My partner won’t be at our son’s birth: dealing with birthing almost alone
Due to circumstances beyond both of our control — a move, a job change for me, and my partner’s desire to really try the job it took him over a year to find — it looks like I’m going to be having this baby alone. There’ll be doctors and nurses and maybe a doula, sure, but I always thought my partner would be there with me. And while it’s possible that he may make it for the birth, it’s entirely possible that he will miss it.
A diaphragm powered by an ocean wave: how singing through labor made me epic
I’ve always hoped that I would one day discover that I am an epic warrior with hidden powers. If it was ever up to me to save the world, I know I’d be righteous, clever, brave and able to endure suffering and immense challenges so that Good can triumph. Thing is, my life has been sadly lacking wise old wizards with world-saving quests, so I’ve rarely had a chance to put my epic-ness to the test. Even before I got pregnant, I thought to myself: “I bet I can make it through without an epidural. Yeah, I’m definitely going to try that.”
How do you know if a birth center is the right choice for you?
I am pregnant with my second child and every bit of reading I’ve done has led me to believe I had an unnecessary cesarean delivery with my firstborn. At this point, I am not certain I trust any of the practitioners at my hospital and worry that a change of hospital may result in the same scenario being played out in a different location. I would absolutely never be able to forgive myself if I put my birth experience over the well-being of my child. How do you know if birthing at a center (or outside of a hospital) is the right choice for you?
A happy and healthy birth center story
Only 10 minutes after talking to her, contractions started coming quickly and more sporadically and I began to get nauseous at their height — even in my state I knew it was a sign of transition. Even though I never got the classic “I can’t do this” mindset, I suddenly felt out of control — more of a “I have no idea what the hell I’m doing” mindset. I only had to say it once and Ryan knew it was time to leave.
Finding beauty in the birth of my daughter even though she was born ill
My daughter didn’t arrive into this world kicking and screaming. She was silent and still. Within seconds, she was whisked away from me to the emergency table in the corner of the delivery room. My husband followed, but was unable to do anything but watch as she was surrounded by medical staff. My doula finally told me that she was a girl — I hadn’t thought to ask. I’d only seen a glimpse of her little body.
An empowering home birth turned hospital delivery
I had already been experiencing pre-labour contractions for three weeks before my labour started. They had been strong and regular, seven minutes apart, for literally days at a time. Then they’d stop… and then start up again. By the time my due date came I was emotionally and physically exhausted, and thoroughly pissed off.
Why we had two hospital births and opted to deliver our third child at home
Hazel is our third child and very likely (according to our plan, anyway) our last. We’d decided long before her conception that we were going to plan a home birth if we were ever blessed with another child. We didn’t have absolutely horrible hospital birth experiences, to be clear — but there was a lot to process, especially on my end, after the births of our sons.
All about how I gave birth to my ten pound baby at home
Towards the end of my pregnancy, I was huge. So big that no one believed I wasn’t overdue or not arrying twins. My midwife and I were actually bullied by my backup OB over the baby’s size, so I fired him and we found another OB. After all, ultrasounds are notoriously innacurate this late in pregnancy. My first was supposed to be 10 pounds and was 7.5.