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Marvel A Day
August 2, 2010
March 15, 2010
Kasen Say Linthakhan
Born 2/24/2010
Weight 7 lbs 2oz
Height 19 3/4 inches
Before our 2nd son was born I had always viewed birth has this huge life event. Yes, bringing a life into the world is an enormous and life changing event, but the event itself does not seem as vast as I used to view it. Giving birth to our 2nd son was just part of that days events. There was no big commotion over anything going on, there was no chaos. The day was completely unruffled by giving birth, it was like it was a completely natural thing to be going on inside that day. It was so natural and calm. Yes, I’d been planning out every little detail for countless weeks, we’d been preparing our home, buying all the supplies we would need, coming up with all these ‘worries’, and at the time of planning it seemed like it was going to be this huge time stopping event in our lives. That day came and went so quickly that our lives didn’t seem miss a beat. Maybe is has something to do with it being the second child, maybe it has to do with having a home birth this time, but no matter what the reason Kasens birth felt so comfortable happening. Its like he just slipped perfectly into our lives one Wednesday afternoon.
Planning a home birth in Nebraska is a little tricky because of the laws that are in place. I want to make things clear that this was not a decision that we took lightly. Home birth is a very safe and practical choice for some families. I didn't just say one day "lets do it at home" and left it like that. We did a ton of research on our own, I connected with other moms who had given birth outside of the hospital, and we made sure we took the necessary precautions for all the "what ifs". We finally decided that having our second child at home was in the best interest of our family. The very thought of having to goto a hospital to give birth had me very uneasy. So the months of planning went by very quickly yet as soon as the third trimester kicked in everything seem to slow down. I’d spent my days organizing the closets, cleaning the cupboards, and baking anything that would keep my mind occupied so I would not be counting down the days. My due date finaly came and passed. I knew that it was not likely he’d be born on his exact due date so we waited…and waited…and waited. A week over due I started getting all the questions, “When are they inducing?” “You know its dangerous to go so far over due right?” “You’re still pregnant?” as if I didn’t realize I was still pregnant, thanks. So off to the acupuncturist I went to see if that would start labor. It didn’t. I’ve heard being intimate with your husband is a sure fire way to get things going. It sure wasn’t. “Eat a whole pineapple” someone suggested. That did nothing. We tried just about every technique to naturally induce labor. It was pretty clear that this little boy was not going to come out until HE was good and ready. I reached two weeks overdue and from that point on I pretty much secluded myself from the outside world because I knew what everyone would say. I did quite a bit of research on the dangers of going past your due date...and to my surprise, the dangers of being medically induced are far greater then going past your due date. So from that point on I decided that we would just let this little boy pick his own birthday.
On Tuesday night my husband and I broke out one of our old favorite games, Rock Band! He jammed out on the guitar while I beat on the drums. It was nice to stop obsessing over when this baby was going to come. We went to bed a little later then planned and the thought of going into labor that night didn’t even exists in my mind. Six o’clock a.m I was coaxed awake by this gnawing pain in my stomach. I tried to ignore it and tried to go back to sleep. Ten minutes later there is was again. I decided I would try to get up and goto the bathroom. By seven o’clock these cramps were coming on every five minutes and lasting for over a minute. I woke David up, and then made a phone call to, we will call her Mary. “It’s finally my turn to have a baby” I told her. I figured things would take a while so we just laid in bed and tried to get some more rest. I quickly knew that sleeping was not going to happen. Then a million things rushed into my mind that needed to get done. I should cook breakfast for me and the boys, I need to do the dishes, vacuuming would be a good idea, my hair was a mess and I wanted to put on some makeup (we were, after all, having company), the pool needed blown up and filled, I needed to get all the supplies out and ready. So I got up and a contraction hit me to where I had to stop and work through it. When it was over I took a few more steps to get started on my to do list, and WHAM another contraction hit me again. These were not those nice little ‘wave’ contractions, these were hit you hard, knock you to your knees contractions. After a few more of these I realized I had only made it a few feet from my bed, I would not be getting anything done. I laid back in bed to slow the contractions down because I knew it would still be a few hours before Mary would get there. Our son, Jace, had woke up and wanted to be in bed cuddling and playing with me. At that point I was having to concentrate through contractions but I was trying my best to smile at him and explain to him he was going to meet this baby that had been in my tummy all this time. I tried to coach my husband through the most important things that needed done and I just decided I’d forget about the little things that didn’t really matter. He ended up getting Jace dressed and off to my mothers. He called Julie, our photographer, and told her to be prepared to leave work today. He got some water boiling, all the birth supplies out, the pool blown up and started being filled. Meanwhile I’m laying in bed working through these fairly strong contractions in between puking in the trashcan. I knew throwing up was a sign of being in transition, but I knew I was not there yet.
