Nope. You don’t! All you need is your mind, heart, memory, and a way to record your story. I’m not here to convince you that you need this course—I’m here to convince you that this course can be helpful on the journey of writing a birth story you feel proud of. Sometimes people need help getting started, shaping, or keeping the momentum going. That’s what this course is about!

It’s for anyone who has birthed or become a parent. It might be easier to write your story if it’s fresher in your mind, but chances are, the material here will help you, no matter if your baby is 15 days or 15 years old.

No! You do not have to have any experience or talent as a writer to move through this course and write your story. It’s not about producing “good” writing—this is about producing a story that reflects you and the truth of your birth.

Of course! There is no one-size-fits-all for birth.

No! Birth trauma and other complicated and/or negative experiences around giving birth are common, especially in the United States. Racism, non-evidence-based care, obstetric violence, overuse of interventions, administrative red tape, insurance issues, lack of options, and more can all contribute to poor birthing experiences, especially for BIPOC people. That’s the reality we live in. I have taken care to ensure this course is trauma-informed and sensitive to people who experienced difficult or traumatic births (although, it’s important to understand that I am not a mental health professional). That said, the course will not ask you to shy away from the difficult parts of your story, if you are willing to tackle them in your writing.

It can be! While the course is mostly focused on people who personally experienced pregnancy and gave birth, there are prompts and exercises that would be beneficial to help people who became parents through surrogacy or adoption write their stories. Keep in mind, though, that the vast majority of the language and ideas in this course are geared towards people who physically gave birth, so it could feel triggering or difficult to move through the course if you are intending to write about another type of family creation experience.

If you are someone who gave birth and then surrendered a baby to adoption, or acted as a surrogate or gestational carrier, you might still like to use the course. But you should know that it is geared towards people intending to parent, so some of the language may feel strange or triggering. 

It can be. A stillbirth is a birth. That said, the vast majority of the language and ideas in this course are geared towards people who had live births, so it may feel triggering or difficult to move through the course if you are intending to write about your stillbirth or other loss.