Tag Archives: birth

Preparing for Your Home Birth

When you plan to have your baby at home, part of preparing yourself for the birth of your baby includes preparing your home so that you have a safe and comfortable place to give birth. As your pregnancy progresses, why not gather up everything that you will need and place it in the area where you would like your birth to take place. The biggest item that you will need is the birthing tub, if you would like to have a water birth. Tubs can be purchased or rented, so ask your midwives about what options there are in your … Continue reading →

Water Birth

When I was pregnant with my first son, part of my prenatal care included attending childbirth classes at the birthing center where Dylan was going to be born. During one of the classes, we toured the birthing center and one of the midwives showed us all of the things that were available for us to use during labor and delivery. While bouncing around on a birthing ball sounded interesting and the birthing stool looked like it could certainly be effective, the thing that I remember most about my birthing center tour was the birthing tub. As soon as I saw … Continue reading →

Things to Know Before You go (to the Hospital) – Vitamin K

As you prepare for the birth of your baby, you are likely to be preparing yourself in many ways for your baby’s arrival. While being prepared may not help you to navigate every possible thing that might happen during and shortly after the birth of your baby, there are a few things that you can think about and plan for ahead of time. One of these things is deciding whether or not to allow your baby to be given a dose of synthetic Vitamin K shortly after birth. Vitamin K is routinely administered to newborn babies in the United States … Continue reading →

A Birth Story – Part Three

An emergency cesarean birth is exactly the opposite of what I had envisioned for Blake’s birth. I had my heart set on giving birth at home, but my body had other plans. Perhaps it was the anesthesia, but as I lay in my hospital bed as it was being wheeled through the hallways towards the operating room, I felt like I was watching the whole thing happen from afar. It was strange being conscious during the operation. I am squeamish, so I was thankful that there was a curtain between my eyes and what was going on. My poor husband … Continue reading →

A Birth Story – Part Two

Continuing on from where I left off yesterday, after the ultrasound appointment I made the hour – long drive home from the hospital to pack my bags and meet up with my husband. I am not quite sure that reality had set in for either of us about exactly what was going on. We had been planning for a home birth, and we were planning for our baby to arrive a full month later. Those two factors taken together added up to us not having a plan for who our then two and a half year old son would be with … Continue reading →

A Birth Story – Part One

One year ago today, I gave birth to my youngest son. It was not the birth that I had planned, but then again, I am not sure how many births actually do go according to plan. What actually happened was pretty much the opposite of what my husband and I had been planning for. If you are the type of person who enjoys reading about the experiences of other people during labor and delivery, read on. If you do not wish to read a birth story, check back here later in the week for a non – birth story post. … Continue reading →

Some Thoughts on Labor and Delivery

If you are pregnant, you may want to get yourself a maternity tee shirt printed with the words “Keep Your Labor and Delivery Horror Stories To Yourself”. Seriously. If you have not noticed it already, pregnant women are a magnet for people who want to tell their delivery room tales of woe. I am not sure exactly what is behind the urge to disclose embarrassing, painful and/or scary labor and delivery experiences to women who are definitely going to be going through the process of labor and delivery some time in the not too distant future. During both of my … Continue reading →

What is Your Hospital’s Policy on Rooming In?

There are probably many questions that you may have about exactly what happens in the hospital during labor and delivery, as well as after the baby is born. It is only natural to have these questions, especially if you have never given birth before or if you are giving birth in a different place than you did previously. One thing that you may want to learn about in advance of your arrival at the hospital is what your hospital’s policy is regarding “rooming in”. Many times, a baby is born only to be whisked away to a nursery shortly thereafter. … Continue reading →

When Things Do Not Go As Planned, Remember This

One important thing that I learned from giving birth to my two sons is that with pregnancy, labor, delivery, and birth, you are never fully in control of what goes on. Pregnancy is a miraculous process, and a complex one, too. Many factors affect a pregnancy throughout its term as well as during the final hours of labor and delivery. Pregnant women and their partners often go to great lengths to take good care of themselves before and during pregnancy, in order to increase the chances of giving birth to a healthy child and having a satisfying birth experience. My … Continue reading →

Three Simple Rules for Anyone Attending a Birth

 This post is dedicated to all of the fathers, partners, husbands, and others who will be attending births in the near future. While we, the pregnant women, appreciate your willingness and desire to be present at the births of our children, we do respectfully request that you follow a few ground rules during your participation in this important event. Here are a few suggestions to keep in mind when the time comes. Rule number one. Everything changes once those contractions start coming. It does not matter what I said last month, last week, yesterday, or even this morning. It does … Continue reading →