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Monday, January 24, 2011

On the road again

I've taken a HUGE break from blogging.  I was busy baking a baby of my own, going 12 days past my "due date," and juggling 3 kids 3 and under!  So it's a new year and I'm ready to write all the thoughts that have been floating around in my mind that I've been wanting to share.

I finished up observing the Hypnobabies class on August 10.  It was awesome, and I HIGHLY recommend a Hypnobabies course.  I thought it would be 6 weeks of just meditation and hypnosis, and you'd have to take a general childbirth class in order to get all that information.  But this included everything a couple should know: a healthy pregnancy diet, general info on the labor process, choices in childbirth, and new baby care.  It was awesome!  Hypnobabies also offers a home study course that would be great if a class isn't offered in your area.  Hypnobabies

I also read a few books.  I may have written about them before, but I will again.  :)  I've read:

Ina May's Guide to Childbirth: I love, love, LOVE this book.  Ina May talks so colloquially - you feel like she's talking right to you throughout the book.  She has great stories and her view of birth is so natural...because birth IS natural.

The Birth Partner: Another amazing book.  Most childbirth books I've read are very medical.  They talk about having a baby without medication, only it's just a paragraph or so before they move on to pages about epidurals and narcotics.  Yeah, what a great way to tell the mother that her body was made to birth babies... "you could probably do it without pain medication, but why would you when you have all these options that will make it easier?"  The Birth Partner leans more toward the natural side of birth.  It gives you the facts about epidurals, pitocin and c-sections, as well as good, real information of the childbirth process.  And my favorite part is that it's written to dads/birth partners.  It's so important to get dads involved but it's usually the moms that do the reading and the dads just kinda sit back and nod.  Then when it's time for baby, they freak out because they don't know what's going on.  This book is a great way to inform dad (and mom).

Your Best Birth: This book was written by Abby Epstein, who helped make the film The Business of Being Born with Ricki Lake.  It's does a great job in comparing options such as OB vs Midwife and places to birth.  It's very pro-midwife and home birth (so don't be put off by that if you're not into it), but it still has lots of great information.

I'm currently reading The Nursing Mother's Companion, and I really like it so far!  I'll write a post on it when I'm done.

I've attended 2 births already this year!  Both moms were due on January 9, and one had her baby on the 13th and the other on the 15th.  It was so amazing to be a part of each birth.  The first birth was in the hospital, and she did a wonderful job.  I was very nervous, as this was my first birth with someone I didn't know very well.  But I quickly got enough confidence and things worked out very well.  The second birth was a waterbirth at home and was absolutely fantastic to witness.  I can't imagine having a baby any other way now.  It was so natural and beautiful.  She listened to her body and her midwife let her do her own thing.  I had to pull out a lot of doula tricks that I've only read about, so it was a bit of a challenge, but we got through it just fine.  Now all I need to do is convince Jonny that a homebirth is a good idea! ;)

So that's about it for now.  My goal is to get apply for my certification by the end of August.  It shouldn't be a problem...I just have to do it.  I'm going to take a little break from attending births, as much as I would love to do them all the time.  My absence was a little hard on Kate (4 months), as well as myself since I couldn't leave the mom to go pump (even though I thought I would, I just couldn't bring myself to leave them).  So in a couple months when she's older and eating solids, I think I'll take on another client for my last certifying birth.  There are plenty of pregnant women around here!