tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86690655845772961862024-03-05T20:12:09.296-08:00Desert Rose Natural WellnessUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8669065584577296186.post-31236855416614462932014-05-18T16:40:00.000-07:002014-05-18T16:40:49.659-07:00What has happened during my week off of Facebook.A week ago I signed off from Facebook and deleted my shortcuts and bookmarks. It was kind of a mental health break for myself, I'd started to not like the person I was turning into as I peeked into other people's lives on Facebook and almost started to judge myself through the perspective of other people in other situations.<br />
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Now, a week later, I'm looking at a lot of things from a much more balanced and healthy perspective. It's been a busy week in many ways, and stressful things have happened, but without having the crutch of being able to vent about my stress on Facebook, I've been getting back in touch with some of my favorite (and healthier) ways to regain balance and peace when things get chaotic. Even just little things like a nice cup of herbal tea or reading a couple of paragraphs in a good book. Things that feel REAL, instead of that kind of creepy feeling of living vicariously through other people's experiences.<br />
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Here are some of the things that have happened in my life over the past week.<br />
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<ul>
<li>I've read a LOT of books. Mostly to my kids, but I've been turning to my books more and more, which is nice because <b>I've always been a bookworm and I've come to believe that I "don't have time" to read.</b> But even just sitting down to read with my kids more often has been really nice, for all of us.</li>
<li><b>My phone has needed to be charged every day.</b> This is new to me! Normally I charge it every 3 or 4 days. It's getting a lot more use, since being off Facebook means a lot more texting and calling to keep in touch with people! And there are still more people I'm wanting to check in with.</li>
<li>I've written. Not blog posts, in particular, but actual work. Chapters of books I started months ago that have been sitting untouched, and very early work (outlines, mostly) of articles that I plan to finish writing and actually try to sell. <b>Like a real grown up writer.</b> It's been over two years since I had any paid writing work, so it feels a little awkward as I ease back into it but I'll get there.</li>
<li>We've done a lot with organizing the house to be baby safe, because our little Baby Bear started crawling and hasn't stopped moving since then. She took a few tentative paces forward, and then did it again, and then woke up the next morning crawling EVERYWHERE. Nothing holds this little girl back. So <b>we've been working on setting up "baby stations" all around the house, while getting things that are unsafe up and out of her reach.</b> The boys are so protective of her, so this is a project they've helped with very willingly.</li>
<li>We've had some unexpected days off from school for Bug. It was for a scary reason (wildfires, near our part of the county but thankfully still some distance from our town) but it was still nice to have him home and have that time with him. This mama is so ready for summer break to start!!</li>
<li><b>I've spent a lot more time being in touch with a good friend of mine here in town, an absolutely wonderful woman whom I've known since our oldest kids were in kindergarten, but who has more recently become a very dear friend of mine. </b>Words can't even express how much she has meant to me! When I was struggling with depression on and off over the past few months, leading up to this time when I've decided to sort of hit the "reset" button and step back into my bubble, she has always been there reaching out to me and offering friendship and a helping hand and love, and that has helped so much!</li>
<li>Cooking! So much cooking!! <b>I've taken away the temptation for myself to go <i>"grumble grumble grumble, I just made dinner last night for these people and I've cooked them meals all day and I've got to feed them again?? Hey, what's your family having for dinner? Oh that looks good. Hey, you get to eat shrimp and I've had a craving for shrimp for weeks but it hasn't gone on sale, now I'm kind of jealous that you get to eat what I want. Hey, why do YOU get to have takeout? I want to have takeout. Grumble grumble grumble."</i> You know?? I know you feel me, we've all been there on some level. I hope. Please tell me I'm not the only one.</b> Anyway, so much cooking! I've made a lot of yummy dinners lately and I've been proud of the way I've been stretching food, using leftovers, planning several meals at once, budget shopping and so on. Amazing what I can accomplish when I put my full energy into our meals, instead of putting half of that energy towards procrastinating and wishing I was eating other people's food!</li>
<li>We've spent a LOT of time hashing out this car situation and trying to make a decision. Something needs to happen, because our old Subaru has so many things going on with it that it either needs to be retired or have an enormous amount of work put into it, and one of those things needs to happen NOW. We got an incredibly generous offer from my dad, who said that he wants to add to our car budget. He thinks that the plan that makes the most sense is to get a second vehicle, so that we can stop this terrifying juggling of one old and very tired car that is threatening to die completely, and he said that he wants to help make that happen for us. We were shocked and surprised and overjoyed, because this is something that will make a HUGE difference for our family. <b>So we're back to shopping for a second car, with the plan that as soon as we find one, we'll start looking for another one so we can retire this poor old Subaru. It's going to be a big year for cars in our household!</b> And I'll be honest, shopping for two new cars back to back and all of the change that is going to bring about, is kind of wreaking havoc with my anxiety. But I feel like I'm managing it much better than I have for a long time.</li>
<li>Baby Bear and I went up together to tell the "Time for all ages" story during the church service this morning. It was so sweet to talk to all the kids as they gathered around us, and <b>it really touched my heart how many people told me afterward that they love watching her and our older kids growing up in the congregation. </b>The connections we're making at our church really make it feel like home, and from my own perspective of remembering how much my high school youth group and the rest of the congregation meant to me, and how influential some of them were in my life, it makes me feel deeply thankful to have found this kind of spiritual home for our family.</li>
</ul>
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I think that's about it, as far as major events. I'm missing the friends I keep in touch with only on Facebook, so definitely planning to sign on to go through my notifications soon and see what people are up to, but I have to be careful because it still feels too easy to get back into the habit of being on there way too much. It snuck up on me, I used to be much busier outside of the house and I don't have a "smart phone" so naturally I wasn't online as much, but since we've moved farther away from town and I'm spending much more time at home than I used to, it's been too easy for me to keep going back to the screen. <b>Just to see that picture, just to check that notification, just to see the latest things in the news feed - well, it all adds up, not only in terms of time in a day but also in terms of my personal energy.</b> It had become an energy drain, so that I had less to give to other areas of my life.</div>
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Some time soon I'll get a better sense of balance and I'll be on there more often again. But for now I'm giving much needed attention to many other areas of my life, and I'm feeling pretty good about that choice.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8669065584577296186.post-72495143878550578852014-05-16T23:58:00.000-07:002014-05-16T23:58:21.525-07:00Period of introspection.For almost the past week I've been taking a break from Facebook. It's been refreshing in a surprising kind of way. Since I'm cut off from being able to distract myself by peeking in on other peoples lives via my news feed, I've had to do some very real work looking at myself and my life and my own beliefs and priorities.<br />
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Six months ago we moved to a new home, and in almost every way it was a very positive move for our family. We're now in a much safer and more family friendly neighborhood, the children are growing up surrounded by animals and gardens and nature instead of pavement and dead grass, and they can run and play and use their imaginations and roam outside and do all of the wonderful things that little boys can do, without being limited by the restrictions where we used to live. Today while talking with a friend, I suddenly realized that here we feel comfortable sleeping with the windows open after a hot day, while at our old place I couldn't sleep without checking that they were all locked. So it's been a very positive thing for our family. But we have been a one car family for the past five years, and moving farther out from town to a nice rural area meant that I lost the ability to just load up the kids into the stroller and walk down Main Street to do whatever we felt like doing.<br />
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I'm a Sagittarius. I'm a wanderer, I can't help it, it's just who I am. I get terribly restless and require changes of scenery to keep my brain and my body active. A great deal of the support system I'd built for myself, building up our new home and new life out here in California, was based on what I was able to walk to, so within a mile and a half or so from where we lived. Not only was I the fittest I've been in my adult life, with all the walking, but I had a steady stream of stuff to keep us busy. Play dates at the playground, story and craft groups and children's yoga at the library, iced coffee and conversation at my favorite coffee shop, cheap produce-of-the-day at the little corner grocery store. You get the idea, it wasn't anything super exciting or elaborate, but it was what I kept myself and the kids busy with every day.<br />
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But out here at our new place, I've been busy for the past couple of months throwing myself a giant pity party. It's very quiet and peaceful out here, and there are gorgeous walks around the neighborhood and horses and dogs to visit and lots of wildlife to see, but I've let myself get stir crazy out of regret for what I don't have anymore. I miss the things that I used to do, but it's gotten to the point where that has interfered with my ability to be peaceful and present right here and now. So a few days ago I decided that I've had enough, and I cut myself off. I posted a status saying that I was taking a break, it was nothing personal to do with anybody, just something I needed to do, and I signed off. I deleted my shortcuts and deleted it from my frequent pages list. And it's been good for me.<br />
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Over the past few days I've been realizing that I often use negative words such as "boring" or "slow" or "same old" to describe my life and the things I do, but that's not true at all. However, when I spend my free time scrolling through my Facebook feed and seeing posts about people traveling to interesting places, dining out at places that don't have a children's menu, or - to be perfectly honest - even just being able to load up in the car and go run errands without needing to wait for their significant other to get home, I can't help but start to compare what I'm doing with what they're doing. And it's not right, and not fair to myself or to my family and friends, so while I do miss seeing the updates about what my loved ones are doing, and all the beautiful photos of babies and special moments and loved ones, I realize that I truly needed this time to get myself in check.<br />
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This is MY journey, this is not anybody else's journey, and I can't compare myself to anyone else because this story is only our own. A year ago it was still a struggle to keep enough food in the house and we were still visiting the food pantry from time to time for some extra help, so to spend so much time feeling sorry for myself for not having a second car was unreasonable. We're finally in a position where, for the first time, all of The Man's income covers all of our expenses. We still have to be more tight in the grocery budget than I particularly care for, but we can feed ourselves without help. We don't have the fastest speed of internet available but we don't have to choose between paying the internet and paying the phones anymore. A couple of people I have great love and respect for have told me that I'm pushing too hard for something that's not ready to happen, and it's true. So even though on some level I truly believed that I needed to check in on Facebook every day to see all of the latest updates, I've discovered that life has gone on just fine without me knowing what's going on.<br />
