Today's birthdaypalooza post is a couple of my very favorite birth videos I watched in the last few months when I was getting ready to make my own. They are absolutely amazing, and I wish that along with the dated, stupid videos they showed in health class in high school they would show some videos like these.
The first is the birth of Malakai. He was born in a hospital, but this hospital is what I feel all hospitals should strive to be. The mother is allowed to give birth in the way she wants to, and after the baby is born she still has all the support of a medical staff and the comfort of knowing they are there for her and her baby.
It would be amazing if the majority of hospitals made this kind of birth available for women.
The second video is of a woman in Australia having her baby. It's not so out of the ordinary until the baby is born and her reaction moves me to tears every time.
The third video is something crazy and amazing. This is a video of a woman having an unplanned home birth. You can read the full story here about how this happened. In a nutshell her labor was only a couple of hours long and when she went to use the toilet before the half hour drive to the hospital, baby had other plans. The most amazing thing to me about this is the calm - it really shows that even in this unexpected situation the mom is FINE. The dad manages to delivery the baby VERY calmly (my husband said he would definitely not stay so cool), and it's beautiful.
Please be aware before watching that this is a GRAPHIC video that shows the baby crowning and being born.
May 31, 2010
May 28, 2010
Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up with Summer Birthdays
Today's birthday post comes from Jaci, who writes at Ravings of a Mad Housewife. Jaci is one of my very favorite bloggers! She makes me laugh, and 1/2 the time when I read her posts, I feel like I could have written them myself.
It's been especially fun reading Jaci's blog the last 10 months because she and I got pregnant at the same time! By the time you read this post, we'll both have little newborns - she's due just 3 days before me. It was so much fun having another blogger at the same stage as me to relate to and laugh (and whine) with!
***
If any moms-to-be are trying to plan the perfect time of year to totally blow out your girlie bits and squeeze a new life into this world, let me be the first to scream, "DON'T DO IT IN AUGUST!" I was born on 8-8-80, so I'm an expert on this. (Let me answer all the questions people normally ask when I rattle off my birth date: Yes, I'm serious. Yes, it's easy to remember. No, I'm not going to play all 8's and win the lottery.)
My parties were always outside, Mom could go all cheap and have bologna sandwiches on paper plates and no one thought less of her because holy-crap-it's-freaking-hot-who-wants-to-eat, and hello? Ice Cream Cake? The August birthday rocked for Mom and her minimal party planning.
But for little Jaci, my August B-day sucked hard. After going through an entire school year of being handed birthday invitations by Heathers, Jennifers, Jessicas, and Lindseys (surprise, no one else was named Jaci) and dragging gifts to parties stuffed full of at least 15 girls from my class, I should have the same type of party in August--right?
Um...no.
School ended in June, so I couldn't exactly hand out my invitations in class. And in the 80's, Mom's didn't set up "play dates" and keep a stash of their kid's friend's numbers by the phone. You went outside and played with the weird kids in the neighborhood--and DON'T SLAM THE SCREEN DOOR--IN OR OUT!
My birthdays were sad, pathetic little family affairs. If my best friend Joy wasn't on vacation she'd come over. (She was usually on vacation.) Sometimes Michael (the boy across the street who peed in his Dirt Place and ran around pretending to be HeMan screaming, "I have the POWER!") would show up uninvited and I had to hide from him. But to have a big, fun, all-about-ME! slumber party with the entire 5th grade class? Never.
Even worse? I spent all year shelling out gifts for school friends only to get jack crap in exchange! Where's my Barbie dolls?!? And my puzzles?!? AND MY FREAKING CARDS STUFFED FULL OF $10 BILLS?!?!
Do your unborn child a favor and just wait a month. Give birth in September, okay?
It's been especially fun reading Jaci's blog the last 10 months because she and I got pregnant at the same time! By the time you read this post, we'll both have little newborns - she's due just 3 days before me. It was so much fun having another blogger at the same stage as me to relate to and laugh (and whine) with!
