Growing up with allergies and numerous respiratory issues it was commonplace for my parents to use Vicks VapoRub. Every time my mom or dad rubbed that into my chest I can remember thinking “This stuff never actually works.” As a result, I haven’t used it on myself in years and certainly never on my kids. When I dug a little…
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Complete Pack of 3 Boys: Connor’s Birth Story
With each of my pregnancies, I have changed my goals for labor slightly. For my first pregnancy, I was concerned with having a totally natural birth without any medication. My labor was incredibly long and slow, and by the end I felt like a zombie lying in bed waiting in fear of the next contraction. With my second pregnancy, I…
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Selah’s Birth Story
Autumn shares with us the birth story of her fifth child. “Honey, we are pregnant!” And just like that, baby number five was on the way. Actually, it had taken over a year of trying after number four, but once that test showed positive, I was ecstatic. I’m sort of a pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding junkie, and we always wanted…
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A Home Birth Story
Robin shares the story of her daughter’s birth at home. Baby H’s birth story really starts with the birth of her older brother two years earlier. I had a very fast labor with him; and by the time I realized I was actually in labor, I barely made it to the hospital before he arrived. Despite him being born about…
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Hypnobirthing: A Drug-Free Birth Story
Eva tells us about the drug-free birth of her first child. At the advice of some friends, I prepared for my first baby by I taking Hypnobirthing classes and listening to the Rainbow Relaxation track daily. I did yoga weekly, had an affirmations wall, drank raspberry leaf tea in the third trimester, and ate dates. I hired a great and…
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A Long-Awaited Natural Birth: My VBA2C
Michaela shares with us the story of her son’s birth. My husband and I had our first child in 2006, when we were 18 and 17 years old respectively. I had a healthy pregnancy with no complications, but my doctor suspected fetal macrosomia and said that I wasn’t progressing at 37 weeks, and subsequently insisted I have a c-section because…
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The Freebirth of Poppy
Kerry shares with us the incredible story of her daughter’s freebirth at home. This was my first unassisted pregnancy and planned unassisted birth, after two beautiful midwife- assisted home births. At around 37 weeks I began experiencing intense exhaustion; I couldn’t rest enough. All I wanted to do was sleep, and I felt extremely fatigued. Fast-forward to 38 weeks, and…
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Battling Hyperemesis Gravidarum
We often share photos of women, moments after birth, with their eyes wide and full of excitement and joy as they process this new life that they have brought into the world. For nine months their bodies spent creating this miracle; then there is birth – and regardless of how a woman gives birth, there’s always a bit of fear…
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A Restorative Water Birth
Blythe shares with us the story of the birth of her fifth child. I had my fifth baby 16 months ago – I had an induced birth at 39 weeks and 3 days pregnant. I wanted so badly to have a water birth. I fell in love with birthing in water back in 2008 when I was pregnant with my…