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Ashley Graham
Ashley Graham/Instagram
“I have to say, now that I gave birth and I did it naturally and I felteverything, I feel like there’s nothing I can’t do,” she said to husband Justin Ervin on herPretty Big Dealpodcast introducing their little one. “There’s nothing that could come my way where I say, ‘Oh, that’s too hard, I can’t handle that.’ I went through laboring for six hours naturally.”
“To go straight from the pool to the bed with our son and just hold him, what a bond,” Ervin mused.
In January 2022, Graham welcomed twin boys at home, sharing the news on instagram.
She added. “I’m taking some time to heal up and connect with my husband and three boys, but I truly cannot wait to share more with you all. Much love, AG.”
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Hilary Duff
Rebecca Coursey-Rugh/A Wondered Life, @rebeccacoursey_photosandfilm
Before welcoming her second child, daughter Banks Violet, in 2018, Duffopened up abouther decision to have a drug-free home birth following a hospital birth with her first.
“I just started thinking that I wanted a different experience,” she explained. “I’m older now - Ilove motherhood more than anything. I never thought it could be this way. I never thought I could be so happy and so fulfilled.”
With three midwives and an “amazing doula” helping her — plus boyfriend Matthew Koma, sister Haylie Duff and her dogs — Duff got her wish, and months later, shared photos of theemotional first meeting between herself and her daughter.
She did it again in 2021, welcoming daughter Mae at home inMarch of that year,with a “birthing dream team.”
03of 18Scott Speedman & Lindsay Rae HofmannScott Speedman/instagram"Pfeiffer Lucia Speedman. Born at home 10/26/21. In awe of my girl @lindsayraehofmann. Awe," Speedman wrote in an Instagram captionintroducing his first child.The actor previously told PEOPLE the story of preparing for his daughter’s arrival, saying he and his girlfriend grabbed a tub from a neighbor.“We had to go pick up the tub from who just happens to be our neighbor, we don’t know these people. I just knocked on the door and this guy just delivered this tub and now I am in charge of blowing it up and getting water in and all of that stuff,” he saidwith a laugh. “It’s kind of a weird experience, I’m not gonna lie.”
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Scott Speedman & Lindsay Rae Hofmann
Scott Speedman/instagram
“Pfeiffer Lucia Speedman. Born at home 10/26/21. In awe of my girl @lindsayraehofmann. Awe,” Speedman wrote in an Instagram captionintroducing his first child.
The actor previously told PEOPLE the story of preparing for his daughter’s arrival, saying he and his girlfriend grabbed a tub from a neighbor.
“We had to go pick up the tub from who just happens to be our neighbor, we don’t know these people. I just knocked on the door and this guy just delivered this tub and now I am in charge of blowing it up and getting water in and all of that stuff,” he saidwith a laugh. “It’s kind of a weird experience, I’m not gonna lie.”
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Rachel Platten
Rachel Platten/Instagram
“Introducing Sophie Jo Lazan. Born 9/9/21 at home in a water birth after 2.5 grueling days of labor. When I thought I couldn’t take anymore, this amazing, wise little one kept whispering to me ‘we can do this mama, we can do this,’ " Plattenwrote.
“So i kept going one contraction at a time,” she continued. “I feel like a warrior and I will NEVER doubt my strength again. Thank you Sophie for showing me what I am made of and for completing our family. And Thank YOU all so much for your love and support and for allowing me the privacy these last couple of months to just be with my family and prepare for this new life.”
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Elsa Hosk
Elsa Hosk/instagram
Hosk said she had two days of “manageable” contractions before her active labor. Her doula guided her one night trying to induce labor through exercises and positions, like walking, doing yoga and pumping breast milk. Hosk also had acupuncture that night, and her water broke shortly afterward.
After hours of intense contractions, she was ready for delivery. “The second I stepped into the birthing pool I don’t remember opening my eyes again for a long time,” she recalled.
The star mused that “birthing is really confronting yourself, your fears and doubts and coming through the other side.”
DaughterTuulikki Joansafelyarrived inFebruary 2021.
06of 18Karolina KurkováTami JillIn the spring of 2021, Kurková welcomed LunaGrace (whose name is a conglomerate of two names her sons picked out) during a home water birth. It was her third time laboring and delivering this way, and everything was “smooth and beautiful” for her,she told PEOPLE.“It’s my home and I’m relaxed. I’m not stressed. In labor, that’s really what you need; you need to feel good and to be as relaxed as possible,” she explained of why she prefers the birth plan.“To be able to have my husband there with me in the water, in the pool, and be that support for me. For him to be so involved and so hands on, he’ll tell you it’s the most incredible, most beautiful, most important thing he’s ever done.”
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Karolina Kurková
Tami Jill
In the spring of 2021, Kurková welcomed LunaGrace (whose name is a conglomerate of two names her sons picked out) during a home water birth. It was her third time laboring and delivering this way, and everything was “smooth and beautiful” for her,she told PEOPLE.
