This week I joined Eats on Feets in their global oganization of getting human milk to human babies! I will be helping as a c0-admin to the Arizona chapter on Facebook. So excited to be a part of this amazing project. I LOVE my Midwife and all she does for me, the community, the world. Shell Walker- you are amazing!
Another interesting thing from this week is EC (Elimination Communication), so interesting! Diaperless Babies?! it's possible, people do it, and their home isn't covered in pee or poop. We're trying it! Basically, Sonja's been doing it on her own since birth, every time we'd change her, she'd pee on her changing table or even poop. We thought it was the whole cold air thing, that everyone says, but apparently it's built in to them, to not pee or poop on themselves read about it here. I'm going to order this book with more info; Diaper Free: The Gentle Wisdom of Natural Infant Hygiene. But, I also like this getting started info page; click here.
The morning after I saw this online, I tried it when she woke up- she peed out of her diaper, then again later after I fed her, we sat over the toilet and I "sssss"ed and she went (with in seconds)! I was stoked, of course I keep a CLOTH diaper on her bottom in case she does go, but also I check it to see when she might have gone that I missed. I know I'm still going to have to change lots of diapers and I don't mind, but I LOVE the idea she's not sitting in her own waste AND that she'll be more self aware and self sufficient earlier if she's starting to be potty trained SOO early.
On day 2 of infant potty training and Sonja has only peed in her diaper twice! She's gone on the toilet at least 6 or 7 times and pooped once today (once yesterday) on the toilet. She has not pooped in her diaper today since going on the toilet.
Since early on, I was struggling with the idea of her sitting in her own poop or pee, we changed her frequently but I still felt like it was borderline child abuse having her poop and pee in her diaper. Think of this in terms of ANY other age group; when would it ever be okay to let a child sit in his or her own excrement for even a few minutes?? most diapers recommend changing every 2-4 hours. Later on their poop is smellier so you would notice it in their diapers, but breast milk poops are almost odorless in diapers... if you don't hear it, sometimes you don't notice it right away. Anyway, Husband is also super into the idea. He was skeptical at first until I had him hold her over the toilet this morning and I showed him the "sssss"ing sound. He was like, "No, Way!" Our families are poking fun at it and thinking we're being a bit dramatic, but who knows when the "right" time to start potty training is? Usually, the parents, the child and also more importantly when it works. And so far, it's working for us. Now I just have to convince the babysitters...
Stroller Update:
Remember how last week I declined my in-laws stroller present, yeah my husband showed up at home from working all day with stroller and car seat in hand. His dad brought it to work and gave it to him all assembled and ready to go. Don't get me wrong it's a nice stroller, I just didn't want it. But it's here now, nothing I can do about it. This little clip represents how I feel about it, enjoy:
Also, this week; I was interviewed about my home birth experience, here's the interview:
On a scale from 1-5 how would you rate your overall experience of dealing with a midwife and having a home birth?
5 being best? I'd give it a 5.
Did you encounter any sort of problems during your pregnancy and or birth? If so what were they and how were they dealt with?
I had several minor issues during pregnancy.
1. I had a weird pain in my rib cage, not from the baby's foot. my midwife suggested it might be a muscle tear or hernia and recommended I purchases a belly support band and try acupuncture. I did both, and they helped but the strange pain lasted until my baby was out.
2. I had a high ph in general but was sort of the norm for me, we tracked this when I would pee and she would check it on a test strip. We kept an eye on it and she told me to eat a lot of yogurt for the probiotics to protect from a yeast infection or U.T.I. and also to take some grapefruit seed extract. I never got a UTI or infection, so we must have been monitoring it well.
3. Once and a while I'd be "dehydrated" based on my pee samples, but usually I'd just drink some water right away and I'd be fine, or you can also tell when you're hungry based on your pee samples and when that happened to me she's cut me up an apple or give me some snacks. She always had the best food at her office.
What were some of the tips you were given to help have a healthy pregnancy and birth at home? Lots. I have a whole note book filled with her suggestions, some that stand out for a healthy pregnancy included eating more proteins (as a vegetarian this is important since you're supposed to get so much more protein while pregnant) she told me to try quenoa instead of rice. I had never heard of quenoa until being pregnant, now we eat it at least once a week. She recommended certain teas but not until AFTER 12 weeks. Walk everyday, that was a big one. Also, in order to do a home birth, the pregnant woman must be in general good health to begin with AND it must be a single pregnancy, no twins or multiples. For the home birth, we took a child birth education class from her midwife partner and she educated us on all the steps and processes of birth so we knew what to expect, in that instance; the knowledge was power, anything abnormal would have been noticed by myself, my husband, our midwife or her assistant. The abnormalities would be handled as they arose.
