I'm not the exception

I am *not* the exception
I am the norm.My birth is normal~~unhindered~~standard~~regular~~easy~~simple.
It amazes me how when people hear about my birth experiences, they are amazed that a birth can be like that. They say things about how I must not have had contractions NEARLY like they did. They say things about how their birth was so painful that even the doctors were astonished by it. They say that I am so brave (or maybe so stupid to risk what I did).
Yes- it wasn't in a hospital. No doctor was there telling me to push when I didn't feel like it. No pelvic exams to check my dilation and progress. No emergency, no drugs, no nurses telling me to count to 10 and then blow. No c-section, no forceps, no episiotomy, no stitches. Just my husband and I along with a midwife who sat on the bed and watched. Its been 2 years since my first homebirth. It's been 2 years since I reached into the water, between my legs, and pulled the baby out and to my chest. I've loved telling my story and talking to women who are unlearned in this area. Educating a woman about her body and how it functions is a new found passion of mine. Isn't simply sad that women have truly no clue on how their body works. The brainwashing needs to stop. After learning about the history of obstetrics, it infuriates me to no end how these professionals feel the need to manage something unmanageable. Just recently Asia Carrera (who is a former porn star, true) had a UC (unasisted childbirth...no doctor, no midwife, NO ONE but her and her daughter). Her story is simply beautiful and perhaps she can enlighten the rest of the world in discovering how their own bodies can function. Of course, many will write her off because her former porn status. She is still a woman who reached deep within herself to deliver her baby into an environment that wasn't hostile and full of noise and lights. She birthed her baby on the floor in front of her fireplace! How truly romantic and peaceful!
Those of us who birth this way know that we aren't alone. We know that the homebirth idea is becoming more and more popular as women are seeing themselves as the empowered creatures that God created us to be. Yet to many, we are some strange breed of creatures. I hope that in the future, women will realize that deep within them lies a strength to birth in a new found way. That they will understand that the 'emergencies' they face in the hospital setting are often times CREATED by the hospital staff through the various interventions. Pitocin to speed things up, often cause such INTENSE contractions that epidurals become almost mandatory. Pitocin contractions don't cause the cervix to relax enough during contractions, which makes c-sections almost inevitable. Epiduals can often slow down labor and progress as well. When the female body is left to do what it knows to do, it normally functions in a way that delivers a beautiful baby with little effort and must ease. I am *not* the exception.

Where are the mice when I need them?

Today my husband and son are off on a long bike ride together. It's much needed father and son time but they keep sending me pictures of views along the way. It looks so nice, peaceful and relaxing, despite the work required for the ride. The girl who lives with us (takes care of the kids while my husband and I are in school) is laying outside in the hot Georgia sun, working on her tan. It must be nice to leave everything in this household up to me. While they are enjoying the weather, I'm washing and folding TONS of laundry, taking care of the other 4 kids, made everyone breakfast and lunch, then cleaned up those messes, getting ready to start dinner, etc. I feel like Cinderella when she got the invitation to the ball. She was so excited and then her evil stepmother and stepsisters gave her tons of chores to do with an 'understanding' that if she got it all done, she could go to the Ball as well. Cinderella knew it'd never get done and knew her time wasn't coming. She'd never get to go and her "me" time and enjoy the Ball. Then the mice came along. They helped her prepare a beautiful dress (although her sisters later destroyed it). They helped her in her work. Where are the mice when I need them? When will my time come to go out and just blow off an entire day? Why does it seem that the world goes on for everyone, except a mom. Sure, when I mention this to DH, he'll tell me to go and have some time alone. About the time I get to Starbucks to enjoy a White Chocolate Mocha with an extra shot of espresso, he'll call to ask where the diapers are. Shortly after that he'll call and say that one of the kids is poopy. Before long, my whole time alone is filled with all the problems of the day, followed by a phone call asking when I'll be home cause the kids are hungry. The world would have stopped for Wicked Stepmother and Stepsisters if it wasn't for Cinderella. 'It's the end of the world as they knew it' when she stood up and took time for herself. Life would completely have fallen apart. Thank goodness the mice helped her out and she was able to have that moment at the Ball. Her life changed when she was given that few minutes to herself. It's something that we all need. We all need to find that time alone and be refreshed. We all need time where we aren't bothered with the hassles of life and can just focus on ourselves. As moms, we give and give and give to everyone else and have little left over for us. I want to work out, lay in the sun, become the woman I want to. I want to lose weight, dress nice, be the cute girl that my husband fell in love with. I want to captivate him, entice him, draw him in in ways I haven't done since I was 18. Instead, my boobs have fallen, my stretchmarks are ever present, my hair is a mess, there are spots on my shirt. I want to be like my babysitter laying out in the sun, going on her daily runs, just to keep up her girlish figure. I want to go to the library like she did yesterday, just to get away. I want to have girlfriends to just go and have dinner with. But life is here and my life is a different reality. Someday, my mice may come and my Fairy Godmother may wave her magic wand and my husband will be the Prince Charming that swept Cinderella off her feet. For now, I'll just sit and look at my pumpkin and dream of the day it's a beautiful carraige. My life is good. My kids are amazing. My husband really is adoring. My home is nice and my bills are paid. What more can a girl REALLY ask for? It's not always the fairytale that we dream it to be, but it's always good to know that we really are a princess at the core. Keep dreaming of the day your chariot comes. Keep dreaming of the day you waltz with your prince. Keep dreaming of the day your life becomes what you always dreamed it would be. It'll come....if you just keep believing.