***
If any moms-to-be are trying to plan the perfect time of year to totally blow out your girlie bits and squeeze a new life into this world, let me be the first to scream, "DON'T DO IT IN AUGUST!" I was born on 8-8-80, so I'm an expert on this. (Let me answer all the questions people normally ask when I rattle off my birth date: Yes, I'm serious. Yes, it's easy to remember. No, I'm not going to play all 8's and win the lottery.)
My parties were always outside, Mom could go all cheap and have bologna sandwiches on paper plates and no one thought less of her because holy-crap-it's-freaking-hot-who-wants-to-eat, and hello? Ice Cream Cake? The August birthday rocked for Mom and her minimal party planning.
But for little Jaci, my August B-day sucked hard. After going through an entire school year of being handed birthday invitations by Heathers, Jennifers, Jessicas, and Lindseys (surprise, no one else was named Jaci) and dragging gifts to parties stuffed full of at least 15 girls from my class, I should have the same type of party in August--right?
Um...no.
School ended in June, so I couldn't exactly hand out my invitations in class. And in the 80's, Mom's didn't set up "play dates" and keep a stash of their kid's friend's numbers by the phone. You went outside and played with the weird kids in the neighborhood--and DON'T SLAM THE SCREEN DOOR--IN OR OUT!
My birthdays were sad, pathetic little family affairs. If my best friend Joy wasn't on vacation she'd come over. (She was usually on vacation.) Sometimes Michael (the boy across the street who peed in his Dirt Place and ran around pretending to be HeMan screaming, "I have the POWER!") would show up uninvited and I had to hide from him. But to have a big, fun, all-about-ME! slumber party with the entire 5th grade class? Never.
Even worse? I spent all year shelling out gifts for school friends only to get jack crap in exchange! Where's my Barbie dolls?!? And my puzzles?!? AND MY FREAKING CARDS STUFFED FULL OF $10 BILLS?!?!
Do your unborn child a favor and just wait a month. Give birth in September, okay?
May 26, 2010
Sams Birth Story
How could I have a month of birth and birthday posts and stories without sharing the birth story of my first baby?! Here is Sam's birth story- written the day he was born. I can't believe it's been 4 years, and that this is no longer the only birth story I have!
According to my dad, only 2% of babies actually arrive on their due dates. But are you really surprised that mine did? I guess he takes after his Mama and likes things to happen on time!
Samuel Denn Heiner came into the world at 3:11 pm on Tuesday, May 2, 2006. He weighed 7 lbs 6 oz and was about 20 inches long, and has a VERY full head of very blond hair.
I did not have any contractions whatsoever until Monday, and they were hours apart and not strong at all. Justin and I went to bed at 1:30 am, thinking about our doctor appointment today and whether we would start thinking about implementing labor if he didn't come in the next few days. 2 hours later at 3:30, I woke up in bed to my water breaking. I waited about 1/2 an hour and had a couple of contractions, so we called the hospital and headed over to labor & delivery. We got to the hospital a little before 5 am and I stayed on the monitor for a while. When we got to the hospital they didn't do an internal exam, and my contractions were about 6 minutes apart. Since my water broke before we came to the hospital, they told us that depending on progress, they would probably start pitocin to augment labor around 9:30 (6 hours after the labor started). I walked around and Kira and Mom got here a little while later.
The contractions got harder and longer, and it was not too long before I was considering re-thinking my idea of not wanting an epidural. Around 7:30 am, the doctor came and checked me, and I was 6 centimeters already. Then, the contractions got further apart, but longer and more difficult. At 10:00 am, we decided we did want to use pitocin to speed things up, and I also decided that I wanted an epidural. It was great! I could even have pleasant conversations with the people around me during the once excruciating contractions.
Around 12:00 pm, Laurie and Rob had arrived. Around 12:20, I was still 6 to 7 centimeters, and the nurses suggested I kick everyone out so I could get some rest. So just evacuated the room, and we rested while listening to Sarah McLachlan. Since I only got a couple hours of sleep last night, it was good to be able to rest for an hour or so.
