Cavan Images/Getty Though pregnancy and birth are most commonly consigned to the realm of women, many people who do not identify as women are capable of getting pregnant and giving birth. In fact, nonbinary, gender fluid, genderqueer, Two-Spirit, or transgender folks do get pregnant and require prenatal, perinatal, and postnatal care. A hospital in the…
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Layland Masuda/Getty When I was pregnant with my first child, I’m very certain that at least once I probably said something like, “All I want is a healthy baby.” It’s possible that I said it when someone asked me about my birth plan. Maybe I said it when someone asked if I was hoping for…
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mustafagull/Getty Some people make plans for birth. They pick meaningful music, write encouraging words on notecards, and meticulously pack their hospital bag. I was not one of those people. Some people think about their baby during birth. Their baby is their motivation, their source of energy and strength. They think about seeing their baby’s perfect…
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When it comes to comparing C-sections vs VBACs, those who’ve gone through both can lend us some insight. Here’s one mom’s experience with each. I am the incredibly lucky mom of two beautiful children who are as different in their personalities as they are in the way they came into the world. I have a…
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Courtesy of Kristine Putz Birthdays work different for most preemie mommas. See, for most of us, the night our kid/kids were born was traumatic. For most of us, either our health was in danger and/or the lives of our children were in danger. We held our breath as we waited to hear whether or not…
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FatCamera/Getty Emergency C-section. Two blood transfusions. Septic shock. Multi-system organ failure. Emergency dialysis, and seven excruciating days away from my newborn son later, I realized how naive I was to think that “nobody dies during childbirth anymore.” I was admitted to the hospital at 39 weeks gestation.What was supposed to be an exciting time developed…
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Scary Mommy and Westend61/Getty I first went into labor at 35 weeks and earned myself an overnight stay in the hospital, during which time my contractions stalled and I remained dilated at four centimeters. Two weeks and no progress later (although I did feel like the twins were going to fall out of me onto…
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Scary Mommy and dimarik/Getty When I felt my baby girl kick me for the first time, I felt a million different things. The joy of new life. The fear of the unknown. The awe of the human body. All the things I’d been told that I might feel, I think I felt. But, in that…
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Pixabay It was a Friday morning like any other Friday morning. And then the contractions started. I was used to having contractions. Our daughter had a rare intestinal malformation called duodenal atresia and it caused me to have extra amniotic fluid. Babies normally swallow amniotic fluid, but for our baby, the fluid couldn’t go past…
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Courtesy of Jennifer Canvasser Trigger warning: child loss Despite my healthy pregnancy and doing everything “right,” my twins were born at 27 weeks gestation, about 90 days before their due date. I didn’t even make it into the third trimester. Like most parents of preemies, I was completely unprepared for our new life in the…
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