Momma Commune: Where the Hip Mommas Gather!

Noah's Birth Story

I had been having contractions on and off for the last few weeks, so when I started having them last Sunday, it didn't make me think I was in labor. This was the 4th time I was getting ready to go into labor and it was different from the other 3. With my 6 year old daughter, Azalea, I had semi-regular contractions that gradually got stronger over 3 days. My 3 year old son, Elijah, was induced right after my doctor told me that I was in early labor. My 16 month old daughter, Hannah, had me in early labor all of Father's Day and I went to the hospital that night. This little guy had me sent home from the hospital (which is 45 minutes away) 3 times already, so I wasn't sure about when to go back.

Natalya's Birth Story

Well, after a weekend of long, prelim labor, the contractions finally became very strong and very regular Monday evening. By 1:30 am on Tuesday morning, Nel and I were on our way to the hosp.

Once there, we discovered that the baby was posterior (face-up) just like her big brother was and I was appx 3 cm dilated. We went over our birthplan with the doc and after some minor adjustments - we were ready to move to our room. (I really, really, really wanted this VBAC - very badly. So, I had to be super educated and super firm with these military residents [DH is in the Navy;)])

Our doula had met us there and we got right to work. Contractions were pretty fierce - back labor is a bitch - plain and simple. I switched positions several times and even tried the birthing ball. They were all pretty helpful.

Calling all Jersey girls!

Hello all,

By clicking on the link below you can sign a global warming petition which addresses global warming initiatives in the state of NJ.

https://www.environmentnewjersey.org/action/global-warming?id4=ES

The governor should take action right away and pledge to reduce New Jersey's global warming emissions by 70 percent by 2050. He should also work with the Legislature to pass the Global Warming Response Act (A-3301/S-2114), sponsored by Assemblywoman Linda Stender, D-Union, and Sen. Barbara Buono, D-Middlesex, a bill that would make New Jersey one of the first states to adopt mandatory limits on our total global warming emissions.

Josie's Birth Story

I had told work on Friday that I was "all done" and ready to roll. Contractions all weekend kept us close to home and when I still didn't go over the weekend, I was so disappointed I didn't go to work on Monday. Instead I moved every piece of furniture in my house hoping to get things going. Contractions continued, but always petered out. Then on Tuesday I had my weekly non-stress tests because of my (advanced-huh!) maternal age, high bp etc. I continued having contractions 5-6 minutes apart, but I convinced them to let me go home, knowing they would peter out-big sigh!
Well sure enough they didn't, but they were not unbearable by any means. I was up most of the night an finally woke up my husband around 5AM and told him he wasn't going to work. Lots of bloody show and continuous contractions 3 minutes apart. I really really wanted a VBAC so I knew I wasn't going to the hospital for a bit.

Home Birth Again!

Our fourth child was born this last Monday. This was our second home birth, which we had really been praying and hoping for. Our son, the oldest, was born at home. Then we had two hospital births due to various complications. Going into the last few weeks of pregnancy I was not really sure of myself and wondering if I was going to be able to do this. With the help of my husband and our wonderful midwife and her assistant, we were finally able to realize this dream.

9/16 - Our due date. I wasn't really expecting anything then because the other girls were both born late.

9/18 - Papa's Birthday... We were hoping for this day but it came and went with nothing.

9/22 - I started noticing some swelling in my feet near bedtime. I decided to put my feet up and see what that would do. The swelling went down and I went to sleep.

9/23 - Once I was up and moving around my foot swelled up again. I called the midwife around 11 am to see what she thought. She told me to stay in bed on my left side and eat as much fruit as I could to see if that would help. Midwife's assistant came be at 8:30 PM to check on us. Swelling was gone, blood pressure was good, and I was starting to dialate, but no signs of labor yet. She left some herbal tincture with us to see if that would help get things going.

9/24 - Started taking Red Raspberry Leaf tincture every hour. Had a handful of contractions throughout the day but nothing to get excited about. I stopped the tincture at about 7 in the evening so I could get a good nights sleep.

