says Kappadakunnel. “There will always be the court of public opinion, and the first rule of motherhood is: Someone will always have something to say about the choices you're making.”

It also might be worth giving yourself time to contemplate your own birth experience before sharing it with the world. “Let yourself sit with your own reflections first,” says Ndefo. “Once something is shared publicly, people will respond — sometimes with love and support, but sometimes with opinions and judgments that you weren’t expecting. When that happens too soon, it can be hard to hold onto your own memory of the experience. So before inviting the outside world in, let yourself fully absorb what the birth meant for you.”

And don’t undervalue your own mental health when it comes to sharing private portions of your life. “To protect your mental health, I encourage you to think about how others' feedback may impact your postpartum journey,” says Kappadakunnel. “If you're the anxious type who gets hung up on what others think of you (even strangers), then this is something to consider before you hit share.”

But sharing can also be "empowering," she adds. “If you're sharing because you want to participate in advocating for birth options and you're naturally less bothered by others' opinions, you may find it really empowering to post your home birth online," she says. "If you choose to share your birth video, you're sharing one of the most intimate, vulnerable and important moments of your life. That takes courage and bravery to do. So, my best advice is to share with the people who you know will support and love you first. And if you decide to share it with a broader network, just remember all the love and support that is with you and detach yourself from any outcome.”

The bigger picture

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a little more than 50,000 women have home births in the U.S. each year, and the number is growing. Just a small percentage of those moms might share their birth story with the world at large — and that's OK, says Ndefo.

“Sometimes, when we look at photos or videos of an event, those images become our memory of the experience,” Ndefo says. “But birth is something you live through with your whole body, not just something to be captured in a frame. So whether you share or keep it private, honor your experience first.”

Scudder, for one, has no regrets about making her home birth footage public, which felt redemptive after experiencing a "failed home birth turned traumatic hospital birth" with her firstborn.

“[I] fiercely believe in mothers normalizing through visibility and representation that all of humanity comes into being through the gritty, messy portals of motherhood," she says. "The more we try to keep these sanitized and swept under the rug, the more mothers become disconnected from the sanctity and potency of their power as creators. And as a content creator and mentor to women, visibility into these most important life thresholds — even if it means an up-close look at my butt crack — is important.”