Project Simplify’s Hot Spot this week was the Pantry.

It was also on my 52 Weeks of Organizing List too.

It really needed to be done!

Pantry Before

What I got rid of

Clean Pantry!

Stilll a lot of stuff - but organized

Organized OPEN Snacks

There we go – it doesn’t look as impressive as it feels.  I have more space in the other drawers – the snack drawer is just really full!

It took about an hour, but it was worth it!

There are no NORMAL weeks in April (see below for why).  I have no idea what my life will be like, so I have simplified my life by doing the A to Z challenge.

I am not sure how this simplifies things, except that I am on top of it and am trying to have them all written and scheduled in the next few days (I have been working on them since the middle March).

If I am up to it I may give goal updates and keep up with my 52 week organization challenge, but I may not.

Why is April crazy?

I have sort of a crazy April.  With the boys in 2 different school districts we have a weird April.

• T1 has spring break one week.
• T2 and T3 have spring break a different week.
• One week DH and I will be on a Cruise WITHOUT the boys.  My Mom is SOOOO great, she comes to stay with them once a year so we can get away.
• A different week T3 will be gone at Science Camp for a week too.

I thrive on normal and routines, so this will be an interesting month for me.  I have no moms due until the middle of May, so at least I am not on call. 

Enjoy the posts and I will be trying to check comments.

Some people felt I was judging the mom whose birth I attended.

Not at all – she did awesome.

I was really curious what it would be like, as it was my “first”

What was I doing?

I was just pointing out the differences I noticed.

I thought it would be helpful for other doulas that have a chance to doula Hypnobabies Moms.

• It is DIFFERENT. (Here is a link to another doula who attended her first Hypnobabies Birth and her observations of the differences.)
• I am not saying it is BETTER.
• I do think it is EASIER for a Mom and her doula if she chooses to use Hypnobabies.

In the end I am really all about supporting a Mom in what SHE wants, after all it is HER birth!

Having said that, I don’t think it is wrong of my to choose to only accept Hypnobabies Moms as doula clients, as I can only take a few clients a year.  It isn’t because I want my job to be easier as much as it is that I want to save those spots for my students who I have developed a relationship with.

Is it about being quiet?

NO!

My Hypnobabies moms are not necessarily QUIET during their births. Sometimes they are loud, sometimes they yell.  It is great and normal to make noise during birth if Mom wants to!

Hypnobabies is not about being quiet, it is more about being more calm and comfortable.

I am SO glad I had this experience.

This was a beautiful birth and it was awesome to be there.  I learned a lot from it.  Whenever I attend a birth where the mom is honored and respected it is beautiful.

I finished reading Your Best Birth: Know All Your Options by Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein.  I mostly really loved the book.  (I will put the only drawback I found at the end.)  Through most of the book I was thinking, this is exactly what I would say if I wrote a birth book!

I love that it is not a book about “natural childbirth” rather it is focusing on educating yourself on your options and choose what is best for YOU.  That is my own personal point of view as a childbirth educator and mom.  There are a lot of choices out there for birth.  This book gives a great overview of many choices and the pros and cons in a very easy to read format.

I previously recommend The Thinking Woman’s Guide to a Better Birth and probably still will.  But it is definitely geared towards natural childbirth and more technical, so I think most mainstream moms wouldn’t read it.  I think most moms would enjoy reading Your Best Birth: Know All Your Options.  I want to buy a copy and give to every pregnant woman I know early in their pregnancy!  The sooner you figure out what you want for your birth, the sooner you can see if your care provider is a good match for you.

Here are some of my favorite quotes and my thoughts about them.

Why bother learning about birth?  You can’t predict what will happen!

“Even though you can’t predict, you can prepare.  You can get to know your body, understand your fears, strengths and values and get familiar with how the medical world might react to all of that and all of you.  This book is an attempt to put in your hands all of what we didn’t know when we started to consider the births of our children so that you can give your life with your baby a good start by arranging the best birth possible.”

YES!  So true, you can’t predict what your birth is going to be like, but you can prepare to have the best birth possible.  I think this book does that.

What is a Best Birth?

“…we feel that the true mark of a “best birth” is when the mother is respected, informed, and treated as a participant in every decision about her pregnancy, labor, and delivery.  We have observed that when doctors and midwives treat mothers as active participants in their own childbirths, the mothers always feel empowered, no matter whether their births are natural or surgical.”

YES!  Again a mom may have an elective cesarean be her best birth, after researching her options and making a choice to do so.  If she chooses to have an elective cesarean because her OB scared her into it, it will not be empowering.  It is the same type of birth, but very different experience for the mom.

Choosing Care Providers

“If your prospective caregiver makes you feel uncomfortable, difficult, or stupid sitting in the office, just project forward to how those same feelings will affect you on the day your child is born.”

YES!  Choose your Care Provider wisely!  This can not be overstated.  Also, even if they make you feel comfortable, you still need to know where they stand on certain issues.  If they induce most of their patients at 38 weeks, that will be setting yourself up for an induction.  ASK questions and listen to the answers and notice how you feel when they are answering them.

