The day before Lucia arrived was such a wonderful and memorable day; I will begin her birth story there. Elsie and I went to a birthday party at the movie theatre that morning, which was much needed. I had been feeling like her and I needed to spend some time together, just the two of us. After the show we…
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Breastfeeding Rights: On Being Asked to ‘Cover Up’ By a Home Depot Employee
I noticed how polished she was. Flirting with a guy who was loitering around the taco truck and asking her again when she got off work. She said, “Nine.” I considered complimenting her on her perfect ankle boots. I sat down on the gray wooden box that probably holds pylons or road salt (but wait – it’s California – no…
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Hospital Birth turned Emergency C-Section
While my husband was away at basic training I was raising two sons, working and going to college full time. I had made the decision to not get an epidural with my third child due to the side effects I had the previous times. I was laboring from Friday to Monday. The hospital would not admit me because I was three days…
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Surprise Breech Delivery {Home Birth}
So, 8 months ago I gave birth to my first baby – a beautiful boy, a healthy 3.6kg (8 pound), delivered breech, vaginally, at home! He wasn’t diagnosed breech by my midwives & Dr’s, his position was not easily detected by feel as his legs were up around his head & everything more or less felt the way is should. -Alanna…
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“We did it baby! It was hard, but we did it!” {Natural Birth Center Birth}
3:00 am on the morning of September 30th, I awoke to some uncomfortable cramping. I was at the breaking point in my pregnancy. I felt that I couldn’t possibly get any bigger, or any more emotional. I had disconnected with the world because I could not handle one more, “You haven’t had the baby yet?” 3:30 am: I’ll go to…
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A Mother’s Day Birth Story
On Saturday the 11th I woke up feeling pretty poorly. I didn’t feel quite right and I chalked it up to gas. I went back to bed and then woke up and took gas x, did errands and continued to have gas pains and went to bed that night and slept well. Now, looking back on the experience it was…
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Another Wonderful Natural Hospital Birth
“This is the story of the birth of my third child. It was my first time to try a natural delivery and it was the best thing I’ve ever done in my life. I had a wonderful natural hospital birth with a supportive OB, a fantastic nurse that enjoys working with moms going natural, a doula, and a birth photographer,…
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Grief And Guilt {The Birth Trauma Experience}
Trauma after the birth of a baby is a ‘special’ kind of trauma. It’s a bittersweet kind of trauma. It’s a silent kind of trauma. It’s an invisible kind of trauma. And if your baby is healthy, it is usually considered an unjustified kind of trauma. I suffered from birth trauma. It was agonising, painful, and heartbreaking. I was alone,…
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Circumcision Doesn’t Beget Circumcision {One of These Things is Not Like the Other}
Yes, you read that right, we’re going to talk AGAIN about circumcision, but this post is a little different. I’m not writing this to try to tell you what to do. In fact, this post is actually going to start off with a confession; the day after my first baby was born I had him circumcised. Whew. Okay. We got…