At 1:15 pm, the doctor stopped by because the baby heart rate was sporadic. I was given some oxygen and was checked out and found out that I was already 10 centimeters, and it was time to push. Since we had been told that it would be at least an hour and a half before we would even be getting close, everyone was still far from the room. We rounded up Mom and Kira, put everybody else on alert, and around 1:30 pm, the pushing began. It sure was hard work. I still was not feeling any pain because of the epidural, but I could feel tremendous pressure and (especially near the end) a very strong urge to push during the contractions. When I saw the contractions spiking on the monitor, I was glad that I could not feel them as well.
About 2:00 pm, Justin's mom got to the hospital. She had just come from Puyallup, where Justin's cousin had given birth about an hour earlier. She was so happy that she was getting to witness two births in one day.
During the pushing, Kira, Edie, and Deanna were in the room encouraging me. For the most part, it was quiet and calm in the room, which helped me relax. The occasional joke about silent births was made as well.
When we were able to see the head, the doctor, Rob, and Laurie came into the room to cheer me on. The last 10 minutes was definitely the worst part, especially when Sam had half of his head popped out for upwards of two minutes. But then, after 1 hour and 40 minutes of pushing, it was over. A beautiful baby boy was placed on my chest and everyone in the room was driven to tears.
I know that Laurie got some beautiful pictures, and we will send some out as soon as we get them.
Although not a champion eater yet, he is definitely a world class pooper. Before being in the world for more than 2 minutes, he had already dropped his first load. And within a half hour, he had already gone twice more. It was then that they decided Justin should give him his first bath and they should put a diaper on him.
According to my dad, only 2% of babies actually arrive on their due dates. But are you really surprised that mine did? I guess he takes after his Mama and likes things to happen on time!
Samuel Denn Heiner came into the world at 3:11 pm on Tuesday, May 2, 2006. He weighed 7 lbs 6 oz and was about 20 inches long, and has a VERY full head of very blond hair.
I did not have any contractions whatsoever until Monday, and they were hours apart and not strong at all. Justin and I went to bed at 1:30 am, thinking about our doctor appointment today and whether we would start thinking about implementing labor if he didn't come in the next few days. 2 hours later at 3:30, I woke up in bed to my water breaking. I waited about 1/2 an hour and had a couple of contractions, so we called the hospital and headed over to labor & delivery. We got to the hospital a little before 5 am and I stayed on the monitor for a while. When we got to the hospital they didn't do an internal exam, and my contractions were about 6 minutes apart. Since my water broke before we came to the hospital, they told us that depending on progress, they would probably start pitocin to augment labor around 9:30 (6 hours after the labor started). I walked around and Kira and Mom got here a little while later.
The contractions got harder and longer, and it was not too long before I was considering re-thinking my idea of not wanting an epidural. Around 7:30 am, the doctor came and checked me, and I was 6 centimeters already. Then, the contractions got further apart, but longer and more difficult. At 10:00 am, we decided we did want to use pitocin to speed things up, and I also decided that I wanted an epidural. It was great! I could even have pleasant conversations with the people around me during the once excruciating contractions.
Around 12:00 pm, Laurie and Rob had arrived. Around 12:20, I was still 6 to 7 centimeters, and the nurses suggested I kick everyone out so I could get some rest. So just evacuated the room, and we rested while listening to Sarah McLachlan. Since I only got a couple hours of sleep last night, it was good to be able to rest for an hour or so.
At 1:15 pm, the doctor stopped by because the baby heart rate was sporadic. I was given some oxygen and was checked out and found out that I was already 10 centimeters, and it was time to push. Since we had been told that it would be at least an hour and a half before we would even be getting close, everyone was still far from the room. We rounded up Mom and Kira, put everybody else on alert, and around 1:30 pm, the pushing began. It sure was hard work. I still was not feeling any pain because of the epidural, but I could feel tremendous pressure and (especially near the end) a very strong urge to push during the contractions. When I saw the contractions spiking on the monitor, I was glad that I could not feel them as well.
About 2:00 pm, Justin's mom got to the hospital. She had just come from Puyallup, where Justin's cousin had given birth about an hour earlier. She was so happy that she was getting to witness two births in one day.
During the pushing, Kira, Edie, and Deanna were in the room encouraging me. For the most part, it was quiet and calm in the room, which helped me relax. The occasional joke about silent births was made as well.
