Juliet is nearly four months old now, and I am finally beginning to let go of the anxiety I experienced immediately following her birth and the five days afterward. Like many new mothers, I experienced mild postpartum depression, but my anxiety levels were off the charts. The panic attacks were most likely due to lack of sleep and the stress…
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Patiently Waiting in Labor & Using a Sling to Help Gravity {Birth After Loss}
I had the privilege of being at my best friend’s birth of her 5th child and the 2nd daughter she had hoped for. Her midwives were also my midwives and have become dear friends. It was amazing to be on the other side of labor with them as we supported my friend. Her midwives have been with her through 5…
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Planned Induced Birth turns to Fast Natural Birth {Cholestasis}
I’ve recently had my second daughter – she is now 6.5 months old and after a very traumatic birth with my first daughter, I was terrified of giving birth this time around. But you know what, it was THE most amazing thing I have ever experienced. Ever! I cant really remember the birth of my first daughter, it was a…
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An All-Natural Hospital Birth {Part 2}
Yesterday, we shared Amy’s beautiful letter to her unborn baby, where she describes the kind of birth she hopes to have: “I want to bring you into this world as peacefully and as gently as I possibly can….I trust my body to do what it was designed for and what it is capable of.” Here’s how it happened! “A little…
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Three Natural Births in Beautiful Australia
Michelle Powell from Bulli, NSW Australia, writes about the births of her three children: I had my first precious daughter Kalani totally drug free in the hospital just one hour after arriving, having laboured as long as possible at home for a few hours. I was so fortunate to be allowed into a midwifery group program here in Australia. It is…
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Unconditional Midwife Support {Labor Nurse}
This is my wonderful midwife! I was SO upset about being induced with my third and last baby at 42 weeks. It felt like the longest induction ever. This pic was taken after almost 20 hours of labor and still only 2-3 cm. I caved against my desire for natural birth and ended up with an epidural 2 hours later.…
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Mom Holds Baby’s Hand as Born {Surprise Breech VBAC Hospital Birth}
A short history of my previous births: My oldest daughter was a good pregnancy, fairly uneventful, I choose to have a hospital birth for that “in case” reason, and it was probably good that I did, I had a severe postpartum hemorrhage that resulted in blood loss of almost 2 liters. Scary stuff. My son (second born) presented breech and…
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Love and Support of a Husband, Mother & Doula {Twins}
This was during labor of my twins. My husband is an AMAZING birth partner and support. I just love how much he loves me and it shows in this picture! My mother is also in the picture. She has been my doula through 5 of my births. I also had a doula name Lizzie Elliot. She snapped a few pics between…
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Home Birth Surrounded by Support
These beautiful pictures were taken by Melissa Taylor Photography. So much support around this mom and baby! She says, “The photos are of a doula, Naomi of Embracing Labor (embracinglabor.com). This was her third baby after two hospital births, and she wanted as much support as possible. She invited people who would be interested in seeing a homebirth, and some…