Monday
May022011
Monday Open Thread
Monday, May 2, 2011 at 4:00PM
Today’s open thread is hosted by bananas.
What’s going on out there? Any baby’s due? What projects are you working on?
Comments for this entry have been disabled. Additional comments may not be added to this entry at this time.
Reader Comments (38)
No babies due here, but we have an ICAN meeting Saturday....super excited! :)
Enjoy!
No babies due, too afraid to get preggers thanks to my section almost 2 years ago. But I've got a bunch of cute woolies that i am finishing knitting. you can check out some of them here http://www.myknoodleknits.com
In all my trying to avoid the chaos and craziness...it's what I've wound up with, again.sigh whether it's life or birth. Gotta make ya wonder what the hell I'm doing wrong or right who knows? end of vent that is all
No babies due here either, but am working on a project (as described on your Facebook status, in fact, but I like talking about it!).
This is my project:
http://www.acornpack.com/about
A friend is nearing the end of her pregnancy (1st baby) and hasn't attended a childbirth class yet. Also, she's picked a intervention-happy hospital with a high c/s rate because her husband isn't comfortable with home birth. She says she's not worried, she's relying on me and a family friend who was her mother's midwife (but as far as I've been able to discern, no longer catches babies) to doula her. I'm trying not to worry about her, but I can't help it.
Some good news: she's healthy, her nutrition is spot-on, they couldn't saddle her with a GD dx (although they tried really hard)... She seems to be gestating in peace, more or less.
Doula Source Ontario - a new community website designed to help families find labour and postpartum doulas to meet their needs, and allow local doulas to network with others
www.doulasourceontario.com
http://www.facebook.com/doulasourceontario
This is my new project, I wanted to create a community site that could connect all of my on-line friends and colleagues. I'm supporting the idea with a website, a facebook page and twitter. Doula Source does not require any memberships or fees, and provides free on-line business listings for all Ontario doulas by region. I am excited to think of the potential for the site as it gets up and running, and would love to chat with anyone else familiar with similar community-type sites for ideas on what resources or applications would be good to add as I develop the site.
It's a labour of love at the moment, something I am working on in my (not so) spare time, but after only one week, there are already over 30 businesses who have added listings, and more getting added each day! I would love to send out an invitation to any Ontario, Canada Doulas to add their business listings too!
Thanks everyone!
Laura Armstrong
Vital Mother - Labour and Postpartum Doula
www.vitalmotherdoula.com
http://www.facebook.com/vitalmotherdoulacare
vitalmother@gmail.com
My town (Ringgold, GA) was torn up by an F4 tornado last Wednesday evening. The complete destruction is a mere mile from where my house is. I feel so lucky to still have my house standing and my family safe and sound. Life here has felt like it's at a standstill in so many ways while the world just continues on around us as if nothing happened. So strange. I don't know how or when Ringgold will be able to recover from this. It's very overwhelming. I'll hopefully be a part of at least 2 benefit concerts in the near future to help with it, but it'll be a drop in the bucket. This has kind of taken front and center in our lives right now. But I'm sure I'll be back onto birthy stuff again soon enough.
