This is my failure to progress birth story. Grab some popcorn, sit back, relax, and learn how my oldest daughter came into the world.

My oldest daughter recently had a birthday and it’s reminding me of her birth story. So, sit back grab the popcorn and listen to the story of how my oldest daughter came into the world.

A birth story can’t start without talking about how we found out I was pregnant. I and my husband (boyfriend at the time) were living in a one bedroom apartment and I had suddenly become very ill. My tummy was…

The mind is a powerful thing to waste, or misuse, even in labor!

Was awesome. "Freedom For Birth" was a great film, and the Q&A with Ina May Gaskin was incredible! She's so well educated and informative!

Of course this event was part of my journey for healing. I'm interested in childbirth, first and foremost, because I genuinely want a career in that field and I have for a long time. But I am also healing from my own birth experience, and I'm not going to be shy about that. I need to do this...I need to openly express and heal so that I don't disservice women in the future by trying to "avenge" my own birth. 

This event was for me. I needed to go to hear some things, and to ask questions.

After everything got done, I went up to Ina May...

Me: I know you had a very low cesarean rate on the farm...

Ina: It was under 2%

Me: So I'm wondering, out of all of those cesareans...how many were "failure to progress"?

Ina: None. 

Yep. So out of a few thousand births nobody "failed to progress". Nobody needed a C-section because their bodies 'couldn't do it'.

"Failure to progress" is a common reason that women end up being recommended various interventions to help childbirth along. While in some situations these interventions may well be warranted, often providers jump to intervene without recognizing that their own practices (constant checking, fetal monitoring, etc.) may be what is slowing down the birth process. This post on babble gives some great tips for helping the birth process, and highlights the video above as great illustration of how things can get held up.