childbirth

by POPSUGAR Moms

There's something scary about giving birth on October 31 — at least according to a new study conducted by Yale University's School of Public Health. Analyzing data collected across the US over an eleven-year period, researches found that fewer children are born on Halloween than any other average day. At the same time, Valentine's Day sees a higher than average rate of women giving birth. The study reports:

On Valentine's Day, which conveys positive symbolism, there was a 3.6 percent increase in spontaneous births and a 12.1 percent increase in Cesarean births. Whereas, on Halloween, which conveys negative symbolism, there was a 5.3 percent decrease in spontaneous births and a 16.9 percent decrease in Cesarean births.

The results of the study challenge the generally accepted notion that spontaneous birth is a natural, biological, and largely uncontrollable event, suggesting that the cultural beliefs of the expectant mama impact when she actually goes into labor.

What do you think? Would you try to mentally will yourself to avoid labor when the roads are clogged with trick-or-treaters, and the ER is filled with Halloween revelers?

by Rebecca M Gruber

New moms love to talk about poop. The color, the consistency, the frequency, etc., but in the delivery room, it is a tightly held secret. For many expectant mamas, the prospect of pooping on the delivery table is the scariest part of delivery — even more than labor pains. On last night's episode of Up All Night, Reagan's biggest fear of dropping a deuce was escalated when the doctor filling in for her OB/GYN happened to be a young, good-looking man. Take a look at the clip below and tell me, what concerned you most while delivering?

by Rebecca M Gruber

Baby Skyler has arrived! On last night's episode of The Rachel Zoe Project, we got a peek inside the fashionista's extremely stylish delivery. In the days leading up to the lil one's birth, we watched as she packed pieces of Chanel and thigh-high boots into her hospital bag and made arrangements for hair and makeup during her stay. But when the celebrity stylist's water broke in the middle of the night, it wasn't the paparazzi or even Bravo's cameras focused on the laboring mama, but her own husband's. Watch as she and Rodger have words about his documentation and tell me, how much of your labor did you record?

by POPSUGAR Moms

Live from New York, it's . . . Live Childbirth! Marni Kotak is a performance artist who is due to give birth later this month. Nothing too remarkable about that, except that her birth plan involves a live audience. The birth will be the culminating event of the month-long exhibit The Birth of Baby X, in which visitors to the gallery-cum-delivery room will witness Kotak preparing for and eventually giving birth. The Birth of Baby X is just the beginning of Baby X's career as art project fodder for mama. Kotak plans to continue the Baby X project with a new conceptual work, Raising Baby X, "in which she re-contextualizes the everyday act of raising a child into a work of performance art, reaching out to collectors, private investors and foundations for their support."

As bizarre as it may sound, Kotak's exhibit really isn't even all that unique, just an extreme example of the larger trend toward public birthing. This past weekend, Nancy Salgueiro joined the thousands of other women who chose to share their births with the world via YouTube. Granted, not all women who make their birth available to anyone with an Internet connection are doing it for artistic glory. Salgueiro is a natural birth coach and wanted to share her experience as an education tool.

What do you think? High art or the ultimate overshare?


Photo courtesy of Microscope Gallery

by BabyCenter

We're excited to share this post from our partners at BabyCenter! Every week, we will be bringing you the best parenting and lifestyle stories from the experts over on BabyCenter, including this post from Betsy Shaw about deciding who'll cut the cord when your baby's born.

The other day, my sister was here admiring some of Esther's paintings, and said,

"Esther, when you're a famous artist, I'm going to tell everyone it was me who cut your umbilical cord."

I had to laugh. I had nearly forgotten that it was my sister, Aunt Cindy, not my husband, who physically separated my first baby from me.

Not that Ian wasn't given the chance. They asked him, and he said, "No thanks."

I'm sure he was thinking, "Not bloody likely."

Related: 7 Ways to Convince Him It's Time For Another Baby

I wasn't surprised. While he is the handiest of handy men, calm and cool in a crisis, level headed to the core, severing live tissue that connects mother and child isn't quite the same as hanging a door.

Ian and I are the same when it comes to being medically squeamish.

I remember my midwife asking me if I wanted to see Esther's head crowning in the mirror.

"Not particularly," I said.

"If you reach down, you can feel her head coming," she pressed.

"No thanks," I answered. I'll take your word for it."

