Blog

Jessica and Sarah, a lesbian couple from Chicago, share the story of dreaming up and creating their beautiful family. Getting Pregnant Jessica: We always wanted kids, it was something we both knew we wanted when we met. We were living in Minnesota at the time, but I have a lot of family here so we moved back in 2023. And later that year, we started looking into it. We have some friends who are also queer who had a baby. So we met with them and just kind of learned about the

Corinne Westing attending a home birth in Chicago A series in which I share my own experience of birth places around the Chicagoland area plus the data that we have available. There is no one right place to give birth. The right place for you is the place where you feel safest. In this article I'm going to share my doula review of Birth Roots Midwifery. Part 1: Birth Center of Chicago - reopened Dec 2025 Part 2: Illinois Masonic Part 3: Northwestern Prentice Part 4: Evansto

I am a big fan of anything doulas can do that has absolutely no risk of harm: the gentle ways we can support people that might do good or at the very least might do nothing. Then I attended a birth for a reiki practitioner who said, "You have very healing hands. Your touch is really comforting. You might want to look into reiki." Which is how I found myself at a reiki training. What is Reiki? Reiki is a traditionally Japanese practice in which a practitioner channels energy t

Liang was surprised to find herself pregnant after accepting that she would never have a child of her own. Yet she embraced the opportunity to be a mom and join the “largest secret society in the world,” as she put it. Liang knew from the beginning she wanted an unmedicated birth and was drawn to the Birth Center of Chicago. A few days after her due date, she started having contractions. She labored at home for a day before her water broke, but once she was in active labor, t

A series in which I share my own experience of birth places around the Chicagoland area plus the data that we have available. There is no one right place to give birth. The right place for you is the place where you feel safest. In this article I'm going to share about my doula review of Swedish Hospital in Chicago. Part 1: Birth Center of Chicago - reopened December 2025 Part 2: Illinois Masonic Part 3: Northwestern Prentice Part 4: Evanston Hospital Part 5: OMG Midwives

This stock pot is not big enough... Brodo is the Italian word for broth, and it is known for its magical healing powers. My Italian...

There are many ways to feel about surgical birth, none of them right or wrong. When you imagine a low intervention birth, sometimes your...

A series in which I share my own experience of birth places around the Chicagoland area plus the data that we have available. There is no one right place to give birth, and the right place for you is the place where you feel safest. This article is now an archive of experiences with the midwives at Burr Ridge Birth Center. Part 1: Birth Center of Chicago - reopened December 2025 Part 2: Illinois Masonic Part 3: Northwestern Prentice Part 4: Evanston Hospital Part 5: OMG M

For Roxanne, it was helpful to think of birth like a labyrinth, a concept she learned from the book Transformed by Birth. This is...

If you are planning to nurse your baby, one of the must-have items that you will see on every list is nipple balm. Read on for why it...

I am sitting in a labor and delivery room waiting for my client to return from her scheduled cesarean. I came in this morning and helped...

Mitchell’s spouse, Mick, gave birth to their baby, Margo, a couple of months ago, and Mitchell recently sat down to tell their birth story. 8-week-old Margo also graciously agreed to attend the interview as a mostly attentive (albeit sometimes squirmy) fact checker from Mitchell’s lap. As Mitchell explained, “The birth story is often told together as a couple. As a partner, I'm very rarely asked about it on my own. I’ve tried to let Mick tell the story as much as possible, bu

An amusing book on birth by Peggy Vincent A memoir and chronicle of the resurgence of midwifery and home birth in the late 20th century,...

I drove home from my 100th birth in a haze: from spending a day in the liminal space of birth and the clouds of Canadian wildfire smoke....

I’m Orlena (she/her), a rising sophomore at Wellesley College and an intern with Wyld Garden this summer! I’m still undecided on a...