“‘Um, BABE…’ was all I could say. He texted me, ‘I just tested positive for the flu.’ I thought, ‘SERIOUSLY?! I’m 2 days overdue with baby #3 and sick as can be, and my husband has 2 strains of the flu?!’ GREAT. ‘This is it! We have to drive on black ice in a snowstorm to have this baby.’”
‘WHAT IS THAT?’ Our baby girl had something interesting between her legs. ‘IS THIS A BOY?!’ My husband fell to the floor. ‘We have a SON!’
‘I think I’m pregnant!’ He asked, ‘Why on earth would you think that?’ I laughed. ‘I have a positive test in my hand.’ ‘How accurate are they?’ ‘I have no clue! I have never gotten a positive before.’
“The boys came to the hospital to meet him. ‘Mom, he’s our baby, he’s all of our baby!’ Something about his birth melded us all together even more. We say he is the caboose, but that’s still up in the air. I don’t know how I will survive the 3 of them, but I would also have or adopt 20 more.”
‘I vividly remember looking into her eyes, sensing her vulnerability, promising to guard her. It was my job to be brave, but I doubted my ability. We heard ‘I’m so sorry,’ which prompted more tears.’
“When I found myself unexpectedly widowed at 39, I couldn’t have imagined what my life would look like 5 years later. We met on a dating website. Blending our families was a complicated task, accommodating the needs of 9 children between the two of us.”
‘Wait! I am 29 years old. I won’t poop my pants. That’s ridiculous.’ I didn’t want to bother my wife. I didn’t want her to panic that I was home alone. ‘I think it’s time. I think I’m in labor.’
“But let’s start at beginning. My wife and I met in high school. It wasn’t love at first sight, or even attraction at first site. In fact, I wasn’t even into women.”
Corgi ‘DOGGY DOULA’ sticks by mom’s side during her entire home water birth
“He would give her reassuring kisses to let her know she could do this. It was a beautiful thing to watch – the bond between mom and baby, and man’s best friend.”
‘When you have to pee and all of the sudden you’re holding your child.’
“The final push ended up happening on the toilet after my midwife suggested emptying my bladder, and while sitting there a contraction came, so I gave a push and out came his head!”
‘THIS is how birth is meant to be’: Mom experiences ‘intense’ backyard water birth
“I didn’t know how peaceful and beautiful birth was intended to be.”
‘We all GASPED. This perfect, beautiful, tiny baby was completely encapsulated in his sac.’
“In the hustle of labor, I witnessed a moment that I will never forget. A moment that left me awe struck.”
‘We conquered something that day’: Mom’s ‘exhilarating and intense’ water birth will bring you to tears
“I didn’t just give birth to a little girl that day, I also gave birth to a new woman who let go of doubt, insecurities, and went after her dreams.”
‘She is perfect’: Mom discovers baby has Down syndrome after dramatic water birth
“I knew that something was different. As soon as I looked down, I saw it. I saw it in my baby’s face. I thought to myself… my baby has Down syndrome.”