The enchanted broccoli baby...

...and his sisters:



The outfit E is wearing is hot off my new-to-me machine! D's grandma gave me her old Singer 500 (Slant-O-Matic), a fantastic machine that I'm LOVING!




It does so many stitches, has all these accessory feet (I used a ruffler, rolled hem, applique, and normal presser foot all in this project - just for fun), and is plain beefy. My old Target cheap-o Singer is going out the door - never to be used in this house again...you know what they say, "they just don't make 'em like they used to!"

Quickening!

So today I can say with certainty: I feel the baby! I've been thinking I felt him/her for about the last week, but never with enough consistency to be sure. Today he/she is so active, I've had for-sure little belly tickles all day! Baby's gestational age (by LMP) is 17 weeks tomorrow :)

This Alaskan woman...

...is obviously in great company! Yes, this is a political post. I am so tired of people assuming because Ms. Palin is the Alaskan governor, that I (we) support her current political aspirations (gag).

I love that the "Alaska Women Reject Palin" rally was so successful - now for that, I'm proud to be an Alaskan!

I know not all my readers are on my side of the ballot, and that's OK. I respect differences in opinion! What I don't like is the current fad of supporting a candidate for her gender, not her politics. Off my soapbox now.

Go Alaskan women! *grin*

Sunday morning

Another hot day in AZ...cleaning out the garage, doing little chores. The kiddos decided to ride bikes. We are fortunate to live on a side street with a HUGE bike lane, so the girls can ride in it relatively safely. E insisted on riding the trike, which she's obviously long ago outgrown...and C is working on riding the big bike. As soon as the temps fall (we're still at 100), we plan on some intensive bike-riding lessons :)

Baby L and his stroller

We just resurrected this stroller from the garage, and it has become L's favorite "new" toy. He does laps around the house pushing it with miscellaneous passengers loaded in...

Maternity bargains

If anybody local is looking for some cheap maternity clothes, check out Every Mother and Child at Guadeloupe and Ellsworth! Jenny, the owner, has gently used clothes at great prices - plus they're all 50% off through the end of the month! I got everything below for less than $19 this last weekend...including a velour Gap dress for the holidays, two pairs of jeans, a bunch of shirts, shorts and a Glamourmom nursing tank! Support a local business and score some deals while you're at it :) There was a ton of stuff in medium and large...

Second Birth

10:30 last night, S called to let me know M was in labor and ready for us. Within 10 minutes, we arrived to find her laboring on the toilet, obviously working hard through frequent contractions. She asked to be checked and was found to be at 5 cm. Her husband was setting up the birth pool (La Bassine) and took their toddler to Grandma's. While he was gone, M's contractions picked up to basically one on top of another, and she began vocalizing shortly before dad arrived back home.

S and I assisted filling the tub by pitcher from the bathroom sink, as M was desperate for the relief, and obviously getting very close to birth. Once in the tub, her water broke (heavily meconium stained) and then she quickly began pushing. Five minutes later, at 11:48 p.m., a 7 lb 4 oz baby girl joined the world after 41 weeks, one day gestation. There was very heavy meconium staining on the baby as well - green amniotic sac, umbilical cord, nail staining, etc.

Mom rapidly birthed the placenta as well, and moved to bed. Baby did receive some blow-by oxygen, and remained tachypnic for a couple hours. Her coloring improved, her lungs sounded great...but she was working pretty hard and fast to breathe. After two hours, we recommended careful observation with transport to the hospital if it did not improve in another hour. The mom's father came over and with the dad gave the baby a blessing (LDS family). By the time we left at 3:00, she appeared to have settled and was nursing calmly. We will see them again this evening for follow-up.

Mom was amazing - no tearing, no soreness - such a beautiful, strong woman! The parents were so thrilled with the labor and birth - their first had been born at a hospital, in what the dad described as a "fine, normal" hospital birth. But then he said in comparison, "...it was awful! This is how birth should be!"

First Birth

Got a call Wednesday night around 11 that our primip at 38 + 4 had called to say her water broke. Got another call around 1:30 a.m. that contractions had picked up, were 4 min apart, and they were ready for us to come. When we arrived, she was already at 5 cm; she and her husband labored peacefully for the next couple hours while we read, occasionally checked in on them, and got everything ready for the birth.

