Pregnancy & Birth

Personal Stories of Labor and Birth

As we worked on our new book on childbirth, Our Bodies, Ourselves: Pregnancy and Birth, many women shared their stories of labor and birth with us. We've posted some of the many stories we received below.

• "Here is my version of what happened, and how I felt about it. I didn't leave anything out, and I didn't edit anything down. This is my story, in my words... " (read more)

• "Friday night I was having some sporadic contractions. I timed them and they varied from 15 minutes apart to an hour apart. Still, it was exciting because I could tell things were happening..." (read more)

• "I was exactly 38 weeks pregnant when I lost my mucus plug.  It had been a healthy pregnancy, but I'd been plagued by numerous discomforts (edema, severe carpal tunnel syndrome, heartburn, painful abdominal muscle stretching) so I was happy for it to be coming to an early end..." (read more)
  
  
• "I knew I was ovulating the night of December 16th. Later  on that  night I said to my husband firmly 'It better be a girl'..." (read more)
  
  
• "Sometime around the middle of month 7, I couldn't fit behind the steering wheel of my Ford Taurus anymore (short legs, distant pedals, you get the picture)..." (read more)
  
  
• "I prepared exhaustively for my daughter's birth. I read stacks of books, read others' stories on the internet, listened to my co-workers stories. Little did I know that nothing can really prepare you for such a profound event..." (read more)

• "I left work at 2, went to my mom's apartment for some quiet time, then headed home at 5. I stopped to get some gas-- reached down to "pop" my fuel lid-- and felt something else pop instead! I stood up and immediately confirmed it: yup, my water had broken!..." (read more)

• "this was a planned pregnancy, i took my nuvaring out the day after i got married and it took three months to get pregnant. the last week of january i had my first annual physical..." (read more)

• "When I was just about 2 months away from my due date with my first child my husband lost his job.  Since he was the primary breadwinner and my job's continuation was anything from certain - I worked on a TV pilot at the time - I stressed..." (read more)

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