“It’s my home and I’m relaxed. I’m not stressed. In labor, that’s really what you need; you need to feel good and to be as relaxed as possible,” she explained of why she prefers the birth plan.
“To be able to have my husband there with me in the water, in the pool, and be that support for me. For him to be so involved and so hands on, he’ll tell you it’s the most incredible, most beautiful, most important thing he’s ever done.”
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Gigi Hadid
Gigi Hadid and daughter Khai.Yolanda Hadid/Instagram
In a February 2021Vogueprofile,the supermodel revealed she delivered daughter Khai at home at her famous family’s compound in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. With the help of a midwife — plus then-boyfriend Zayn Malik, momYolanda Hadidand sisterBella Hadid— Hadid made it through an unmedicated delivery, with Malik even catching their little girl. “I was so exhausted, and I looked up and he’s holding her. It was so cute,” she toldVogue.
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Emily Skye
Emily Skye.Emily Skye/Instagram
The fitness influencer has a “new appreciation” for her body after sheunexpectedly gave birthto her son Izaac at home in June 2020.
“I didn’t know the body could actually do that,” Skye toldPEOPLEof how she pushed out her newborn all on her own, without any medication or assistance.
Izaac was due on July 3 but instead made his grand entrance on June 18 — on his big sister Mia’s play mat.
The next thing Skye remembers is medical personnel rushing into her home, and that Izaac was already “three quarters out.”
“I delivered him on the ground,” Skye said. “I felt like I wanted to be up on my knees, but they needed me to be on my back and I did a lot of breathing to get me through it.”
“I went into the bathroom for the first time to have my shower and I saw myself in the mirror. I bursted into tears because I was so happy with what my body had done. I was talking to my body, saying: ‘You’re amazing. Thank you so much for doing this, for birthing my son.’ I just had this new appreciation for my body that I’ve never had before.”
09of 18Bekah MartinezBekah Martinez’s home birth.Lauren GuilfordOne week after welcoming son Franklin James, theBacheloralumna sharedthe story of his home birthon herChatty Broadspodcast.“I was like, ‘I want this to be a joyful experience,’ It wasvery exhausting and long withRuth,” she explained, referring to the birth of her first child with boyfriend Grayston Leonard, daughter Ruth Ray De La Luz. “I was like, ‘I want this to be fun,’ " Martinez added of the “vibe” she was going for this time around. “I want(ed) to be laughing and joking with people in between contractions.“When she finally started pushing, she remembers it feeling “so right” and “grinning throughout” as she prepared to meet her son for the first time."[He] came fully out in one contraction,” Martinez says. “I felt the ring of fire briefly, but not really. It was just fast. It was all one push and his head was out.“Martinez also used her platform to call out racial disparities in birth statistics, noting, “The infant mortality ratefor babies of Black mothers isdouble the rate of babies born to white mothers. According to the CDC, Black mothers in the U.S. die at three to four times the rate of white mothers, one of the widest of all racial disparities in women’s health. … Where does this end? When will it stop? Black women deserve compassionate care.”
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Bekah Martinez
Bekah Martinez’s home birth.Lauren Guilford
One week after welcoming son Franklin James, theBacheloralumna sharedthe story of his home birthon herChatty Broadspodcast.
“I was like, ‘I want this to be a joyful experience,’ It wasvery exhausting and long withRuth,” she explained, referring to the birth of her first child with boyfriend Grayston Leonard, daughter Ruth Ray De La Luz. “I was like, ‘I want this to be fun,’ " Martinez added of the “vibe” she was going for this time around. “I want(ed) to be laughing and joking with people in between contractions.”
When she finally started pushing, she remembers it feeling “so right” and “grinning throughout” as she prepared to meet her son for the first time.
“[He] came fully out in one contraction,” Martinez says. “I felt the ring of fire briefly, but not really. It was just fast. It was all one push and his head was out.”
Martinez also used her platform to call out racial disparities in birth statistics, noting, “The infant mortality ratefor babies of Black mothers isdouble the rate of babies born to white mothers. According to the CDC, Black mothers in the U.S. die at three to four times the rate of white mothers, one of the widest of all racial disparities in women’s health. … Where does this end? When will it stop? Black women deserve compassionate care.”
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Iskra Lawrence
Iskra Lawrence and Philip Payne with their child.
The new mom wrote, “A.M.P joined team Payne April 16th at 1.05pm here at home. Our first draft pick, but really we are the ones who are so grateful that you picked us to be your parents.”
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Eva Amurri
Eva Amurri/Instagram
In addition to her doula,Kelsi, hermidwives,Martinoand her friends, she had one very special supporter on hand: her oldest child, daughter Marlowe.