When we were able to see the head, the doctor, Rob, and Laurie came into the room to cheer me on. The last 10 minutes was definitely the worst part, especially when Sam had half of his head popped out for upwards of two minutes. But then, after 1 hour and 40 minutes of pushing, it was over. A beautiful baby boy was placed on my chest and everyone in the room was driven to tears.
I know that Laurie got some beautiful pictures, and we will send some out as soon as we get them.
Although not a champion eater yet, he is definitely a world class pooper. Before being in the world for more than 2 minutes, he had already dropped his first load. And within a half hour, he had already gone twice more. It was then that they decided Justin should give him his first bath and they should put a diaper on him.
May 25, 2010
Mother's Day: What We REALLY Want
Today's post comes from Maegan, who writes over at Mom to Bee. Meagan ALWAYS makes me laugh, and I look forward to reading about her adventures with her daughter. She's also a fellow Pacific Northwester, which gives her a special place in my bloggy world.
Maegan is one of my fellow pregnant bloggers. Following along with a couple of other moms to be while I've been pregnant has made this pregnancy a lot of fun in my little online world! She is also clever enough to name ALL of her posts with song titles, and let me tell you, she finds the weirdest and most perfect songs somehow! This one's pretty simple, but ladies - I think she's on to something here!
***
Mother's Day
On the second Sunday of May, every year, families all around the nation come together to celebrate Mother's Day. Flowers, chocolate, breakfast in bed. When you think about it, it's kind of the least that husbands and children can do for having to poop a kid out of your babyhole. And I'm not even talking about the day in/day out 24/7 joy that is being a mother.
Honestly, I think the moment you squirt that baby out in the hospital, your family should be bound in contract to provide you at least one day a year full of pampering and (of course) chocolate.
While most families will come together for mom, a cute little Hallmark commercial day filled with kids lovingly waking up mom with breakfast in bed, I'm not a fan. The kids waking me up early on MY day?! NO THANK YOU.
In fact, this year, I cautiously suggested to Mr. Bee that the best Mother's Day present of all might be, well, you know, not seeing the family for an entire day...
All I know is while you suckers were getting woken up at the crack of dawn by your littleboogers darlings, I was sleeping in after an entire evening to myself in a hotel room.
Does that make me a horrible mom or an evil genius? I say a little of both maybe.
Song title: Mother's Day by 7 Seconds
Maegan is one of my fellow pregnant bloggers. Following along with a couple of other moms to be while I've been pregnant has made this pregnancy a lot of fun in my little online world! She is also clever enough to name ALL of her posts with song titles, and let me tell you, she finds the weirdest and most perfect songs somehow! This one's pretty simple, but ladies - I think she's on to something here!
***
Mother's Day
On the second Sunday of May, every year, families all around the nation come together to celebrate Mother's Day. Flowers, chocolate, breakfast in bed. When you think about it, it's kind of the least that husbands and children can do for having to poop a kid out of your babyhole. And I'm not even talking about the day in/day out 24/7 joy that is being a mother.
Honestly, I think the moment you squirt that baby out in the hospital, your family should be bound in contract to provide you at least one day a year full of pampering and (of course) chocolate.
While most families will come together for mom, a cute little Hallmark commercial day filled with kids lovingly waking up mom with breakfast in bed, I'm not a fan. The kids waking me up early on MY day?! NO THANK YOU.
In fact, this year, I cautiously suggested to Mr. Bee that the best Mother's Day present of all might be, well, you know, not seeing the family for an entire day...
All I know is while you suckers were getting woken up at the crack of dawn by your little
Does that make me a horrible mom or an evil genius? I say a little of both maybe.
Song title: Mother's Day by 7 Seconds
May 22, 2010
A Mom of Two?!
After almost two weeks, I'm finally starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel. First off, here's something I wanted to share before - my 1st Mother's Day gift from Sam.
He brought it home from school and I love the photo even though he's not smiling because the colors are brilliant.
