When I got pregnant with my first child, naive little me thought it'd be a great idea to have my mother, my sister, my MIL--and my hubby, of course--in the room while I labored and delivered my baby. Honestly, it wasn't that bad. But then again, they didn't get to experience much action since after a couple of hours of pushing with no progress, I ended up having a C-section.

A new trend is emerging among mothers called "Lotus Births." Lotus Births refers to allowing the umbilical cord detach from the baby naturally, instead of the standard procedure of almost immediately clamping and severing the cord.

It can take up to 10 days (TEN DAYS!) for the umbilical cord to fall off. Of course, until that happens, the mother must carry the infant everywhere since they are physically bound to each other until it detaches. Although some might find this method a bit uncomfortable--or even sort of crazy--Mary Ceallaigh, a midwife and Lotus Birth advocate, say that it can be good for the baby and mother's health.

I've always been in awe of stories about women who give birth in completely unexpected places after pushing only a couple of times. From those amazing women who give birth in cars on their way to the hospital to those whose babies arrive on the elevator in the hospital, the truth is that they're amazing stories. But none of them are more incredible than 17-year-old Fatoumatta Kaba, who was forced to give birth this past Saturday morning aboard a trans-Atlantic flight when she was traveling at 38,000 feet!

Kaba was flying from South Africa to New York City when she realized that her baby was on the way! You will never believe what happened next!

A Florida mom, pregnant with her fifth child, is furious because she says her obstetrician has threatened to send the police to her home so they could take her to the hospital and force her to give birth via C-section. Lisa Epsteen's pregnancy is considered high risk because she's already given birth to her other four children via C-section and she's a week past her due date. But Epsteen is convinced she should be given the chance to attempt to give birth to her fifth child vaginally, despite her doctor's concerns.  

 Watching a live C-section at Women's Memorial Hermann Hospital over Twitter sounded like a good idea at first. The curiosity of the birth and the possible educational benefits (ha!) were quickly replaced by the discomfort of my stomach balling up. Still, I continued to watch as doctors at the Houston hospital sliced a woman's abdomen and delivered a healthy baby boy by Caesarean.  

Even if you've had a C-section, it does not mean you a had front row seat. There was probably a curtain separating you from the action. For most women, that's how they'd like to keep it.

Most moms probably think that there is nothing scarier and more painful than child labor. Well, how about giving birth with a broken leg? That's exactly what happened to 32-year-old Scottish mom Emma Ramsay.

Ramsay slipped on ice outside her home and had to fight through the pain to crawl inside the house and get help. Doctors said she'd broken both sides of her left ankle and leg and would require a pin to be put in with emergency surgery. But before getting the operation, Ramsey had to be thoroughly examined by a medic--who determined she was already dilated 5 centimeters! Can you imagine?!

The poor woman had no choice but to give birth to her baby with her leg still broken!

In a sad and absolutely heartbreaking story, Mexico City police have recently revealed that a 9-year-old girl gave birth to a baby last month and-- as if that wasn't shocking enough-- the 17-year-old father is nowhere to be found.  It's such an awful scenario that I can barely process it.

The young girl's mother told officials that the girl was "just over 8" when she first got pregnant.  "The father is a boy who is 17, but we have not found him, since he ran away," she explained.

IIn a strange turn of events, a Chicago woman welcomed a new baby in her vehicle, right near the scene of a fatal car crash.

On Wednesday morning, Hector Morales and fiancée Kathryn Engel were on their way to the hospital when they got stuck in a traffic jam caused by an accident that had occurred right up the road. Though they tried to wait it out, Engel's contractions soon grew in intensity and become more frequent until the couple knew they had to take action.