A home water birth in a developing country with a homebirth ban
I woke up at 6:30 with what felt like menstrual cramps. I don’t know how many times I’ve read that phrase at the beginning of the scores of birth stories I’ve read over the months but it just didn’t seem real now that it was actually happening to me. I knew then that this was definitely labor, but couldn’t imagine I’d have a baby at the end of the day.
My aunt adopted my daughter: how I birthed my niece
In early 2008, I realized I was pregnant. Now to an outside observer it would seem a rather obvious outcome. I had just engaged in my first act of sexual intercourse, we didn’t use protection and I had no idea where I was on my cycle. I was 23 and had just started my second semester of college.
42 hours of back labor was actually pretty awesome
I had enjoyed an easy pregnancy without many of the usual issues, but as we reached the 40th week I was ready to be finished! We had decided to go with a midwife for our prenatal care and the birth, and also brought in a doula on the recommendation of a few friends. We also definitely wanted a hospital birth, so we made sure to choose a nurse midwife who was affiliated with the best maternity hospital in the area. I run with a fairly offbeat crowd, but having the baby anywhere other than a hospital was just not for me. I was hoping to not take any pain meds, but was fine with doing so if that’s how it went.
A lightning storm brings in a baby: my hospital birth story
We left the house with the wind whipping around us as we laughed and then drove to the hospital which was about 20 minutes away. At the hospital I walked in and the nurse on-call asked if I was in labor, explaining that I was very calm to have just had my water break. At the elevator we met our doula and she shared the same observations. I heard them but thought that I was being normal and completely myself.
My unusual girl’s birth, from start to finish
I had woken up exhausted and I was in excruciating abdominal pain. I stumbled into the bathroom and collapsed on the floor. Too weak to speak in anything louder than a whisper I began calling my partner’s name. He couldn’t hear me, but my kitties Tiki and Timber sure could. Luckily for me, they managed to wake my hubby who quickly came to see what was wrong. All I was able to whisper out was “Something exploded inside me” so he quickly carried me out to the car and off to the hospital we went. I had no idea my life was about to change.
Have you induced and still delivered without an epidural?
I’m 13 weeks pregnant and I recently found out that due to a few pre-existing medical conditions, it’s very possible the birth of my child will have to be induced at 38 or 39 weeks. I’ve been hoping to deliver without the aid of pain medication, and now I’m not sure this will be possible.
My sudden and accidentally unmedicated childbirth
Four days away from the due date of our baby — who we referred to as the Velociraptor — and my partner and I made a run to the store to stock up the freezer. The place was as crazy busy as usual and I was starving. My partner had caught my nasty cold and it just so happened to be 108 degrees outside, so we were both a little out of sorts. I was trying to peruse the sample carts as much as possible, and while grabbing a granola snack I felt a warm wetness in my shorts. Looking at Chris I said, “either I just lost control of my bladder or my water just broke.” He asked me which I thought it was and I honestly admitted that I had no clue.
Contractions and deep thoughts: a midwife-assisted hospital birth story
The memories are fleeting. They sink like photographs thrown into a deep lake. Lulling back and forth, the water blurs their edges until they fade entirely from view. It’s only been a week since I gave birth, and yet, perhaps as some evolutionary protective instinct, my recollection is already hazy. The experience feels more like a montage of images viewed through frosted glass, than a movie to re-play at will.