In general, here is what we have been feeling like around here for the past couple of weeks:
I guess having a new baby around is exhausting for Sam too because he passed out on the couch after school the other day AND slept for 8 hours that night. Crazy. Note the awesome new yellow (his favorite color) shoes my Mom bought him.
So, we have a new baby. I had to take a picture of his perfect baby nails before I cut them.
So cute.
He is a really good baby so far. He likes to nurse (a lot) and sleep (a LOT). He has been having some trouble pooping, but that may have passed. Because today I changed a really grodie diaper and just as I was getting it under control he peed all over everything and I just started to laugh because it was like an out of control fire hose. Except, you know, small.
Sometimes, he wakes up and looks around.
But, not that often.
Sometimes, he sneezes and then he makes this 'uah!' noise afterwards as if to say 'what was that?!'
He went to the doctor on the 15th because we noticed that he had a tongue tie. It was severe enough that it was interfering with feeding - when he would suck his gum ridge was basically chomping on my nipple. FUN. Not. So we took him to get it looked at and they clipped it. He didn't like the thing that held his tongue in place, but other than that he was all right. I could feel an immediate difference in nursing and he's able to take a pacifier now, which is a good thing because he really likes to suck and if it was up to him he would just have my boob in his mouth all the time.
Speaking of which, the breastfeeding? Is only going so/so. If you don't know about my history with the boobs and the milk, check out this post. So, this time? I had something right away. BUT, not a lot. He usually falls asleep while nursing. There has not been much of a size increase, just a bit. I definitely have milk, just not enough to actually feed him. My midwife prescribed me Domperidone, which I didn't try last time. It seems to have increased my supply a tiny bit, but not much. He likes to nurse, but it's not sustaining him.
I am not sure what I am going to do. We have been supplementing him with formula since the day after he was born, only an ounce at a time then. But now he should be eating 3 oz or so every 3 hours when he wants to eat. So I've been nursing him on both sides then feeding him a bottle. It's sort of a Catch 22 because the more we supplement, the less he NEEDS from me. The good news is that he LIKES to nurse, so he'll do it even if he's had a recent bottle. He's getting what I have, which isn't much, but it's something. I have a months supply of the Domperidone and I'll probably finish that out and see what happens. My gut feeling is that I will probably not continue to breastfeed for too long unless my supply increases.
I am happy that things are going so much better than they did with Sam. I'm happy that Danny is getting SOMETHING from me. But I think that maybe my body just wasn't meant to make much milk. My midwife is amazing, very supportive but not pushy or anything. She is like the perfect medium. As she said, keep trying but if the tissue isn't there, it's just not there. And if not, we'll be okay. Either way, Danny is a happy boy. What's important to me is that he is not hungry, and that he gains weight like he's supposed to, which he hasn't been. He went down from 8 lb 3 oz to 7 lb 11 oz 2 days after birth and was the same at 11 days old. We go back to the doctor on Wednesday to get him weighed again, and hopefully he'll be making some progress.
The first week of recovery was REALLY hard for me. I had all kinds of problems and it was a stressful week with some things going on around the house. My stomach muscles were REALLY sore afterwards and I think I was sick, which caused bad stomach cramps and made the seperated muscles in my stomach really sore. Wrapping my stomach with an elastic back brace I have for about 24 hours improved that immensly. Two weeks in, I am almost feeling back to normal. I get tired easily and there are little reminders of what my body's been through, but I am definitely on the road back to normal.
I ended up down about 20 lbs from where I was when I got pregnant. The other day I wanted to wear a real pair of pants for the first time in 9 months and realized now I need to go through my pile of like 25 pairs of pants/capris and figure out which ones actually fit me now. I have no idea! But, I'm not complaining! I will go back on Weight Watchers soon because I need to get back to healthy eating habits and I don't want to gain back the weight I've lost.
I can tell I'm feeling better because I've started making lists again and actually got some chores done around the house this weekend.
Justin was in Mexico last week from Tuesday night to Saturday night on the annual men's group mission trip for our church in Seattle. My Mom helped out Wednesday, then on Thursday Sam went to his other Grandma's house until Saturday night. It was really awesome to have two and a half days with just Danny and I for me to hang out with him and hold him and everything.
