Hi all! Our little guy’s due date was January 20th, 2016. Being first-time parents, my husband and I were SO anxious to meet our son. I had a great pregnancy throughout, and continued to do CrossFit up until I was about 9 months along. I knew that I wanted a natural birth, and was determined to make it happen. We hired…
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Medication-Free Hospital VBAC
Olivia shares her son Ethan’s birth story – her own triumphant VBAC. My daughter was born in 2008 via unnecessary cesarean at 40w4d; I never went into labor. I had a very hard time recovering physically and emotionally. I had a hard time bonding with her, and felt guilty for this reason. In the state that I was in, it…
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Unexpected Home Delivery
Maria tells the touching story of her daughter’s birth. On June 1st at around 7:30 a.m., the day my daughter was born I woke up with cramps and the need to use the bathroom a lot (I thought the spicy chips from the night before had something to do with it since I couldn’t tolerate anything spicy throughout the pregnancy).…
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The Birth of Robinson Blake Sylvester: Part II
Kara shares with us the powerful story of her son’s birth. Read Part I here. At around 7:15 a.m., I decided it was time to get in the birth tub. I ripped off my skirt and hopped in. The water was so warm. I felt my tense legs relax a bit. I had another contraction, and the water, as always, soothed…
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The Birth of Robinson Blake Sylvester: Part I
Kara shares with us the powerful story of her son’s birth. In October 2015, we found out we were expecting our fourth little miracle. It was a definite surprise to us, coming sooner than we had planned. There was no trying, or medications, or hoping month after month like the last time. It was definitely not our timing at work, but…
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VBAC Birth Story
Here’s some background about my first labor/birth that ended in a Caesarean: I planned to deliver at the local birth center. At 41 weeks and 5 days we started induction, with a foley only. I dilated to 8cm before labor stalled. We transferred to the hospital with plans of doing a Pitocin induction, but that never happened – my baby’s…
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Full-Term Breastfeeding
I want to share a picture with you all. This was taken on August 19th, 2015 – the day Jack turned 5…the 5th anniversary of our breastfeeding journey. When he was born, I had educated myself a lot about breastfeeding and knew that I was going to do it—I was going to succeed—it was the normal and optimal food for…
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Caroline’s Birth Story
Jesse got home from work at around 5:15 p.m. I was feeling incredibly tired, so I asked if I could go lie down. He agreed to feed and get the girls to bed. I fell asleep at around 6 o’clock. I woke up at 10:30 feeling much better, and joined him in the living room. At about 10:45, I felt a strong contraction. Not anything…
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Willamena’s Birth
Adoptive mother Davney Nowak shares the birth story of her first biological daughter – an inspiring natural childbirth at a birth center. I married my high school sweetheart. Every life choice we made was made with our future children in mind. We got married at 22, and immediately started to try to start our family. I had always been birth- and baby-obsessed. I…