by Sara McGinnis posted in Pregnancy

It took 22 hours from the time my water broke until my firstborn son was in my arms. During those long, hectic hours I developed a fever and lost track of what happened when. I wished I'd have thought to write down some of the little things, like the number of hours (perhaps even minutes) I managed to sleep, or how many pushes the birth took.
I have the specifics of our babe's weight, time, and length from his birth certificate, but so much more about that most important day was lost over the ensuing years. Perhaps that's why I immediately fell in love with the idea of transforming a birth story into a piece of art.
Nina Hartman, mom to 2-year-old son Bodhi, has begun to help people commemorate special milestones with a combination of word art and illustrations. Check out her journey to becoming a first-time mom:
Pregnancy was a breeze for this Tacoma, Washington mom, complete with "sparkle, amazing hair, and excitement," right up until sciatica pain struck out of the blue. It kept her from walking more than a block through the rest of her pregnancy, and was only the beginning of her back troubles.
"I'd been seeing a really great midwife and had hired a doula for birth. I planned a home birth with a kiddie pool," the 35-year-old told BabyCenter. "I read natural birth books. I was rubbing coconut oil on my undercarriage, drinking calming tea, designing birth affirmations, and I kept having beautiful dreams wher...