An influencer who documented her daughter's birth for hundreds-of-thousands of people to view online says she has "no regrets" about sharing the intimate moment with the world.
Imogen Horton, who at the time of writing has 426,000 subscribers to her 'Imogenation' YouTube channel, was filmed during childbirth so she could share the pivotal - and typically private - event with her loyal following. The 34-minute-long video, titled 'Raw Unedited Positive Birth Vlog Of Our First Baby', has amassed almost 700,000 viewers since it was posted to her platform in September 2021.
The British blogger, 28, typically creates 'vlogs' - video blogs - in which she documents her daily life, as well as fashion and beauty-related content. She also frequently shares personal videos with her audience, in which she candidly discusses her sex life, marriage and health.
Speaking with new! magazine about her decision to document the birth of her daughter Renaelia, Horton said it "wasn't a big deal" for her to be filmed during childbirth as she "always loved being in front of a camera" and "loved performing".
"I was so deep in the contractions that I really didn't think about the fact we were filming the birth for my 425,000 YouTube subscribers," she told the magazine.
Horton added that her husband, Spencer, had also agreed to the footage being publicly shared and the couple were on the same page about what was appropriate.
"We agreed when it came to filming the birth there'd be no filming down low! I do have limits," she said. "And we'd never expose Renaelia."
The new mum acknowledged that if her daughter has a problem with the footage of her birth being publicly available as she gets older, she won't hesitate to remove it.
"If she says to me when she's older, 'Mum, I really don't like that birth video online', then I'll take it down."
In the video, Horton - who was 41 weeks pregnant when she gave birth to Renaelia - prefaced the footage by saying: "This video is unedited and very raw featuring all aspects of my fist labour and delivery to our precious, magical baby girl."
The video documents Horton's preparation for the birth, as well as her and Spencer's trip to the hospital and getting settled in their room. The footage also shows Horton in labour and suffering contractions, with Spencer being supportive by her side. Twenty-two minutes into the video, the couple welcome Renaelia into the world, after which the viewers also see the midwife teaching Horton how to breastfeed.
In 2019, the couple also documented their wedding for Horton's YouTube and have partaken in candid question-and-answers about their sex life.
Admitting to the magazine that she is "like marmite", Horton acknowledged that her content has proved controversial and not everyone is a fan of her tell-all approach to social media.
However, the 28-year-old said she tries not to let the trolling affect her, noting that she's evolved into a stronger person since becoming a mum.
And while working for yourself does have its perks, Horton confessed she was back to creating regular content a mere month after giving birth, and continues to film for her YouTube twice a week as well as produce videos for her TikTok multiple times a day.
