Dr. Lyerly identified five qualities that led women to feel that they had “good births,” regardless of how their babies came into the world: agency (capacity to make their own choices, even if things didn’t go according to plan), personal security (a sense of safety during birth), connectedness (with medical providers, family members and with their babies), respect (an acknowledgment that birth is a transformative life event) and knowledge (understanding their bodies, and also understanding that birth was a process they couldn’t fully control).

I love the framing of a “good birth,” because it removes the false dichotomy of “natural” versus “unnatural.” The outcome everyone wants for their delivery is a healthy baby and a healthy mother. Health includes emotional health, too.

We want to help you have a good birth — whether it’s by reading Angela Garbes, author of the excellent “Like a Mother,” on how to advocate for yourself in the delivery room; or by reading Dr. Alexandra Sacks, a reproductive psychiatrist, on how to recover if your birth does not go the way you had hoped.

We also want to hear about your birth experiences: the good, the bad and the extraordinary. Tell us about the birth of your child in two words that are more descriptive and personal than “natural childbirth,” using the hashtag #twowordbirthstory. You can share directly with us here, or you can post your story on Instagram or Twitter. Be sure to tag us @NYTParenting if you want us to include your story in an upcoming post.

For example: If I were to describe my first birth experience in two words, they would be “good pelvis.” That’s because I had a 9-pound, 3-ounce baby, and for a while during my labor, it seemed as if I’d need a C-section. I had been in labor for almost 24 hours and I was so tired I didn’t really care what happened — I just wanted that baby born. A new obstetrician came onto his shift, took one look at me and said, “Nah, you don’t need a C-section. You have a good pelvis, you can do this.” And I did.

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