Aussie mum live streams birth of baby boy on Instagram

An Aussie mum, who set out to help break the stigma surrounding health issues during pregnancy, has taken a brave step to live stream the birth of her baby boy on Instagram.

Jessica Hood, from Melbourne, made sure to keep her 19k followers updated from the moment she arrived at the hospital to the moment her little boy, Harrison James Hood, entered the world on Boxing Day afternoon.

In a series of social media stories on her account @houseofhoods_, Jessica can be seen wearing a hospital gown as she experiences her contractions – each story looking more painful than the last – until she is completely dilated.

She then posted a video for her fans of the very moment her boy was born.

Despite being out of breath and struggling to stand, Jessica is in complete awe as she holds her newborn in her arms for the very first time while nurses clean him up.

Jessica documented all but the process of pushing and the complications that arose after birth as she later revealed.

“Unfortunately things turned a little ugly and I ended up with my placenta stuck and having to be rushed to theatre after losing a total of 3 litres of blood,” she wrote.

However, while she says she is a little “traumatised and emotional”, Jessica is in full recovery and admits her little ‘Harry’ was all worth it.

Fans who had followed her journey online couldn’t help but cheer her on throughout the comments and were quick to congratulate her on the “beautiful addition to the family”.

“I have been religiously watching your stories for weeks waiting for your beautiful Bub to be born…Congratulations!! Harry is just gorgeous,” one follower said.

The decision to live stream her birth was something the mum-of-four had been set on for a while in the hopes of raising awareness about mental health issues during pregnancy and motherhood.

“I want to do this to fight my personal battles I’ve been facing,” she previously wrote for Kidspot.

“I’ve been on and off medication since early 2017 trying to treat my anxiety, I’ve spent three years hiding away from the world and isolating myself from friends and family. I’ve spent so long worrying about what people thought. I’m gonna beat this!

“So I started an Instagram account to bring awareness to mental health and I made plans to go live in December and film my birth.”

Since starting her Instagram account Jessica has received a whole wave of support from other parents who are welcoming her real and raw take on pregnancy, birth and parenthood.

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