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It's not permanent, but I'm not sure when I'll go back on and start reading my news feed and sharing posts again. There's not really a particular goal I'm striving for or any concrete way to measure the results of my Facebook hiatus, but I figure that as long as I'm content and able to distract myself out of the desire to sit and scroll through the latest posts, I'll just stick with it for another day. That's really where I am with it at this point, one day at a time. I'm remembering that my life isn't "boring" or "slow" or "same old" at all, and there are very important reasons why we've made the choices we've made along the way. Why we've decided that me being here with our kids right now is more important than having vacations or expensive dinners or new cars. And my wonderful husband has been here, while I've been in my funk feeling sorry for myself, pointing out that the things our kids have learned in their lives, they've learned from me. The way they are proud and confident, kind to animals and to other people, trusting, intelligent (and lots of questioning authority, does that sound like anyone you know?) And he's been reminding me that even though they haven't gotten to their playgroups or the playground for a few months now, they're still here with me and getting all of the care and love and nurturing in all of the ways that are very important to our family.<br />
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So this is me, retreating into my little bubble, focusing on my beautiful children and our home and my close circle of friends and family outside of Facebook. And our part of the state has been scorching with an intense and early start to wildfire season, so it's been tempting to go on there as an easy source for local news, but then at the same time I realize that my anxiety peaks during intense and scary situations where I keep on reading stories from other people who are freaked out. The hysteria builds easily, and just because it's over a social networking site doesn't make it any less of a crowd mentality situation. I've been getting my information about the fires directly from the Cal Fire website and sometimes going directly to the CBS website for news summaries, and keeping in touch by phone with local friends. My anxiety, after spending the past couple of months slowly building up as I spun around in frustration, is finally melting away and I'm finding my peaceful place again, so being aware of Facebook being a possible trigger for that is a huge deal for me.<br />
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This time has been helping me regain some much needed balance and grounding in my life. So while I am sending love to all of my friends and family, I'm still not quite in a place where I'm ready to get back into it, and I'm finding each day that I have plenty to do to keep myself very busy. This time has been good for me and it's been good for my kids, and at the end of the day, in my own life on my own journey, those are the things that matter the most.<br />
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Plus, I'm taking the time to work on my writing. Real writing, several different projects, and I'm feeling very fulfilled by that. And I had a great time organizing my Pinterest boards! You can't go wrong with productive writing sessions and Pinterest.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8669065584577296186.post-15735824223459957902014-04-26T23:17:00.000-07:002014-04-26T23:17:40.563-07:00Hmm, we need an accountant and a lawyer.As I plug away working on the business plan for the holistic health center we're dreaming of, and study the rules for becoming a non-profit organization,<b> I'm realizing two things - we need an accountant, and we need a lawyer. </b>Handling money (and pretty much anything to do with numbers) is not my strong suit, so while I have the best of intentions and a clear vision for how this whole thing needs to be set up, somebody who is specifically trained in handling money should give their professional insight before we get started. Same thing goes for the lawyer. I want to make sure we're following the law along the way so we don't run into problems later, and especially where health care is concerned I just want to make sure we're doing everything the way we are required to. There will be a lot of legal documents along the way and I want to have someone who speaks that language on our team.<br />
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So just to put this out there, if you or someone you know has financial or legal expertise and an interest in holistic, natural health care, and would be willing to collaborate and share your insight on this project, we would be so very appreciative. It would have to be pro bono at this point but when we are up and functioning and have a budget to work with these will be available as paid positions! Nobody wants to work for free but maybe there are a couple of people out there with these qualifications who can share our vision for <b>a beautiful, rural setting with several small, quaint office buildings where natural health practitioners such as naturopaths, massage therapists, midwives, counselors, and more can meet with their clients in a peaceful environment that is far from the typical medical office atmosphere. Surrounded by community gardens and areas for group events, where clients pay one low monthly co-op fee and have access to a wide variety of holistic practitioners, to promote a lifestyle of wellness and disease prevention, using more natural options when some kind of treatment is necessary. A birth center with full-time midwives and on-staff doulas, a center for pregnancy care, natural birth, and postpartum care for the mothers of Ramona and the surrounding communities. Sliding scale payment options to make natural health care an affordable choice for low income people, as well as a full time on-site case manager to help coordinate services and support for individuals and families who need it.</b> If this is something you believe our community would benefit from, something you have an interest in and would like to help make it a reality, please take a moment to fill out this form and let us know how you'd like to help. Even if you don't know the first thing about accounting or legal documents, if you have an idea for how you can help with this, we'd really love to hear it.<br />
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<a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1opnOh4Iwgm5K5TXb0bxacDOa0-XCXoDJ4RP5UZh6X1g/viewform?usp=send_form" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">Click here</span></a> for the form where you can enter your contact info and what you want to help with. So far everyone we've talked to about this idea has been very supportive and positive, and I truly believe that we can make this happen!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8669065584577296186.post-19341404745130873012014-04-12T15:37:00.003-07:002014-04-12T15:37:57.553-07:00My dream - a health care and birth co-operative.For years now, since my pregnancy with our second child, I have had this little idea in the back of my brain that has grown and taken different shapes and forms, and sometimes I haven't thought much of it for long stretches of time but it's always there. It's a combination of some of my biggest passions - <b>holistic health, natural birth, community-style living and work, family support, good quality health care available to ALL people</b> - and the best part is that my husband is fully on board and supportive of this plan. So after a great deal of discussion and brainstorming, we've decided that it's time to put one foot in front of the other and start moving forward towards this plan, even if it's at a snails pace. We have a name and a vision and even a pretty solid plan that we've talked out, so I don't feel like we're flying blind. I'm not fooling myself into thinking it will be easy - in fact I think it will be a ton of very hard work. But we're ready to try!<br />
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What I'm envisioning is a large piece of land where we can set up multiple buildings, where we can live and also where we can have office space to rent out. My main vision is of <b>a health center with a focus on pregnancy and birth, but I'd love to be able to offer whole life services</b> if we can get enough interest and participation from providers. We would provide a beautiful space - complete with community vegetable gardens, workshops, and other activities to get people together and helping each other - <b>where natural health care providers can come together to serve clients, outside of the standard idea of a hospital or clinic.</b> A place where we can come together to promote wellness and good health, and take a holistic approach to managing health care by making it easy for the entire team to come together to help the ENTIRE client. Are you feeling me? I'm very excited about this, and I'm even more excited about how into it my husband is! I can see this being something our whole family would work together on.<br />
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<b>One place for your natural health care.</b> This plan originated when I learned about The Farm in Tennessee, the midwifery center which was started by the wonderful Ina May Gaskin, a pioneer in modern midwifery in the US. <b>As soon as I learned about what she does, I wanted to create a place similar to that where women and their families could come to ease into a comfortable and safe place for birth, a haven where they would have access to midwives, doulas, maybe aromatherapists, massage therapists, counselors, and more.</b> And yes, recently I've gotten into the show Private Practice (late to the party, as usual!) and I love the idea of a health care co-operative. <b>Expanding beyond pregnancy and birth services and offering options to all age ranges - pediatrics, family practice, in my wildest dreams even hospice services</b>, because I believe that we all deserve a peaceful birth and a peaceful death.<br />
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Services to support the entire life span. Workshops, not only about health and wellness related topics, but also about good old fashioned life skills. <b>Community gardens, and workshops where we can learn how to work in the gardens and what to do with the food we harvest from them.</b> Cottage style homes so that we could offer the different practitioners an on-site place to live, or at least a comfortable place to stay while waiting on a laboring mama. <b>Birthing rooms, or birthing cottages, where the entire family can be comfortable for the whole duration of labor</b>, where supportive and safe people are on premises to help care for the older children while the parents work through labor and birth together. <b>The ability to have sliding scale payments or bartering services so that low income families can have access to the same good quality health services. </b><br />
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This is an enormous plan and feels overwhelming, but we'll never get anywhere by sitting and thinking about it, so after a great deal of discussion we've decided to go for it. And it still feels overwhelming, and I'm still not quite sure how to get it going, but we've been gathering lots of information about how to create a nonprofit organization and we're slowly heading down that path.<br />
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What we need now is to know who will be enthusiastic and supportive of this plan with us. Who will our supporters be? Anyone who would want to be involved with a project like this. A practitioner, a client, a lawyer, an activist, or "just" a caring community member. And ultimately we'll need to start fundraising. <b>It will be slow going because I will be carefully looking into laws and regulations at each step along the way to make sure that we're doing things properly right from the start.</b> But I believe in this plan. I believe that this is something that will fulfill a major need, and I believe that it is possible to make this happen. I believe that it will be a TON of work, but that it will be well worth it when we see it take shape.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8669065584577296186.post-82965293120397565412014-04-11T23:22:00.000-07:002014-04-11T23:22:00.603-07:0021 reasons to say NO to Pitocin.Here's one that I've seen shared on many different sites over the past couple of years. Very proud to say that I was the original author of this one. :)<br />
