"I lost my son, Bear. Absolutely the most joy in my life came from him and the most pain I've experienced came from losing him. And that experience will never be matched. In Bear's birth and in his death he saved me. Joe Biden said, "You get to a point where the memories make you smile more than the pain hurts." He was my only one, and I'm too old to have another. " - Alexandria Cmaylo is an artist and lives in New Orleans.
Ursula Liebowitz
“Did you have a natural childbirth? – That's the question that women are often asked. I was at the gym working out two days before my daughter was born – I was healthy and strong. I never even considered a C-section would ever be a possibility for me, I viewed them as “unhealthy”. But the day she was born, I realized you can do all the thinking and planning you want in your life but ultimately you aren’t in control of what happens. Afterwards I realized, I didn’t do anything “wrong” – that no woman who doesn’t have a vaginal birth has done anything wrong." - Ursula Liebowitz
Lynee Wells
"I loved giving birth. I loved the experience of surrendering to the pain and the rhythm of my body that knows how to give birth. I did natural childbirth both times and both times I went in to the hospital at 8 am and delivered my babies by 3pm. It was all in a day’s work. I look back at those two births as the most incredible experiences, and no one can take that away from me." Lynee is a Principal and Urban Planner at Williams and Works where she is also the youngest and only female Principal.