At 5 a.m. she was completely dilated and started pushing...and kept pushing for the next 3.5 hours! This primip birthed her 6 lb 14 oz baby boy in a posterior, acynclitic presentation! She did hemorrhage pretty badly following the birth of the placenta; I administered a dose of pitocin, and the bleeding stopped.

My lessons learned? Some moms really do find flat-on-back, legs pushed up to ears the single most comfortable position for pushing. Mom's intuition on pushing position is keen - this happens to be a great position for getting a posterior baby past the pubic bone! A simple labor does not mean a simple birth. Some births really do need a little extra assistance (hands-on) from a provider...I am sure in a hospital setting, this young mama would have been taken for a C-section after about an hour of pushing, without any progress. Despite my personal preference for hands-off, do-it-yourself-style birth, some well-timed help made a huge difference in this pushing phase. What else...oh, administering IM pit isn't nearly as bad when you've seen the blood gushing...I thought jamming that long needle in a thigh would freak me out a little. First, I should have known better - I have no problem with poking people with needles (EMT leftover); second, knowing what you are doing will literally save a transfer, some major problems, and maybe a life makes that quick jab very very easy!


So one down, two to go...soon! Our mamas are currently at 40 + 6 and 40 + 4, so I'm expecting a call any time now...

Long time no posts...

Where does the time go?

The girls are doing great in school; they do dance on Mondays and C has keyboard on Thursdays. Both activities are at school, so I just pick up later in the day. This is also handy so D can grab them on his way home!

My apprenticeship is getting busy! We have two mamas at 40 weeks right now, and another at 38 weeks. Two are primips, one is a G2 P1. I actually just got a "heads-up" call that the one may be starting labor now...we'll see how the night goes! We're expecting thunderstorms tonight and tomorrow, which seems to also bring labor...

What else? I'm at 14 weeks, 5 days with Baby4, feeling absolutely great, if not a touch tired. My belly is growing more obvious by the day.

Just got news from my mom that one of my best childhood friends is expecting her first - and second! - around the same time as Baby4 is joining us. I'm thrilled for S and D, and can't wait to hear more.

Baby L is as active and non-sleepy as ever. He loves activity and being carried around. He actually shows excitement when I pull out my carriers these days :)

There's the news; I'm off to bed in case this does turn into a late-night labor call. Zzzzzzzzzz.

I'll leave you with pics of L from yesterday. He's goofy - kept telling me, "more, more" whenever I tried to stop taking pictures!

School girls

OK, I win the lame mom award this school year. I never got first-day pics! So...in an effort to make up for my error, here are the girls on their way to the fourth day of school :D



They are both really enjoying their respective classes this year - E in the Primary (3-6 year olds or preschool and K) as a kindergartener and C in the same Lower Elementary (6-9 year olds or 1-3 grade) she was in last year.

They both want to take dance this year, so I'm looking into the options for that...there is a program one day right after school (at the school). Will update as we make decisions.

Wednesday is pizza day again this year. It's a fundraiser for the school; the Upper Elementary (1-6th grade mix) runs it. It's a nice mid-week break from lunch packing for all of us, and fun for the girls. They serve some veggie (usually carrots) and a small cookie along with the pizza...there is no other lunch program at the school. Side note: I'm very pleased with the efforts the staff take to ensure the children have healthy lunches. Lunchables and the like are forbidden, and kids will not be allowed to eat certain foods if sent in with lunch (i.e. sugar foods, junk food, etc.). Also, no drinks are permitted, as water is served at lunch. I love it!

If you are not familiar with Montessori, the other nice thing the kids do for lunch is set the tables, eat on real dishes (glassware!), and serve the water from pitchers. After eating, they clear the tables, load the dishwasher, and clean up.

OK. There's the school news!

Can you figure it out?

Clue #1

Clue #2

Clue #3

Clue #4

For the family: sister pics!

I caught my sister online in Delhi tonight (tomorrow morning, her time). I was complaining I never get pictures, so she took a couple on location for me from her ibook.

Without further ado, this is A in mirror image in her office in Delhi:




Hopefully more soon...scenes from the big big city...hint, hint.

