I am very blessed to be pregnant. Mr. BWF and I have conceived 5 children, all in the first month we stopped preventing. Every pregnancy has been different emotionally and physically. Every birth has been vastly different as well. You would think after a planned c-section, a homebirth transferred c-section, a traumatic hospital VBA2C and an empowering unassisted homebirth, that…
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The Birth of River Jeremiah: The Homebirth of a First Time Mama
When my water broke at 1:00 in the afternoon, just two days after my estimated due date, I was shocked. I prided myself in not being anxious for my son’s birthday to arrive; I knew it would happen. I knew stressing about it wouldn’t help. I kept in mind that first babies, on average, are born 8 days after their…
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Estimated Due Dates
This is personal for me. I birth my babies between 42 and 44 weeks (with the four I went into labor with). I knew the day of conception with my 4th child and she was born at 42 and 1/2 weeks. My children have weighed between six and nine pounds and have all been healthy because they were born when…
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3 Ways YOU Can Help Birth Without Fear Empower Women
First of all, I just want to thank everyone for the tremendous response Birth Without Fear has received. The Birth Without Fear Facebook page has become such a hit and I am so grateful it has been a helpful resource for so many pregnant mamas. Because of that, I really had no choice but to start up a BWF website/blog…
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5 Quotes to Remind You Not to Induce
“We can make a woman have contractions, but we don’t always succeed in forcing her body to release the baby and give birth. If we start a labor with chemicals, we may very well have to finish it with a surgeon’s scalpel.” – Gail Hart, Midwife “Inducing tends to create longer, more difficult, more painful births in general, and it…
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Your Body, Your Birth, Your Baby
I do not know where women got the idea that doctors are a “knight in shining armor” here to rescue them. Actually, the AMA has been incredible at making themselves fit that role. Regardless, it’s a lie. When I hear a mama say, “They are going to let me…” I cringe. I absolutely want to vomit. Since when do they…
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6 Questions to Determine the Right Support for Your Birth
One of the things I have learned in my experiences birthing (and I’ve had them all), is that the support you choose is extremely important. Hiring an OB because everyone at church uses him or picking a midwife just because she is a midwife, is simply not good enough. A woman should evaluate her personality, pregnancy and needs. She may…
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A Fast, Unplanned Unassisted Birth!
I experienced three different days of prodromal labor throughout the month. On Sunday, September 26, 2010, I was awoken by a trickle feeling at about 5:30 am (I had been having a dream about water, too, ha!). I had thought that since I was already five cm dilated, that it might start with my water breaking. I got up and…
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3 Videos to Teach Us Nature’s Lessons About Birth
I homeschool my children and we were doing a project about horses. I looked up a few videos on Youtube and our learning led us to birth videos of animals. We watched a few different types of births and I could not help but see the strong correlation between humans and animals birthing. I also noticed the huge differences. Animals listen to…