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Have you ever read the </span><a href="http://www.jhppharma.com/products/PI/June-11-2008/Pitocin-Full-Prescribing-Information.pdf" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">package insert for Pitocin</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">? It’s a fascinating read. Did you know that the manufacturer of Pitocin, JHP Pharmaceuticals, actually wrote a really sensible list of recommendations and warnings for the use of this drug? </span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-879f2661-548f-1b6a-0223-ab7fe934b756" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Given the current nationwide epidemic of Pitocin abuse, I started reading this document with my hackles up, expecting to be annoyed - but it wasn’t long before I became surprised by what I was reading. JHP Pharmaceuticals didn’t create this drug to hurry up the labor experience for normal, healthy women. In fact, the package insert warns against the use of Pitocin induction when it’s not medically indicated. The Indications and Usage section opens with a framed important notice that reads “Elective induction of labor is defined as the initiation of labor in a pregnant individual who has no medical indications for induction. Since the available data are inadequate to evaluate the benefits-to-risks considerations, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pitocin is not indicated for elective induction of labor.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">”</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There you have it, straight from the manufacturer. Pitocin isn’t even meant to be used for induction when there’s not a medical need for it. According to these instructions, there are specific situations which warrant the use of Pitocin. Maternal diabetes, Rh problems, preeclampsia at or near term, certain cases of uterine inertia (ineffective contractions during true labor), or situations where the water has already broken are listed as examples when Pitocin may be used appropriately. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here’s another warning from the package insert that caught my eye. “</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When properly administered, oxytocin should stimulate uterine contractions comparable to those seen in normal labor.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” That was really surprising to me. I thought it was an unavoidable fact, that Pitocin-induced contractions are simply longer and stronger than naturally occurring contractions. That’s been the common knowledge among women I’ve spoken to about this subject. A </span><a href="http://www.childbirth.org/articles/pit.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">huge percentage of women</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> who have given birth naturally and also with Pitocin say that their Pitocin births were more painful. As it turns out, artificially long or strong contractions are associated with overdose of this drug, not the recommended dosage.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here are 21 more reasons why most women should say no to Pitocin, brought to you by - the manufacturers of Pitocin. Each of these warnings comes from the </span><a href="http://www.jhppharma.com/products/PI/June-11-2008/Pitocin-Full-Prescribing-Information.pdf" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">package insert</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/F0b94zcmojE6JDmhguikqlADssYUiPUBRcT3KU8abBGcmYnp3lIam_4keA4ao1XsKnaCRBkwFu_n7Twh6GEK9B9xjt70Di_HnilOKsVCptouX66dgjPhjtSLasM" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640px;" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/F0b94zcmojE6JDmhguikqlADssYUiPUBRcT3KU8abBGcmYnp3lIam_4keA4ao1XsKnaCRBkwFu_n7Twh6GEK9B9xjt70Di_HnilOKsVCptouX66dgjPhjtSLasM" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0rad); border: none;" width="480px;" /></a></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">21. Induction with Pitocin requires constant fetal monitoring</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, but external monitoring is inaccurate. The best way to monitor the baby’s heart rate is by using an internal monitor called a Fetal Scalp Electrode that is attached the top of the head, through the cervix. It’s very invasive and can be quite painful (for mother AND for baby) to have one of these inserted, and there have been reports of babies being cut, scraped, and even receiving eye injuries from the device. Either form of fetal monitoring limits the laboring woman's ability to move as needed.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">20. Pitocin should not be used when there is a predisposition to uterine rupture</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, as is the case when a woman has had uterine surgery such as a prior c-section. The sad fact, though, is that there are many hospitals and OBs that will not “allow” a woman to attempt a VBAC unless she agrees to an induction and close monitoring.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">19. Nausea and vomiting</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> are some of the most minor symptoms on the manufacturer’s list of possible drug reactions.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">18. Pitocin, just like any drug, can cause a severe allergic reaction called </span><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001847/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">anaphylaxis</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, which causes hives, difficulty breathing and swallowing, heart palpitations, and can lead to death.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">17. There is an increased risk of postpartum hemorrhage</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> after Pitocin-augmented births.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">16. Pitocin can disrupt the normal heartbeat of the mother</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, causing reactions such as cardiac arrhythmia or </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premature_ventricular_contraction" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">premature ventricular contractions</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">15. Another risk of Pitocin is pelvic hematoma</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, a blood clot or even larger area of blood in the soft tissue of the pelvis.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">14. Pitocin has an antidiuretic effect on the body</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, meaning it increases the absorption of water. This leads to the risk of water intoxication, especially when there are additional fluids such as saline in the IV or lots of water to drink. There have been cases of women suffering severe cases, including coma and even death, during labor.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">13. Pitocin can cause a hypertensive episode in the mother.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> This basically means a sudden surge in blood pressure,and if the elevation is severe it can cause a heart attack or stroke. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">12. Fatal afibrinogenemia is another listed side effect of Pitocin.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> In everyday language, this translates to slow, uncontrollable bleeding that results in death.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">11. Women have died from uncontrolled high blood pressure, bleeding on the brain, water intoxication, hemorrhage, and uterine rupture</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> after the use of Pitocin during the first and second stages of labor.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">10. There have been no studies to examine the carcinogenicity or mutagenicity of Pitocin.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> In layman’s terms, we have no idea if this drug causes cancer or causes cells to change in any way.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">9. We have no idea what kind of effect Pitocin has on a woman’s future fertility</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, let alone the fertility of her newborn baby. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">8. The deaths of babies, for a variety of reasons, have been associated with the use of Pitocin</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> during labor.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">7. Pitocin has been associated with heart problems in the newborn</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, such as bradycardia (slow heartbeat), premature ventricular contractions, and other arrhythmias. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">6. Cases of permanent damage to the newborn’s brain or central nervous system</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> have been documented as a result of Pitocin-induced births.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">5. Pitocin during labor is associated with low scores on the five minute Apgar test</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the newborn exam that looks at alertness, respiratory, and circulatory health.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">4. Retinal hemorrhage, a common symptom of shaken baby syndrome</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, can be caused by the physical force of a Pitocin-induced birth.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3. Increased risk of newborn jaundice</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is associated with Pitocin.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2. Hypertonic (excessively strong) contractions, and tetanic (prolonged) contractions</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> are some of the most common side effects of Pitocin overdose. If the contractions are coming so fast that there’s no resting time in between, the dose is too high. And this leads to my number 1 reason to say no to this drug, because it seems that far too often an inappropriately high dosage is given.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1. Overdose of Pitocin is characterized by an even more frightening list of symptoms</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, including cervical and vaginal lacerations, deceleration of the baby’s heart rate, postpartum hemorrhage, fetal hypoxia (oxygen deprivation), and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">even organ failure and death</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in the mother or baby. It’s chilling to me, to realize that the long list of complications before this paragraph are in regards to normal doses of Pitocin, and there is a separate section to discuss the problems with overdosing.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pitocin, just like any of the pharmacological drugs we have available to us, is an important and sometimes lifesaving tool, but like any drug or medical procedure, it must be used with caution. The list of dangerous or even fatal complications is very long, and this list doesn’t even mention some possible lifelong implications of this drug, such as the suggested link between Pitocin and autism. There are always risks when we interfere with the natural process of pregnancy and birth, and these risks must be considered carefully when an option like Pitocin induction is on the table. It’s almost always possible to wait a while longer to let nature take its course, but once the induction is underway the options become more and more limited as the urgency of the situation grows.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Was Pitocin involved in any of your births? Do you feel you were well aware of the risks associated with it?</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">image credit: </span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/timsamoff/1921401904/sizes/z/in/photostream/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">timsamoff</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">/flickr.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8669065584577296186.post-69127656593772250292014-04-02T13:51:00.000-07:002014-04-02T13:51:03.316-07:00The beauty of having a couple of kids.Seriously. No sarcasm, no complaining, no lamenting. This post is just about how incredibly beautiful it is to have more than one child and to see the loving relationship they develop. While I don't think it's fair to put children into a position of NEEDING to take care of their siblings, as I watch my three little munchkins growing up together I realize that they will take care of each other because they love to do it, and it's the most precious thing to witness.<br />
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I'm talking about when my 7 year old spontaneously asks if he can wear his baby sister in the Ergo carrier, or when she's fussy while I'm running around during their bedtime routine so he takes her from me and gets her to smile and coo.<br />
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Or when my 4 year old pauses during his day, EVERY single time he passes by her, to say hi and give her some snuggles and playtime.<br />
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It's seeing the way her eyes light up when one of her brothers comes into her sight.<br />
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Or when I check on the boys before I go to bed at night, and find them tucked in next to each other (yes, they each have their own bed, believe it or not) sometimes even holding each other in a gentle hug. My 4 year old ALWAYS has his hand on his brother while they sleep, it's the cutest thing ever. Sometimes he's sleeping in the crook of his arm, sometimes they're actually sleeping apart from each other but BooBoo's hand is stretched across and resting on Bug's shoulder or hair.<br />
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Or when I hear the older one reading a book to the younger one.<br />
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Or when he brings home a reward from school and tells BooBoo he brought it home for him.<br />
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It's seeing Baby Girl roll over for the first time while BooBoo is sitting next to her cheering her on. "Come on! You're almost there! You're doing it!!"<br />
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It's the incredible feeling that rushes over you and would knock you onto your ass if you weren't already sitting in a bed, the first time your older child (or older children, if you have more than two) meets the new baby. Just thinking about it makes me erupt in goosebumps. <b>We didn't know whether we were having a boy or a girl, so it was an extra big surprise for our boys the morning Baby Girl was born. </b>Seeing their faces as they tiptoed out of their room to see me with the new baby was like seeing them on Christmas morning.<br />