On Friday he had his 2 week checkup and it went well, then we went on our first outing to Target. I got tired out from walking around the store. Danny slept the whole time as long as the stroller was moving.
So, that's been life around here lately. Justin goes back to work full time starting Monday, and I'm a little nervous but I think I'll be okay. Luckily Sam has school Mon, Tue and Wed and maybe by Thursday I'll feel up to some kind of outing to a park or something.
So begins the day to day of life as a Mom of 2. Wish me luck!
He brought it home from school and I love the photo even though he's not smiling because the colors are brilliant.
In general, here is what we have been feeling like around here for the past couple of weeks:
I guess having a new baby around is exhausting for Sam too because he passed out on the couch after school the other day AND slept for 8 hours that night. Crazy. Note the awesome new yellow (his favorite color) shoes my Mom bought him.
So, we have a new baby. I had to take a picture of his perfect baby nails before I cut them.
So cute.
He is a really good baby so far. He likes to nurse (a lot) and sleep (a LOT). He has been having some trouble pooping, but that may have passed. Because today I changed a really grodie diaper and just as I was getting it under control he peed all over everything and I just started to laugh because it was like an out of control fire hose. Except, you know, small.
Sometimes, he wakes up and looks around.
But, not that often.
Sometimes, he sneezes and then he makes this 'uah!' noise afterwards as if to say 'what was that?!'
He went to the doctor on the 15th because we noticed that he had a tongue tie. It was severe enough that it was interfering with feeding - when he would suck his gum ridge was basically chomping on my nipple. FUN. Not. So we took him to get it looked at and they clipped it. He didn't like the thing that held his tongue in place, but other than that he was all right. I could feel an immediate difference in nursing and he's able to take a pacifier now, which is a good thing because he really likes to suck and if it was up to him he would just have my boob in his mouth all the time.
Speaking of which, the breastfeeding? Is only going so/so. If you don't know about my history with the boobs and the milk, check out this post. So, this time? I had something right away. BUT, not a lot. He usually falls asleep while nursing. There has not been much of a size increase, just a bit. I definitely have milk, just not enough to actually feed him. My midwife prescribed me Domperidone, which I didn't try last time. It seems to have increased my supply a tiny bit, but not much. He likes to nurse, but it's not sustaining him.
I am not sure what I am going to do. We have been supplementing him with formula since the day after he was born, only an ounce at a time then. But now he should be eating 3 oz or so every 3 hours when he wants to eat. So I've been nursing him on both sides then feeding him a bottle. It's sort of a Catch 22 because the more we supplement, the less he NEEDS from me. The good news is that he LIKES to nurse, so he'll do it even if he's had a recent bottle. He's getting what I have, which isn't much, but it's something. I have a months supply of the Domperidone and I'll probably finish that out and see what happens. My gut feeling is that I will probably not continue to breastfeed for too long unless my supply increases.
I am happy that things are going so much better than they did with Sam. I'm happy that Danny is getting SOMETHING from me. But I think that maybe my body just wasn't meant to make much milk. My midwife is amazing, very supportive but not pushy or anything. She is like the perfect medium. As she said, keep trying but if the tissue isn't there, it's just not there. And if not, we'll be okay. Either way, Danny is a happy boy. What's important to me is that he is not hungry, and that he gains weight like he's supposed to, which he hasn't been. He went down from 8 lb 3 oz to 7 lb 11 oz 2 days after birth and was the same at 11 days old. We go back to the doctor on Wednesday to get him weighed again, and hopefully he'll be making some progress.
The first week of recovery was REALLY hard for me. I had all kinds of problems and it was a stressful week with some things going on around the house. My stomach muscles were REALLY sore afterwards and I think I was sick, which caused bad stomach cramps and made the seperated muscles in my stomach really sore. Wrapping my stomach with an elastic back brace I have for about 24 hours improved that immensly. Two weeks in, I am almost feeling back to normal. I get tired easily and there are little reminders of what my body's been through, but I am definitely on the road back to normal.