Childbirth Classes

“…there is no other area in our lives where we would so easily give over the decision making.  “Many peoples spend more time researching the stroller than they do trying to understand the physicality and the emotional-loadedness of getting a baby out of their bodies,” she said.  And a good birth class might actually change your mind about some of the things you didn’t consider.”

YES!  This is so true and so sad.  So many moms don’t take the time to learn about birth.  They say, “I will go to the hospital and they will know what to do.”   This is crazy to me, the hospital knows how to give institutionalize, one size fits all care.  So yes, they will know what to do, but it may not be what is best for you or your baby.  Also dealing with your emotions and fears before your birth will help so much during your birth!

“Look for classes that limit enrollment to no more than ten couples and take up fifteen total hours of class time.  Erica believes that’s the minimum time necessary to educate couples in all their choices as well as coach them in some effective coping techniques.  “Massage is a tool; privacy is a tool; vocalizing, breath work is a tool; visualization is a tool.  This is why I don’t believe there is a method.  It’s like telling people there is a method for sex.”

YES!  I like that they earlier said, “don’t take hospital based classes.”  An independent childbirth class is the best place to learn about all your options.  Smaller class sizes are better for more individualized instruction.  Also I agree there is no “method” to give birth.  I teach Hypnobabies, but in the class I am teaching many tools and with their practice at home they are reinforcing those tools.  Then during their birth they have a huge bag of tools to pick and choose from!

What I didn’t like.

As a Hypnobabies instructor I was happy to see hypnosis for childbirth mentioned.  Moms have different choices when choosing which method to use.  Each program offers different tools and information.

From the book, “Some midwives and doulas feel that moms who study HypnoBirthing may derive benefits from taking the course but are often disappointed when they start to experience pain during their labors.  These midwives and doulas warn clients not to harbor a false expectation that their births will be painless and then feel discouraged when they are not.”

This is a concern for many midwives and doulas that have only seen HypnoBirthing births.

I wish that they had shared information about Hypnobabies, which is a very different program. Hypnobabies has medical grade hypnosis (same depth used in dental surgery), 6 post hypnotic cues, and 10 hypnosis scripts on CD to listen to with 3 just for your birthing day.  The tools with Hypnobabies are so powerful along with complete childbirth information. I hate to see moms and care providers lump all hypnosis for childbirth methods together.

As the Hypnobabies Yahoo Group Moderator I read many birth stories where mom is completely comfortable for her birth!  I have gathered over 200 here and continue to put new ones on the Hypnobabies Blog.

Overall Great Book!

So overall, I think this is a great book for expecting moms to read.  Just remember if you are interested in hypnosis for childbirth, look at all your options!

I was the back up doula heading to a birth of a couple I had never met.  To make matters more interesting I had never attended a birth of a couple who hadn’t taken Hypnobabies.  I was more then a little nervous.

I said a few prayers on the drive to the hospital and tried to remind myself of the studies where they found it was beneficial to birthing mothers to just have a woman sitting in the room knitting.  I could certainly be more helpful than THAT.

It was a little strange going into a hospital room, meeting complete strangers and realizing you would be sharing one of the most amazing experiences with them.

I haven’t yet gotten permission to share their birth story, so here is a completely generic run down.

Basic Birth Story

• I read their birth plan so I knew what they wanted.
• They were a great couple, worked well as a team and were really nice.
• It was a fast, pretty easy vaginal birth for first time mom. (I got to the hospital at 3:45 AM and I was back home by 10 AM)
• Mom did awesome (even without Hypnobabies).
• Dad was great.
• They had a beautiful healthy baby.

Differences

I will say it was different than the other births I have attended.

• Mom was yelling “It HURTS” quite a few times.  I honestly don’t get that with my other births.  Not all my moms are completely comfortable, but they aren’t yelling it.
• It was also weird not to be able to use my normal calming, comforting tools.  (Which my Hypnobabies moms have been practicing for months, so they work great!)
• But I was still able to help in lots of other ways, in fact it was a great learning experience, because instead of doing what I usually/automatically do, I watched the Mom and followed her lead.
• I realized I should do that more with my other clients.  Take a step back and watch more before jumping in with a CD or cue.

So overall, it was wonderful and it was such an honor to be there.

However I don’t think I will change my “rule” of only taking Hypnobabies students as clients.  It is easier for me AND mom if they take Hypnobabies.

I also have limited time and like to save my doula spots for my students.

I was wondering if all that work creating a family mission statement would make a difference.

Well, it did to me.

My boys charter school had a clean up day on Saturday.  I was tempted to send DH with the big Things, stay home with T3 and rest.  (We had a busy morning and something that night too.)  But then I thought of our mission statement and wanted to help our family help the world around us.  So I went.

It ended up being a lot of work, but a lot of fun too!

