Blogger dad takes to Facebook to broadcast video of his wife’s C-section to 100,000 people
Stephen Skinner, 32, started recording his heavily-pregnant wife Holly as she was on her way to hospital
A BLOGGING dad-to-be filmed his wife as she was giving birth and streamed her C-section to thousands of viewers on Facebook.
Stephen Skinner, 32, started recording his heavily-pregnant wife Holly as she was on her way to hospital, and even captured footage of her on the operating table.
Holly, 28, was expecting to record the water birth of the couple's first child, but the baby's sidewards position led to her needing a last minute cesarean section.
Stephen, an Antarctic guide, and Holly, a yoga teacher, describe their "rollercoaster" experience in a series of five videos which were posted to Facebook via the Channel Mum website.
The raw footage was posted to Facebook a few days after the 28th December birth, with over 100,000 people having seen the clips already.
One segment shows a tearful Holly lying in bed, whilst another clip shows the couple, from Hertfordshire, revealing the gender and name of baby Atlas.
Stephen, who used his channel Nomadi Daddy to document Holly's pregnancy and the birth of her baby boy, said: "I feel like the videos were really real and raw. We were not editing life.
"There are difficult points and part of you does think: 'This is real. Put the camera away and focus on it.'
"But Holly and I are both really happy that we did manage to capture the down moments as well as the high, elated moments.
"It was very very difficult as some points but the birth was one of the most beautiful things both of us have experienced."
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The new dad also said he wanted to raise awareness of the "caring and supportive" dads who help their partners through pregnancy.
Holly said: "There were times when I felt like I didn't really want the camera there but I'm so glad that we have got it to look back on.
"If the camera hadn't have been there I wouldn't have remembered any of it. I've had so many people contacting me to say: 'I wish we'd done that.'
"I've watched the videos a million times and I cry every single time.
"It is so amazing that we will have them to keep forever, and I will get to show Atlas one day."
The pair also want to use their experience to remove the "taboo" around C-sections.
Holly added: "I was so hooked on this idea of what it should have been, but it was so so much more than I could have asked for.
"In the end it was never up to me. His life is so precious and he had to come into it safely.
"There is a massive taboo around C-sections so I want this to show that there is no shame in having one whatsoever."