I ended up down about 20 lbs from where I was when I got pregnant. The other day I wanted to wear a real pair of pants for the first time in 9 months and realized now I need to go through my pile of like 25 pairs of pants/capris and figure out which ones actually fit me now. I have no idea! But, I'm not complaining! I will go back on Weight Watchers soon because I need to get back to healthy eating habits and I don't want to gain back the weight I've lost.
I can tell I'm feeling better because I've started making lists again and actually got some chores done around the house this weekend.
Justin was in Mexico last week from Tuesday night to Saturday night on the annual men's group mission trip for our church in Seattle. My Mom helped out Wednesday, then on Thursday Sam went to his other Grandma's house until Saturday night. It was really awesome to have two and a half days with just Danny and I for me to hang out with him and hold him and everything.
On Friday he had his 2 week checkup and it went well, then we went on our first outing to Target. I got tired out from walking around the store. Danny slept the whole time as long as the stroller was moving.
So, that's been life around here lately. Justin goes back to work full time starting Monday, and I'm a little nervous but I think I'll be okay. Luckily Sam has school Mon, Tue and Wed and maybe by Thursday I'll feel up to some kind of outing to a park or something.
So begins the day to day of life as a Mom of 2. Wish me luck!
May 21, 2010
Celebrating with a Unique Gift
Our month of birthday posts continues with a super idea from Jill of Scary Mommy. Hers is one of the blogs I've been reading longest, and she always has great ideas and stories to make me laugh.
***
Happy Birthday to the Chef
Originally published May 2009
I also made up a few recipe cards with kid-friendly recipes and a label that can easily be personalized. {If anyone wants to snag this idea, you can find them here, here, here and here.} I printed them on card stock and trimmed and mounted them to be more durable. Then I wrapped it up with shrink wrap, a bow and another cookie cutter.
***
Happy Birthday to the Chef
Originally published May 2009
Since last year, every birthday boy or girl we’ve celebrated with received either an Arts & Crafts Bucket or Bath Time Bucket. I love making them, but they’ve now made the party circuit and I wanted to come up with a new staple gift that’s economical, unique and fun…
I present you with my Little Chef Bucket. I still had left over buckets, but when I run out I’ll use a bright mixing bowl instead. I filled them with a mini rolling pin, measuring cups and spoons, a box of sprinkles ($1.99-2.99 from Michael’s) and dollar store cookie cutters (10 for a dollar.)
I also made up a few recipe cards with kid-friendly recipes and a label that can easily be personalized. {If anyone wants to snag this idea, you can find them here, here, here and here.} I printed them on card stock and trimmed and mounted them to be more durable. Then I wrapped it up with shrink wrap, a bow and another cookie cutter.
May 19, 2010
The Journey of Birth
Today I'm excited to welcome another post written by Sheridan!
Sheridan Ripley is the author of the new book The Top Three Tips to Enjoy Your Birth. She is a proud VBAC mom of 3 busy boys, a Loving Lactivist, Hypnobabies Childbirth Educator, Hypno-Doula, Birth Video Editor, Positive Birth Story Collector and Birth Blogger.
Sheridan has too many (according to her kids) websites and blogs: Enjoy Birth (online and live classes), Pregnancy Birth and Babies (birth stories), Moms Deserve Medals, Birth Videos and Enjoy Birth Blog.
***
Birth is a Journey: Does it have to be life changing?
Originally published October 2009
Sheridan Ripley is the author of the new book The Top Three Tips to Enjoy Your Birth. She is a proud VBAC mom of 3 busy boys, a Loving Lactivist, Hypnobabies Childbirth Educator, Hypno-Doula, Birth Video Editor, Positive Birth Story Collector and Birth Blogger.
Sheridan has too many (according to her kids) websites and blogs: Enjoy Birth (online and live classes), Pregnancy Birth and Babies (birth stories), Moms Deserve Medals, Birth Videos and Enjoy Birth Blog.
***
Birth is a Journey: Does it have to be life changing?
Originally published October 2009
I think the answer depends.
Think about 3 different women who want to come to America.
