Sep 25, 2011 | Breast feeding, Cesarean birth, Epidural, Hospital Birth, Nitrous Oxide, Partner Attended
I woke up twice during the night with pain resembling menstrual cramps. I woke up again at 2:45 AM with the same kind of pain. The pains were slightly stronger than menstrual cramps, and peaked before they disappeared. The contractions started with 7-8 minute...
Sep 25, 2011 | Breast Pump, Exhaustion, Fear, Guilt, Hospital Birth, Long Labor, Partner Attended, Premature
MOTHER NURTURE ~Why my less than perfect birth story matters. I am a recovering helicopter Mom. Whomp. Whomp. Whomp. You recognize us by the closeness in which we stand to our children at the park, by the flood of tears we shed on their first day of school, by the...
Jul 11, 2011 | Breech, First Birth, Midwife Attended, Nesting, Partner Attended, Surrender
The giving in birth Negotiations began early between us. He is a sly little teacher and I’m a slow learner. A month after his birth, I sat anxious in the doctor’s office (a heart murmur, the doctor says), trying to nurse him to sleep so that he would lie still for the...
Jun 24, 2011 | Afterpains, Doula Attended, Epidural, First Birth, Hospital Birth, Overdue, Pain, Partner Attended, Pitocin, Vaginal Birth
February 5, 2010, at 4pm, I sat on the end of my postpartum-room bed, cradling my hatted, swaddled, 8-hour-old baby, framed by a window filled with white light as the first flakes of twin record-breaking, city-paralyzing blizzards began twirling down the sky. February...
Jun 24, 2011 | Doula Attended, Epidural, Episiotomy, Exhaustion, First Birth, HypnoBirthing, Long Labor, Midwife Attended, Partner Attended, Vaginal Birth
Lauren, This description of how you arrived has been lying around for 30 years, but I don’t think you’ve ever read it. It seems a suitable time to hand it over to you. Enjoy! Lots of love, Dad. March 15th 2008 (Lauren’s 30th Birthday) DAD, 1978: This...
Jun 24, 2011 | Fear, Home birth, Midwife Attended, Pain, Partner Attended, Second birth, Vaginal Birth
Selena’s Birth Story This was baby #2. Birth #2. Frankly, I missed the bliss of the well-educated ignorance I enjoyed with birth #1. This time I knew what was coming. For exactly 40 weeks and nine days I knew what was coming: I had to push this baby out. But first, I...
