Today we celebrate the fifth birthday of my first HBAC (homebirth after cesarean) - my fifth child, my third son.

Later this month we'll also celebrate the seventh birthday of my first VBAC (birth center) - my fourth child, my second daughter.

Did I just confuse you?? 🙂

Plus August includes my husband's birth - we're full of birthdays during this hot month! To celebrate I've decided to start sharing birth stories here on my page. If I attended your birth and you would like to share YOUR birth story then send me a message. (If I didn't attend your birth, then I would still love to include your story!) I would love to hear from all of you. If you have photos then even better! (If you had a photographer besides me then please make sure you have a release from them and I'll need watermarked images and I'll link to their page.) I hope that by compiling a variety of birth stories here it can serve as a resource for other families as they prepare to welcome their babies.

And I want ALL the stories - wherever and however you birthed, in our out of hospital, vaginal or cesarean, quick or long, meds or not. Every birth is a beautiful story, and for those of us who have experienced challenging (and traumatic!) births I believe writing down the story can help with our healing process. I shared my preemie cesarean story here for the Birth Interview Project and it was incredibly helpful for me. I also received a lot of positive feedback from mothers who felt touched or inspired by our story - and YOUR story can help inspire others. And for moms having their first baby reading birth stories can be empowering and educational. I will be sure to tag them by category so they are searchable, and before any stories that may discuss a loss or trauma I'll include a trigger warning for moms who are working to gestate in peace.

SO if you've not done so already then write up your birth story! Pick some images you love from it and send them my way. And if you have NOT written up your birth story then get to it! 🙂 I would love to also include any versions of the birth story from the partners' perspectives so please feel free to include those. If your birth story is already posted online then I'm happy to include a link to your website from my page with a little intro, if that's easier for you. I can be reached at heidi@thadenpierce.org. Thanks, and I look forward to hearing from you!