Tell
Your
Birth
Story
SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE FOR OTHER MOTHERS TO FIND
Why We Archive
YOUR STORY MATTERS
The Childbirth Archive is a digital community archive designed to provide immediate and searchable access to archived childbirth stories. The Childbirth Archive aims to preserve childbirth stories and to provide information, comfort and understanding to an isolated community during a physically and emotionally difficult time.
ATTRIBUTED OR ANONYMOUS
ORAL HISTORIES
TRANSCRIPTS
WRITTEN ACCOUNTS
MATERNAL STORIES CAN MAKE CHILDBIRTH SAFER
In addition to providing access, The Childbirth Archive aims to address a gender data gap by recording data about childbirth trends in United States from the mother’s point of view. Currently, the United States has the highest maternal mortality rate of any developed nation. This mortality rate is even worse for women of color. By collecting data, The Childbirth Archive hopes to provide access to and preserve information about childbirth trends for future research into this frightening reality. All data maintained by the archive is anonymous. Your personal identifying information will never be shared. Period.
Did childbirth go as planned? Read about other women’s experiences with:
Explore The ArchivesShared Experiences
Voices from the archive
Being a part of the archive offered me a chance to feel that my experience was valid and real. For me going through a traumatic experience was isolating. I felt guilt and shame anytime I spoke about it out fearing others would think I was just trying to get sympathy or attention. It was a safe place to share my experience without that weight.— AMITY SINCLAIR
The Childbirth Archive is an amazing collection of birth stories. It is a comfort to be able to read what other women’s’ experiences were. I wish I had it as a resource when I was having my children. I felt like there was not a good place to find out what happened to other women and how they felt about giving birth. In our current culture where so many women are without a “village” the Childbirth Archive is an invaluable resource.— Lisa A. K. Palmer
I still constantly wonder if my experience would have been less traumatic if I hadn’t been un-scheduled for a caesarean birth, for clearly my body could not have a vaginal birth naturally and unassisted. It is certainly one hell of a journey, but archiving my experience for other mothers to read made it easier.— ANONYMOUS
MEDELLEE’S STORY
BEHIND THE ARCHIVE
The Childbirth Archive was created by me, Medellee Antonioli, during the completion of my Masters in Library and Information Science at the University of Denver. The archive was inspired by my pregnancy experiences. Two weeks after the birth of my first child, I suffered an ischemic stroke which impacted my left thalamus and optic nerve. I was in occupational and physical therapy for several months and thankfully recovered much of my mobility and vision. After several tests, I was approved for a second pregnancy but unfortunately experienced complications again; my second child was born with IUGR due to undetected blood clots in the placenta and umbilical cord. Fortunately, we all survived, but these experiences were terrifying, debilitating and life threatening.
Like most new mothers today, I spent many a late night hour researching and re-researching childbirth, pregnancy, stroke, IUGR, etc on the internet. During this process, I struggled to find information written by or even about women who experienced similar complications. Currently there are no sites specifically dedicated to the collection and long term preservation of childbirth stories. Sites that do provide some access rely on users to find or post the right story at the right time. The Childbirth Archive hopes to address this issue by allowing anyone to add their story and by including advanced searchable tagging and long term preservation. I hope the information here helps you find comfort and understanding.
Like most new mothers today, I spent many a late night hour researching and re-researching childbirth, pregnancy, stroke, IUGR, etc on the internet. During this process, I struggled to find information written by or even about women who experienced similar complications. Currently there are no sites specifically dedicated to the collection and long term preservation of childbirth stories. Sites that do provide some access rely on users to find or post the right story at the right time. The Childbirth Archive hopes to address this issue by allowing anyone to add their story and by including advanced searchable tagging and long term preservation. I hope the information here helps you find comfort and understanding.
INFORMATION, COMFORT AND UNDERSTANDING
SUPPORT THE CHILDBIRTH ARCHIVE
The collection and long term preservation of childbirth stories does require resources. All administrative work has been and will continue to be completed by volunteers. Nonetheless, physical and digital storage, website hosting, access and search optimization costs will all increase as the archive grows in size. The Childbirth Archive is also looking for any volunteer help. Thank you so much, we are incredibly grateful for your support.
Make a Donation