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Where there used to be this enormous and sometimes overwhelming pressure on just my husband and myself to be EVERY interaction for our one young child, we've created this magical, loving little tribe of people who love to be together. Of course the kids have their fights and their "moments" and sometimes their entire days of terror, the big picture is an incredible image of fierce love that is beautiful and humbling. They are young (almost 8, 4, and 5 months) so there is still an awful lot of demanding daily care involved, of course. But being the person to witness all of them growing and learning together, loving each other more and more each day and <b>building these relationships that will exist longer than the relationships they have with their Daddy and me</b>, it's simply amazing. I never really considered this aspect of it when we were first deciding to take the leap and become parents, but it turns out it's one of my favorite parts of this whole mothering gig.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8669065584577296186.post-47589485541349927962014-03-31T23:05:00.002-07:002014-03-31T23:05:49.817-07:00My birth journey, part 3 - my second home birth<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And here, in its raw original form just as I wrote it about 12 hours after her birth, the story of the birth of our Baby Girl. My birth story comes full circle, from an unplanned c-section to an unplanned "unassisted" birth. What a powerful experience, to birth a baby with only ourselves in attendance! The Man said that it was sort of funny to be there with me as I went back and forth between "midwife mode" and "mother mode" as I barked out random things like "Skin to skin now" and "don't touch the cord!" Many people jokingly asked if we got a refund from the midwife, but I'll tell you what, the way she and her student came in and did all of the after-care and my postpartum followup care was worth every penny!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">********</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The changeover, from the prodromal labor I’d had for a couple of weeks to true early labor, started on Tuesday evening when I was 40 weeks 3 days. That was when I started having strong and sometimes-regular contractions, with increasing cramping and back pain. I started needing to use my meditations and did my breathing “techniques” through them when they got very strong. They usually weren’t regular, but they would become regular sometimes, and I only got them in the evening. I woke up a few times and walked through contractions during the night, but they weren’t incredibly strong and I was able to rest through most of them, and got a good stretch of sleep.</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-a10e9633-1bd4-deae-5025-e603ce127b24" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">40 weeks 4 days, I had them much more strongly throughout the day, and I was getting excited thinking it might be that night. I had some signs that I was starting to dilate a little bit. I made it through the day though, and as the afternoon and evening went on I started to contract less and be more energetic and social. By the time The Man came home that night he could tell it wasn’t going to be the night, and I knew it too. I was thankful for a night of having the energy to hang out with my kids and read bedtime stories and just have a somewhat normal evening, though. I got super hungry and ate a LOT - fueling up for the marathon, I think. I slept well and didn’t wake up with any contractions during the night.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As soon as I stood up the next morning, on the day I was 40 weeks 5 days, I was hit with an intense and fairly long one. I had a couple more before I stood in the kitchen making breakfast and sobbing to The Man while he got ready for the day. I was a disaster, and for the rest of the day I had contractions and sobbing episodes pretty regularly. I tried my best to keep BooBoo entertained with busy work like drawing or play-doh, and he thankfully got busy with his toy kitchen and other toys in his room. He watched a couple of movies. I did what had to be done to get through the day. ;-) I did a bunch of chores around the house, washed all the sheets and blankets, swept all the floors, caught up on dishes. The contractions got more intense all day but it helped so much to walk around, so I kept busy. I can’t remember what made my husband decide to come home but he called to check on me a couple of times and I burst into tears each time, so I guess finally he decided it was time to head over. He got home and immediately took the kids out and I laid down and rested the best I was able to.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I wasn’t hungry for dinner that night, I ate lightly and was really starting to become irritated with things like noise and light. I remember getting annoyed because I kept turning off all the lights and it felt like everyone else was on a mission to walk behind me and turn them back on, every time I got “comfortable” some random light would turn on. Of course our house is very tiny so light would shine into my “space” no matter where in the house it was turned on. He got the kids bathed and put to bed and I kept walking and moving. It hurt to sit down so I stayed upright, and sometimes squatted while holding on to something like the counter or the couch arm. I was listening to music, and since I felt such a powerful need to stay upright and keep moving around, the music helped a lot as I would rock and sway to the tunes.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The contractions were much stronger than they’d been but I still didn’t believe that they were the real thing. My husband was quietly timing them while I did my thing, and he didn’t think I was in active labor either. They were coming irregularly the whole time. Around 11 they slowed down and then stopped. I sobbed for a while thinking of another day of stalled out labor. He made me a bowl of yogurt and strawberries when I realized I felt a little hungry, and I ate the whole bowl. He convinced me to try to sleep. I insisted that it felt better to stay upright, and he pointed out that I wouldn’t be able to use gravity to force labor to start if it wasn’t time. I washed up and laid down for bed, but couldn’t sleep and was moving around like crazy every time I had another contraction. The couch is right at the foot of our bed and I’d get up and lean over the back of it, which helped a lot with the pain. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Man was lying in bed trying to sleep too, and every time I got up with another contraction I’d see him with the light from his phone. For some reason I thought he was texting with my midwife, but he was just timing them again. When I asked him about it the next day he said they still weren’t coming regularly. They’d be 3 minutes apart and then 8 - 10 minutes apart. I remember checking the clock in the kitchen every hour or so, and I distinctly remember looking at the clock around 1:30 in the morning and having another round of crying because it was so late and I was thinking how exhausted I’d be the next day after a night of laboring and no sleep. When I got back to bed I laid down one last time and tried to sleep.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">With the next contraction I was back out of bed and honestly I can’t remember why my husband followed me that time. Until then he’d been trying to sleep in between all of my commotion, thinking that they’d peter out yet again and he’d have another day of work in the morning. Suddenly everything that had been taking days to get started, started happening VERY quickly. It wasn’t too long after that, that I started uncontrollably starting to bear down at the end of the contractions. I was definitely making a different range of sounds than I was earlier, and I was moving like crazy around the living room. I’d find one position for one contraction, but then would be totally uncomfortable and would find a different position for the next one. The Man had my midwife on the phone at this point and he was running around putting chux pads down, and I spread out a towel. She told him to have me check myself to tell her how far up I could feel the baby’s head. She told me later that she could tell by my sounds over the phone that it was pretty close to baby time. The only thing I could answer was the classic transition in labor phrase, “I don’t know, I don’t know.” I was finally lost in labor-land and was focused only on breathing and moving through each moment of it.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Man said that he knew things “got real” when I asked him to help me take off my pajama pants. Within a couple of minutes I felt like I had to pee, and I started to head towards the bathroom but didn’t get far before another big contraction, during which my water broke in a big gush. The only reason I know this is because my midwife told my husband to get a strip of the test paper to see what the fluid was, and it turned black which meant it was amniotic fluid. She was already grabbing her stuff to head our way, after we'd woken her in the middle of the night to tell her to COME QUICKLY! I was still on my hands and knees when the next contraction started, and he was in the kitchen washing his hands. I somehow managed to yell to him “Come help me” and he came running in just as I had another huge urge to bear down. He looked behind me and he realized about a second before I did that the baby was about to arrive. I don’t even know whether I actually had breaks between the pushing urges or if I was just making myself slow down every so often. I reached behind me and felt the head starting to crown, and I consciously told myself to slow down and stop pushing for a second because I didn’t want to tear like I did with BooBoo. The head rested there for a moment, I sort of held it in place with my hand and put pressure on myself to relieve the intense pressure from inside, which helped a lot. Very quickly I was ready to push again, the biggest part of the head was out and I felt the rest of the body slide out into my husbands hands.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He wrapped the baby immediately into a receiving blanket and put her on my chest, and helped me take off my shirt so we could have skin to skin contact right away. I piled a couple of other blankets and towels on top of us. I felt under the blanket and was shocked that I didn’t feel “boy parts” on her, which I was fully expecting. Since I couldn’t look at that angle to actually see, because of the umbilical cord and the way the towels and blankets were positioned, I asked him to look. He lifted up the blankets and with tears in his eyes he said to me “A girl. A girl!!” I cried, of course, like I cried about everything else in this labor. I told him I didn’t believe him and told him to look again, and he confirmed it. He called my midwife back and said “It’s a girl!” She gave him some quick tips about what to do with the placenta, not to touch the cord, and so on. She was already on her way to us.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The placenta took longer to deliver than it did after BooBoo’s birth, I’m not sure of the exact time but it was probably about 30 minutes. I remember that with BooBoo it just seemed to slide out, but this time I had a few strong contractions and then had to actually push a couple of times to deliver it. Once I delivered the placenta we put it into a bowl, and The Man laid down some pads on the bed and helped me over to lie down on it, while I held the baby who was attached to the placenta in a mixing bowl. I laid down in bed and drank my Vitalyte and nursed our little girl for the first time, until my midwife and her apprentice arrived.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The only “complication” if you can even call it a complication, was that she basically flew out of the amniotic sac when my water broke, and left the sac behind, and it “suctioned” shut and got wedged up by my cervix. When my midwife examined me she found that the shriveled amniotic sac was stuck up there and needed some help to be delivered. Massage and gentle pushing from my end with gentle tugging from her end wasn’t enough to get it down, so I ended up getting a couple of doses of herbal tinctures to help with expelling any remaining pieces. The placenta itself was very healthy and intact but Heather was afraid of a piece of this sac being left behind and causing infection, so she wanted to be very careful to get all of it. She sat with me for quite a while, massaging my belly and helping me ease it out, and eventually the whole thing came down. I laid back fairly comfortably on the bed and snuggled the baby while she took care of me, and it didn’t feel like a scary complication at all.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our baby, our beautiful daughter, was 8 pounds 4 ounces, and 21 inches long. Her head circumference was 13 inches. When I was pregnant with her, her hands were ALWAYS up by her face, and one concern we had was that she’d be born with her hand up there, with more of a risk of tearing me on her way out. Sure enough, she had a pretty good scratch under her chin and distinct red markings on her face, which line up perfectly with her little hand when it’s positioned there. I didn’t have any tears (yay!) but there was some bruising up by my cervix that my midwife said she’s seen when baby is coming out with a hand by the face, so she was definitely trying to get through my pelvis with the hand there. Fortunately she wasn’t actually born in that position but the positioning of the hand was enough to make labor pretty drawn out and painful, and I’m sure that’s why I needed to do so much moving around to help with positioning her and opening up my pelvis. My midwife’s theory was that as I started to push her out she pulled the hand down at kind of the last minute.