In the days leading up to the birth of EllieMae, I had been having contractions irregularly that would, right on time, wake me in the middle of the night, as well as my husband, Jeremiah. They would last for a few hours and then flitter away as if nothing had happened. I was sure I was going to be pregnant…
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Choosing to Have a Happy Birth
“Come on baby, eviction notice has been posted!” At 42 weeks pregnant, I feared induction or possibly a C-section. I only wanted to give birth naturally, knowing Pitocin’s negative effects on the body and the instantaneous increase in likelihood of a C-section. I didn’t want to be near a hospital. I did everything to get the little one out, thinking…
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The Homebirth of Benno
Although he was born on Friday, Benno’s birth story starts on Monday of that week. Ok, wait. That’s not true. His birth story, or at least my journey to it, actually started years before he was even conceived and this birth story feels incomplete without at least a little background on my journey to natural birth, and ultimately, the birth…
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The Birth of Ellis: A Planned Homebirth, Uplanned Unassisted
My son, Ellis, was born at home on the 6th of November, 2015 in our bathroom unassisted and perfectly peaceful in every way. I had a very healthy pregnancy and worked hard to prepare my body for birth and labor. I envisioned our birth daily, seeing a dark, quiet house, with just my family around me and birthing in our…
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The Birth of Luna Pearl: A VBAC Story from Home to Hospital
For three years I’ve wanted to send in the birth story from my first daughter, born in 2012. She was a planned homebirth, with a transfer to hospital for a cesarean section. She was posterior and asynclitic, and super stuck. I planned my second homebirth this past summer. This time a VBAC and I never felt more ready. I love…
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Peregrine’s Birth Story: From Home to Hospital
An eternal 12 days after my due date, which contained both moments of patience and absolute cry-my-face-off, hormonal battiness, a complete lunar eclipse, two stretch-and-sweeps, two ultrasounds, and the looming likeliness of medical induction, it was finally starting to look like I was in labour. I had been having short, manageable contractions about 15 to 20 minutes apart for the…
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Rueger’s Birth: Learning to Give Into the Power of a Woman’s Body
First of all, I’m writing this on his second birthday. His birth is rather fresh in my memory even though so much time has passed. At about six AM on New Year’s Day, 2014, I started having mild contractions five to ten minutes apart. He was due on December 31, so it was exciting to think this might be the…
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Natural Birth In Our RV Home
On December 19, after 12 hours of labor and 4 rough hours of that was pushing, I finally gave birth in our 28 foot long RV home. Our third and last child! I had intended to birth him in the inflatable tub we purchased and set up. Even though it was full of warm water and beckoning for me to…
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There We Were… A Family – The Birth of Sequoia
Heidi’s water broke Thursday at 12:30am. She woke me up saying “Uh baby, my water broke.” I sat up and said, “Tell me more about that,” and looked over to see the soaked sheet on her side of the bed. We did a few things to get ready for labor while having everyone in our house. Then we tried to…