Stunning images share water baby’s story
Freediving royalty William Trubridge and Sachiko Fukumoto were determined to bring their baby into their world — but giving birth in the ocean turned out to be a step too far.
A Loading Docs short documentary, Water Baby, released on the nzherald.co.nz website today, follows Trubridge — an 18-time world record holder and current world freediving champion — and his wife, actress and freediver Fukumoto, in the lead-up to the birth of their first child, Mila.
The globe-trotting young family were photographed in a breathtaking image beneath the water with Mila at Roatan Beach off the coast of Honduras last month. Trubridge was there to compete in the CMAS fourth Freediving Outdoor World Championship.
Unable to give birth in their favourite place, the ocean, for safety reasons, Trubridge and Fukumoto sought the second best thing — a home water birth. But water births are rare in Japan and Fukumoto faced obstacles organising a home-birth in her hometown Okinawa. So the couple chose to travel to Trubridge’s family home in Hawke’s Bay to prepare for the birth.
“I was in despair when I realised that I wasn’t able to give birth in the way I wanted in Japan, until it was suggested [to] me to go to New Zealand,” Fukumoto said.
She learned New Zealand women have the right to decide how they want to deliver their babies, giving them the power of choice. “There must be a lot of women in the world struggling with the same kind of situation I had, or who don’t even know they should have the right to choose how they want to give birth.”
In the short documentary, the couple share stories of their connection to the water, concerns for their child’s future relationship with the sea and there’s incredible footage of Trubridge’s dramatic underwater swim of Cook Strait.