Nancy just could not push anymore. She knew the baby was almost there, but suddenly overwhelmed by panic, she felt unable to cope with those final contractions. Read Nancy's story.

Sometimes labor, especially with a first baby, stretches for hours or even days from start to finish. Audrey, an Ann Arbor physician whose two sons were born in a hospital with nurse-midwives, spent fifty hours in labor with her first son. Read Audrey's story.

A Father's Story: New York photographer Bill Diodato began documenting the life of his son, William, just moments after he was born. Here he recalls exactly how he felt when, he learned he was about to become a father. Read "A Father's Story".

Real quotes about midwives?

To know it is you who delivered your baby is the most empowering feeling. - Ricki Lake

Talk show host and actress Ricki Lake delivered her son, Owen Tyler, in a water birth in her Manhattan apartment attended by a certified nurse-midwife, two doulas, and then-husband Rob Sussman. Lake is a well-known and vocal advocate of midwifery since the birth of her son Milo in 1998.

"When I first wanted to use a midwife, I got a lot of flak from my gynecologist and a host of other people," she said. "I wanted to make the choice that was best for me because I trust my own instincts. I also respect the act of natural birth."