Who's Who on the Unassisted Childbirth Forum?
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Andrea I am from Europe, Hungary and 28 years
old. I have been blessed with 2 wonderful children: a son, Levente,
born 1/10/1998 and a daughter, Csenge (pronounced cheng-eh) born
05/29/2001. I had two wonderful midwife-assisted, fairly noninterventionist
and undisturbed homebirths, the second one was a waterbirth.
I'm a doula and aspiring midwife. Besides my favorite occupation,
attending births, I'm also busy supporting the small homebirth
movement in Hungary with all my strength (sad to say, homebirth
is a hairsbreadth from being illegal here and we have just one
midwife-ob/gyn who attends homebirths in the whole country).
Both in my profession as a birth attendant and in my family,
I like to use natural remedies, homeopathic medicine and herbs
when needed. I also support a babyswimming instructors' team and research all kinds of related "wet" topics, such as waterbirth and aqua-gym for expectant mothers. You can read more on these on my website www.nandu.hu. |
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Ann That is my husband Jim and I in the background with 8 of our 9 children. Our oldest, Matthew, is not in the picture. The others are (l-r) Joel (7), Jeremy (9), Timothy (11), Andrew (1), Dannah (3), Luke (5), Lisa (17), and Kara (18). (Photo taken early 2000) We are born-again believers who have entrusted our family size to the Lord. We also home school and home birth. We have had one UC and would love another. A friend of mine did a page about home schooling and put us on it. If you would like to read it, go to http://home1.gte.net/newsong/ann's_family.html | |
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Bonnie | |
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Casey Makela I
am 38 years old and gave birth to my son and last child unassisted
at home 13 years ago. My unassisted homebirth story is featured
at my homepage Gently
Borne Midwifery and it was recently published in "Midwifery
Today". It took a long time for me to talk openly about my unassisted homebirth because when it occurred it created a great deal of controversy both in medical and midwifery communities (you see, I am also a practicing midwife of almost 20 years and was at the time of my unassisted homebirth!). It made me shy away from the discussion table but today I lend both my story and my experience to the important forum of the right of women to choose for themselves their own birth experiences. I have also had a midwife attended home and hospital births as well. I am the mother of 7 children, wife of Bill; I'm a writer, author, musician (Jazz & R&B), traditional midwife (not med-wife!), spinner, soap maker, naturalist, birth historian and midwifery teacher. I founded the Michigan School of Traditional Midwifery in the early '90's. My family and I live on a beautiful farmstead in northeastern Michigan and from there we operate our eco-friendly natural soap company - Killmaster Soapworks Natural Soap Company. We also raise dairy goats, black sheep, horses, dogs, chickens, and tend an organic herbal & vegetable garden and make cheese & yogurt. As a family we believe very strongly in a lifestyle that is kind to the earth and environment. We also homeschool our children! |
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Cathi I have 3 children: Annie,11/77 (my hospital birth), Dana,1/81 (my first homebirth), and Jeremiah 3/89 (my first unassisted homebirth). I also have 3 more in heaven. I am an aspiring midwife, and have taught childbirth classes, been a doula, and am now in the apprenticeship process here in VA. It is very hostile in the medical community to non-nurse midwives. But we persevere, because the need is so great. My website and the birthstories are here. | |
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Charity We have 10 children: 2 natural hospital births, 7 unassisted homebirths and the last a homebirth transport/c-section for an 11 lb. posterior-presenting boy. We believe birth to be one of the many normal, natural functions of the human body. It does not need medical assistance for a safe outcome (in most cases). My husband, Scott, has caught all 7 of our homebirthed babies. We are Christians and have given the size of our family over to God. We will gladly accept each and every child He blesses us with. Scott runs Local Church Publishing. We homeschool our children. I am 36 yrs. old, and Scott is 42. Our children's names and ages are: Roy-16, Sally-14½, Jason- 13, Jonny- almost 12, Nathan-9½, Abby-8, Kenny- 6½ yrs, Charles- almost 5, Reuben- almost 3 and we had baby Jesse mid-Nov. '04. My homepage: Unassisted Homebirth | |
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Christal I'm from beautiful BC, Canada. This is a picture of the family God has blessed us with (Aug, 2004)....6 sons -Marcus Jr (19), Skylar (16), Kellen (14), Dallas (12), Mackenzie (6), Titus (3), and finally a daughter, baby Desiree (4 months)! Oh yes, I also have a husband, Marcus who works hard to support us all. I have been homeschooling for 11 years and visiting this message board since before Mackenzie was born....and it inspired me so much we went on to have our own unassisted birth for Titus. Recently our oldest son left home for Bible College so I have experienced "empty nest" simultaneously with a new baby!:) The ladies on this forum have provided me with support, encouragement and a lot of knowledge on babies, birth, and breastfeedling. | |
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ChrisH. OOPS! I accidentally lost your bio, Chris. Please send an updated one soon! |