- One woman might have to climb on an overfilled boat, risking her life and nearly dying as she escapes over the ocean to come to this land. This experience could certainly be life altering. It may very well color the rest of her life, positively or negatively. (I overcame this amazing struggle and here I am triumphant! OR Holy crap, that was SO hard I don’t know if I can go on! By the way, neither response is “right”. No one would judge the woman with the 2nd response.)
- One woman may buy an airplane ticket, sit on a comfortable 747 and fly to America with a nice smooth flight and landing. She is happy to be in America. Those welcoming her are glad she is here safe and sound. She may only travel by plane 2-4 times in her life, so it is pretty memorable. But the journey itself probably wouldn’t be life changing; it would simply be a journey.
- One woman may learn to fly an ultra-light plane to lead a flock of geese into America teaching them to migrate. This experience could certainly be empowering and life altering.
If you simplify different birth experiences I think they could fall into these 3 categories.
- a traumatic journey
- a normal journey
- a magical journey
I think hopefully most mom get at least the normal journey experience. I would love it if all moms got a magical birth. It would be awesome if no one had to experience a traumatic birth. As a Childbirth Educator and Doula that is what I hope for my moms – a magical birth or at least a normal birth. I try to help them avoid a traumatic birth.
A few key points to keep in mind when thinking about birth.
- Birth is unpredictable, no matter how much we prepare and plan, we can’t control it. There is an element of letting go and allowing that is part of the journey.
- We should still take time to prepare and plan and make CHOICES to help us have the best birth possible. That is part of the journey.
- We (birth workers, women, friends and family) need to respect the fact that birth can be life altering for some moms and babies.
- It is the MOM and baby who determine what type of birth they had. I have seen births I would label as traumatic, but mom found it to be a normal journey. I let her have that reality. I know some moms have what some would label a normal journey but mom found it to be traumatic. We need to support mom in that. Let her grieve and hopefully that will help her heal.
I am lucky and have had all 3 types of births.
Lucky because it helps me see both sides of the coin.
Lucky because it helps me better support my moms who have challenging births.
Lucky because 2 of the births DID shape who I am as a person.My first birth was traumatic and was certainly life changing and did set the tone of my mothering my oldest son. We both had a lot of emotions to deal with stemming from that birth. I can honestly say that almost 12 years later, I think we have both healed. My mothering Devon has been effected by so much more than his birth, but it really did color my mothering of him for many years.
Would we have a different relationship if Devon was born vaginally at full term, rather than by emergency cesarean and a preemie? I would think yes. If nothing else, I wouldn’t have spent our first 2 years together, going from Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy and Speech Therapy. So yes it did shape my mothering, but I think the choices and experiences we have shared together since his birth have continued to shape me as a mother.My second birth was just normal. Vaginal birth, epidural, hospital… a blissfully normal journey compared to that first birth. That birth didn’t really affect my mothering at all. However Post Partum Depression for 8 months after certainly set the tone of mothering Carson. It was a dark period of my life. I think the PPD did shape my mothering, but I think getting control of myself and pulling myself out changed me more. In the end it was a growing experience.
My third birth was magical. Vaginal, Hypnobabies, un-medicated, comfortable and enjoyable hospital birth. It changed who I AM certainly. Now I teach childbirth classes, I am a doula a lactation educator a birth activist. If I hadn’t had that birth experience I would certainly not be those things. (Well, probably still a birth activist in some form)Did it change me as a mother? It definitely empowered me as a woman. From that experience I feel stronger and more powerful. That in itself has probably changed my mothering to some extent. I think my experience raising my older boys certainly have a much larger effect on me as a mother. I am more laid back, accepting, loving, enjoying the moments with my “baby” and my 2 older boys.
The Journey from Pregnancy to Motherhood certainly CAN affect both mother and child. Birth is just one part of this journey. Their experience could affect their relationship and her mothering. I think birth has the power to be life changing. Most moms experience birth as a normal journey, certainly with cause for celebration and seen as a miracle, but they don’t feel it is a life changing experience for them.I think my job as a Childbirth Educator and Doula is to help moms have the best birth possible; sharing information, supporting them in the choices THEY make and then continue to help support them as they process the journey after their birth. I love supporting moms as they travel along their path.
Thanks to these blog posts for causing me to reflect on this topic.
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