Thank you to all of our writers, guest writers, and readers that shared their birth stories as part of our Labor of Love series. It’s been a difficult week for me with wildfires surrounding my home, and the birth stories provided me with moments of respite and love.  From VBACS to home births, our experiences have varied but we’ve all been blessed with our children!

Three winners have been randomly selected for our Labor of Love Week Giveaway from our Eco Child’s Play forum.

• Candu won a pair of IsaBooties!  Candu lives in Hanoi and suffered wounds from his wife’s grip:

All day the contractions got more painful and intense. She had to wait for 40 second long contractions and we had been waiting all day for it. I should have got her to cut her nails earlier, for now I have open wounds on my back and hands. Girls got some grip! She would lean right into me and hold on tight when she got another wave. She shook in pain and her eyes squeezed tight. Wave after wave after wave… Now I know why they call it labour!

• LaMamaNaturale won an Envirosax!  She had an unassisted home birth, as her midwife was driving to her house when her child was born.

My husband called my mom to let her know what was going on. She then raced over to the house, and thank goodness she did because within 15 minutes of her arrival I started to contract harder and I could REALLY feel my uterus expand and release…it was the weirdest feeling ever but empowering at the same time. I was yelling at this point, that the baby was coming and that my hubby needed to get the water in the tub. Well everything happened so fast that it didn’t get done in time because before I knew it- hubby was back on the phone with the midwife telling them that my contractions were right on target and that I felt the urge to push. All in a matter of a phone call, my mom looked back down at me and yelled out she saw Tristan’s head. The midwife announced that I could continue pushing and that she was going to guide us through the phone. She was about 15 minutes from the house. My husband was scrambling to put her on speaker so she could assist me but before I could even hear her voice and as soon as she said prepare (all at the same time)…in 2 pushes Tristan William was born @ 9:44 AM. My mom and husband caught Tristan and laid him into my arms. I was so shocked that he had come so swift and fast. He nursed within the hour while we were still attached and we cut the cord an hour after birth. Looking back, I realize that so many things could have gone wrong and that we were lucky.

• mamakerribell won a pair of IsaBooties.  Her baby was late, and she tried acupuncture to get things going.

That afternoon I had an electro-acupuncture session with my acupuncturist, Jalashree at Blooma (my yoga studio) to help stimulate labor. Basically, they place the acupuncture needles in specific places on your body (ankles, lower back, hands, etc.) and attach electrodes to the needles which transmit a low electrical current to stimulate the acupoints. Jalashree started the session with a little backrub and then she put oil on my belly. That was heavenly! Just like my previous acupuncture sessions, the baby responded to the placement of the needles and when the electrical stimulation began, I could feel contractions. Acupuncture is very relaxing and I remember almost falling asleep during the session. I was very ready for labor and wanted it begin more than anything. After the session, the contractions continued for an hour or so but then subsided. However, that night they returned and were quite regular for over two hours. We began timing them and they stopped before we went to bed. I was so disappointed when I woke up the next day.

Thank you to everyone who shared their personal stories!  We hope to have more series like this in the future, perhaps one on breastfeeding experiences. If you have a suggestion for a natural parenting series, please leave a comment to this post.

Image:  David Paul Ohmer on Flickr under a Creative Commons license