Know your rights RE: vaccinations

Did you know that while all states say it is mandatory to have your child immunized, that it really isn't mandatory? Did you know that all 50 states have waivers of some form or another? This is something that school systems don't let you know when you go in to register your child.

Remedies for Morning Sickness

Now that you are experiencing some of the normal symptoms of pregnancy, you are probably also feeling some affects of morning sickness as well. You are probably ready to find a solution or feeling like you need to just 'give up' because you don't see an end in sight. What you are normal. Most women experience some sort of nauseau and other affects of morning sickness in their first trimester. A few will have it through their entire pregnancy. You are now scouring the internet, looking for a solution. Here are a few things that might help.

Ginger-
One of the best solutions found is ginger, which has been used as a remedy for thousands of years.

Unassisted Birth Info For Dad

If you are considering an unassisted homebirth, one of the biggest challenges that could face you is making sure that your significant other is on board with the idea. Men often have every possible misconception in their head about birth and are full of questions and fear about how natural of a process birth really is. For me, it was the other way around. My husband wanted me to do my last birth unassisted and I couldn't get over my own hangups about it. While I am not a fearful person at all when it comes to birth, I still had the nagging "what if's" that kept creeping in. I then had a couple different dreams that I was completely alone when I had my baby and decided I needed to prepare. I started educating myself about it and get comfortable with the idea. In my mind, it started to become the perfect birth to me...me alone in my room, calling my husband at work a bit later to tell him that I had had the baby. The night I delivered, it turned out I DID have an unassisted birth. The birth happened too quickly and my midwife missed it by 10 minutes. I learned so much in that process that if I were to decide to have another baby, I would most definitely do it unassisted.

My story will probably differe dramatically from yours and you will need to help coax your husband along. You will need and want to work together as a team in the birth process more than likely and so having him in agreement on your decision is one of the first steps. Today while surfing online, I found that the unassisted birth site has a great section for fathers. This is a great point to start him on his journey! I hope that someone can find this link useful.

I look forward to reading your unassisted birth stories in the future!!!

http://www.unassistedhomebirth.com/fathers/

Been MIA

Man, where have I been? I haven't posted in quite awhile...and I was doing so good too. I hope that I still have at least a couple people who will stop by here and read these blogs as I write them. I'm going to try again.

So, where have I been? Well, I think I mentioned before about us moving to GA in June so my husband and I can go to chiropractic college. Well, he left 7 weeks ago to start his first quarter down there, leaving me with 5 kids and to pack up our house and move. 3 1/2 weeks ago I got the house packed up in PODS containers and they are in storage and the kids and I are staying with my parents. Tim has really journeyed hard the last 5 weeks while in classes as he never 'learned how to learn' while in high school and is now learning that. He was so excited yesterday to get an A on his biology test. Not only was it an A, but he tied wtih one other person as the highest grade in the class and ended up setting the curve for everyone else! I'm so proud of him. He's worked so hard to get that A and has never before in his life seen such an achievement in school. It sounds so simple to most of us, but if you are one who has struggled with school, being given all sorts of 'labels' along the way and constantly fighting just for a C, you understand what he's accomplished in that.

Anyways, I'll be doing my best to get more things on here and keep this blog moving again. I'm really looking forward to writing in it again and hope that my readers will find this one of their normal stops in the blog world.

Kelly

I've been bad

Man, where have I been? I haven't posted in quite awhile...and I was doing so good too. I hope that I still have at least a couple people who will stop by here and read these blogs as I write them. I'm going to try again.

So, where have I been? Well, I think I mentioned before about us moving to GA in June so my husband and I can go to chiropractic college. Well, he left 7 weeks ago to start his first quarter down there, leaving me with 5 kids and to pack up our house and move. 3 1/2 weeks ago I got the house packed up in PODS containers and they are in storage and the kids and I are staying with my parents. Tim has really journeyed hard the last 5 weeks while in classes as he never 'learned how to learn' while in high school and is now learning that. He was so excited yesterday to get an A on his biology test. Not only was it an A, but he tied wtih one other person as the highest grade in the class and ended up setting the curve for everyone else! I'm so proud of him. He's worked so hard to get that A and has never before in his life seen such an achievement in school. It sounds so simple to most of us, but if you are one who has struggled with school, being given all sorts of 'labels' along the way and constantly fighting just for a C, you understand what he's accomplished in that.

Anyways, I'll be doing my best to get more things on here and keep this blog moving again. I'm really looking forward to writing in it again and hope that my readers will find this one of their normal stops in the blog world.

Kelly