It all went swimmingly when Gabrielle Targett had her first water birth. Now she helps other mums to do the same.

The waters off the coast of Western Australia were warmed by autumn sunshine as a heavily pregnant Gabrielle Targett slipped into the ocean for her regular afternoon swim.
Paddling from her boat across the shallow waters at Australind, the 26-year-old swimming instructor could see the bobbing heads of her familiar cheer squad.
The pod of dolphins that befriended Gaby in her early pregnancy had been greeting her with increasing enthusiasm as her rounded tummy grew.
But on April 18, 1995 - the day before the expected arrival of her first baby - the creatures were more playful than ever.

"It was as though they sensed the baby was on its way," Gaby says.
"Throughout my pregnancy they'd become more attracted to me - swimming past and being playful.
"But on this day they swam really close to my tummy and began making eye contact as if they were picking up on the baby inside me with their sonar.
"I'd never seen them so frisky and playful - as if they were celebrating something."

The excitable antics of the pod seemed to be telling the expectant mum something. Convinced the dolphins were alerting her to her imminent labour Gaby went home.
Within hours she'd given birth to a baby girl. Jaeosha was born in a giant tub in a Fremantle hospital - almost swimming her way into the world.

"I had planned to have a water birth after attending a lecture in Japan by European obstetrician Michel Odent who was pioneering water births overseas," she says.

Gaby's decision was confirmed after she met water-birth advocate Estelle Myers who film on the human/dolphin connection won the United Nations Association's Media Peace Prize.
Back in WA, Gaby tracked down progressive midwife Mary Murphy who was delivering babies in water.

"She must have thought I was mad - I didn't have a partner then, let alone a pregnancy," Gaby laughs.

Mary was beside Gaby a year later as she laboured away at a Fremantle Hospital for her first water birth.

"I really wanted to have a natural home water birth," Gaby explains, but she agreed to have her first baby in hospital beaucase of a genetic blood clotting problem.

She had blood plasma on standby, but it wasn't necessary as the birth was over in a matter of hours and was trouble-free.
Water births are illegal in WA hospitals - when they do happen they're recorded as accidental - so Gaby needed special permission to have her baby born under the water in a giant tub.

"Jaeosha's birth was permitted in this hospital because I was taking one of the most experienced midwives in WA with me," she explains.

News of Jaeosha's birth reached Japan - firing the imagination of a film crew that travelled Down Under to make a documentary on the little Aussie water baby.

"They were intruiged to find a child who had interacted with dolphins in utero, was born in water and within months was swimming with dolphins," Gaby says.

At just four months old Jaeosha was filmed with her mum at dolphin resort Monkey Mia, being inspected by a pod of the inquisitive mammals.
News of the birth became a talking point for pregnant mums at Gaby's aqua fitness classes.

"I'd been teaching at Fremantle Leisure Centre from the time I was two months pregnant," said Gaby who also kept fit for her own births through gentle yoga.
"Women in my classes who hadn't had such positive birth experiences, or who'd had caesareans, who interested to hear about my natural water birth," she says.

With mild pain, no stitches and a quick recovery, Gaby explained how the water had been calming during labour and the birth was no more painful than a Chinese burn.

"I told them about the dolphin interactions I had. I swam with my friend Rowena here in WA and dolphins would play around us," she says.
"Once we became used to being part of another creature's world I remember the feeling of peace and calm and how the dolphins would play under us - making giant bubbles that burst on our tummies.
"Another time a dolphin swam up and put its nose on my hand and looked me straight in the eye - it was magical."

As Jaeosha was learning to swim with dolphins, Gaby had two more water babies - Jarrad and Benjamin, in 1997 and 1999.

"Because my first birth was so straightforward they were born in water tubs at home and Mary was my midwife again," Gaby says. "Jaeosha watched her brothers being born which was a wonderful experience for her too."

At this point, Gaby's friend Amanda announced her second pregnancy.

"She'd had a caesarean the first time and, after hearing about my experiences, wanted to experience a natural water birth," Gaby says.

She agreed to support Amanda, along with an experienced midwife.

"On the day of Amanda's labour, Benjamin slept in his capsule next to the tub as I supported her. Watching her birth her child at home in a tub of water was one of the most exciting events of my life," Gaby says.

Gaby was thrilled to have shared the precious experience with her friend. She was asked to attend three more births that year.

"I wasn't a midwife," Gaby says. "It was only after 10 births and three years that I was told was I was doing had a name."

Gaby was told "you are a doula" - a woman who supports other women in pregnancy, labour and birth, whose role was recognised in traditional cultures. Aborigines called them chalali, the Japanese josanpu and in other cultures they were referred to as the monitrice.
Gaby went on to train as an educator, gaining an advanced certificate through the National Association of Childbirth Educators. And her doula work with labouring mums revealed issues which Gaby speaks publicly about.

"I was seeing a biased, medicalised approach to birthing where women were disempowered within a hospital system that offered few options for the enjoyment of natural birthing," Gaby says. She's now lobbying the WA government to legalise natural water births in all hospitals.

She has also written a book, A Labour of Love - An Australian Guide to Natural Childbirth. It was originally self-published until huge demand led Fremantle Arts Centre Press to republish it with the endorsement of the Australian College of Midwives Incorporated.

"From my own experience and others I've been privileged to share, birthing can be easy, enjoyable and painless," Gaby says. She teaches independent classes were women learn to "surrender" to the labour sensations and contractions.

And with 150 doulas practising across Australia, Gaby has created a website educating expectant parents about her work - www.doulasdownundernetwork.com.
And www.alabouroflove.com.au - her business and website - is aimed at helping women feel empowered about birth.

Gaby's family of water babies continue to make a splash back in the natural habitat of wild dolphins who witnessed them all swim before their first birthdays.

"Not surprisingly, they have a natural affinity with the water," she says of Jaeosha, Jarrad and Benjamin who swam before they could walk.