Birth at sea

This post really should be titled "Birth on a boat" but birth at sea sounds much more romantic and dramatic, right?

I got to know Laureen Hudson at the Trust Birth Conference. She gave a highly unusual presentation for a birth conference. It was about things like digital natives and web 2.0 and using multimedia to tell our stories. Lots of great techy stuff that really blew my mind. (Blog readers might remember her from a guest post she wrote, Judgment, Fear and Focus.)

She was pregnant with baby #3 at the conference, although I didn't notice it until someone pointed it out; I tend to not notice the obvious. She had a cesarean for CPD (cephalopelvic disproportion, or "baby's head is too big for mother's pelvis") with her first baby, which she attributes to her caregiver's lack of patience. She had a victorious VBAC at home with her second, mostly unassisted but with the assistance of two wonderful midwives toward the end of a long, difficult labor.

She had her third baby several months ago and I really wanted to know how things went. I wasn't sure if I missed the birth story, but it turns out it just needed a bit of time to get written. The birth occurred on their boat that is harbored in the San Francisco bay. Before you read the birth story, though, make sure you read her accounts of her first two childrens' births.