What were some of the tips you were given to help have a healthy pregnancy and birth at home? Lots. I have a whole note book filled with her suggestions, some that stand out for a healthy pregnancy included eating more proteins (as a vegetarian this is important since you're supposed to get so much more protein while pregnant) she told me to try quenoa instead of rice. I had never heard of quenoa until being pregnant, now we eat it at least once a week. She recommended certain teas but not until AFTER 12 weeks. Walk everyday, that was a big one. Also, in order to do a home birth, the pregnant woman must be in general good health to begin with AND it must be a single pregnancy, no twins or multiples. For the home birth, we took a child birth education class from her midwife partner and she educated us on all the steps and processes of birth so we knew what to expect, in that instance; the knowledge was power, anything abnormal would have been noticed by myself, my husband, our midwife or her assistant. The abnormalities would be handled as they arose.
Why did you choose to have a home birth?
This is a long answer, I'll do my best to explain it simply.
We believe that the medical interventions, often routine, in hospital settings, decrease the human experience, meaning birth is a natural healthy process; in the hospital you are monitored for all things that can go wrong. often this leads to unnecessary interventions. Also, many doctors or nurses do not believe in the power of women and their bodies, many doctors and nurses told me I'd NEED to get an epidural, which have serious effects on the mother's and baby's safety and often lead to complications of their own including complications of breastfeeding once the baby is born. If you can poop or pee or get sick by yourself why can't you give birth by yourself. It's best to have someone who knows what to expect and what to do if something does "go wrong" but for the most part, even an unassisted birth will go fine. You hear stories all the time about the dad who delivered the baby on the way to the hospital. Babies come when they want, you're just helping to make sure it happens safely. Also, I had always planned on doing a natural birth without meds, inspired by my mother who birthed my sister Brittany this way, but when a close GUY friend mentioned that home birth was a great experience for a friend of his, I started thinking about it. When I got pregnant, I started researching it. I was thoroughly disgusted with the medical practices here in the US when it comes to birthing and decided to find a midwife to help us have our baby at home. I know there's a lot more to say but for now that's all I can think of...
What is your own opinion on hospital births?
I think, no, know hospitals are big businesses. They make a profit and to them, a birthing woman is just another paycheck from an insurance company. They want to get you in and out as quickly as possible, and they want you to believe it's for your own health. Mothers often go to the hospital right away, I was able to sit at home and watch movies in bed with my husband and eat and drink whatever I wanted. If you've ever been to a hospital before, I think you know which option is better. When you're at the hospital and taking a while to "progress", they give you pitocin to speed up delivery process (opening you up quicker), causing you more pain. That pain is often unbearable and nothing like natural unintervened contractions, but since woman are in so much pain they accept the drugs and epidurals. The drugs affect not only the mother but also the baby causing more complications because of heart rate issues for the baby, and epidurals can even cause permanent paralyzation or death (although, rare, it does happen, and it happens in the US more than most other countries). Often, once the mother has the epi and pain meds more complications arise and a cesarean section is the "only" answer. MAJOR SURGERY HAPPENS MORE OFTEN THAN NOT at hospital births. I did not want to spend my first 6 weeks of motherhood, recovering from MAJOR ABDOMINAL sugery. so I decided to do it at home, and if necessary go to the hospital under emergency necessity only.
Would you recommend home births to others?
I keep recommending home births to others! I blog about it, talk about, text about it. All my friends know how I feel about it. I would hope after hearing my birthing story and other's hospital birthing stories they'd see the obvious choice, but soo many people have been taught to fear their bodies and this natural process. So many times I'm asked what if something went wrong? my answer always was "my midwife will know what to do and she will keep me safe." and she did. I had minor bleeding issues right after the birth and she gave my body the tools to fix the problem, I took herbs and other steps to stop the bleeding, if it hadn't stopped she would have given me pitocin and if that didn't work we would have gone to the hospital. Luckily, the herbs/breastfeeding/going pee worked. Healthy women should birth at home, not because I think home birth is RIGHT but because those women owe it to themselves and their babies to have the best, happiest, most memorable birth experiences.
Were there any complications after birth that were rare or only specific to home births?
For me the only complications I had both during and after were;
1. Sonja was facing forward looking towards my tummy (as opposed to facing back looking towards my back), this complication can occur in any pregnancy, but only in a hospital is it often met with a c-seaction (ask my other sister Brandy about that experience). At home Shell (my midwife) was able to manually adjust her, she had patience for me and my body to adjust to what she was asking it to do.
2. Bleeding a little more than "normal" which I've already explained ALSO NOT SPECIFIC TO HOME BIRTHS.
As far as I know there are no complications specific to home birth.
Happy Momma Monday!
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