</span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The whole experience was absolutely wild and primal and beautiful. When I look back at the pictures from her first few minutes of life, I’m almost overcome with emotion from it! This time around I had very strong and classic feelings during the transition stage. “I’m never doing this again” and “I don’t think I can do this” and all kinds of other doubting kinds of statements, all in the 15 minutes or so before she arrived. It was a very painful labor and I had to work hard with my breathing and positioning to get through the contractions, but it was incredible the way I really felt like she and I were working together through it. In between contractions and even in between pushing I’d feel her moving and I’d rub her through my belly and talk to her as we got ready for the next one. We worked very hard and then it all happened so fast in the end. I felt so in tune with her and with my body. It was just the most incredible experience and I’m still so in awe of this little girl every time I look at her. </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8669065584577296186.post-14463955813070799532014-03-26T21:49:00.000-07:002014-03-26T21:51:19.130-07:00My birth journey, part 2 - HBAC <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 20.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #003300; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">This is, as I wrote it about 12 hours after the fact, the home birth after c-section (HBAC) of my second child.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #003300; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #003300; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">******</span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #003300; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #003300; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">On March 6 I woke up appearing to be leaking amniotic fluid. After a couple of hours we called my midwives to let them know. They had me start taking regular doses of Vitamin C to boost my immune system in case there was a small tear in the sack. I did labor throughout the day, with the contraction coming very regularly and sometimes very, very strong. Eventually everything slowed down though. My midwives stayed the night while I tried to get some sleep. I did get some sleep, but woke up with strong contractions throughout the night. The next morning they tested my vaginal secretions and found that there was no indication of amniotic fluid, so our thought was that there had been a small tear that ended up healing itself. They went home, and I tried to get some rest.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 20.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #003300; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I labored slowly throughout the day on March 7. My mom, her partner, two of my sisters, and my sisters husband all helped us out, especially by taking care of Little Man. I napped in the afternoon, as well as I could between contractions, and had a pretty laid back rest of the day. Around 8 in the evening I was pretty tired and ready for bed. My husband lit some candles in our room and helped me get comfortable. I plugged myself in to my iPod and propped myself up on a huge pile of pillows, and tried to get some sleep. I was contracting pretty hard at that point, and I think that "sleep" was more equivalent to deep relaxation between contractions. I did well breathing myself through them, and being able to relax and listen to calming music was very helpful. I now realize that this calm, quiet time was when I was truly going through active labor and I'm thankful that I had the sense to rest and conserve my energy!</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 20.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #003300; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Eventually, towards midnight, my husband came upstairs and lay down with me. I had been resting and meditating this whole time, but I was so tired I just wanted to lie down and sleep. Lying down made the contractions come HARD. It wasn't too long before an incredibly intense one literally sent me springing out of bed, moaning and groaning at the top of my lungs. My husband leaped out of bed and instantly turned on the light. I can't imagine what he thought was happening! He was incredibly supportive for me from then on out, as he coached me through my deep, slow breathing - reminding me to "breathe up" and breathing deeply with me through the strong contractions. This must have been the time when I was hitting transition, the period of labor where the cervix finishes dilating the last couple of centimeters.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 20.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #003300; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I became very "out of my head." The only response I could come up with when people asked me anything was "I don't know." My mom and husband were enormously supportive. My mom had learned a helpful technique that she used on me. During my strongest contractions she pressed her hands firmly against my forehead and the back of my head, while speaking softly to me about how my tissues were soft and flexible, my cervix was opening properly, and so on. My husband, as I said - he was amazing, and I couldn't have done it without him. He seemed to instinctively know what I needed to help me, and he was amazing at keeping my breathing calm and steady as I had practiced throughout my pregnancy. He and mom both kept me well hydrated between contractions, which I know was extremely helpful.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 20.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #003300; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">At some point he went to call the midwives. I loudly insisted that nobody was allowed into the room and nobody was allowed to "tell me how to do things." This was my obstinate point during labor I guess! He went and called them and when he came back upstairs, he told me that he had spoken to them but that they weren't going to come until I decided that I needed them there. I was laboring really hard at this point and this barely registered to me. I realized later that he had actually called and told them to come out because things were moving along pretty quickly!</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #003300; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I had lost all track of time by now and I have absolutely no idea how long everything took at this point. I know that eventually I felt the overwhelming need to kneel on the floor by the end of our bed, and then my body pretty quickly started pushing. When you hear that your body will push all by itself, that is completely true, and I can't even describe the feeling of it. I felt primal while this was happening. I was still listening to music, and my husband still coached my breathing, although when he realized I was pushing he would remind me to breathe down, to start breathing the baby down the birth canal.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 20.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #003300; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">After a little while of pushing, I had this feeling that I should reach down and check. I felt something emerging from me, and it was all I could do to moan "I feel his head, somebody catch him!" Everyone in the room sprang into action. Somebody ushered in the midwives, who had barely just arrived. It turned out that what I felt coming out was the sack that had contained him in the womb! It was so strange and neat. There was no gush of waters breaking during my labor because all the fluid was still contained in the sack.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 20.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #003300; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">It felt like I pushed forever at that point. At one point I lamented "When will the sack end and my baby come out??" Everyone just kept encouraging me to keep going, as the sack kept coming out more and more. I know that a few times I stopped and wailed, between contractions, that it hurt too much and I couldn't keep doing it. My husband pointed out to me that I WAS doing it and I was almost done. </span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 20.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #003300; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Suddenly the sack that had been coming out so slowly just fell out of me. One of my midwives told me when this happened. His head was literally right behind it, and they had me reach down and touch his head. It was the strangest feeling. It didn't feel like a human head at all, it just felt soft and slimy. It was really, really hard work to make his head come down. Later on his head measured at 37 centimeters around, so he had a good sized head that took a fair amount of molding to fit through the birth canal. My pushing urges became enormous and very primal. I feel like I groaned and screamed like a wild animal, but my husband later told me it wasn't that bad at all. Finally after what seemed like forever, his head started actually coming through. I could feel myself stretching around him like I had never even imagined I could stretch before.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #003300; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The big moment came as his head made its final push through. I had one fierce, long contraction that pushed his head all the way out, and then continued to push him out. He literally came sliding out of me with the force of only one, strong contraction! My midwives later said "Head to toes in just one contraction!" It was absolutely amazing. I realized during that last contraction that all of him was coming out at once, but I obviously couldn't find the words to let anyone else know. I was kneeling over a pile of towels at that point, and he basically flew out of me and landed on them. Instantly he started crying, but it wasn't an upset cry at all. It almost seemed like it was just reflexive. He did this soft, repetitive cry enough to clear out his lungs and his airways, and then he quieted down. We had an absolutely amazing period of eye contact and bonding while I sat on the floor holding him. I was the first person to hold him, which was also amazing!</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #003300; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Once he stopped crying after he was born, he spent several minutes staring intensely into my eyes and talking to me, in that wonderful language that only newborn babies can talk in. My mom was particularly amazed by this. It was like he was telling me a very important story, complete with hand gestures and hilarious facial expressions.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #003300; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">My placenta came very quickly and easily afterwards, and it was in perfect condition. It was amazing to look at it, and my sister took some pictures of it.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 20.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #003300; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Our labor was long and sometimes really hard. I'm very glad that I read, re-read, and read again "Hypnobirthing" while I was pregnant, because those techniques really got me through it. It was totally and 100% worth every moment of every discomfort during my pregnancy and labor though, because at the end I got this perfect experience of bonding with my baby while we were both clear-headed and not under the influence of any drugs, in contrast to Little Man's c-section birth. Boo Boo started nursing perfectly within an hour after he was born, and he's really good at it. He's been nursing often, and he even gifted us with a soaking wet diaper just a little while ago.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #003300; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The details are, he was born at 3:50 am on March 8. He was 8 pounds 6 ounces, and 21 inches long.</span></span></span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8669065584577296186.post-70024522125919607022014-03-02T22:20:00.000-08:002014-03-02T22:34:59.623-08:00My birth journey, part 1 - unplanned c-sectionMy first child, who is now getting pretty close to 8 years old, was born at a hospital by unplanned c-section after a failed induction. I'd planned on having a natural, vaginal, unmedicated birth but ended up having the complete opposite. Since then I have learned an incredible amount of information about pregnancy and childbirth, and continue to be passionate about it and to learn more every day.<br />
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His birth experience was so traumatic for me that it was over two years before I was able to come to terms with it enough to even write it down. And I remember writing it down and dealing with the panic attacks and honest to goodness physical sickness that I experienced while writing it. Cold sweats, racing heart, choking up, crying jags, even hyperventilating. The title I originally published it under was "Birth Rape: my experience." Birth rape is a known term in the birth support community, look it up. I did, when I first heard it, and it was the first step in my journey towards healing. Many scoff at what a dramatic term it is. But think about it - restraining a woman, performing medical procedures and administering medication without consent or even while the woman is saying NO, mocking her for refusing to give consent, forcefully inserting fingers or objects into her vagina, again without asking for consent or even while she is saying NO - these kinds of things are against the law, except in the delivery room. Even now nearly 8 years later, as I sit here reflecting on how much I've healed and how at peace I am with the experience, at this very moment my heart is pounding and my hands are shaking and my head is throbbing as I'm reminding myself to breathe deeply and let go.<br />