9/25 - Started the tincture again in the morning. The midwife said she would come around 11 to see what else we could do to get this baby coming. Spent a couple of hours getting everything ready for the birth.

The midwife arrived about 11am and checked us out. Everything looked good but still no contractions. I ate lunch and kept taking the tincture every hour. The midwife's assitant came after lunch and we started working on some other ideas to get labor going. They decided to go and get themselves a late lunch sometime in the afternoon. I took a short nap and a shower. Then I had Lloyd call to have them bring me a tuna sandwich when they came back.

Dylan Michaels Birth Story 4/14/2006

4/14/2006 Happy Birthday Dylan!
On Thursday, April 13th 2006, I was induced with a drug called cytotec at 9 pm. I spent the night in the hospital with Daddy, and after being poked and prodded all night, hadn't made much progress. At 9 am on Good Friday, April 14th, 2006, I was started on pitocin to make contractions stronger. Your heart rate was doing great. Dr Perry came in to break my water at 12, but your head was so low, that he couldn't get it. My nurse (Janet) came in every 1/2 hour or so and kept turning up the pitocin drip. OW OW OW contractions were getting stronger now. Dr Perry came in again to break my water at around 3 pm. At this point I was having constant contractions with no relief. It was the worst pain I have ever experienced, So I finally broke down and got the epidural at around 5 pm (was dialated to 6 at this point). I so tried to hang in there without an epidural, but it was too intense to handle. ( thank goodness I got the epidural looking back).

Kiri's Birth Day

This is my daughter, Kiri's, birth story. Since she was my first child, I was fully expecting a long labor with lots of early labor. Around 11pm on May 4th, 2005 I began to feel some indigestion. I didn't think too much of it since my husband was feeling the same way and I was still a week away from my due date. However, I was uncomfortable enough not be able to sleep, so I went downstairs and had a compelling feeling to begin making lists. I made to do lists, cleaning lists, cooking lists and so many more. Around 2:30am, I was able to fall asleep for a 1/2 hour and when I woke up I was having very intense contractions. Up until that point, I really hadn't had any discernable contractions, but I knew these were it! I tried to time them myself since I figured they must still be pretty far apart and I kept coming up with 5 minutes apart.

Alexander's birth story

am sorry it has taken so long to add his story. On March 23 at about 5 pm the contractions started. I thought of it like any of time false labor hit, so I went on to clean the house, packing our belongings and getting ready for our move the following week. By 9 pm the contractions were very painful but I still did not think much of them. When Mike came home from work he was very concerned about the contractions and timed a few. The ones I could feel were 5 minutes apart by our count so we headed out to L&D.

Birth of My Sons~ 2 birth stories

This is actually 2 different birth stories that I hope all mamas can learn something from! I was a natural childbirth patient both times.

To see the pictures of my boys, go to www.clothdiaperme.com

I have my first son on New Years Eve 2003. I had been "peeing" on myself all day, and finally was tired of changing my pants so I called my mid wife at about 10:45pm.

We decided that I should go over to the hospital and get checked, but we both just figured it was incontinence. . .

I arrived at the hospital and went in through the emergency room and asked to go to the L&D floor. 45 minutes later I was still sitting there waiting and starting to have some very serious contractions. . .

I ended up having to yell at a nurse who told me she just thought that I was there to visit someone. . . yeah, so they have that many 180 pound pregnant women in the ER to visit people at midnight?

Drama in PA - A Chance to Make History

There's a drama unfolding in Pennsylvania right now, and they need your help to make history.

SIGN THE PETITION: Help make history first in Pennsylvania, and then across the nation, by building momentum to end discrimination against mothers! (No matter where you live, your petition signature is very helpful--it puts the Pennsylvania legislators on notice that the nation is watching).

To sign on, just go to: http://www.momsrising.org/petition/stop_discrimination_against_moms .

*And if you have friends, or family, in Pennsylvania, please ask them to sign on too! Just send them this in an e-mail and ask them to sign on for change with you.*