I could try and blame this on exhaustion– I had been pushing for 3.5 hours, after 29 hours of Pitocin labor, when she finally crowned.

But, after a meager 15-odd hours of labor and one hour of pushing with Isla, I had the same exact answer: "No thanks. Please just let me get on with getting this baby the heck out of me."

And as for the cord. Ian declined the second time as well. I guess the midwife must have cut it. (My sister didn't come back for the second time. I don't blame her.)

Looking around, I have learned that I'm not alone in having a squeamish husband. In this BabyCenter poll, 66 percent of fathers did cut the cord, while 34 percent did not.

But there might be more to it than squeamishness. It's hard to deny the symbolism in physically severing a newborn baby from its mother. Could this be what's really behind the reluctance?

Did your hubby jump, or balk, at the chance to wield the scissors in the delivery room?

More great stories from BabyCenter.com:
What's too old for pregnancy?
Have you tweaked your pregnancy tests?
7 ways to help a suddenly single mom friend
Is your kid a picky eater? How to tell!

Source: Flickr User JoshuaBloom

by Rebecca M Gruber

Music can be magical. Ask any athlete who's getting ready for a big game, or a runner who needs an extra jolt to make it to the finish line — they'll often say it was a specific song or beat that got them there.

While there's no secret to a quick and easy labor, plenty of mamas will credit a playlist of motivating songs for getting them through the final push. It energized them and blocked out sounds that may have distracted them in the process. Birthbeats offers up one midwife's ideal birthing playlist, but we want to know what's on yours? Did you have a specific song you wanted playing when your lil one entered the world? Or did you have a full-on playlist created to help you through the marathon of labor? Tell us in the comments below!

by Rebecca M Gruber

Expectant mamas might want to call a moving van if they live in New Jersey — the Garden State is the most expensive state to have a baby today. While the average US family will pay $9,617 to deliver vaginally and $15,799 for C-section, Jersey moms pay almost double that: $18,372 for a vaginal birth and $26,743 for a Cesarean. They may want to jump on the turnpike and head south a few hours to Maryland, which is the least expensive place to give birth. There, it only costs $5,509 for vaginal deliveries and $6,812 for C-sections.

These hefty price tags don't take insurance into account, and almost 40 percent of LilSugar readers said that their births were completely covered by their insurance plans. Still, if you tack these costs onto the $222,360 it costs to raise a child from birth to age 17, mama may want to start investigating the possibility of growing a money tree in the backyard.

Were you surprised when you received your hospital bill?

Source: Flikr User nateOne

by Lil Community

This post was submitted by dtcakes77 in the Birth Stories group.

At 20 weeks we found out we were having a boy. We were so excited, we already had a girl who was 2-years-old.  However there was something wrong in the sonogram and they sent my husband and I, with our daughter to a children's cardiologist to look at the enlarged atrium they uncovered. We were so nervous. After six hours trying to get a fetal ECHO, the doctor came in and believed that it was a coarctation of the aorta. It was a common procedure for the heart surgeon to fix. Every month I went for a follow-up with them and for growth and weight. I also had my regular OB/GYN appointments. I felt pretty positive that things would be OK.

It was the day before Easter. I was 33 weeks. I just came back from a 1-year-old birthday party. I decided to take my daughter to my mother-in-law's with me so I could help prepare dinner for the following day. While stuffing artichokes I started to feel cramps, but thought nothing about it. I figured it was Braxton Hicks. This went on for about an hour before my husband told me to call the doctor. He told me to come in to the hospital, he was on call, to get checked out. The hospital that I was suppose to deliver in, was 15 min away and a children's hospital. He figured he would give me a shot and I would be on my way. 

However that didn't happen. I was already 3 cm dilated. I was told that they were going to give me a drug to try and stop the labor for three days, and they were going to give me two shots in the butt to help the baby's lungs. We knew we had to get over to the other hospital just in case. Although the staff kept on assuring me that even if the baby needs care, this was a really good hospital with some of the same rotating doctors, and if needed, the baby could be transported without a problem.  I wanted to be with my child and not be in a different hospital. Thank goodness for my doctor who already called EMS to transfer me since the baby and I were stable. I labored through the whole transport with myself only being monitored, which at that time I didn't think anything of.

Keep reading to see the rest of this baby's birth story.