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I'm not up for editing it or adding revisions right now, although I probably will at some point in a future post. But here, in its entirety, is the story of my first birth, written two years afterward.<br />
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Edited to add: Re-reading this, I realize this doesn't even touch on certain things, like forceful vaginal exams every hour or so to see "how things are progressing." The best analogy I've heard about this one is, have you ever tried to have a bowel movement while someone shoves their fingers up your ass?<br />
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Please check out the <a href="http://ican-online.org/" target="_blank">International Cesarean Awareness Network</a> for more information about c-section awareness and VBAC.<br />
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*****<br />
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<b><span style="color: purple;">I planned on a natural birth (no pain medication) for my son. He was due on June 29, 2006. I took for granted that I would have a natural birth. When I was pregnant there were no childbirth classes in our area so I read lots about different birthing methods, I practiced my breathing, and my husband and I wrote out a birth plan that we gave to our doctor and the OB nurses at the hospital.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: purple;">However, I now realize that everything started to go wrong 3 weeks before he was due. During my weekly exam to check whether I was effacing and dilating (by the way, I now know that unless you have a medical problem, there's no need for weekly internal exams as your due date approaches!) my doctor stripped my membranes - to start things "moving along", she said. Stripping your membranes is a very painful procedure in which the doctor inserts a finger inside your cervix, and manually separates the bag of waters that the baby is in. This is performed to irritate the cervix and cause it to begin dilating. She told me that some women go into labor within 24 hours of having their membranes stripped.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: purple;">This encounter with my doctor triggered some kind of pre-birth mania in my brain. I became obsessed with trying to find a way to get the baby out. Now, I realize, that there was no need to get him out of there. I wasn't going into labor on my own because it was three weeks before his due date, and he simply wasn't ready to come out yet! I now know that everything I tried to cause myself to go into labor was just more stress on him, as he was trying to finish all the development he needed to do before being born. I was trying every home remedy out there - the nipple stimulation, the raspberry leaf tea, sex, squatting, you name it. Every week we'd go back to the doctor and gloomily report that there was no new activity, she would check me internally, and then she would strip my membranes again. Then she'd suggest some other home remedies to try.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: purple;">Two days before his due date, I went for my weekly exam. My husband made sure to come with me that day. I'd made up my mind that morning that I was sick and tired of stressing out about getting labor started, and I just wanted to go to the hospital and get induced. Now I realize that, considering how much trouble it was turning out to be to GET labor started, getting induced was the worst decision I could possibly have made. However I was so tired of all the hard work I was doing to make myself go into labor. I was having almost constant Braxton-Hicks contractions (no doubt because of the stress my body and my baby were under!) I just wanted this miserable experience to be over with, and I had the full support of everyone else in my life - my doctor, my husband, my family who was calling every day to find out if I was in labor yet. </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: purple;">My blood pressure was SLIGHTLY high at that appointment, and amniotic fluid was SLIGHTLY low. (Both, again, perfectly normal considering that the temperature was 100 degrees! But I didn't know that then - I trusted my doctor to know what to do.) Neither one was actually very concerning. What WAS concerning to my doctor, however, was the fact that the 4th of July weekend was coming up very soon. The 4th was going to be on a Thursday, so there would be a four day weekend. If, she told me, my blood pressure happened to go up more - say, during the holiday weekend - it would be "more difficult" to get everyone to the hospital on time, especially of course, if something were to go wrong - and we wouldn't want anything to go wrong, would we?</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: purple;">I realize now, of course, that it was ridiculous to say something like that. I was going to give birth at the hospital, there are staff at the hospital who are perfectly qualified to birth babies 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, even during the 4th of July weekend. However the thought of having a blood pressure emergency during the holiday weekend was terrifying to me. What if something DID go wrong, and I could have prevented it by simply getting the induction? At this point I started begging her to send me for an induction.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: purple;">We quickly made the appointment to go to the OB department at the hospital at 5:00 the following evening to start the induction. That night I felt more relaxed and calm than I had felt in the past month. I wasn't trying any of my labor remedies. It was probably the calmest and healthiest that my son had been in the past month, too.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: purple;">I went to the hospital the next night and they inserted the Cervadil pill inside my vagina. I watched some TV while I was sitting there in the bed, hooked up to various machines and monitors, and pretty soon I was ready for bed. The next morning I woke up around 6:30 and they took the pill out at 7. I started having intense contractions almost immediately. I called my husband to tell him to come down because these contractions were different than the ones I'd been having for the past 3 weeks. The response at the hospital was for me to hurry up and use the bathroom, then get back in bed so they could hook me up to the Pitocin drip.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: purple;">Now I realize, there was no need to hook me up to Pitocin! I was contracting perfectly well after just having the Cervadil. What I should have done was gotten up and walked around, maybe taken a hot shower, eaten a small snack. I hadn't eaten anything since the night before. It was the policy at OB that patients being induced or who are in labor are not allowed to eat - in case they need a c-section. However I did as I was told, rushed back to lie back down in bed, and they hooked me up to the IV.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: purple;">Immediately the contractions started slamming through me, each one worse than the one before. The nurse who was in charge of my induction told me that soon I could have my pain medication. "I don't want pain medication," I said. She said "Of course you want the pain medication." I said that I didn't want it several more times, but was completely ignored. When my doctor came to check me out she spoke briefly to me, and then spent several minutes analyzing charts that showed my contractions and the baby's heartbeat. She looked at the clock and commented that I could get my pain meds started now if I wanted to. By then I was in agony, I was not allowed to get up and move around or even to change positions on the bed. All I could do was lie there and let these monstrous Pitocin contractions rip through me, over and over again. I resigned myself to the pain medication and they gave me an IV of Torridol.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: purple;">I became completely disoriented and dizzy from the Torridol. I laid there with my eyes closed feeling like my head was spinning around and around. I kept thinking about how I was failing my baby, how I was supposed to be actively involved in giving birth to him but I was just lying there while these terrible things kept happening to me. I heard someone comment about how peacefully I was sleeping, and how it was good for me to get the rest. I couldn't compose myself enough to say anything, and it was emotionally easier for me to remain shut down in my own dark little world.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: purple;">I got several more doses of various pain medications over the next few hours. I had quite a cocktail of drugs coursing through my body - and, I realize now, through the tiny body inside of mine. My doctor broke my water at 3 pm - to move things along, of course - and a torrent of dark green water poured out of me. The baby had his first bowel movement inside of me. I stared at it in horror. The doctor told us that it was a good thing we decided to induce today, because he could get really sick from staying in that water. I realize now, that the reason he had a bowel movement in me was because of the horrible stress of the induction - the drugs, the artificially strong contractions, the internal exams, the fact that I was not allowed to eat or move.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: purple;">At one point, I needed to pee. I told the nurse, and she said "Okay, go ahead." She, in all seriousness, expected me to simply urinate on my bed, on my gown. Nevermind that everything was already wet from all the fluids of the induction. I felt like I was an animal being told to potty on some paper. I told her that I needed a bedpan if I wasn't allowed to get up, and I wanted her to leave while my husband helped me use it. </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: purple;">They hooked me up to a hose of saline solution that flowed up my vagina to clean the baby off and keep clean fluid on him. The fact that my water had been broken meant that now there was a time limit on my labor. The clock was ticking until the time I'd be sent for a cesaerean section. By this point I couldn't stop crying, and I was going into shock. I needed to wear an oxygen mask several times, and at one point I was uncontrollably shaking. They gave me more pain medication - this time, an epidural. The anasthesiologist came to meet me, and he was the most decent, respectful person I dealt with during this whole ordeal. He spoke to me by name and treated me with as much dignity as someone could in that kind of situation. He gave me the epidural, and he left. Within moments, my contractions completely stopped.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: purple;">They started the Pitocin again, but it was to no avail. My contractions never became strong enough to feel over the epidural, and they were coming very irregularly. Eventually they made the decision to stop the labor (another drug through the IV) and send me for a c-section.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: purple;">I was a wreck. I have never been such a mess in my life. I was hysterically crying. When they kept my husband away while I was first wheeled in, I nearly screamed. At one point I just went numb. I just let it happen to me. I just laid there numb while they cut open my body. I felt like I was detached and I was floating around somewhere else. I could hear them saying what they were doing. Sometimes I tried to be a "good little mama" and respond to their comments. Sometimes I made a joke. I feel sick about that now. I needed TWO spinals before I stopped having feeling in my abdomen. I felt them tug and push and pull, and then pull my baby right out of my body. I heard him grunting. I said, "Is it him?" and my husband, with tears in his eyes, nodded yes. </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: purple;">I was aching to see my baby, to hold him, kiss him, put him to my breast. After the pediatrician took care of him on the examining table, he carried him to me and I looked at him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. I remember the pediatrician saying that he wanted me to do that. I am so thankful for him being there now, and having the decency to give me that moment with my son. Then my husband and our son left the room along with the pediatrician and one of the nurses, and the rest of them stitched me up. After my son was gone, the anasthesiologist was the only person who interacted with me. I told him I was going to be sick, and he gave me a pan to throw up in. He stroked my hair and told me that it was normal and I was going to be okay.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: purple;">Then I was wheeled to recovery. I kept saying that I wanted to see my baby, where was my baby? They told me that he was fine, and that I just needed to do this first. The nurse in recovery was very nice. He told me about his three sons that were all born by c-section. He said that the wonderful thing about c-section babies is that their heads are beautiful and round, right from the start. I spent 2 hours in recovery. 