I consider birth to be a miracle -- it's just an amazing thing our bodies can do even when things go right with labor and delivery. When there is a complication, the strength of our bodies and of our babies is even more evident. When I heard about this mom with a double uterus who defied the odds and carried a baby in each womb, it was hard not to be in awe.

Alison Camp was born with a double uterus, which is extremely unusual -- only about 0.3 percent of women are known to have this. This condition, medically known as uterus didelphys, makes having a successful pregnancy rare, and the fact that Camp had a baby boy in each womb made it even more extraordinary, but also more risky.

The babies were born seven minutes apart by c-section at 25 weeks back in October. Both boys were around 1 pound, 5 ounces and the Camps were very concerned about their health so they didn't want to share their story until now ....

What's with all the humongous babies all of a sudden? Only one week after a woman in Iowa gave birth to the biggest baby ever born in that state (13 pounds, 12 ounces!), a woman in China has given birth to what is believed to be the biggest baby ever born in that most populous country. And hard as it might be to wrap your mind around, baby Chun Chun, who was born on Saturday in central China (Xinxiang City, Henan province, for those who know their geography), makes Iowa newborn Asher Stewardson look almost like a little guy.

Chun Chun, whose 29-year-old mom had no idea how big he'd be, tipped the scales at birth at a whopping 15.5 pounds! (The baby's dad insists his wife, who delivered Chun Chun via c-section, ate nothing usual during her pregnancy, in case you were wondering.) 

Both mother and baby are reportedly doing well. And Chun Chun's parents are proud as can be of their healthy baby boy.

At birth, full-term babies born in the U.S. tip the scales, on average, at around 7 pounds, 8 ounces, which of course doesn't mean that there aren't plenty of mothers giving birth to babies both smaller and larger. My healthy babies both weighed around 6 pounds (give or take a few ounces) when they made their debut -- though they didn't stay that small for long!

And bigger? Well, a woman in Iowa has just given birth to a baby boy that CNN reports might just be the largest infant ever to have been born "naturally" in the state. How big was the baby, Asher Stewardson? He weighed in at a whopping 13 pounds, 12 ounces, and measured 23 1/2 inches long! And get this, Asher's amazing mother delivered him vaginally, after six hours of pushing and with no drugs (nope, no epidural, no nothin').

I'll just give you a minute to take that in …

Last month, a 24-year-old Muslim man was arrested after assaulting a nurse trying to deliver the baby his wife was working hard to push out. It seems that, in an effort to make her more comfortable and help her prepare for the final countdown before the newborn debuted, the poor nurse tried to take off the laboring woman’s burqa. Her husband spotted the scene unfolding through a window, broke down a locked door, and punched the nurse dead in the face.

Now, that’s an extreme example of what shouldn’t happen when a gal is huffing and puffing her way through the process of bringing forth new life. And suffice it to say that abusing the medical professionals is generally foolish since they guarantee all ends well in the birthing room. But physical altercations aside, there are other things that men shouldn’t say or do in interest of keeping the peace in the delivery room.

It's a shocking (no pun intended) story with a happy ending. Last summer, Stephanie Alberti of Colorado Springs, Colorado, was three months pregnant, enjoying herself at a stock car race. There she was happily cheering on her husband one minute, and the next she was struck by lightning.

Initially paralyzed by the bolt that shot through her body, she surprisingly didn't lose the baby. Instead, her pregnancy progressed normally, and she recently gave birth to a baby girl, Sophie.

As the entire world at large knows, Beyonce gave birth to a baby girl this weekend, Blue Ivy Carter, via c-section at New York's Lenox Hill hospital. Judging from everything I've heard, it went great. Off without a hitch. Mom, dad, and baby are doing wonderfully.

But it wasn't great for the parents who happened to be having children at the same time -- in the same hospital -- as the pop star. Details that are being reported actually make their birthing and post-partum experiences seem downright miserable. Thanks to baby Blue, the non-famous moms and dads were supposedly ignored, basically put in lockdown, and one dad was even kept from seeing his sick twins. And, naturally, now they're all thinking of suing.

I love being black. I do. I thank God for all of my cultural idiosyncrasies and inherent Africanisms. I’m proud of who I am and the people I come from. It’s an honor to be born into a race of folks whose creativity and intellect and power helped shape the world as we know it.

But that being said, I can’t hop on this bandwagon that homebirth brings black women closer to our African heritage. I’ll immerse myself in a native language, I’ll shell out a few grand to fly to the mother continent and trace my Guinean roots. Heck, I’ve already dedicated thousands of dollars and thousands more hours studying our history for a master’s degree in African-American studies.

But if and when I ever find myself pregnant again, I’ll have my baby in a hospital, thank you very much. If something goes haywire — Lord forbid — I want all the bells and whistles of modern science by my side to save me or my child.

So many of us think of birth as something that absolutely must take place in a hospital with a team of doctors around for intervention and to administer pain medication. Sometimes this is definitely the case, and medical intervention is needed. But there are times when birth, which is a natural and beautiful thing women can do, can be performed unassisted. Yes, you have to have a healthy pregnancy. But mama-to-be must also have absolute faith in her body and her ability to birth.

Which we should all have. You have faith in yourself for being able to use the bathroom, right? You pee and poo without any help most of the time. Birth is just another function our bodies can perform. Which is why I'm not too shocked when learning that a midwife delivered her own baby at home with the help of a makeup mirror. This wasn't in her birth plan -- she had her own midwife, but her baby came sooner than she expected.