4 Key Questions to Ask Potential Care Providers For a Natural Birth
You’re pregnant with your first and checking out all your options. Or it’s your second or third baby, and you’re wanting a different experience than the last time around. Maybe no epidural, definitely not that awful Pitocin. Where do you... Continue Reading
Fascinating 1952 Film Follows The Work of Southern Black Midwife “Miss Mary” Coley
Midwifery in the African American community is a tradition that dates back for centuries. While current rates of home births are low among black women, there was a time when the opposite was true. Ina May Gaskin explains; For the... Continue Reading
A Beautiful Natural Water Birth Caught on Video
Louisiana mom Brikea Searile posted this gorgeous video of her water birth and it has quickly gone viral. Brikea’s partner, Marcus, acts as a support throughout the birth, massaging and coaching her while Stevie Wonder and Alicia Keys play in... Continue Reading
5 Ways to Prepare Your Body for Natural Birth
“Remember this, for it is as true as true gets: Your body is not a lemon. You are not a machine. The Creator is not a careless mechanic. Human female bodies have the same potential to give birth well as... Continue Reading
5 Ways to Prepare Your Partner for Natural Birth
My husband is pretty fantastic. He’s super supportive of my doula work – making me breakfast-to-go in the middle of the night, listening to detailed birth stories, going with the flow of an on-call job. He’s a Math teacher, but... Continue Reading
7 Black Birth Pros to Follow on Facebook and Twitter
Black women and children have different needs when it comes to pregnancy and birth. Our infant and maternal mortality rates, and our cesarean rates are higher. Some of the theories on the reasons why are racism, diet, economic standing, not... Continue Reading
5 Ways to Prepare Your Mind and Soul for Natural Birth
By Lindsey Avink Birth is transformative. Nails grow beautiful from prenatal vitamins. Our bellies stretch wider than we believed they could and leave marks forever. Later, we grow muscles from carrying carseats and wearing babies. And the breasts – who... Continue Reading
Why I Chose a Midwife Over a Doctor
By Alicia Barnes My birth was my mother’s third c-section. The doctor told her when he touched the scalpel to her scar, she split open. “It’s a good thing you didn’t bump into any tables,” he said, alluding her belly... Continue Reading
I Had a Drug-Free Home Birth and Loved It
By Alicia Barnes It had been an exhausting week, and I was 38 weeks and 5 days pregnant. My husband Daniel and I were looking out the window, waiting until there was more light than dark in the sky to call... Continue Reading
I Did a Natural Hypno-Birth
By Didan Ashanta One day, during my final year in the all-girls’ high school I attended, our Personal Development teacher was on the topic of ‘marriage’ and took the opportunity to teach us ladies how to be mentally prepared for the... Continue Reading
When Things Don’t Go as Planned: Making Peace with Your Birth Experience
By Tamara of Boxer and the Baby Like most women I had this ideal labor and delivery in my head. It was so beautiful. I would sway on a exercise ball, sit in a bathing tub and breathe through all... Continue Reading
Big Girl Panties: Erickka’s Natural Childbirth Experience
By Erickka Sy Savané of Bitches Brew It was the worst pain of my life. Think electrocution. Every 10 seconds. My body was vibrating like one of those phone pagers from back in the day. I stood in the middle... Continue Reading
