I’ve been so excited about DIY birth for so long, I hadn’t thought much about how awesome DIY pregnancy would be! Here’s the Thing about wild pregnancy: it prepares me for (free)birth because no one is coming to save me. …

The night before my wedding, I was talking to my sister, who is a Greek Orthodox nun, about my preconception diet.  She was happy to hear that I’ve been eating lots of red meat and such. …

The “new paradigm” of maidens that we described centers around the total access to information that we now live in—and the resulting importance of being able to tune into our own soul knowing in the midst of all of that information. …

In the past, I’ve treated cramps as an opportunity to practice being in labor.  I’ve practiced relaxing, softening, letting go with the sensations.  I’ve practiced focusing on them with my whole being. …

I wrote a very detailed post about six months ago, preliminarily gathering what I’d learned so far about preconception.  It was aspirational and pretty well-informed. But how did it turn out?  What have I actually been doing since then? …

Why would birth professionals be more likely to choose unassisted birth? Could it be… because birth is actually safer and better unassisted? …

This was supposed to be a year-end promotional post for my Self-Care Checklist (and maybe it still is), but it turned into an engagement story.  This year produced the checklist; but the checklist was made possible by the stability of my relationship. …

An undercurrent of the belief that some labors are just too long is that the medical system is always there to save you. I was raised thinking of hospitals as churches: both pure, righteous, and incapable of inflicting harm. …

After my first birth-witnessing experience, I was not exhilarated. I was underwhelmed. Everything I had learned about birth had gone out of the hospital window, to be replaced with beeping machines, medications, and surgical threats. …

As a doula, I have the intimate privilege of joining people in their early-family bubble. I get to see mothers at their most vulnerable, fathers at their most proud, and couples at their absolute most exhausted. …

I know that I have to actively combat cultural messages about birth. I want to birth in a sacred, powerful, victorious way. If I want to be ready to strike out on my own, I need a lot of mental backup to combat the naysayers in my head. …