My estimated due date was Dec. 3, 2012. That came and went. My 3 year old son, “W” and I found lots of activities to keep us busy, since I was officially on maternity leave from work. We played in the fresh foot of Wisconsin snow; we went swimming and even went sledding December 12th. I was okay with being…
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An Open Letter to Birth Without Fear
At Birth Without Fear, we receive hundreds of emails on a daily basis. Many of them are birth stories, to which we say: squeee! Some of them are spam, to which we say: didn’t I create a filter for you? Some of them are hate mail, to which we say: Thank you for your feedback? And, also, I know I created a…
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Unintended Unassisted and Completely Peaceful
Veronika shares this story of her unintended unassisted home birth… and what it was like to nurse her toddler during early labour. “My darling Penelope Green, this is the story of your birth… It was a hot day on July 19th, I was 41 weeks and four days pregnant with you. I had been having weeks of prodromal labor which…
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Deep Rooted Faith Leads to a Healing Second Birth
Surita Carstens from South Africa described her first baby’s birth as, “…one of the most traumatic experiences in our lives.” We published that story in 2012 and it moved many of us to tears with its senseless cruelty. At the end of it she wrote, “I hope that one day I can have a VBAC to empower me and feel…
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A Healing Birth {Learning To Trust My Body}
A good way to start any story is with a little background. So I will start by telling a brief story of the birth of my first and hospital experience. When I found out I was pregnant with my first, I did not know much about, well, anything! Especially not birth. I have always been more prone to go the…
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Premature Birth at 32 Weeks {A Healthy Baby Boy!}
Janita shares this inspiring story of her son’s premature birth at 32 weeks – and her commitment to breastfeeding. “On the morning of the 22nd April at 6.30am, at exactly 32 weeks pregnant, our adventure started. I was woken by a distinct ”pop” sensation and a small amount of liquid. Since I was still half asleep I freaked out thinking…
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A Cesarean for Breech Baby, Jaundice and PND
At our 19 week scan, the sonographer found that our son, J’s, nuchal fold was more prominent than it should be. She also found the left brain ventricle to be larger than the other. These, we discovered, were soft markers for some chromosomal abnormalities, such as Down syndrome, and it may have indicated J having fluid on the brain. I…
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Natural Hospital Birth {Support is Essential}
OK, I have to be honest. Writing this is hard for me. For some reason, I don’t want to write it. Like I’m dreading it? I think there are just too many things about it to write down so I know it’ll take me forever…? I have no idea. But here’s my attempt. I definitely want it documented. I have…
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A {Military Wife and Doula} Homebirth
Stella’s birth story really starts 16 months prior, at the birth of her next oldest sister. I planned a homebirth, but needed to transfer late in active labor to the military hospital due to bleeding a little more than my midwife was comfortable with. A short 30 minutes after we walked into the hospital, Lucy was born without complications. My…