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Christi Hendricks I am a single mom of a wonderful one year old, Sophia Jrene (see pic.). I really like this forum, because it doesn’t just support birth, but a very special kind of birth and birthing environment. When I became pregnant with my daughter I felt very strongly that I needed God back in my life, and a natural birth. I started seeing a midwife for my pre-natal appointments. She really encouraged me to read and ask as many ?’s as I could about birth. I had a very positive birth, but I’m also looking forward to my next birth to be an unassisted birth. I have come to love the process of pregnancy and birthing. And more over being able to share my knowledge with others. I’ve been seriously considering the idea of becoming a doula or a midwife in the future. I love the idea of sharing the joyous events of natural birth with others. Some of my other interests include horses, art, and gardening. I also have a degree in Cosmetology from Aveda. I continue to be a stay-at-home-mom. But plan on returning to work by the fall. I’ve been living with my parents, my family has been my saving grace financially and otherwise. And just in case anyone knows of a good looking, single, Christian man, please keep me in mind. | |
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Christina
My name is Christina and I go by
"at home mama" on the forum. I am a wife to Timothy
and mama to five boys, four here with me and one waiting in heaven
for us all. I have had three hospital births (1993, 1997, 1999) and two UC's. One UC was a stillbirth, and even though it was the worst moment in my life because I lost a precious son, it was still a beautiful birth. I had doctors and nurses tell me that what happened would have happened even if I had been in the hospital. My fifth son, born June 2003, was also a UC. He was and is a healing balm and precious gift from God! I thank Scott and Charity for this wonderful site and hope they can continue to keep it running for us BirthJunkies! :-) |
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Freida I am 33. I've been married for almost 13 years. We have 5 children. The first was a hospital birth full of intervention, but thankfully still a vaginal birth. The next 2 were at a birth clinic in Japan. I gave birth on a birthing chair. No intervention! Our first UC was in Hawaii. I labored in water and then gave birth standing up. My husband was deployed when our next baby was born. I wanted to give birth by myself and I did! Grace was born in water. God answered every one of my prayers. I asked for the baby to be born before 6 am because our 23 month old usually wakes up at 6. The baby was born at 5:45 am and Hana didn't wake up that day until 7:30! I stayed in the pool for an hour after the birth, just relaxing and enjoying the baby. | |
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Georganne (Geory13)
I live in Western New York with my husband Scott and our
5 children. My dh and I are both 35yo. Our children are; Tara
14yog, Sam 6yob, Jake 4yob, Ryan 2yob and baby Erik (11/15/04).
We are a Christian family and are quite involved with our new-found
church. Our three oldest children participate in sports, (swimming,
soccer, baseball, hockey) And my dh and I also study Taekwondo
with the 3 oldest. My last birth was everything I could have hoped for...no interventions at all (although I delivered at a birth center atattched to a hospital). I would like a UC at home next time. We'll see what happens, God willing! |
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Heather (Heathermom2three) Married to Ron for 13 years and mom to four daughters aged 12, 10, 8, and 10 mos. I had my last baby after reversal surgery. She was born at home with a midwife and it was great. Can't wait to do it again, but next time I'll definitely get that birth tub! | |
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Kathleen This is a picture of me and my four oldest children. They are Quin, age 11, Brenna age 9, Deirdre, age 7, and grady, age 5. Missing is Kell, age 22 months, and my husband Steve. I will hopefully add a better picture later. | |
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KendraLLL Hi, I'm married to my soul mate, Ray. He's a printer and we live in Washington State. I'm mom to Brian 12/77, Donna 07/80, Timothy 08/97, Daniel 01/99 and SamLuke 05/00. My daughter, Donna, made me a grandma to a beautiful boy in 10/03 and we enjoy taking care of him each day while his mommy works. I'm a La Leche League Leader, Birth and Postpartum Doula and as of 10/04 a brand new CAPPA Certified Childbirth Educator. Visit my website for details ToothlessGrin.com | |
| KristyG My dh (Ben) and I live in Maine at the moment, although one day we are hoping to move to another ummm... warmer state! Lord willing anyway. Not just to be warmer :) but we feel that the Lord may be leading us to a different state as well. We both love the Lord and stive to please Him in all that we do. We met online and have been married for 3 and a half years. Ben is from Australia. We have 2 children and one on the way (due June 3, 2006). Tyler is our oldest he is 10, and Gabrielle (Gabi) is almost 1 1/2 years. Tyler is my dh's step son, but one day he wants to adopt him. This next baby will be our first home birth. My other 2 children were born in the hospital and both had interventions. There was a need for intervention with my son but not with my daughter. I started this pregnancy off with an OB and then some things happened with the new OB in the office and I ended up so stressed out from going to her that we decided to take the home birth route, and now I can see even more reasons to have home birth. I am very excited to be having this one at home. I have a good Christian mw and feel confident that this is how the Lord wants women to birth, unless of course there is need of being in a hospital. I feel that one day the Lord may want me to either be a doula or a mw, but am still praying about that. We home school our son and will our other children when they are old enough. We are trying to start up a home based business too. So we are a home birth, home school, and home business family (oh yeah we also have church at home right now). Well I guess that is the basics. I don't have a picture to post at the moment but when I get one I will get it posted. | ||
