35 Reasons to Choose a Home Birth

From the “Healthy and Green Living” section at Care2.com is the blog post of 35 reasons to choose a home birth (and ensuing comments added some others, plus some counter-balancing opinion). Even if you don’t find that some — or even all — of the reasons are strong enough reasons for you to have a [...]

Happy Birthday, Seth!

Last year on this date, I published Seth’s birth story; now, here are the pictures that were taken right after he was born. Just a very slight recap of the birth story — because I had called the midwife when I had false labor and had her come too soon (from about 90 minutes away), [...]

The next birth? What about *this* birth?

Far too often, women put their wishes and dreams for birth on hold, promising to make changes for the next birth. Many women “plan” on having a natural childbirth (and I put that in quotes because too many women are like my oldest sister — their “plan” is assuming that they’ll show up to the [...]

What’s the rush?

After a mom has reached the definition of “active labor” which includes that her cervix is over 4 cm (although many women can walk around for weeks at or over 4 cm dilation), if she ever goes longer than 2 hours without cervical change, she is likely to be diagnosed with “stalled labor” and wheeled [...]

It cost HOW MUCH??

Most of the birth blogs I read have talked about one or both of the birth-related articles that recently appeared in the LA Times and Time magazine. But Knitted in the Womb talked about one I hadn’t seen — from the Wall Street Journal, which talked about the hospital bill a woman received for her [...]

Why I love blogging

There are a lot of reasons I like blogging. I like connecting with like-minded (or not-so-like-minded) birth people all over the world. I read their blogs; they read my blog; we comment on each other’s blogs, and hopefully come to a greater knowledge and understanding of each other, of other people and situations, of birth [...]

Baby Faith has passed on

Several weeks ago, I mentioned the blog of a young single mother whose baby had anencephaly. The baby’s name was Faith Hope, and she amazed the doctors and everyone around by living as long as she did — 93 days. Now, her struggles are over. If you want to read more from the mother, and [...]

Totally Stressed

I’m pretty much freaking out right now — complete body stress reaction — I can feel the adrenalin pumping through my body — my nerves are on edge — my mind is racing — my heart is pounding. Why? Long story. I’m writing this out because it will help calm my nerves and help me [...]

Let your voice be heard

There is a birth video being made which will feature all different women, and you are invited to be one of those women, by submitting a short audio or video clip about homebirth — why you chose it, your experience, or how it affected your family. You can also submit a written account. Click here [...]

Maternal trauma may affect babies…even before conception

This was intriguing — a study of rats who were exposed to trauma even prior to conception had offspring that had noticeably different behavior, compared to rats that were not traumatized. Although it would be unethical to deliberately traumatize pregnant or “trying to conceive” women, this prospective rodent study could forge the pathway to do [...]