2 long hours in which I tried desperately to think of a way that I could get to my son. Eventually I lied to the nurse. I told him that I could feel him touching my feet. He told me that I was moving my feet, too. I pretended that I knew I was doing that. He told me that I could go see my son now, and he wheeled me to OB and into my room.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: purple;">My husband came in with a nurse, and they were wheeling the baby in a bassinette. I felt so strange, like I was being given this random baby to take care of. I hadn't seen him until he was 2 hours old, so it just didn't feel natural to me. And I still had so many drugs coursing through my body. I got my first breastfeeding lesson, and my mom and some of my sisters came in to visit for a few minutes. They wanted to hold him too. I didn't care anymore. I didn't feel like I had any right to claim him over anyone else. I'd only spent five minutes with him since he'd been born, anyway. I fell in love with him right away but it took longer to feel like he was MINE. </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: purple;">My sweet boy who is now two years old is awake from his nap now, so I have to end this. But I hope that this story will not scare anyone, or make anyone be frightened of their labor and delivery, but rather to make you think. This is supposed to be one of the most important days of your life. Don't let your special day be hijacked by well-meaning doctors and nurses and their many interventions. Trust your body that it will do what you need it to do. After all, women's bodies are almost magical and have been doing this great work for millions of years. Take an active role in your birth. Don't assume that your caregivers always know what is best - do your own research and be strict about your own rules. Birth is NOT an illness, trust your body to take care of you and your sweet baby.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: purple;">Thank you for taking the time to read this.</span></b></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8669065584577296186.post-47015489463154878052014-02-28T23:11:00.000-08:002014-02-28T23:11:32.349-08:00Bellies and babies...I guess this is as good a time as any to say that I'm kind of a birth and baby junkie. I've written a lot about pregnancy, birth, and babies in the past and I'm sure I'll write lots more. Fair warning, I hope. ;-)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8669065584577296186.post-74293026310236778542014-02-28T23:02:00.001-08:002014-02-28T23:43:54.766-08:00Five incredible functions of the placenta<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Warning, placenta pictures ahead!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Placenta is a word that evokes a variety of different responses from people. Some are fascinated, some are disgusted, many are indifferent. This organ is often called “the afterbirth” and thought of as something that is to be whisked away and discarded as soon as it’s passed. Many women never get a chance to see their own, but in the growing movement to reclaim natural birth in our culture, more and more women insist on viewing, touching, or even </span><a href="http://nymag.com/news/features/placenta-2011-8/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">eating</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> their placentas. The day after our second son was born, at home, my husband posted “I almost forgot that there is a placenta in our fridge” on his Facebook status, and the variety of responses was absolutely hilarious. Beyond being something to take care of after the excitement of baby’s birth, though, the placenta has many incredibly important (and incredibly fascinating!) functions, both during pregnancy and during birth.</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-1958a83c-7c6f-3c9f-906a-3cee85407286" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1) The placenta is the go-between, the gateway between the growing baby and the mother’s bloodstream. Growing alongside the baby in the mother’s womb, it is linked with the mother’s blood and then connects to the baby via the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">umbilical cord</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, which enters the baby’s body through the abdomen. This organ is like the filter through which the mother’s blood flows, sending vital nutrients, antibodies, and oxygen through the umbilical vein to the baby, and then receiving de-oxygenated blood and fetal waste through the umbilical arteries. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Perhaps one of the most fascinating things about the placental system is that while the blood flows constantly between mother and baby by way of the umbilical cord, being processed through the placenta, the two bloodstreams </span><a href="http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/reprod/placenta/transport.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">don’t actually come into direct contact</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> with one another. There are specific blood vessels that handle maternal blood, and specific blood vessels that handle fetal blood - there is no point when the two blood supplies simply flow into one another. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><img height="480px;" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/58KbVkqaiiVCPNHhAg_kB1iLVpvvLPrGWuWE0Myg9r0okf5QVHOc_Sa3vl_uGVWM8b9K4my8jpChJo0UCfT_wTN7LKvY382ActrcP1NYuWH9Us5Gxt8" style="border: 0px solid transparent;" width="640px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(the fetal side of a placenta)</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2) The placenta releases a specific </span><a href="http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/reprod/placenta/endocrine.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">balance of hormones</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> that prevent the mother’s body from terminating the pregnancy and rejecting the fetus. In a very simplified explanation, in the very beginning of pregnancy there are two major hormones at play - human chorionic gonadotropin, or HCG, and progesterone. (Of course there are a variety of other hormones involved in creating and maintaining a pregnancy, but these ones are the really crucial ones in the beginning.) </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Since the placenta itself needs </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">several weeks to form</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, these hormones originally come from other sources. HCG is first produced from the embryo itself, signaling to the mother’s body that the egg has been fertilized and pregnancy is ready to begin. Receptors in the </span><a href="http://www.justmommies.com/articles/corpus-luteum.shtml" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">corpus luteum</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (the remaining follicle after the egg has been released) then receive this signal from the embryo, and it continues its production of a hormone called progesterone. Without the hormonal signals from the HCG, progesterone levels would become lower and lower towards the end of the monthly cycle, triggering the start of menstruation. But when the egg is fertilized and progesterone levels remain high, the uterine lining continues to develop rather than being shed during menstruation. This ensures a safe, thick lining of endometrium in the uterus, for the fertilized egg to implant and pregnancy to begin.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This delicate balance of HCG from the growing embryo and progesterone from the corpus luteum continues for about 10 weeks past ovulation, until the placenta becomes mature enough to take over. Then the placenta continues the process of producing both of these important hormones, and continues to maintain just the right levels all the way through pregnancy.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3) Another important hormone that is produced by the placenta is estrogen. The levels of this hormone are very low during the early parts of pregnancy, but rise steadily during the second and third trimesters, particularly towards the very end of pregnancy. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are two important reasons for these increasing levels of estrogen. This hormone turns on the receptors for </span><a href="http://www.childbirthconnection.org/article.asp?ck=10184" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">oxytocin</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, which is an important step in preparing the uterus for labor. It is the flow of oxytocin that will cause contractions during labor, but it is the estrogen produced by the placenta that prepares the uterus in advance, getting it ready to receive the signals from the oxytocin. Estrogen also helps to prepare the breast tissue for milk production. It causes the ducts and other tissues to grow and develop, in preparation for making breast milk. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">4) Have you ever noticed your pelvis and hips getting wider towards the end of pregnancy, perhaps causing your hips to slip or give out once in a while? You can thank </span><a href="http://health.discovery.com/centers/pregnancy/backpain.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">relaxin</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> for this sometimes annoying but incredibly important part of pregnancy. Relaxin is another hormone produced by the placenta, and it does just what its name says - it causes ligaments to relax. Part of the miracle of birth is that this relatively small part of a woman’s body is designed for fully developed, sometimes fairly large babies to pass through. Relaxin is a crucial part of that, loosening up the pelvic ligaments to allow the pelvis to open wide enough for the baby to pass through. It can be irritating to deal with the discomfort of your loosening pelvis as you’re trying to move your very pregnant body around for daily activities, but the experience of having this perfectly designed little person emerge from what seems like such a small place makes the discomfort worth it.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><img height="480px;" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/hi3nEviBPabzOFJuTsAbspereZgAuKw9LYMvGHp984lVjfpw9S5obQuPy1qaJWV9xm18C6eeEkEk3crYomgdTqsXHQZxI_eUKtyvxeTeXZG9mfxCEBE" style="border: 0px solid transparent;" width="640px;" /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">5) Speaking of the end of pregnancy, the placenta has an important role in triggering the start of labor. Remember the hormone called progesterone, which helps to maintain a safe environment for the fetus to grow and develop? One of the important effects of progesterone is to prevent contractions of the uterus. This is obviously a very important step in a healthy pregnancy, and is actually called “</span><a href="http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/reprod/placenta/endocrine.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the progesterone block</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” by scientists. The steadily rising levels of estrogen, also released by the placenta, reach a point where they override this function, though. Once the estrogen increases to a certain high enough level, it negates the anti-contraction quality of the progesterone. This causes contractions, the beginning of labor.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The placenta is a fascinating organ, the only organ in the human body that develops for a specific, important purpose and is then expelled because it is no longer needed. Its role in a healthy pregnancy goes so far beyond simply providing nourishment for the baby. The placenta, or more specifically the hormones that are released by the placenta, serve many very important functions, from establishing the environment within the uterus during early pregnancy, to helping trigger the start of labor, and even preparing the breasts to nourish the baby after birth. Perhaps if more people were aware of the incredible ways that this organ helps to establish, maintain, and eventually end pregnancy, we would be less apt to think of it as simply “afterbirth”, a waste product meant to be gotten rid of. Without the placenta there wouldn’t be a pregnancy to speak of, so let’s give this incredible organ the credit it’s due. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What do you think of when you hear the word “placenta”? Did you get a chance to look at or touch your own placenta, or do you intend to?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">image credit: </span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/9880707@N02/3344515099/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">moppet65535</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> via Flickr; </span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/9880707@N02/3345326018/in/photostream/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">moppet65535</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> via Flickr.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">*** Note - this was originally published on a now defunct website in the "birth business." I'm the original author of the post and was proud of my work so I decided to repost it here. :)</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8669065584577296186.post-8349580221131243612014-02-21T23:39:00.000-08:002014-02-21T23:39:15.183-08:00My Pinterest boards, aka too much time on my hands?A while back I finally caved and joined <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/desertrosemama/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a>. Sometimes there will be a really long stretch of time where I don't go on there, but I really do have so much fun when I do. One of the things I do with my boards is try to name them with great quotations, because I'm a sucker for great quotes. I also have a few different boards for photos and human interest type stories. Here are a few of my favorite boards. Please follow me if you want to!<br />