“My daughter was there right beside me. My ex-husband, and forever co-parent, was downstairs with our son, waiting for the first cries ofthe newest member of our family,” says theSaved!actress. “As I screamed and bore down to bring Mateo in to the world, I felt as much fire and fury as I always had during the final moments of birth, but so much hope too.”
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Andy Grammer & Aijia
Tibrina Hobson/Getty
The post noted that new mother-of-two had decided on a home birth after previously having a cesarean section with the couple’s daughter,Louisiana “Louie” K.
“I thought maybe I wasn’t capable of doing this 2ndbirth without an epidural+ a lot of the comforts + reassurance of a hospital,” she wrote. “Our culture sometimes tells women that we aren’t able to give birth easily or safely on our own.”
After trying a number of tips for a “successful home birth,” she proudly declared, “that s- worked!”
“It wasn’t a traumatic event at all, it was beautiful. Easily one of the most powerful things I have ever done in my life. I changed the narrative about myself.”
“I say all this to encourage you that if there is something you believe you’re meant to do, but there is some sort of [deep-seated] thing holding you back, DIG IN,” she concluded. “That’s your work. You must comb through it. And no one else can do it for you.”
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Bode & Morgan Miller
McCall Miller Photography
The Olympic medalist skier helped his wife delivertheir identical twin sonsat home on Nov. 8, 2019.
“I’m really just over the moon that it went as smoothly as it did and that they were as big as they were,” Morgan told PEOPLE. “They’re super healthy. The delivery was fast and not necessarily easy but no issues, no problems, and it was honestly a dream for me.”
“I’ve done a home birth for all my kids. Honestly, it’s the only thing I know,” explained the professional beach volleyball player, who’s also mom to sonsEaston Vaughn RekandEdward Nash Skan, plus stepmom to Bode’s son Samuel Nathaniel and daughter Neesyn Dace. (The couple’s daughterEmeline Grierdied after atragic drowning accidentat 19 months old in 2018.)
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James & Kimberly Van Der Beek
James Van Der Beek/Instagram
After the birth of their fifth, daughter Gwendolyn, Van Der Beek posted some very real images from the moments following her arrival.
The couple,who tied the knotin August 2010, are also parents to daughtersEmiliaandAnnabel, as well as son Joshua. Before Jeremiah’s arrival,they experiencedtwo late-term pregnancy losses.
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Lake Bell
Sarah Morris/Getty
“When my daughter came out, she had the [umbilical] cord wrapped around her neck, and it was very scary. She was on my chest and she wasn’t breathing. The midwife gave her three lifesaving breaths on my chest and my husband was there. She came to life and we saw it,” Bell told costar Dax Shepard on hisArmchair Expertpodcast.
Unfortunately,her second home birth in 2017 had further complications. It also resulted in the umbilical cord getting wrapped around her son Ozgood’s neck, but unlike his older sister, “he was not coming to.”
“Now you’re in really f-ing life and death. Your child is there and the entire room is trying to resuscitate him and they can’t.” Ultimately, he stayed in the NICU for 11 days, Bell shared: “Children’s Hospital Los Angeles saved his life.”
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Kehlani
Kehlani/Instagram
“This weekend our angel arrived healthy & perfect in every way in our bathroom at home,” the singerwrotein March 2019 after the arrival of daughterAdeya Nomi. “Unmedicated homebirth was the absolute hardest yet most powerful thing i’ve ever done.”
“All birth is extremely hard and transformative. Homebirth is a medical decision as is hospital birth, all birth is mind blowing & powerful. Using my experience to shame another’s isnt what i want. Power toanyone who brings life forth, it’s a next level journey whichever way.”
17of 18Emilie de RavinEmilie de Ravin/InstagramThe formerLostactress had a medicated hospital birth with her first, daughter Vera, but wanted something different for her second.Of delivering son Theo “off the side of the bed” in late 2018,de Ravin said, “It felt like I was pushing for so long … Him coming out was, apart from obvious pain, it was a really cool experience,” she recalled. “It was … the main part of why Ididn’t want to ever be medicatedif I [could] help it.““It was so nice to be able to just feel what your body is doing and what it can do and going through it with him,” de Ravin added. “Just being able to have … the physical and emotional connection at the same time. As opposed to just looking in a mirror, like I was with [Vera].”
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Emilie de Ravin
Emilie de Ravin/Instagram
The formerLostactress had a medicated hospital birth with her first, daughter Vera, but wanted something different for her second.
Of delivering son Theo “off the side of the bed” in late 2018,de Ravin said, “It felt like I was pushing for so long … Him coming out was, apart from obvious pain, it was a really cool experience,” she recalled. “It was … the main part of why Ididn’t want to ever be medicatedif I [could] help it.”
“It was so nice to be able to just feel what your body is doing and what it can do and going through it with him,” de Ravin added. “Just being able to have … the physical and emotional connection at the same time. As opposed to just looking in a mirror, like I was with [Vera].”
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Camille Carson
Courtesy Jess Carson
source: people.com
