The Miracle of Birth

An important part of preparing for the birth of your baby, especially if you’re a first-time mom, is knowing what to expect and how to best deal with it. Understanding the stages of labor, your pain relief options (both medicinal and natural), common medical interventions and what happens after giving birth can all contribute to a good birth experience.

While researching complications so that you can mentally prepare for them can be helpful as well, it is important to outweigh the negatives with positive birth stories.

As the editor of the Birth stage here at Type-A Mom, I’m looking forward to sharing not only my experiences with you, but also information on other relevant topics, such as:

• The four stages of labor
• Pain management options – medicinal and natural
• Medical interventions
• Natural induction methods
• Medical induction
• Common complications
• Vaginal birth recovery
• C-sections
• C-section recovery
• “Natural” birth
• VBACs
• Homebirths
• Birth centers
• Meeting your newborn
• Exercises to prepare for giving birth
• Posterior, breech and transverse babies
• Postpartum depression (PPD)
• Doulas
• And more...

I have given birth three times now (and had two early miscarriages), and each birth was a unique experience. I’ve had my water break at the start of labor, an emergency c-section due to our third daughter being footling breech and a birth experience I can only describe as perfect. I’ve given birth in a hospital twice and once in a birth center, attended once by a female OB/GYN, once by a male OB/GYN who I met after my daughter was born and once by a midwife.

By no means am I an expert, but I look forward to sharing what I’ve learned and experienced with you. Most importantly, I also look forward to hearing from you as you publish articles detailing your experiences and knowledge to help other women prepare for their births and reminisce about their experiences.

Feel free to ask questions in the comments here, and I’ll do my best to answer them in future articles.

Mandi Ehman has three beautiful girls under 4, two born naturally and one via emergency c-section. She works at home as a general transcriptionist and also blogs at Transcription Talk , a daily blog for transcriptionists and those looking to get started in the industry, and at Doodles’ Place, where she shares some of the ways that she strives to “make the most of every moment” with her three girls.