My project for the last 5 years has been Mom's Breastaurant. It's a non-profit I started after a friend was ejected from a local strawberry festival for the crime of putting up an 'unauthorized booth' in order to nurse her daughter in the shade. She was in the parking lot, seated next to her car, over which she had erected a small canopy. When she told her story I realized that the issue was not NIP, but the 'unauthorized' nature of the 'booth' and decided that the answer was an authorized booth. MB was born from that. We believe that to be truly family-friendly an event must be infant friendly, because families start with infants. Our purpose is to help events become family-friendly, and to help families with small children participate in outdoor community events. To that end, I've taken the booth, complete with a diaper changing table, comfortable chairs, fans/heaters (depending on weather), nursing pillows, and a toddler table/chairs so older sibs can be occupied with coloring or clay while mom and dad care for baby to more than 60 events in 8 states. We don't charge anything, just asking for the space in which to set up. Donations are always welcome :) This year we expanded beyond my booth in CA to add booths in WA, CO, SD, NY, SC and MN. At present we're involved in the Chase Community Giving contest, hoping to drum up enough votes to get into the top 100 by the end of the day on 5/4 (only 2 more days!). Securing a spot in the top 100 will guarantee MB a share in the prize donation money, allowing us to finance further expansion so we can bring our 'infant care stations' to more events in more states. Please take a moment to vote for Mom's Breastaurant! http://tinyurl.com/3pr6ddj
Thanks for the opportunity to bend the collective ear of the fans and followers of the Unnecesarean with this shameless self promotion! :)
Hi! I’ve started a blog about being plus size and pregnant (http://plussizemommymemoirs.blogspot.com/). I remember reading and being told that I had a higher chance of having a c-section because of my weight. I empowered myself by hiring a doula and switching from an OB to a Midwife. I want to empower plus size women to educate themselves about their options during birth and to not feel limited due to their size. I appreciate all of the information you provide on your blog/Facebook!
Best wishes!
My current project is working on how to convince some researchers to do a study on the safety of VBAC after Special Scars (you know the unusual cesarean incisions). The ladies in my Yahoo and Facebook groups have been having so much success that I have a hard time believe the "party" line that we are all ticking time bombs. *rolls eyes*
I like bananas with EXACTLY this amount of green. Well played, Jill.
Rebecca: I am very familiar with Ringgold; used to date a boy from there. ;) I was very sad to hear about the damage there, just like to my family in Alabama. Are you guys getting help there, or is it mostly going to more visible areas?
Nonie: Awesome! A local friend is working with that here, and I think it's a great idea!
RS: Do you wait for the little brown line at the base of the stem? My father-in-law has convinced me that without that line you CANNOT.EAT.THE.BANANA. Haven't had a bad one yet that way. :)
My projects? Still working on the usual, but with a side serving of possible doula certification (due to friend's popular demand) and studying for the GRE. Huzzah! Also, reporting the jerk who knocked off my side mirror in a hit and run. I hate that mess.
ANaturalAdvocate- Oh funny that you know Ringgold! It's kinda small... :) Anyway, I do hope that we're getting the help we need. I know that it's been declared a national disaster area and FEMA is here and my friends that have lost their homes so far are getting a lot of help with both rumaging through the rubble and being given places to stay etc. Most of them have insurance as well that is going to be a tremendous help. It's those without insurance that really need a lot more help. Hopefully that is where FEMA comes in? I'm not sure. Anyway, thanks for asking! It's just going to take years to rebuild this town. That's a hard pill to swallow!
I craved bananas and all banana-related products when I was pregnant with little Squirt, and now she eats a banana every day. More than one if we let her. Thinking about baby #2...
ANaturalAdvocate - where are you? I'm wondering which chapter hostess you know :)
Also, I don't know about the little brown line on bananas, but I like mine lightly spotted with brown. The ones with green on them are too crunchy.
I am realizing, slowly, why I haven't written out my birth story yet. It's a very interesting epiphany having to do with the fear of sharing my joy. Perhaps when I am done nursing my beautiful Simone I can elaborate...but of course now my birthday wine is kicking in too so many tomorrow.
Wrote a little blog post today about one of the GOOD things that has come out of my son's cesarean birth. The dissemination of the fact the skin to skin in the OR is possible.
http://cesareanparents.blogspot.com/2011/05/one-year-later.html
NOT GIP SAFE!
