The Battle for Homebirth

A couple of days ago, I stumbled upon a blog called A girl named Kevin. Basically, the woman who writes it, Loni, suffered the devastating loss of her daughter Aisley just last month. I obviously don't have all of the details, but what I know from her blog is that she had a homebirth and her daughter was stillborn. The baby's heart tones were steady even while she was in the birth canal. They believe that in the final moments before birth, there was a cord accident. Because this was a homebirth, Loni and her husband have come under attack. So while dealing with their immense grief, they now have to justify the fact that it was NOT their fault that their baby died.

I chose to birth my last two babies with highly trained midwives out of a hospital. I CHOSE. My husband and I CHOSE. Why is it anyone else's business where I, or any other woman, has her baby? Just last week I had to defend my choice of homebirth to the guy who processed my son's social security card. He had a completely negative attitude towards me because of it. Why does it matter to him, a complete stranger, where my baby was born?

Where you choose to labor and birth your baby is an extremely personal choice. One that is the business of the pregnant woman and her partner/baby's father/husband. I had my first child in a hospital and I chose never to do that again. I am not a birth nazi, but I am passionate about birth. I don't care where anyone else births. Well, that isn't entirely true. Pregnant friends close to me know that I will subtly mention how amazing my midwives and my homebirth experience were but I try to stop there!

I know there are women who take control of their labors in a hospital. There are women who don't mind the constant monitoring and mandatory IV and the nurses who tend to ask if you would like an epidural 15 times. Some women feel safer in a hospital. I do not judge this. I know not every hospital is a pit of hell like the one I had my daughter in. There are fabulous doctors and nurses and even midwives that work in hospitals. Just as I'm sure there are midwives that do homebirth that are the exception to the rule as well.

I was fortunate in that I had a supportive husband and family when I chose to birth at home. It is true that not everyone was comfortable with my decision but no one said anything negative to me. A lot of people are unsure about homebirth because they are not educated on it. Most women who chose homebirth end up educating themselves as well as their families and friends on the safety and benefits of it.

Excuse my ramblings. I was up most of the night with a sick baby and all of this on my mind. Please show some love to Loni on her blog if you can. I can't begin to imagine her pain and you can't have too much positive support.

Just for kicks here are some studies on the safety of homebirth:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9271961
http://www.changesurfer.com/Hlth/homebirth.html

In case you are looking for a midwife in the Sacramento area:

http://www.newearthmidwife.com/

Mommies on a Mission: Weeks 8-10

<center> <a href="http://lifeasalake.blogspot.com/2012/07/mommies-on-mission-week-1.html"><img src="http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z7/Abbeylake07/weight-loss_after-baby1.jpg" /></a></center>   I totally slipped the last couple of weeks! I swear its not my fault. Well, not entirely. My husband keeps bringing me home bags of sour gummy worms and he knows they are my weakness! I have been lazy, busy and tired, which is a terible combination. I figured since I was losing the weight slowly without putting in a ton of effort, I was doing just fine. My pre-pregnancy clothes fit me but they would look so much better if I got my butt into gear! I am really going to try this week.   Pre-pregnancy weight: 121 Weight at delivery: 180 Week 7 weight: 124 This weeks weight: 125   Check on Mama Lake's Progress!

Confession Friday

Here it is: I secretly want to be Michelle Duggar. She has more patience for her 95 kids than I could ever have for my 3. She's crazy organized, has a helpful husband and well behaved children, and she never has to worry about birth control. That's all.

Our New Normal

Wow have we been busy around here lately! Natalia started first grade a few weeks ago and Noelle started preschool last week. After last years ridiculous kindergarten experience (I will save that for another post!), we applied to a few charter schools and we were lucky enough to get a spot at one. The only downfall is that it is a 25 minute drive each way. So basically we are in the car most of the day M-F.

Here is Buggy on her first day of preschool!

I don't know what it was about the first two weeks of school but it was a huge adjustment for us all. Natalia went from being homeschooled all day to almost 7 hours of school a day. Not to mention my nightowl was now needing to be up and ready earlier than she was used to. What was most surprising was that it really affected Noelle and I. We both started napping with the baby in the afternoons!

Yep. Here is where I spent my afternoons for a few weeks!

So now we are getting in to more of a routine and I am getting used to being tired every day and less dependent on a daily nap. Noelle, however, still very much needs one! I am hoping not to get too burnt out on the daily drive, because Natalia's new school is amazing and we are all so happy with it.

I start working again next week and I can't wait! It is only 2 days a week but I will be happy to have a houseful of kids again. I know once that starts and I begin volunteering in both of the girls classrooms in the next few weeks we will need to adjust again. I really am someone who thrives on being busy, so hopefully the transition will be smooth!

In other news at the G house, Natalia has her first loose tooth and baby Ryder had his first half birthday!

 It is getting harder each month to get him to hold still long enough to take a photo!

Mommies on a Mission: Week 7

<center> <a href="http://lifeasalake.blogspot.com/2012/07/mommies-on-mission-week-1.html"><img src="http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z7/Abbeylake07/weight-loss_after-baby1.jpg" /></a></center>   I apologize for being so behind on updating! Both of my girls started fulltime school and it has been a huge adjustment! You think I would have more time to blog but it just isn't so. I have been doing good as far as not eating out and cooking at home. We did order out from Chili's once and my husband and I both got sick from eating such rich food! I definitely notice a huge difference in the way I feel when I eat healthier. I also signed up for an organic produce delivery program. So we receive a box of organic locally grown produce every 3 weeks. It has been fun to experiment with produce I normally wouldn't cook with or eat. I haven't done any formal exercising yet but I have been trying to walk more and just be more active in general. So here is what this week looks like:   Prepregnancy weight: 121 End of pregnancy weight: 180 3 weeks ago weight: 127 Today's weight: 124     Don't forget to check on Mama Lake's progress!