"A few more hours?" I whispered, "I don't think I can wait that long." "Let me check you in an hour and see how you're doing. It's flexib...Actually let me check you in 5 minutes." She had changed her mind once she saw the uncomfortable look on my face. Sure enough, she checked me and I was all the way dilated and ready to start pushing.

“I did my own GBS swab, my own cervical checks, and made every choice in the hospital.I felt so much more validated and in control…like it was MY birth finally. No timeline, no unnecessary pressure, and everything I wanted!”

“As we got closer to my due date, we both felt that they would use any reason to induce me and that is what happened. At my 40-week appointment, my fluid was up, and they said you are having a baby today, we are scheduling you for an induction.”

“No one prepares you for what labor and delivery will feel like when you know you’re not going to be meeting your baby earth side alive and well; it’s nothing I wish for any parent to experience. But it’s our story, and we were allowed precious time with Reave, and that I hold so close to my heart.”

“There was an obvious shift in the length, frequency, and intensity of the waves I was experiencing…I could no longer just breathe through them. I needed to use vocalization as well as rhythmic movement through each one.”

“Instinctually, I knew I could not make it to the hospital…So I looked at my husband and said, ‘Call an ambulance. Now!’ He hesitated initially, but I could not have been more convinced in that moment that this was the right choice for the health of both me and our baby.”

“The nurses were begging me to try to stop pushing but I wasn’t even trying in the first place, my body was doing all the work. It was the most incredibly powerful and forceful feeling I have ever experienced.“

“It was honestly amazing and the first thing I said when my daughter came out was “I could definitely do this again!”

“Within the span of 30 minutes, I went from 2 cm to 10 cm and he was coming fast. I couldn’t help it and felt the urge to push, I reached down and I felt his head! I told my nurse and then she finally realized I was much further along than she thought.”

“I have a very low pain tolerance (my husband says) but somehow I was able to ROCK my birth and do it all natural in 4ish hours.”

“The body is amazing. Not mentally knowing a single thing as a first time mom but somehow my body knew exactly what to do is mind blowing.”

“My husband left for deployment April of 2022 and it felt as though I was falling apart. I had to make a baby and take care of another one who doesn't even crawl yet. The only way that I got through these 10 months was family. Family got me through all of it.”

“There were SO MANY people in the OR with us for delivery. We had to deliver there just in case a baby flipped and we needed C-section for second birth. I remember them all telling me to hold my breath and push like I’m pooping. I said no thank you and pushed with an open mouth, focusing on my breath. “

Then I found out my little girl was breech. I remember that appointment so vividly. I was CRUSHED. I had dreams of a natural labor and had spent so much time preparing. I was DETERMINED to flip her.

I saw my baby for the first time. My first thought was, “it’s me”. Our souls recognizing pieces of ourselves in one another. We were connected.

It was like the universe was confirming this transition for our family! Affirming our move and this huge undertaking. Saying, '“YES! This is where you are meant to be!”.

Until my intuition started to whisper no. Something wasn’t right.