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simon and i are getting to be old pros at this by now.  we don’t go into the bathroom, dressing room or some other back room.  and i don’t cover him up, it’s way too hot to even think about that.  it’s been great so far and we’ve suffered no rude stares or comments (that i’ve noticed)  i’m lucky because i live in a community where people are very open to this sort of thing.  even if i didn’t though, it’s still the way we’d be doing it.

i’m eager to get involved with lactivism so that more mothers can feel absolutely normal and comfortable doing what’s best for their babies, wherever they are.

this is a great article about the subject.  some other great links to info can be found here.

i watched the business of being born for the third time the other night with a group of women interested in raising awareness of birth choices for women.  i saw the movie early in pregnancy, it moved me to really pursue the homebirth option.  then rick and i saw it near the end of my pregnancy, it made us really excited for what was to come.  watching it now with my boy in my arms was the most interesting.  i could now know what they were feeling and realize how very important it is for women to know their options in the birth process. 

we were so fortunate to be surrounded by great care during my labor and birth.  not everyone knows those opportunities exist.  you can have a wonderful labor and birth that are valuable on their own, in addition to the miraculous outcome of ending up with your baby at the end.  the labor and birth themselves are a process to be honored and enjoyed, not just something to get through to get to your baby.  if more women had this knowledge, access to midwives, doulas, etc.  i really think our outcomes would be so much better for both mother and child.

or maybe just separate pages.   i keep thinking i want to put serious stuff on this blog, yet i want to have a place to show off my dear boy too.  i’m thinking this should be the issues blog and another one should be the fun, look at my baby blog.  they don’t seem to mix in the same space.

breastfeeding that is.

my sweet boy and i had a beautiful sleepy side lying nursing session this morning. 

it is such a wonderful and empowering feeling to know that you have all you need to completely nourish your child right inside you.  luckily for me it’s going very smoothly.  if it weren’t though i would be determined and seeking out all the help that has been offered to me to make sure we tried everything to make it work because it is such a great experience and soooo perfect for growing a healthy child.

 

so either people are just really polite or i’ve done a pretty good job dealing with this whole pregnancy and birth thing (possibly some of both).  everyone’s been saying they’re amazed at how many things i’m doing, how i look, etc.  i must say, i also am quite surprised at how good i’ve felt.  people make the first 6 weeks sound like absolute hell.  i attribute a lot of it to a really healthy pregnancy.  so what did i do?

aside from the first 15 weeks of nonstop nausea…i would say my pregnancy was great.

i ate well, i’m a vegetarian so i already had a pretty good diet.  contrary to my normal self i didn’t crave sweets til the end, so my weight gain stayed within reason.  i did eat some fish here and there, just when i felt i needed a protein boost.

i was active, i walked a lot and did yoga once every week for 30 weeks

i read a lot and took a good birth class to educate myself about what was going on and what to expect

i hung out with a good friend and her baby who was born just as i found out i was pregnant.  i spent time with them at least every couple weeks for my whole pregnancy.  this got me really excited for being a mom and also eased some of the jitters of how to handle the holding, feeding, caring for stuff that i didn’t know anything about.

i have a super husband who was supportive and encouraging through the whole thing from the start.  he’s now turned into an even better dad than i imagined (and i was pretty sure he was going to be really great)

i planned a homebirth, feeling this was the simplest, safest, most natural way to have my baby.  it didn’t quite happen at home, but we sure tried, this made it a great experience for our whole family.

the labor was not as bad as i expected even though it lasted nearly 36 hours total.  there was never a time when i said “i can’t go on anymore”, just “i can’t go on like this and continue to do what i’d need to do down the line”.  my support team was amazing and kept me going, as did the goal of having my baby come into the world as naturally as possible.  it was a phenomenal experience and i can’t wait to do it again.

the postpartum period has been just fine, but i think it all goes back to what came before and continuing to be active.  i started walking outside 3 days postpartum, and going up and down the stairs immediately (because i could, some people cannot, so be careful).  i took homeopathics for the pain and swelling right away. 

my little frogman is a great baby, he sleeps well and has been nothing but healthy and happy the whole time (ok, little bouts of fussiness, but nothing that’ll make you pull your hair out).  i also dried, ground and encapsulated my placenta and took the capsules orally for a few weeks.  this is reported to help with recovery and post partum depression and i can say i think it must have.  i was/am a very likely candidate for ppd (i’m not out of the woods yet, but am feeling great so far) and i’ve had no issues whatsoever.

all in all i can’t complain about anything, the only thing i’ve really complained about is having too much milk and a baby who eats so much more than i ever imagined he would.  these are not problems, just really good things to get used to!

i love being a parent and look forward to all the great things in store for me.

 

 

well, i’m ready, time to start officially blogging, not just sort of blogging on other sites like i have been.

why u ask is it now time? well…

i’m a SAHM now so i’ve got some time.

i’m getting more & more passionate abut issues i want to share with folks.

everyone else is doing it.

i used to be a pretty decent writer and want to try again.

also, since everyone deserves to see & hear as much about simon as humanly possible, this is the best way to do it. 

we’ll see how it goes.