Writing your natural birth story

danaekristen · March 2012

The birth of our second child was more than I dreamed of after a somewhat traumatic first birth. I feel so empowered, excited, and somewhat enamored by every detail of my son's birth story that I can't help but want to write about it ALL. Even the parts that didn't go as planned ended up being some of the best because it forced me to rely completely on my faith and my husband and really strengthened my relationship with him.

I want to share our story, but I'm trying to figure out how to do it without writing a book and so that people will want to read through it. I have a short version (3-4 sentences), but the long version is seriously turning into a novel. Any pointers? Anyone else feel this way?

kegallagh · March 2012

I can totally relate. I went to a Birth Stories event a couple of weeks ago, and all the women who shared were able to tell their stories in no more than 15 minutes. The entire time I was thinking of how much I'd have to leave out if I wanted to tell someone such a shortened version. So no, no pointers, but I completely understand where you're coming from! FWIW, I love reading birth stories that are novels... they usually include more backstory and/or the emotional connection to the birth rather than just being a play-by-play of contractions, water breaking, and pushing.

LaurelBee · March 2012

I agree, I love reading about the emotions and smaller details- it helps me to feel like I'm present if that makes sense

Congrats on your new lil man!

theladyjess · March 2012

I still need to write mine up too. My birth story won't be that long but the events that followed the birth will take pages (10 day hosptial stay, BFing issues, etc that we're still dealing with 7 weeks later).

florquevedo · March 2012

I love long birth stories

hannahbagels · March 2012

Write it all out! I did that with DS1's birth and when rereading it, there's parts I had forgotten.

I'm also the type that loves long birth stories

pixieprincss · March 2012

I say write it all out for yourself. After that, for sharing you might be able to spot chunks that come out neatly. Mine (I had 55h of natural labor plus 8h with medically beneficial interventions) is seven pages long. I read it out loud and it took almost 30 minutes, but there are some things that are not widely interesting to others, so I can cut those to make a shorter version. It is still VERY long, but I can cut out a page if I try.

tokenhoser · March 2012

Write the novel now. Edit later if you want to. You want to get it all down while it's fresh. Smile

CTri17 · March 2012

I love novel stories!

LaurelBee · March 2012

::taps foot impatiently::

danaekristen · March 2012

Thank you all so much for your input. I will just write about everything. I guess that's what the short version is for anyway.

I'm just hoping someone else will be inspired by my story; that it might give someone else hope.

julyjennifer · March 2012

This is me too. I'm still working on mine, and DS is almost 11 months old! I actually wrote most of it up in my journal last summer, but I've been working on typing it up. I'll share my novel birth story when I get it done, too!

But anyway, I second the advice of writing down every detail you can remember for yourself, and then if you want to edit it to create a shorter version for certain audiences later you can.

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