By Sally Sites
In October 2005, I met the first love of my life- my wonderful husband Jake. On August 19th 2010, my second love was born (plans for a natural, relaxed birth center birth were derailed by a pitocin induction at the hospital…I still birthed as naturally as I could while tethered to an IV lying in a bed but it was everything I didn’t want). My passion for all things pregnancy/birth/breastfeeding developed as I grew into my new role as a mom to my darling little man. [Read more…]
Before Jack came along and I was introduced to the world of parenting I had never heard of things like midwives, doulas, home births or birth affirmations. I probably would have laughed at these things, called them “hippie” and said they had no place in modern society. Since then I have come to not only feel that they have more of a place in society than most of the things I went through giving birth to Jack, but also to feel a deep sense of empowerment as I internalize more of the values behind these concepts. [Read more…]
But seriously folks, I’m not saying that with complete enthusiasm at this point. I still cringe at the idea even though I have already made arrangements with my doula to have it encapsulated after my birth. We were recently speaking about other options besides encapsulation such as eating it raw in smoothies. She advised me that it won’t completely pulverize in the blender and there would still be small chunks to swallow. [Read more…]
I want to begin by saying that this is the hardest blog post I have ever written. I say that in all seriousness after 2 years of blogging about my deepest, darkest secrets. I’ve been staring at it for weeks. Typing, backspacing, retyping. It’s been hard because there is so much to say. I thought about making this a series, but at this point I cannot figure out how to break up this information. [Read more…]
By guest blogger Lea
I was 25 and had just gotten out of an extremely abusive relationship. I hooked up with someone who was only 5’6″ and 120 lbs thinking that if it came down to it I could protect myself. Come to find out he was popping holes in the condoms. I found out I was pregnant at 6 weeks. I spent two weeks throwing up every day at least 405 times a day before it struck me what could have happened. I took 6 store bought tests and all of them came back negative. So I finally decided to go to the health department. They did a urine test that came back negative, but things weren’t lining up so they did a blood test. It came back that I was pregnant. I immediately got myself insurance and found an OBGYN. My OB was my mom’s OB when she had my baby brother and had delivered most of my cousins. He was someone I trusted and still do.
This is LeAnn 1 hour after I had her. She seemed so tiny. Measuring 21 inches long and weighing 7lbs 14ozs.
I have been putting this off for 3 & ½ years. For a long time, I couldn’t even think about the birth of my twin girls without crying and I could barely talk about it. I realized at one point that unless reminded, I went through my life as if those first 5 days didn’t happen. I was pregnant and then they were here; everything in between was just a dream.
Now it has become a dull sort of pain that is just another part of my tapestry. I don’t dwell on it or even think about it much, and I often forget how open and raw the wound is until something reminds me and the tears flow like I flipped a switch. These sudden reactions always catch me by surprise. [Read more…]
I want to share my story with you. My son is now 3 months old. I read and read while I was pregnant and decided I wanted a natural labor to be home as long as possible and do be coached by my husband through the pain and hopefully out of a hospital bed. That all changed on July 28, 2013. I went to the hospital for a non-stress test because I was 10 days overdue. [Read more…]
by Bethany
I had planned to have a drug-free water birth at The Birth Cottage, a freestanding birth center in Milford New Hampshire. I had watched documentaries such as “The Business of Being Born,” “Gentle Birth Choices,” and “Orgasmic Birth,” and therefore was very well-informed of what goes on in many hospital settings. I didn’t trust hospitals and knew I wanted my baby to be born in a safe environment where the baby would remain with me and not be separated after birth, and where I wasn’t at risk of having unnecessary surgery. I had taken childbirth classes in the Bradley Method to prepare for a drug-free birth, during which we read about the many possible dangers to the baby of drugs during labor. I had interviewed and chosen a doula to provide labor support. I even chose to go to a birth center in New Hampshire, rather than having a home birth in Massachusetts where I live, because the laws regarding midwifery are different in New Hampshire and I knew that should I need to transfer to a medical facility, a New Hampshire midwife would get a lot more respect at a New Hampshire hospital than a Mass. midwife at a Mass. hospital. Midwives are actually licensed by the state of New Hampshire, and therefore are acknowledged providers there. [Read more…]