Can I just vent a little? I really hate talking about my VBAC because it was probably the worst thing for my son. I hate HATE admitting that, but it's mostly true. My daughter was born c-section in April 08 and I birthed my son into the world September '10 at 42wks5days weighing 11lb 9oz. I feel like I had no support but wanted what was best for my son, which was to stay home and have him myself. Almost three days of labor left my husband tired enough to go to sleep and left me alone. I woke him up at 630 am and went to the hospital, I couldn't do it by myself. I knew I was getting a c-section and was completely prepped (other than being wheeled into the OR). The doctor on call checked me and found 'just a lip left' and allowed me to continue with a vaginal birth YAY! Just under 5 hours later and a spinal to ease my pain, I was being yelled at by 5 people to push. Even though the pain killers wore off, the only pain I felt was in my head (from purple pushing) and my body was all the while screaming at me to FLIP OVER. I wanted to so bad, the feeling is making my chest hurt and tears well up right now, but I simply didn't. I kept pushing and no one told me his head was out, but everyone went from 'PUSH PUSH PUSH' to "You have to PUSH". Turns out, he was stuck, but had no idea because the tone of the room NEVER changed. They treated me like an emergency because I was a VBAC, so when something serious DID happen, I was clueless. In my haze, I told my doctor to pull, I'll never forget that. And pull she did. When he finally came out (with the help of two nurses pushing on my stomach, and the doctor pulling) he was completely limp but surprisingly pink. All I saw was his back as she placed him on my stomach. She 'milked' his cord, cut it, and they took him to the warmer. We did know his gender and I wanted to announce it. I never saw his face while they were working on him, but did get a glimpse that he was in fact a boy. The nurse asked if they should call a code pink (stillbirth) twice. The doctor had a very faint heartbeat and just ignored her. His APGARS were 1 and 2. They took him to the nursery where they intubated him for 3 hours. They got him stable enough to transfer 2 hours away. Even when they brought him in my room to say goodbye (and hello), I couldn't see his face because the tube keeping him alive was directly in my way. I first got to see my son's face when he was 30 hours old. There were more wires on him than skin. He had a cool cap on to prevent brain damage. He couldn't eat because he had meconium in his lungs and stomach, he was being fed fats through his belly button. He had a tube in his throat to keep him breathing. He had two pulse/oxygen meters on. They had trouble getting an IV started because is was so big. By the end of his 17 day journey there, he'd had one started in each hand and foot TWICE. I stayed at the hospital the whole time, and away from my daughter. The hospital (Akron's Children's) were more than accommodating. I had a bed to sleep in and pumped milk every two hours. The only good thing I see from this experience was that he got more colostrum than I could have imagined, I pumped it for three solid days before my milk came in, and in each setting (8 times a day) I got 3-4oz from each breast. He received every drop of it through his NG tube. He was exactly two weeks old when he first nursed. We went home three days later. During the time he was there, we found his right arm didn't like to move. He was diagnosed with a Brachial Plexus Injury, most common with use of forceps/vaccum and in larger babies with shoulder dystocia, my son being the later. He is almost 8 months old and has most use of his right arm, but still not 100%. I give full credit to all the breastmilk he has gotten, with no drop of formula anywhere. We are still going strong and his 3yo sister, after not being nursed since she was 5mo, takes a sip here and there. Nothing warms my heart more seeing them together, but also breaks my heart when I think about how close to death he really was. They did an MRI and showed a 'mini stroke' in the back of his brain, which affects hearing. The neurologist he's seen twice has absolutely NO concern over his brain, even called it 'beautiful' while looking at the scan. Oh yeah, and my hunk of a baby is now a hunk of an [almost] toddler at 28 pounds and is wearing 2t clothing, at 8 months old :) His sister is 32 pounds and is in 3t. Why I saved anything 'baby' from her is beyond me, lol. I hate thinking back to his birth because the present is so wonderful (other than his arm), but it will forever be in my mind 'why didn't I just take the c-section?'
If you made it through that, I really have to thank you very much. Getting it out helps, especially to people I really hope understand. No one in my family sees the big deal I make out of birth. I wanted the best for my son, and I feel the opposite happened.
I'd like to say that I flounced off because everyone was critical of my choice of bananas (except for RS... sparkle hearts for you), but I actually keep falling asleep when my kids do. And without brushing my teeth or drinking water, which makes me dream about drinking water.
I love all of these projects that everyone has going on. Thank you so much for sharing them here.
Rhonda, I've already read your comment twice and am going to read it again. It's fine that your family doesn't understand why you keep talking about your birth. They don't have to understand, but please don't stop talking about it until you've worked it through! You've been through a freaking nightmare. If they won't listen, we're here. Writing something up now...