I just finished reading Standing in Two Places: A New Landscape of Motherhood

This is a memoir by Ashley Dyson about her experience having a baby via surrogacy.  She had complications from her first birth which prevented her from birthing another baby herself.  This memoir follows her journey through the surrogacy process and the emotional turmoil she went through.

It was very interesting as I had only thought about surrogacy from the birth moms point of view before.  Her story helped me better understand the challenges the mothers who use surrogacy to have a baby face.  The book was an easy and interesting read.  Certainly a must read for anyone contemplating surrogacy, or anyone who wants to learn more about it.

Dad, you may wonder why a mom needs a doula if they are going to be there.  Eoulas are as much for you as they are for the mom!

My DH said after Bryson’s birth, “Why didn’t we have a doula for all our births?”  He LOVED having a doula.  Often dads are the biggest proponents of doulas once they have experienced birth with one.  It takes the pressure off, so they can enjoy the journey.

Here is a great blog post delving deeper into this question of the Daddy-Doula dynamic.

I typically do like to finish the bulk of my shopping before Thanksgiving.  But usually I still have the boys and Rob to shop for.

Well, thanks to some great friends, I 95% finished shopping for everyone by Monday.  Then yesterday another great friend watched B. while  I wrapped everything I have bought.  I didn’t put tags on anything, rather I wrote numbers on them and have a list with what the numbers are and who they are for.  Then I hid them pretty well in my closet, way up high.

All I can say in regards to presents, is it is so much easier to buy things for a 4 year old than an 11 year old.

Not only that, but I have ordered my Christmas Cards and just finished writing our Christmas letter and will print those today.   Maybe I will do the labels for the cards too?

Seriously, I am worried, when will I crash?  What has possessed me?  What am I going to do in December?

Oh, wait!

• I am in charge of designing and printing the family calendar.
• I have 2 doula clients due.
• Singing in Sing Noel.
• Volunteering at the live Nativity, Follow the Star.
• 3 different Book Club Christmas Parties.  (Yes, I belong to 3 book clubs)
• Teaching a Hypnobabies Series.
• Decorating a Gingerbread house and a Gingerbread Train.
• Decorating our real house.

I guess I will stay busy.

I will say that one very inspirational find I have is a new Christmas CD! Every year for Sing Noel Victoria writes a Christmas song for the concert.  They are always my favorite, but when we get the CD of the concert, it is always hard to hear either the singer or the pianist.

So I was THRILLED to hear she produced a CD of her songs. All About the Baby.

I got it on Sunday and I LOVE it.  I haven’t found a Christmas CD I love since Harry Connick Jr Christmas CD, which came out in 1993.   Maybe this new CD is what has inspired my Christmas Preparations?  (Here is a link to my favorite song on the CD)

I think in my Christmas Frenzy I shall do a give away! So if you want to win a copy of All About the Baby leave a comment.  I will pick a winner December 1st.

I am working on my first Breastfeeding Class that I will be teaching in a few weeks. It made me want to find my favorite Breastfeeding Pictures of Bryson and I. (Carson and Devon’s aren’t digital and would require too much work to share! Maybe one day.)

Often birth really is so simple, a toddler can be your midwife!

I say that half kidding.  Sometimes birth can be complicated and more help is needed.  But often when births go fast like this, they are problem free and you don’t need anyone more than a calm soul to bring you a towel!

One great thing about this story is it was a Mom planning her 4th cesarean, so she had never had a vaginal birth before. She had a surprise HBA3C!  (Home Birth After 3 Cesareans)

Enjoy this great story of how easy birth can sometimes be!

This mom had a positive hospital VBAC and I am so happy to share a link to her story with everyone!

Joseph’s Birth

Enjoy reading it, I know I did!

I had a preemie.

It was life changing.  It was scary.  It was not the ideal start for my sons life.

I had been on bedrest for Preterm Labor from 25 weeks.  I figure I bought him 9 extra weeks, with the sacrifice of staying in bed, taking different pills and praying.

Devon was born at 34 weeks.  He was 4 pounds 3 ounces.

He only had to stay in the NICU for 12 days.

It felt so much longer.   But in comparison to what some preemies go through it was very little.

What can you do to help prevent prematurity?

• Take care of yourself.
• Eat well.
• Get prenatal care.
• Drink a lot of water.
• Pay attention to your body and baby.
• If you have more than 4 Braxton Hicks and hour, call your care provider.
• If baby’s movements decrease dramatically, call your care provider.
• TRUST your intuition!  If you feel something is wrong, insist you be seen!  (My friend pregnant with twins, suspected something was up at 25 weeks.  The OB blew her off, so finally she lied and said she had some bleeding.     So they had her come in and found she was 4cm dilated and they had her on bedrest in the hospital, where she was able to go a few more weeks.
• Do NOT get induced before 40 weeks (unless mom or baby is at risk)  So many babies that are preemies in the last few years were INDUCED!  Due dates are just guesstimates.  They can be off a few weeks.  So if a mom gets induced at 37 weeks, she may have a 34 week gestation baby.

My boys (age 11 and 9) love to watch reruns of Get Smart.  Well, last night they saw the show where agent 99 had twins.   Thing 2 (my 9 year old) said, “I am pretty sure they were born vaginally.  The only bummer is that she doesn’t breastfeed them, they get formula.”

I love that he noticed and that he thinks it is a bummer.  He will be a great husband one day.

This is something that no one talks about, it is as if it doesn’t exist, until you get it.  Then it is HUGE to you, but still isn’t imporant to anyone else.

Here is my experience with PUPPS, along with great links and what I felt helped.

The Yahoo Group is great for support too.

A mom recently shared she used Accupuncture to help with her PUPPS.

My accupuncturist had never heard of PUPPP before, but
she saw that the worst areas were on my liver
“pathways” and she treated them this way:

First she used a seven star hammer- a tiny hammer with
little points on the end, and she tapped it all over
me- it’s a little uncomfortable, but not bad and she
doesn’t do it for long.

Then she performed “cupping”  where she uses glass
cups with disposable plastic inserts that are
suctioned on to the worst spots and leaves them on for
only a few minutes.  It’s feels like really strong
suction and you look like you’ve been attacked by an
octopus’ suckers for a few days- but it cleared up
after two treatments!

I have to keep seeing her every week or so to maintain this until the baby is born-but I am itch free and sleeping again.

One, more thing I wanted to add to my posting, is that
my accupuncturist treats pregnant women all the time -
it’s important to make sure the practitioner has lots
of experience, so you know they are cautious and the
treatments are effective.

Having said that- the other great thing about this
treatment is that there are no medicines or steroids
involved and it is completely natural, so you can feel
good about being treated this way.

I would definitely try this if I ever got PUPPS again.   I ended up using medication, as I needed it to stay SANE.  I typically avoid any medication while pregnant, so I am glad to know that accupuncture is an option to try.

Here was another idea.

Hugs to you if you have PUPPS.

I found this video and loved it!  So for all you hypnosis and childbirth educators and moms, this one is for you!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9Ue51YtG1s]