Pics from June

I got home from AK, and these were on my camera...so while out of chronological order, I thought some of my readers might appreciate seeing them:

At the zoo:



Still at the zoo, playing at the splash pad (a necessity in AZ summers):


And playing out back at home, in the romper a dear family friend made back in the day, for Miss C! Just went through my digital pics, and sadly there isn't one of C in the romper. I'll do a pic of a pic someday and put them side by side:

As promised...

Alaska pictures!

Most of these are from our camping trip on Glacier Spit, and the ~6 mile (RT) hike we took to Grewingk Glacier (yes, the girls did the whole hike!).

Besides the kids, you will see my parents and a family friend who joined us for one night (she's in the yellow raingear). D wasn't in AK for the camping, though he made one picture in the girls' fort by my parents' house!

Enjoy...

Back in the desert!

We made it! Our flight left Anchorage at 12:30 in the morning...we flew to Seattle and waited two hours before flying down to good ol' Phoenix. Doesn't sound so bad...except the planes were FULL, the kids (and parents!) exhausted, and it was practically impossible to actually sleep. It makes for a very rough next day. I have determined we will never again travel the red-eye anywhere. It's not worth the pain LOL.

Pictures and tales from AK coming tomorrow - I promise :D

The girls start school on the 13th, so we have a little bit of routine to establish in the next couple weeks. They will both go from 8:30 to 2:45, as E is officially a kindergartner - at the same school as big sis this year! I am bound and determined to make this year a little smoother...not that last year was bad, but I want to get into a good routine with dinners, lunches packed the night before, chore charts (I have to make one similar to this one Kelley found!!), etc. Wish me luck.

Checking back in!

Thanks for your comments everyone - and sorry for the lack of posts lately!

We're up in Alaska at my parents' place, trying to enjoy the COLD (highs of 57, anyone??). Went camping last weekend across the bay, and D flies in early tomorrow morning to join us for the last 10 days.

I will post pics soon - but I'm using my parents' camera, so I'm at their mercy for uploading :D

Hope you are all enjoying your summer, and I promise I'll write more soon!

j

Win some carriers!

Check out this fantastic dream babywearing give-away! That's one of each kind of carrier...soft structured carrier (buckles), pouch, mei tai, ring sling and wrap! And if you win, I expect a commission LOL:

Win the Essential Babywearing Stash from Along for the Ride (one Beco Butterfly, one Hotsling baby pouch, one BabyHawk Mei Tai, one Zolowear Ring Sling, and one Gypsy Mama Wrap)

Letter to ACOG

In response to the big can of worms ACOG is trying to open regarding home birth, read this letter, shared earlier today with my local birth network:

Douglas H. Kirkpatrick, MD
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
PO Box 96920
Washington, DC 20090-2188

Dear Sir:

I am a practicing OB/ GYN in southern California and Fellow of ACOG
and recently was informed by midwife colleagues of your recommendation
and encouragement for the AMA to lobby Congress for a law banning out of
hospital birth.

Funny that I had to hear of this decision from outside sources and
was never approached by my college to see how I or my local colleagues felt
about it. I have grave concerns regarding my organization taking such a stand. I think
we are all agreed that ACOG has a statement regarding patients¢ rights to
informed consent and informed refusal. Yet, it seems with every decision our
organization moves further away from that basic tenet.

ACOG's little "guideline" paper on VBAC in 2004 where the word
readily was changed to immediately has had the chilling effect of doing away with
VBAC options at hundreds if not more hospitals. Not due to patient safety,
or the ideal of giving true informed consent but really, let's be honest, to fear
of litigation. I have seen how patients have become counseled by
obstetricians at facilities where VBAC has been banned. They are clearly given a
skewed view of the risks of VBAC but rarely told of the risks of multiple surgeries. If
you think this is untrue you are, sadly, out of touch with real clinical
medicine.

As to out of hospital birthing, please give me the courtesy of an
explanation as to the data you used and the process by which an
organization which is supposed to represent me came to this conclusion. Any statement
saying that it is as simple as patient safety and that one-size fits all hospital
birth under the "obstetric model" of practice should be applied to all patients
is, putting it nicely, not really in line with what best serves all our
patients. In many instances, hospitals are not safe, certainly not nurturing and
have a far worse track record for disasters than home birth. Even when emergency
help is nearby this is true. The focus of all of us in medicine should be on
reigning in trial lawyers and tort reform and lobbying Congress for that. The
best interest of the college members and the patients we serve would be
for my organization to spend its time and energy on something that has true
benefit.