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Of course, if I'm going to be using famous quotes as the titles of my boards, there's got to be an actual quotations board, right? "<a href="http://www.pinterest.com/desertrosemama/a-proper-collection-of-quotations-is-the-whole-wor/" target="_blank">A proper collection of quotations is the whole world digested</a>." -Terri Guillemets. There are some really good ones on here.<br />
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Spirituality is an incredibly important aspect of my life, and when I neglect this side of myself, I feel the negative effects in a variety of ways. This board has quotes, prayers, altar inspiration, meditations, interesting thoughts and whatever tickles my spiritual fancy. "<a href="http://www.pinterest.com/desertrosemama/we-are-not-human-beings-having-a-spiritual-experie/" target="_blank">We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.</a>" -Pierre Teilhard de Chardin<br />
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Photos of beautiful, happy, resilient children. They are such amazing little people. <3 "<a href="http://www.pinterest.com/desertrosemama/the-soul-is-healed-by-being-with-children-english-/" target="_blank">The soul is healed by being with children</a>." -English Proverb<br />
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In a future snapshot of my life, I see myself tending lots of beautiful garden space and growing a great deal of our food. This board is a collection of gardening tips, tricks, and inspiration. "<a href="http://www.pinterest.com/desertrosemama/i-have-always-thought-a-kitchen-garden-a-more-plea/" target="_blank">I have always thought a kitchen garden a more pleasant sight than the finest orangery.</a>" -Joseph Addison<br />
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Human bodies! Old, young, male, female, all different shapes and sizes. What story will your body tell? "<a href="http://www.pinterest.com/desertrosemama/our-bodies-are-apt-to-be-our-autobiographies-frank/" target="_blank">Our bodies are apt to be our autobiographies.</a>" -Frank Gillette Burgess.<br />
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Poverty is a problem, all around us, right under our noses. "<a href="http://www.pinterest.com/desertrosemama/poverty-is-no-disgrace-to-a-man-but-it-is-confound/" target="_blank">Poverty is no disgrace to a man, but it is confoundedly inconvenient.</a>" -Sydney Smith<br />
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People who have made a difference. "<a href="http://www.pinterest.com/desertrosemama/unless-someone-like-you-cares-a-whole-awful-lot-no/" target="_blank">Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not</a>." -Dr. Seuss<br />
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Meaningful lyrics are one of my favorite aspects of music, and here one of my favorite boards is a collection of lyrics, artfully arranged. "<a href="http://www.pinterest.com/desertrosemama/music-expresses-that-which-cannot-be-said-and-on-w/" target="_blank">Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.</a>" -Victor Hugo<br />
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And for a laugh, my someecards collection. I LOVE these. <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/desertrosemama/someecards-hilariousness/" target="_blank">someecards hilariousness</a>!<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8669065584577296186.post-9317135515265376002014-02-21T21:54:00.000-08:002014-02-21T21:54:09.852-08:00Connecting with our kids.After a long and harrowing week I was browsing around on Pinterest looking for inspiring blogs and fantastic quotes about parenting mindfully and peacefully. This fantastic series is one that I came across, and I will link to it here.<br />
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The series is called <a href="http://www.oneperfectdayblog.net/2012/06/19/10-simple-ways-to-connect-with-your-child-week-1/" target="_blank">10 simple ways to connect with your child</a>. It was originally posted as a weekly series but all of the posts are up so you can see the whole set now. It still seems like it might be worth it to do the exercise one week at a time, though, to really focus on each one. Each of these concepts is so simple but makes such a big difference to kids - or, really, to anybody we know and love. <3<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6PaS3XjBbA0sP60eZ4qSRhCpz5AWf876iGUMBJPUiKE1-DCB2Pk34AFTegKXx6VhV20vmVwbfBIAEhgkCy-wDIIDMFQdy45Yv9O-b4GZp61x2ai2lzEVFhLugoM4v_7JvDKUBR1lEwjg/s1600/6766_380182338766351_94763362_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6PaS3XjBbA0sP60eZ4qSRhCpz5AWf876iGUMBJPUiKE1-DCB2Pk34AFTegKXx6VhV20vmVwbfBIAEhgkCy-wDIIDMFQdy45Yv9O-b4GZp61x2ai2lzEVFhLugoM4v_7JvDKUBR1lEwjg/s1600/6766_380182338766351_94763362_n.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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(From the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/humanrightsforhumanchildren" target="_blank">Human Rights for Human Children</a> Facebook page, which shares a lot of fantastic quotes and information, by the way)</div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8669065584577296186.post-82007563986971271272014-02-21T21:21:00.002-08:002014-02-21T21:22:57.086-08:00The way we talk to our children...Because I need this reminder...<br />
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(image found <a href="http://www.prenataltoparenting.com/2013/08/peaceful-parenting-challenge-week-7-watch-your-language/" target="_blank">here</a>)</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8669065584577296186.post-30400639986647247562014-02-17T21:19:00.000-08:002014-02-17T21:19:11.792-08:00Feeling beautiful.At the risk of showing how insecure and shallow I can really be ;-) I have been struggling with my postpartum body this time around. Before getting pregnant with Baby Girl I was, for the first time, at my pre-kids weight, the same weight and clothing size I was when my husband and I got married 8 years ago when I was 23. After so much work to get so far, losing 80 pounds from my heaviest recorded weight, I feel set back and a little frustrated about having to put away those small, cute clothes.<br />
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In a confusing twist, though, at the same time I feel beautiful, and today I realized that I feel more beautiful than I did after either of my older two kids were born.<br />
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Is it because of the weight? I don't know, it might be. After my oldest was born I had major body issues in general, having had an unplanned c-section and having to process feelings about my body "failing" in childbirth. My postpartum depression was intense and as quickly as I lost the pregnancy weight after he was born, I gained it back by scarfing down starchy comfort food. After my second was born I felt fantastic, in comparison - no PPD, I healed very well from his birth, got right back into my routine. But I was heavy when I got pregnant with him, so of course I was still heavy after he was born, and I wasn't particularly happy with my hair, and was having some random skin issues at the time, and so on and so forth. I felt pretty good but wasn't feeling particularly beautiful.<br />
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This time I don't know what it is. I'm around 160 pounds and around a size 12. Quite a bit larger than the 140 and size 6 to 8 a little over a year ago. But that's okay, I'm fine with it, so I don't know if it's really about the weight. Maybe it's in the hair, I'm quite a bit happier with my hair these days. But I don't think it's really as shallow as that. Maybe it's the self-confidence I got from delivering Baby Girl at home with nobody but my husband and I. (Long story short, labor was looooooong long long, but then when things finally progressed it was FAST and she was born before my midwife arrived!) I think most of what is beautiful comes from underneath, from things that are unseen, things like self-confidence, inner strength, kindness and generosity.<br />
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For the past couple of years I've been on a journey of natural healing and wellness, working on myself emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually as well as physically. Maybe all of that under the surface of my skin and my hair and my weight and everything else that is visible on the outside is what shines in me and makes me feel like I've got some of that beautiful earthy mama vibe going on. Whatever it is, I love it and I vow to make a conscious effort to hold onto this feeling, and remind myself of it when I am feeling rather lumpy and dumpy about my appearance.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8669065584577296186.post-641523513335049532014-02-16T23:20:00.000-08:002014-02-16T23:21:39.690-08:00Thinking about goalsBefore Baby Girl came along I'd been starting to think about my professional development, and now that she's here and she's an amazingly calm and chill baby and we're getting into a pretty good routine, I've been starting to think about that again.<br />
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It's funny, until last year I've always said that I wasn't particularly interested in being a birth worker of any kind. But for some reason I started thinking about it while I was pregnant with her, and now thinking about being with birthing women and newborn babies just seems like the natural thing for me to do. So one of my major goals is to be a doula. I'd like to work with women and their partners during the pregnancy, be there to support them at the birth, and then (this is actually the part I'm most excited about) help out in the postpartum period, with whatever she needs help with as she gets used to life with the new baby for the first 8 weeks or so.</div>
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Before that, my number one goal is to register with the <a href="http://www.naha.org/" target="_blank">NAHA</a> as a trained aromatherapist. </div>
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There are other things I hear about and look into and have a great deal of interest in. But for now those are my two major goals. Some of my other interests include massage, reflexology, herbal studies, nutrition, yoga, and pretty much anything to do with newborns and mothers - infant care, breastfeeding, baby wearing, safe sleep, and so on. Some of those, I'm sure, will be worked into my career and some won't. My plan is to be self employed so that I can work directly with families and have a great deal of flexibility in my schedule.</div>
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For now my main plan is to be present with our young kids, particularly BooBoo and Baby Girl, who are still home with me while Bug is in school during the day. But I'm thinking that within this year I'd like to get enrolled in an aromatherapy program, and I've even started scoping out different programs at various schools. It's exciting to think about being in school again, eight years after graduating! </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8669065584577296186.post-49391124923429228952014-02-16T22:47:00.000-08:002014-02-16T22:50:29.491-08:00First post, here we go!My name is Nathalie. My education is in psychology and my work experience is in early childhood development, but my last five years of life experience have been in the role of stay at home mom. My three amazing children are Bug, 7 1/2, BooBoo, almost 4, and Baby Girl, 3 months. I've been married to The Man for 8 1/2 years!<br />
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There have been other writing and blogging projects, but it's been a while and I'm a little rusty. 2013 was a whirlwind of a year and I left behind a few different loves and interests, things that I have been trying to pick back up and start again in my life. Writing was one of those things. Lately as I've been starting to poke my head up out of my little gopher hole and catch glimpses of the world outside of nursing and diaper changes and snack time and play time and episodes of Blues Clues, I've been starting to reconnect with parts of myself that seem to have been hibernating. Now that the various crisis situations have smoothed over and we got to bring a chaotic year to a beautiful end with the birth of our calm, content, happy, peaceful, beautiful little girl, and now that we're getting into a pretty good routine as a brand new family of five, I've been thinking a lot about all of the little pieces I want to put into place in order to build the professional background and the career I have in mind. My mind always works best when I am reading and writing regularly, and my year-long writer's block seems to have come to an end, so I think it's a great time to start fresh with a new blog.<br />
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Here's to fresh starts! This blog is to keep my writing wheel turning and to give me an outlet. Feel free to follow along or not, I won't be offended if it isn't your thing!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0