Anyone who has given birth (or at least witnessed one), can probably confirm that it looks a lot different in real life than it does on TV. Typically, the Hollywood version of childbirth begins dramatically, with the character’s water breaking, and ends with a perfectly spotless baby emerging from underneath her hospital gown. Early labor…
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Ariel Skelley/Getty Images By the time you reach your third trimester, you may be convinced that you’re experiencing the longest pregnancy in history. And while that’s probably not true, that homestretch can feel agonizingly long. Here’s the thing, though: Just as you’re getting ready for your little nugget, your body is preparing for labor and…
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If you’re thinking about having another baby after delivering via C-section, the conversation about “trying for a VBAC” will probably come up between you and your doctor, and maybe even when chatting with your family and friends. If you’ve never heard the term before, or even if you have but are a little fuzzy on…
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Ok, you’re pregnant Great! You managed to get the baby in there, but what’s your plan for getting it out? Enter: the birth plan. Immediately followed by everyone telling you that births never really go to plan. So, knowing that births rarely go to plan, you may balk at the idea of creating a birth…
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Here’s my story of a beautiful and pain-free birth, achieved with the help of hypnobirthing. I grew up with my mom telling me how excruciating it was for her to give birth to me. She went through something like 32 hours of labor. Though I am not too sure anymore. Every time she tells…
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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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Scary Mommy and Sharon Mccutcheon/EyeEm/Getty As an anesthesiologist, I recently took care of a patient who needed an emergent C-Section, and she requested that the umbilical cord not be cut “until it was white.” I’ll be honest, I had no idea what she was talking about. A bit of googling later in the day, lead…
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Scary Mommy and Kangah/Getty As being in labor goes, this time wasn’t so bad. It was the culmination of a smooth and uneventful pregnancy. My baby boy was full term, measuring big, blessedly healthy by all indications. And there was a marathon of The Golden Girls on the hospital TV — so along with my husband,…
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Scary Mommy and Ivan Olianto/Getty I used to wonder what it would be like to be pregnant. I thought it would be weird cravings, waddling and not being able to see my feet. Maybe even peeing a little when I sneeze. But I never, in my wildest dreams, thought pregnancy would be as difficult, scary…
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Scary Mommy and Petri Oeschger/Getty I didn’t have a doula with me when I had my first child. Even though a good friend of mine is a doula and I respected the work that she did, I thought it sounded a bit weird to have a stranger involved in something sure to be so intimate,…
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