For more photos of Maria see our FB album

some pics from January '11

Here is a new Facebook album of pics from the past month or so.

Some pregnancy pics and advice

Here I am at 39 1/2 weeks.

We've been steadily getting ready for a home birth and setting up all the stuff for baby. I can heartily endorse the store Once Upon a Child and other "gently used" children's clothing and accessory stores. Babies don't wear out their clothes before they out grow them, so you can get lots of stuff in great condition for a fraction of the price you buy it new. If the items are on clearance you can get nice stuff for $1 or less. I also recommend registering at Target because you get a whole bag of coupons and even a $20 gift card for photo products on Shutterfly.

I also highly recommend the following books:
Ina May's Guide to Childbirth
The Sears Birth Book
Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way

These books are full of great information for helping you prepare for a positive birth experience (regardless of whether you choose a home or hospital birth, a natural or a medicated one). There are so many things we can do to prepare physically and mentally. I definitely feel like a home birth is the easiest path to having a good experience, but everyone planning a hospital birth just needs to work twice as hard to get educated about your choices and make a plan for the doctors to follow. There are many interventions for which there is not informed consent, so you have to know what they plan to do before they do it if you what to decline (For example, a lady in Salem was shocked the other day to receive her baby into her arms and see that a monitoring device had been inserted into its scalp. No one had told her about internal fetal monitoring and she was appalled!).

I've come to see that my health and the health of my baby is my responsibility and I should never give myself unquestioningly into someone else's care. There are sooooo many options for birth that I had never even thought of before. Did you know that at the hospital (at least at mine) they wash your baby by holding it under a stream of water and scrubbing it with a brush? You can opt to not bathe your baby until you go home, leaving its protective coating on and avoiding the risk of staff infection (you KNOW how common those are these days!). That's just the tip of the iceberg in terms of choices and risks which need to be investigated so that you can make the best plan possible.

I know a lot of pregnant women, so I just thought I would share some of these resources because I want everyone to have their very best experience!