Removing choices from well-informed patients and caring doctors and
midwives is wholly un-American.

So please send me detailed information on how ACOG decided outlawing
home birth was a wise thing to do. You must have scientific data to take
such a drastic stand. Please make it available to me so that I may share it
with like-minded colleagues. I would also like to know the process by
which this came to pass. Who first raised this issue and why? What committee reviewed
all the data and did its due diligence in interviewing those of us with long-
standing experience in backing midwives who perform out of hospital births.
There must be a fine, non-confidential paper trail you can share with your members.
Specific names of committee member who voted for this would be enlightening
and I am requesting this information. I would like to know the background and
expertise regarding out of hospital birth for each member who had a hand in the
decision to go to the AMA.

We live in an odd era where once something is said or recommended by
a legitimate organization such as ACOG it has deep ramifications never
intended, such as becoming fodder for trial lawyers trying to squeeze the lifeblood
and dignity out of your members. Or forcing women to travel hundreds of
miles in labor to find a supportive facility. Or even worse, to have them arrive in
a VBAC banned hospital and refuse surgery. Can this be the best we can do
for our patients? Remember, your VBAC statement was meant to be only a
recommendation but quickly became the rule by which hospital administrators, risk
managers and anesthesia departments of smaller hospital banned this option for
thousands of women. An option, that in proper hands, was the safe and accepted
standard of care for 30 years. In fact, you still have an ACOG VBAC brochure that
recommends this option!

For those of us working at smaller hospitals where VBAC was banned
due to lack of emergency help (anesthesia, OR crews, etc.) there is a big
question that has perplexed us, that no administrator seems to be willing or able
to answer. That question is: "If a hospital cannot handle an emergency
c/section for VBACs, and most emergencies are for fetal bradycardia, hemorrhage
(ie. abruption) or shoulder dystocia, not for ruptured uteri, then how can
they do obstetrics at all?" For they seem to still be able to have a
maternity ward without in house anesthesia. Will someday ACOG, in their great wisdom but
seeming disconnect from reality, make a "recommendation" that little
hospitals stop providing obstetric services? Will this better serve women and their
communities throughout America?

I am frightened and angered by what you have done in my name. Now I
ask you to defend your position in encouraging the AMA to lobby Congress for
another restriction on the freedom of choice that belongs to women and their
families. Those choices include midwifery and the right to have the most
beautiful and life changing event occur wherever best fits their desire.

Midwives are well trained and required to have obstetrical backup.
They have very special relationships with their patients and want the very best
outcomes for them. They do not need me or you to police them. We have
a habit in our country over the past 40 years of thinking we can legislate out
stupidity. All that has done is erode the individual freedoms that belong, by
birthright, to each of us. I would hope you trust your Fellows to know their
specialty, their colleagues, and what is best for the patient as an individual.

These decisions do not belong to politicians or faceless committees.
You should have more faith in your members to give balanced informed
consent. Again, my recommendation to you is to put all your considerable energy into
changing our legal malpractice system. Those of us actually practicing
medicine and caring for patients know this to be the greatest threat to the
mission and responsibility we have chosen to undertake.

I look forward to your response and possibly the beginning of a meaningful
dialogue.

Sincerely,

Stuart J. Fischbein, MD FACOG
Medical Advisor, Birth Action Coalition

ADL

(Activities of Daily Life - aka random pics I just uploaded)

The kids' favorite breakfast - popcorn with olive oil, salt and Brewer's Yeast (leftover from mom and dad movie-watching the night before):


What happens when girls do art (thank goodness for Crayola washables!). It's a very bad picture of Baby L, as he was NOT happy being held in place for a picture:


And L's favorite place to hang out - the recycle and trash bins! Please note the 10-minute pants I whipped up this afternoon with a couple fat quarters on sale at JoAnn. Can I just say, I LOVE my new serger?!?!

Just horsin' around

From the ranch last week:


Papa Bass was out visiting over the long weekend, and the girls got to go spend the night at the ranch on Thursday. Miss E is the next horse-whisperer, and spent a solid two hours grooming, riding, and loving on Captain (above).

We loved seeing Papa - who has lost 70 pounds!! - he looks fantastic and we are so appreciative of the effort he made to see the grandkids. Thank you!!