Waiting for Baby B was not an easy thing for me.  At over 42 weeks I was tired of being pregnant and eager to meet this person (we did not know the sex).  At my 42 week appointment with the midwives I was, once again, reassured that I would not be pregnant forever, that baby was doing just fine and that labor would start when baby was ready.  Though slightly anxious, I did not fear for my baby, myself or even of labor, but I was starting to feel a little pressed for time; my birth team… Continue reading →

As the weeks went by and the weather got warmer, then hot, then humid, I started to really feel sorry for those women who will or have been pregnant during the summer months in the DC area.  The week before Finn made his arrival was HOT…100 degree days with high humidity left me swollen and confined to the house praising the air conditioner gods and laying on the chaise with my feet up the wall.  Granted, this is how I’ve spent most of my pregnancy due to back surgery and then later, excessive swelling in my feet.

The… Continue reading →

I got a cold starting Wednesday afternoon and stayed home from work on Thursday and Friday. Each day I called in to work and said “I’m not in labor but I’m sick”. I was in bed most of that time plus Saturday and Sunday. I got a cough starting on Sunday. Thankfully, Dad had arrived the previous Tuesday so he and Christa played with Cole much of the weekend. I kept lying in bed thinking “I need to finish some stuff for work…but what if I go into labor? I need to rest.” Thank goodness I decided to rest. Monday… Continue reading →

by Brooke Moore

Ronin Jude Moore, 8.8 lbs born 12:08 AM on Thursday February 28, 2013.

I was due on March 10th. Wednesday February 27th I woke up and went to work. I started having mild cramps midway through the day and didn’t think much of them. As they slowly became more frequent, I began working faster to train my maternity leave replacement, realizing I might not be back in the office Thursday and Friday as originally planned!

I arrived home at 5:30 PM and the contractions picked up an hour… Continue reading →

Lucy’s Story

Giving birth was really the most amazing experience.  There has been no time in my life where I have felt so utterly present in the moment.  My body knew exactly what to do, I just had to relax and breathe and let it happen.  It was incredible.

I found out I was pregnant a few days after Christmas in 2008.  Because of my pelvic infection in 2005, I had to have a very early ultrasound to make sure the pregnancy wasn’t tubal.  I knew I wanted to use a midwife, but I didn’t… Continue reading →

Soren’s Story

My first experience with home birth was when I was almost three years old.  My mother was giving birth to my brother and I was rubbing her back.  Later, after I had eaten my breakfast cereal at her bedside, I watched as he was born – pink and screaming.  When my friends’ mothers went to hospital to birth their siblings, I didn’t understand why they’d go to hospital just to have a baby.

It was that early experience, and a wish to be fully in control of my birthing experience that led me to switch… Continue reading →

Zara’s Story

Our home birth journey began October 5th, 2006 at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center.  After a perfectly normal and healthy pregnancy, I found myself strapped to a bed, unable to move, feel, or control what was going on around me.  While my son was born healthy and as perfect as could be, I knew that his birth was not a normal experience.  I felt so disappointed that I hadn’t been able to give birth without intervention, and I knew without a doubt that I never wanted to be such a passive participant at an event… Continue reading →

Maeve’s Story

October 29th was a wild and blustery day.  Our four-year-old Ruby had a field trip at a pumpkin patch about an hour’s drive from home, and parents were requested to join them.  As Ruby and I set out in the morning, I noticed that the intermittent contractions I had been having for about a week were coming a bit stronger and with a little more regularity.  My due date was still several days away, and I’d had a few false alarms, so I didn’t think too much about it as we drove out to… Continue reading →