My U.S. military hospital birth didn’t follow protocol
The U.S. military is regimented, strict, and follows a standard protocol, and their approach to delivering babies is no different. When I found out I was pregnant I was more or less told exactly how my pregnancy and birth would proceed… except it wasn’t what I was planning at all.
I found beauty in the premature delivery of our daughter
I knew I was pregnant with Toga before I should have known I was pregnant. I hadn’t missed a period — in fact it had only been a week since conception. Life with a military man had its perks when it came to knowing the exact date of conception — but I KNEW. I dreamed about her, my beautiful blonde haired baby.
How my son’s teething reminds me of his birth
The poor little guy was in agony and couldn’t quite figure out what in the world was happening inside his mouth. My heart broke a little as his eyes pleaded with me to fix it Mama. So I scooped him up in my arms and spent much of the day rocking him and stroking his head. As I rocked him I thought back to the day he was born — it was the greatest and scariest day of my life.
Whoa: we had a surprise twin double-breech roadside vaginal birth after Cesarean
I was measuring consistently ahead in fundal height early on and just before the mid-point of my pregnancy my midwife referred me to an obstetrician to have an ultrasound (we’d not planned on having any) to rule out twins, fibroids, excess amniotic fluid, or any other complications. At the ultrasound, we were told there was one baby, no fibroids, and no excess fluid — the doctor said I simply had “a large uterus.” So we went with that as confirmation.
What my son’s unexpected Cesarean birth taught me about being a human
It was this realization that my sweet little fresh baby was going to be an old man someday that really did it. I felt like I saw his whole life flash in front of my eyes. That moment was fleeting, but it was possibly the most human I’ve ever felt. Since then I’ve looked at Kai differently than I did in the beginning; he’s no longer “the baby” or “that thing I grew.” He’s our new human, and he’s ours for only a brief period. It is not easy, but I am doing my best to cherish this time.
I let go of my self-righteousness and had a Cesarean delivery — and I’m thankful for it
When I got pregnant last January I was stoked about the joyful, carefree unassisted birth I had always dreamed of. My husband and mom, though, were concerned about the safety of freebirths and so I compromised with them and hired a Certified Nurse-Midwife who only did home births. She was a mother of two who lives on a farm and works primarily with the Amish women in our area. When I caught her voicemail, I noticed she signed off with “Namaste.” I thought: “Wow, this is going to be so great! She’s just like me! I don’t have to worry that she’ll force me to have medicines or procedures done that I don’t want.”
Ten minutes and you’re finished: a video of a Cesarean delivery
As some of you might remember, regular Offbeat Mama contributor Hunny wrote about the cesarean delivery of her second daughter, Zephyr in March 2012. Hunny opted to deliver via cesarean section for health reasons, and her husband Joe filmed the entire birth. I’ve actually had the privilege of being in an operating room while a baby was being born via cesarean section, but it’s definitely not something everyone gets to do any day of the week.
Kaiya Sol’s home birth that brought in rainbows
Thanksgiving Monday: it was a cool fall day, the streets wet with rain and scattered with the crunchy, crimson leaves that mark this time of year. The sun would peak out from behind the clouds, chasing away their dark heaviness, and briefly reveal the liquid blue hidden behind. My partner Vibhu and I spent the day hunkered down inside, him working on Tutors Nirvana and me, folding clothes, tidying the house, and compiling a digital version of my pregnancy journal. By the middle of the afternoon, I had had enough of being inside and craved a long walk through our neighborhood and along the waterfront.