• Last updated 3/29/13 by Momsteader

Author’s note: Our new baby was born at home in our bedroom this past Wednesday without a birth attendant present. No name (yet). No weight (we don’t own a scale). No midwives. This week’s posts are the story of how we came to choose an unassisted birth and about the birth itself. The first installment is here. The second installment is here. To read the rest of the story, please check back daily. The not-yet-certified midwife we chose for our second home birth, M., had dreadlocks down to her ankles. She didn’t have an office. Instead, she brought her... read more

• Last updated 3/29/13 by Momsteader

Author’s note: Our new baby was born at home in our bedroom this past Wednesday without a birth attendant present. No name (yet). No weight (we don’t own a scale). No midwives. This week’s posts are the story of how we came to choose an unassisted birth and about the birth itself. This is the second installment. The first installment is here. To read the whole story, please check back daily. When Athena was born I got an unnecessary tear “We both started at the same place,” James explained during another “conversation” about unassisted birth. He... read more

• Last updated 3/29/13 by Momsteader

Author’s note: Our new baby was born at home in our bedroom this past Wednesday without a birth attendant present. No name (yet). No weight (we don’t own a scale). No midwives. This week’s posts from Monday to Friday will be the story of how we came to choose an unassisted birth and about the birth itself. To read the whole story, please check back daily. “The thing is, I don’t know if I really want a midwife,” I said to James when I was nearly five months pregnant and still had not chosen anyone. “Oh God.” He furrowed his brow and looked... read more

• Last updated 4/7/13 by AdinaL

I tell pretty much every pregnant woman I know to come check out the Mothering lending library. It has an extensive collection of books and other materials ranging in topics, from natural parenting to childbirth preparation to medical texts. Knowing that at any given moment there could be someone rummaging through the books, I should have been more prepared when I was confronted by that book. I was astounded to find What to Expect When You are Expecting lying on the floor. Thinking my co-worker, who is a midwifery student, had selected the book, I shouted my... read more

• Last updated 4/7/13 by AdinaL

I snuggled in bed with my 6-year-old son Etani last Saturday and we decided to watch some home birth videos on the Internet. In order to feel prepared for this labor, I’ve been reading everything I can about home birth, practicing breathing and vocalizing, visualizing the kind of birth I hope to have, and talking to my kids a lot about what to expect. Etani wants to be there. He says he doesn’t want to be involved but that he’ll peek around from the door and watch. My daughter Athena, who’s eight, also wants to be at the birth. My oldest daughter, who turned... read more

• Last updated 4/7/13 by AdinaL

Peggy and I were talking the other day about how we need a new way to describe when a baby is due. Due “date” is something of a misnomer, since a healthy baby can safely be born two weeks (or more) before that date or two weeks (or more) afterwards. Some women gestate longer than others and often labor is unnecessarily induced by artificial means that lead to a cascade of iatrogenic problems. What should we call it? Due season? Due time? Due month? One blogger suggests calling it a “due window.” It’s easy to be mistaken about the date of... read more

• Last updated 4/7/13 by AdinaL

After almost every prenatal visit when I was pregnant with my first child I would cry. The midwives in the only practice our student insurance would pay for were so mean that we ended up switching to the doctors. When I refused what I considered nonsensical testing, they would look at me sternly and say things like, “You’re going to buy yourself a C-section if you don’t do the glucose tolerance test.” Without telling us why, my favorite doctor in the practice (a young woman with two small children herself) ordered an “emergency ultrasound” when I was eight... read more

• Last updated 4/7/13 by AdinaL

“Ping!” You’re due. Like a Thanksgiving turkey. Like an oil change. You. Are. Due. What is in a due date anyway? One particular date? Out of 365 days of the year, this is thee day you are due. (Okay, okay, I know…it’s not really 365…it’s more like 280 or something.) Due with what? Ahhh…on second thought, let’s not go there…that’s another Oprah. Due dates are only accurate five percent of the time. I read this once. So…in other words…..due dates are inaccurate ninety-five percent of the time. Fabulous system. All the more justification for... read more

• Last updated 3/15/13 by mamazee

About five seconds after we conceived this time, I looked like I was five months along, but we felt shy about telling people we were pregnant until I was almost at the end of my fourth month. “Was it a surprise?” The principal at my daughter’s school asked. “Were you planning it?” another mom wanted to know. “Were you so shocked?!” said a third parent. “Wasn’t it an accident?!” “My husband and I were joking that you must be turning into Mormons,” another friend said. “We were wondering if you are becoming religious,” was yet another... read more

• Last updated 3/15/13 by mamazee

Here’s a picture of my friend Karen when she was nine months pregnant with her son. She’s comparing bellies with a friend who was almost eight months along. Tags: funny photo, pregnancy, pregnant belly This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 at 4:23 am and is filed under funny photo, pregnancy, pregnant belly. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.     read more