We would love to hear it.

There are lots of places online to read blow-by-blow descriptions of the physical process of giving birth. What’s harder to find is descriptions of what these experiences meant to the people who had them.

We crave your deepest stories.

Tell us your joy and sorrow, your pain and bliss. Tell us your trauma or grief, and tell us how you have healed it. (And if you haven’t, please find someone compassionate—a therapist or a trained coach—to talk to. No one deserves to live in pain.) Tell us how amazing you were, or how afraid you were. Tell us what it was like to go to the abyss and come back with a baby. Or just tell us about your stitches or your fantastic placenta—we’re not afraid of gory details. Blood and transcendence all wrapped up together—that’s usually how birth delivers it.

Please note that no one can comment on individual stories.

This is a place of safety and respect. Everyone’s birth experience deserves a rapt audience and compassionate ears. It also deserves a whole lot of celebration, which is why we have a community Facebook page.

Submission Guidelines & Details

Please read these guidelines in their entirety before submitting your story in the form below.

• Stories can be as short as a single sentence. Even a short paragraph encapsulating what giving birth meant to you is totally welcome. At the other end of the spectrum, please try to keep your story under 2500 words.
• It may take us some time to post your story. Please know that we are doing our best to keep up with submissions.
• If you haven’t given birth yourself but you have witnessed a birth, you are welcome to tell that story too. Please be sure that you have the permission of the person who DID give birth to share the story, and be clear about what your role was in the story you are telling.
• If you’ve given birth more than once, it’s your call. You can write about just one of those births, or submit several stories, or talk about them all in one submission.
• We want real stories. At this point, we will not post fictional stories. If you want us to change our minds about that, send us an eloquent email explaining why.
• We reserve the right to reject submissions that do not follow the above instructions. We also reserve the right to reject submissions that do not reflect the mission of the project, which is to encourage people to claim their power by telling their story of giving birth in an atmosphere free of judgment or advice. We will also not post stories that could be considered libelous. This doesn’t mean you need to sugarcoat your experience; simply mask all identifying personal information of any character in your story who does not appear in a flattering light. If your story is rejected, you will receive a brief email explaining why. (This is extremely rare.)
• You are welcome to post as Anonymous or make up a name (like Epidural in Airdale or Homebirth In Holland). You are also very welcome to post your real name, and we think that it’s pretty awesome when people do that.  If you have a blog or a website you’d like listed with your name, you are welcome to list that too. BE SURE to list your name/alias and website exactly the way you want it listed.
• Your email address will NEVER be posted publicly anywhere, and is only in case we have a question and need to contact you.
• We don’t edit, censor, or proofread your stories. Please be careful to polish your text, use spell-check and add linebreaks between paragraphs.
• By submitting your story, you give us permission to publish it to this website and share it on social media.  You retain copyright and ownership of your story and are free to sell, repost, or reprint it at any time.

Please tell us your story.

Tell it for yourself, for your babies, for all of us, for every human.

The magic and power of birth is ours. It is up to us to claim it, tell it, own it.