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LisaM. My
husband, Troy, and I live in Texas. We have been blessed with
two children so far. Rebecca was born at home with a midwife in August, 2001. Melanie was born in a birth tub at home with a midwife in July, 2003. Troy works in city government and hopes to one day be able to open an internet business selling miniatures for role playing games, specializing in World War II games. He'd also love to sell traditional toys online -- nothing tied into a TV show or movie. Just good quality toys, the sort we grew up with. He also has big dreams of starting a vending machine business. We are working on saving up for that venture! I make candles and soaps as a hobby and sell a few here and there. I'm working on writing a booklet geared toward stay-at-home-moms trying to get out of debt and STAY out of debt. We are a Catholic homeschooling family and are leaving the size of our family up to the Lord. |
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Lyra I am twenty-five years old. I am a devout Christian wife to my wonderful husband of seven years, Joel. I am also a loving, stay-at-home-mama to two beautiful girls, Natalia and Cheyenne. I strongly support natural birth and parenting, breast feeding, home schooling, and vaccination education. My hobbies include playing piano, writing, photography, and chatting with the lovely ladies on the UC board! I am also a doula-in-training. With my first child, my natural, midwife-assisted birth turned out to be an unnatural, doctor-assisted cesarean. To make matters worse, it was unnecessary and I fell into severe postpartum depression. As the depression eased, I was overcome with panic attacks. They were debilitating and caused me to lose even more time with my newborn daughter. It was a rough first year. My second child was an unassisted home birth. We put our faith in the Lord, not a doctor or midwife. It was the most miraculous, profound, and healing experience. It was truly the way that the Lord intended birth to be. My husband and I look forward to having many more children in the future. We will joyfully accept all of the blessings that the Lord wants to give us. |
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Megan
I live in Barrie, Ontario, Canada. I have 5 children; Destinee
(11), India (10), Madelyn (7), Sage (3) & Levi (21 months).
My husband, Rudy, and I are both 29. Rudy works for a kitchen
company doing Corian countertops and custom carpentry. Me, I
stay at home and teach my children as best that I can! We don't
homeschool, however we might after each child reaches grade 9.
Right now, they attend an all French school (francophone), and
will be able to attend French or English University's and Colleges.
My three girls were all delivered by a male midwife/GP. He was one of two male midwifes in Ontario; we were very blessed to get him. By the time Sage was arriving, he had retired from midwifery so I went to a local midwife, Wendy who was only a year older than myself. I love her so much! Sage was born at home and it was the best birth. Same was planned for Levi, but at 15 weeks, I had a massive blood clot which went to both lungs. I was on thinners and it turns out that I have a genetic blood clotting disorder. He was born at McMaster and Wendy came, too. I was induced, but no pain meds, only an I.V. I don't know if we will have anymore babies, but we won't do anything permanent! My mom, dad, brother and SIL are also in this photo. My husband's the dark guy and I'm on the right on the couch. |
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Nama I am a 23 yr old SAHM to three boys: Jahnu (5), Chakra (3.5), Vikram (2) and one girl, Tarani (12/6/01). My husband and I had all our kids at home with our wonderful Christian midwife. I am a doula, fertility counselor and aspiring midwife. We live in Central NC where homebirth is practically illegal. We had our last birth unassisted (unplanned) after a *very* short labor so next time we will be prepared for another DIY ;-) | |
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Rachel
I am 43 yrs old and married to Jonathan, who is 48. Jonathan
is a recording engineer and producer, as well as a singer and
minister!! I am a SAHM. We have been married 17 years and have
5 blessings: Jesse - 12yob, Susanna - 8yog, Sharon - 6yog, Judah-
almost 4yob, Bretanya- 20mog. . All have been born at home except
Judah, he was a c-sec at 30wks due to PROM. Susanna was a planned
unassisted. I've had midwives with the others. We also home school, don't vaccinate and use herbal home remedies when needed, which is not very often. We love to share with others what we have learned and experienced with herbs, home birth, home schooling, and health and nutrition in general. I think the miracle of birth is the most awesome thing one can experience. I even love to watch animals birth! I have been blessed to be at a few home births and feel so honored to be invited to such a blessed event. I believe the Heavenly Father is the attending physician at all births, He watches carefully over His creation. We are Bible believing, law keeping Christians who are devoted completely to our Redeemer, Yahshua the Messiah and the Gospel He taught regarding the life giving and liberating power of Yahweh's law. (8/04) |
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