SORRY the links are not working.  Ugh, I deleted my main word doc that had all the links. If you are interested I have these links scheduled to go out on my twitter account and my facebook page.

@enjoybirth

www.facebook.com/enjoyyourbirth

Found 2- sorry about the rest!

PREGNANCY

• Ideas of things to do during pregnancy to help promote bonding after birth
• Feminism and Birth – what is the deal with that?

BREASTFEEDING

• Is Nursing Inate?

BLOGGING OPPORTUNITIES

• Want to be a guest birth blogger?
• Want to be a guest blogger about parenting?

PREGNANCY
• Ideas of things to do during pregnancy to help promote bonding after birth
• Feminism and Birth – what is the deal with that?
• Save your money! You don’t need these baby products.
• Why Taking Hypnobabies Early is Smart

BREASTFEEDING
• Is Nursing Inate?
• I loved to multitask while nursing!

For more Sunday Surfing, visit Authentic Mothering, Mama and Baby Love, Gems of Delight, Breastfeeding Moms Unite, Domesticated Women, This Adventure Life, Maman A Droit, Hobo Mama and Baby Dust Diaries.

I have tried a few different kinds of birth control since getting married 15+ years ago.

• Pill – liked it before T1.  Hated it after T2, it gave me headaches.  Didn’t like the hormones.
• Spermicide (love VCF – Vaginal Contraceptive Film – others burn and are uncomfortable for me)]
• Condoms – don’t love these… they hurt too.  What can I say, I am sensitive.
• Ovulation charting – done to prevent pregnancy between T1 and T2, also used it to conceive the boys.  Was going to use it to conceive a girl once T2 was 4, but got pregnant a month too early. 
• IUD – I got a Mirena after T3

Now here I am without an IUD.  My OB asked if we were having another baby.  I had to say, “No, DH does not want another baby.”

I am open to having a baby, but don’t feel that I am supposed to.  I am ready to leave it more up to chance… but not enough to not use any birth control. (I actually think I could maybe do this, but I know DH isn’t ready.)  I guess I feel if we use something like spermicide the door is more open then with an IUD.  If we are supposed to have one it will happen.

Is that totally crazy?

I liked hearing what you are using.  It gave me some new ideas.

Neither one of us feel comfortable with anything permanent.

I don’t want the pill or any other hormonal thing.

I didn’t LOVE the IUD, I had some mild side effects.  So I would like a break from that.

I guess I could have asked about a diaphram.  That seems like a good option, a little “Safer” than spermacide alond.

I loved the feedback and ideas I got about Natural Family Planning, I have ordered the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility.  I enjoyed looking at the websites people shared too.  I will let you know what I think of this after I read the book and gather more information.

I am also checking out the App – P Tracker

For now I have bought 2 boxes of VCF.

It is expensive stuff – about $30 for 18 “uses”  That should last a little while. 

Any other great ideas?

Also, while not related to birth control, it is related to female stuff – I am excited because I bought a Diva Cup.  I will let you know how that goes once  I get to use it!

My DH and I were talking about decluttering and our organizational issues.  It came out that he hates having things on top of the fridge.  I never knew that!

So I decided to tackle the kitchen counters, the outside of the fridge and our island.

Here are the before pictures, you can see the fridge issue he doesn’t like:

I started by taking EVERYTHING off any flat space, including the magnets.  Those procreate as much as my pens and pencils do!

I ended up with this:

It looks great doesn’t it?  But I actually need some things on my flat surfaces, like our toaster oven!

So I put back only the essentials!

Ending up with this: 

I love it!  You can see my bill holder top left of the picture on the left.  That I didn’t de-clutter.  But it always looks empty AFTER I pay the bills.  I love the new look and so far (after a week) don’t miss anything that was up there.

This weeks challenge:  Kids Rooms and Clothes

I went through T3′s toys with a vengance back in October.  I have some great before and after pictures of that.

I DID get rid of a box full of Christmas trains and tracks, which the trains no longer work.  I bought a new set after Christmas, so I thought, “No excuses – throw it away!”

I put it in the trash can.  Then I woke up at 5 AM and wanted to go out and dig it out of the trash.  I was just thinking of the memories tied up in them and T3 had fun playing with it just pushing it around.  By 8 AM I was more logical, but as I hear the garbage truck outside now, I am so tempted to go and dig it out!  (I restrained myself)

I thought I would focus on his clothes this time. I did that not too long ago, but his drawers are out of control!

Part of it is in order to simplify my life I let him put his clothes away.  So there are 3 huge drawers, that are a jumble of clothes.

PJs and Underwear

So I went through each drawer and took out what no longer fits and/or his brothers clothes that accidentally got in there.

Too Small - Off to Goodwill

Socks without partners into trash!

Then I added some boxes I already had to help organize it a little more.  I think that he can still handle putting things away, but maybe it will stay neater!

Long Sleeve Things

While I didn’t get rid of too many things, I do feel like I helped the drawers to be organized and have more of a system.  We will see how it goes!