Category Archives: Good Enough to Share

Mother of Many

I *love* this video (“Mother of Many” by Emma Lazenby, which also won the BAFTA for Best Short Animation last year).  It so perfectly portrays what the average day can be like for a hospital midwife, from the overwhelming chaos of helping so many women at the same time to the joy at every birth [...]

Also posted in Birth Art, Labor and Birth, Midwifery | Leave a comment

One World Birth about to launch!

Just stumbled upon this via a friend on Facebook, and watching the welcome video just sent chills down my spine.  Two passionate filmmakers are creating an interactive, continuously-updated online TV channel focusing on nothing but birth, and the state of birth in our world right now, by interviewing the world’s leading experts in birth and [...]

Also posted in Birth Stories, Cesarean Birth, Homebirth, Hospitals, Labor and Birth, Labor Support, Midwifery, News, Vaginal Birth, VBAC | Leave a comment

Well done, NPR!

NPR has a great series up on their website right now called Beginnings: Pregnancy, Childbirth and Beyond, which explores myriad aspects of pregnancy and childbirth, from cultural, economic, global and scientific perspectives.  Overall, an incredibly balanced and informative series, well worth checking out (I’m especially enjoying the Baby Project, which is a blog following the [...]

Also posted in Labor and Birth, Mothering, Myth, Folklore and Ritual, Postpartum, Pregnancy | Leave a comment

Sebastian’s Birth Story

Awhile ago, during the pregnancy, I joined an online forum with other women who were also pregnant and due in May, and this group of women became my “due date club.”  About halfway through our pregnancies, we decided to do a bead swap, where most of the women of the group decided to send each [...]

Also posted in Birth Stories, Homebirth, Labor and Birth, Vaginal Birth | Leave a comment

My Birth Story

It’s funny to be writing this.  I have heard and listened to so many women share their birth stories with me, posted birth stories here on my blog, attended births and helped women write their birth stories, but now I come to a first for me: the writing of my own birth story.  I think [...]

Also posted in Birth Stories, Homebirth, Labor and Birth, Vaginal Birth | 1 Comment

Blessingway Poetry

I also wanted to share the two poems which were read at my Blessingway, because they are so beautiful, and even now, just reading them will bring tears to my eyes. Mother Wisdom Speaks by Christine Lore Webber Some of you I will hollow out. I will make you a cave. I will carve you [...]

Also posted in Birth Art, Labor and Birth, Myth, Folklore and Ritual | Leave a comment

Vaginal twins at 25 weeks

So one of the advantages of working as a midwife in a hospital is that I get to participate in many births that I wouldn’t have the opportunity to experience in private practice.  If I were working as a private practice midwife, and as a homebirth midwife in particular, there is no way I would [...]

Also posted in Birth Stories, Complications, Hospitals, Labor and Birth, Vaginal Birth | Leave a comment

Too Cute!

This is from Brownstoner, via NewYorkShitty.  Found in McCarren Park, Williamsburg, NY.  Totally cracks me up!

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Just a hemorrhage kind of night

Last night was a very strange night. It wasn’t that busy, and yet, somehow, neither the other midwife nor myself were able to take a break. The pace was very steady. We kept expecting it to settle down, but it never did. Just as we were thinking “oh, as soon as this woman is discharged, [...]

Also posted in Birth Stories, Complications, Hospitals, Labor and Birth, Midwifery, Vaginal Birth | 4 Comments

The Biggest Baby I’ve ever caught

Here’s a lovely birth story to share, my 99th delivery: We were all expecting a big baby. Her estimated fetal weight from Leopold’s palpation was judged to be approximately 4500 gms. The baby felt huge: fat and happy, and we were all duly nervous, because her first baby was only 7.5 pounds. She wasn’t a [...]

Also posted in Birth Stories, Labor and Birth, Vaginal Birth | 7 Comments