Chelsea Baby

OK, so time for a guilty pleasure confession. . .  I love Made in Chelsea.  I have done from the very first day it aired and I will continue to love it until the cast members are wrinkly and grey!  (Have any of you worked out that highly edited, staged, 'reality' TV is my bag yet?!)  

So as a die hard MIC fan, I was beyond excited and happy to hear that 2 of my favourites, Binky and JP were expecting a baby together.  

I waited in excitement to see if they attended antenatal classes and felt assured that they were a switched on couple who would make sure that they were well educated and would make informed choices about how and where they wanted their baby to be born.  Fast forward a few months and I saw that indeed they were attending classes, yeesssss!  So I sat back and enjoyed the show and looked forward to the announcement of their little bundle's arrival.  It came a week or so ago now and on Monday their official announcement (read cute baby pics!) was published in Hello! magazine.  And here comes the bombshell. . .  I read and read and re-read the all important part about their daughter's birth and to be honest, I'm really not sure how I feel about it!  Want to know why?

Now lets remember, as with everything, what Binky and JP may have said in this interview is likely to have been edited and we might not be getting the whole story here.  The first thing I read was 'It was a dream labour' Yes, yes, yes I thought, a cool, young, popular couple helping to change the view of birth.  And then I read a little further and was to be truthfully honest, a bit surprised.

They revealed that Binky chose to be induced 2 days before her due date.  From what was written in the article, there was no medical indication for induction.  They said that as Binky can get anxious about things, she wanted to have some control over when and how her labour would start.  Now I'll just refer to the NICE guidelines here which state- 'Induction of labour has a large impact on the health of women and their babies and so needs to be clearly clinically justified.'  I don't know their view on it, but I personally don't see ANY clinical justification in inducing 2 days before a due date when there are no complications with mother or baby.  So, they were being looked after privately and of course when you are paying a fair amount for the birth of your baby, you would expect that your wishes are upheld and if that means being induced when you wish, then so be it.  They may have been educated on the risks of induction and they may have been educated on the benefits of their baby choosing their own birthday and if this was the case and they made the informed decision to go ahead with induction then good on them.  But I can't completely believe that they would have still chosen this option had they been fully informed by the team who were working with them before their baby's birth.

There was also the added gem of finding out that upon entry to the hospital it was found that Binky was in fact 2cm dilated. . . Her body knew what to do and it was already doing it. . . so why the induction?!

I really am very happy that they chose how they wanted the birth of their baby to be and that they had a positive experience and are happy to share it with the world.  And also that they are helping to change the view of birth to a positive one for their many followers.  But I would just love to know a little more about the reasoning behind their decisions and would love to be sure that they made confident but also informed decisions about their care. . . For now I'll just have to stick with being incredibly happy for them and wishing them a life full of happiness and love together! 

Also, I may eat my words when I watch their documentary tomorrow night and find out more!

​Emma x