Nadia Sawalha's husband Mark Adderley was reduced to tears when the pair discussed the birth of their eldest daughter Maddie, as he recalled the 'horrendous situation'.
Nadia and Mark relived the birth of their two daughters for one of their YouTube series, How to stay married (So far), where they spoke about whether they were on the same page or not about having a home birth.
The couple's first daughter together, Maddie, was born at home but Mark was not sold on the idea of not welcoming their child at hospital.
However, he admitted he felt like he couldn't say no, because Nadia's family had a history of giving birth at home, but found it difficult to accept.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaKeZ9-NTT0
'I didn’t feel I could [say no]. I wasn't necessarily against it I felt very unasked and when I was asked I felt like I had to say yes otherwise God only knows what would have actually happened. Clearly there wasn’t going to be any accommodation of a more conventional approach so in that sense it was quite difficult', he said.
While Nadia, who was born at home and told she 'nearly died', said: 'There was no way I was going to give birth in a hospital.'
However, complications started when Mark was told the mum was not dilating: 'From then on, the birth became the most horrendous situation, because a 'so-called expert' told me that we had to get you to a hospital.'
Speaking about how it felt to see Nadia go through it at home when he thought there were complications, Mark said, visibly emotional: 'I thought you were going to die. I genuinely did. I just remember feeling very cross with every part of your life that said this so-called approach was ok. Then I thought my daughter would die. I was so out of control I will never forget passing the door and thinking 'you are going to die'.'
Maddie's 'difficult birth', on Christmas day, happened before Nadia and Mark suffered three miscarriages.
They eventually got pregnant with their second daughter, Kiki, who also born at home.
'Ironically, Kiki's birth was one of the most heartwarmingly complete sharing experiences I have had in my life, that we couldn’t have had in hospital', Mark said of their second experience of home birth.
'It was life-changing, completely gobsmacking moment where I felt connected to you where I never felt more connected to you.'
