If you know me you know I am huge advocate for natural childbirth.
Having given birth to three healthy kids I thought I’d share my experiences.
It was so hard for me to carry to term. Due to a hyper auto-immune
system and crazy hormones we’ve suffered seven losses. Just last year we
had a tiny son born before his time come into the world and leave it
before his first breath. We were given a 4% chance of ever having a baby, so my children are like precious gifts.
With our first- I wanted to have a home birth, but our family was too terrified, so we went with a hospital and doctor. We did the Bradley method classes with a wonderful midwife, made a birth plan, and went to a doctor that claimed to understand it all. Ha. (I won’t go into details on that one but let’s just say he wasn’t ideal and kept saying to hurry up so he could go duck hunting…)
The ONE good thing he did was let me carry my girl to term.
“Don’t you want to pick her birthday?” he asked. “Everyone is doing it.”
Emily, true to her nature, was stubborn and at 42 weeks still wasn’t going anywhere (despite castor oil and daily long walks.) So, the doctor induced (which I don’t recommend- Pitocin makes for horrific contractions when you are opting for no pain meds) and twelve hours later a beautiful, healthy, stubborn girl was born.
Second birth- we were going with a midwife/hospital birth but insurance changed and we had to switch to a doctor/hospital birth. The baby was breech. Also being stubborn he refused to turn when the doctor (yes, a different and wonderful one) tried to point him in the right direction. At 40 weeks I went to my acupuncturist to try and get him to turn and while on the table he moved into the “ready” position! The doctor decided that he wanted to induce at 41 weeks (again, I have to say Pitocin is not fun – I did have a epidural for him which I also don’t recommend because it was scary and didn’t help pain) and 12 hours later Max was welcomed into this world.
Third birth- I wanted the whole natural route with midwife at home. At 39 weeks I went to the acupuncturist again to start inducing me to prevent another hospital induction. It worked! A week later during one of the worst ice storms in ten years I went to bed with a little tummy ache, woke up thinking “Am I in labor?” and then decided I couldn’t be because- a) there was almost no pain, b)My midwife was in Japan and c) The baby wouldn’t come on Christmas eve, right? But… “honey, call the midwife chain just in case and put on the Hypnobirth CD…”
Sweet baby Jacob was born in the most beautiful, comfortable birth I can imagine. At home, at 40 weeks. Healthy and happy.
If you’re pregnant (or thinking of it) please remember that a baby carried to at least 39 weeks has a much better chance of making it without complications.
What can you do to prevent a pre-term (before 37 weeks) birth?
From my midwife:
“Best way to avoid preterm labor is eat enough protein,
especially deep sea fish all through pregnancy and most importantly
avoid infections of the vaginal canal. Smoking and bad nutrition can
lead to preterm labor also.”
What are my suggestions?
-Get pre-natal care right away. (Doctor or midwife)
-Eat right
-Ask friends, nurses, midwives, ladies on the playground, who they suggest as an OB
-Make sure to check out the Healthy Families website for wonderful information on pregnancy, early childhood development and more. You can also order a paper copy if you are someone who likes to have a book to highlight! 🙂 I can remember using this book during my first pregnancy and highlighting every step of the way!
Enter for a chance to win this great basket containing:
– Graco baby bag
– Pampers Swaddlers for newborns
– Winnie the Pooh baby blanket
– Thermometer
– Nipple cream
– Two pacifiers and a clothes clip
HOW DO I ENTER?
You can do most of the above by clicking the cute buttons in the top righthand corner too…
After seven years of blogging this is actually my first give-away so I’m going to be actually drawing a name the old fashioned way! Good luck!
*Disclaimer… I am not an expert and don’t claim to be. I was given this great bag of goodies to give-away by Healthy Families of Arkansas. None of the opinions expressed above are influenced by anything other than my own experiences. Winner will be drawn on Friday, 9th of November!
If you have a male child in your house you probably can sympathize with the shmuck I hear myself saying lately…
“No, we cannot play Minecraft at the dinner table.”
“I don’t want to hear another word about a Creeper.”
“Please don’t talk about making cow traps anymore.”
“No more computer for a week!”
“Yes, it is as hot as the Nether today.”
“Wait til I get your daddy to disconnect the X-Box!”
Their artwork for the school fundraiser was even of GLaDOS (from Portal.)
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| Yeah, Lovely isn’t she? |
They get so incredibly sucked in.
At our local Cub Scout camp I had to laugh when the geologist giving a talk about mineral hardness said diamonds were the hardest on the Mohs scale and the boys all looked confused and said “But what about Obsidian? Isn’t it harder?” (Minecraft strikes again…)
I honestly just don’t get it. (Of course, I can’t even play Mario without getting dizzy.)
I was thinking about how my generation (forty-ish’s) is probably the last one that just played outside. I mean “Back in My Day” video games were still played in a social settting. If you wanted to play the latest game you went to the arcade and met your buddies there. Your dollars would run out and you’d inevitably end up playing a game of kick-ball or football or something. Only the elite few had a game system in their houses and, let’s face it, the games were so incredibly boring no one wanted to stick around playing them for very long. Pong, anyone?
But, my brother’s generation was hooked. By the time he was a teen home game systems were already fairly elaborate. (But they still went outside!)
My kids? I have to unplug everything to get them to play outside. I honestly love the days when they are “in trouble” and have all technology taken away. (A lot lately.)
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| ThinkGeek.com |
If our generation had the technology our kids do would we still be the same?
Nope. I don’t think so.
I think instead of calling friends to ride bikes or swim, or go play “tennis ball” (our version of baseball with a tennis raquet- meant to prolong the game) we might have been sucked into the virtual worlds too. I probably would have been reading on a Nook or surfing the web (or blogging.) My buddies probably would be Minecraft or Portal freaks like my own kids. And cell phones? Wow.
Makes me a little scared. Makes me want to not connect the TV at the new house and secretly lose the games in the move.
Of course, I’d have to lose my iPad and computer too… (now who’s obsessed.)
Over one third of a year
inside me…
never
to see him smile
or
laugh
or
breathe,
my seventh
tiny
angel
flies away.
Three weeks ago we lost our tiny baby.
At 18 weeks he was born quietly, without the joyous celebration we had expected and wanted for him.
My pregnancy had been uneventful and smooth. There wasn’t a reason why he died the doctor said. Just another victim of my exaggerated immune system I imagine. When I think I don’t have any more tears they seem to find me.
In the car,
in the grocery store when I see the baby aisle,
when talking with someone as pregnant as I would be now,
when a friend calls to ask how the pregnancy is going…
Most recently at breakfast in a restaurant-
at the table next to us with two beautiful baby boys that looked like mine would have,
like his brothers did at that age, with beautiful fat baby cheeks and sweet blonde wisps of hair…
Grief is a strange animal.
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| Sunset View from the “Big Dam Bridge” |
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| Lights on Bridge |
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| My Boys Being Nice to Each Other! |
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| M and Cole playing in Riverfront Park (Oh, and he turned 9!) |
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| E- Listening at Dress Rehearsal |
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| J- Jumping at Field Day |