By 10:00am everyone had arrived at our home. Mary, her two apprentices, and our photographer. I tried to smile and say ‘hi’ to everyone but I knew I was not going to be a very good hostess today. We ended up running out of hot water so I had to wait till around 11am to get in the pool so they could fill the rest up with water from the pots on the stove. I almost felt like I was in the olden days with each stock pot of water they’d pour. Finally, after checking the babies heart tones, I gladly eased into the warm pool. Immediately things felt so much better, contractions were bearable again and I was able to relax and enjoy the moment. With each contraction coming and going I just floated through the waves of intensity. With the warm water surrounding me, everything was so calm. I sat in the pool with my eyes closed. The room felt so warm and welcoming. I sank deeper in the pool with each contraction, I became lost in the noises around me. The trickling of the water off my body, the soft music playing in the back ground, the swooshing sound of that Marys dress made, the soft opening and closing of Julies shutter on her camera. I became lost in the feelings around me. The feeling of everyone waiting…but waiting patiently. The feeling of the water surrounding me completely, the feeling of a loving strong hand pressing firmly on my back through each contraction, the feeling of knowing this labor was going to be ending soon.
At 12:15 it happened. I hit transition. I stopped and said “I can’t do this”, I knew pushing was coming up and I did not want to push. I was done! A soft, calming voice said to me “Yes you can, your body will just take over, work with it”. I looked up and saw the two apprentices smiling, like they knew something, they knew I could do it and they knew it would be soon. I closed my eyes to the world again and at that point I could hear soft rustling of people around the room getting things ready. Mary asked David if he was going to catch his baby, I remember thinking “no way is it already that time” and I remember thinking “no way does David want to catch his baby”, he is a little squeamish, but to my surprise he went over to where she was and she started explaining things to him. She said the position that I was in sometimes indicated a shorter cord so she explained what to do when the baby came out and to take the cord and baby under my leg, she explained quite a lot to him but her words started floating away. I must have called David over because the 1st chance he got to come hold my hands he took. I was on my knees bent over the pools edge holding on to David with all my might. By then Mary was right, my body had taken over and there was nothing I could do to stop it from pushing this baby out. With each push I heard Mary say “good job, that’s it”. She felt a cervical lip and ended up pushing it up through a contraction, which I was not even aware of that happening until afterwards. Finally I felt a POP, my waters had finally broken. With another push at 12:30 the MW said “whoa, pant pant”. I felt that horrible yet wonderful ring of fire. With my husband holding my hands he panted with me as I eased the babies head out, the next thing I heard was “The heads out, there’s a hand, the other hand, the body…” then at twelve thirty two, the rest of him slipped out. I sat back and I felt him for the very first time, in my arms. I will never forget how his precious skin felt against mine. He was so soft, and slippery. At that moment I felt every feeling and emotion there was to feel, yet I was completely numb. I felt like crying, I felt like laughing, I felt like I could do anything. Nothing else existed in that moment except my baby, myself and the arms surrounding me.
We sat there and waited until the cord stopped pulsing and David cut it. We sat in the pool for an hour and a half. He was so calm and peaceful, not a cry came out. His eyes were wide open and he was just looking around at his brand new world. He nursed, Mary fed me some food, and we all just let it sink in. Baby Kasen and I finally took a bath, got a weight and height for him, and then got dressed. He was 7lbs 2oz 19 3/4in long with an apgar score of 9! We then crawled into our own bed and just soaked him up.
We finally made phone calls to tell everyone and it was finally time to introduce Jace to his little brother. Jace immediately loved him and gave him kisses. Jace still isn’t sure if he wants to keep his little brother around, but he does love Kasen and is sure to give him kisses whenever he’s crying.
Giving birth at home was truly amazing, I wish more women were able to experience what I did that day. We all have these “Birth Plans” we put in place when preparing to give birth, and it almost never goes as planned. I certainly did not plan on only being in labor 6.5 hours, I had planned to do a lot more then I did that day. I thought I’d be able to get a little housework done while listening to this immaculate birth CD that I had been making for the past 6 months. I planned to do a lot more then I did, but sometimes in birth it’s best to relax and breathe and do nothing else, and that’s exactly what I needed to do.
For pictures from that day be sure to visit www.juliebranyan.com
Weight 7 lbs 2oz
Height 19 3/4 inches
Before our 2nd son was born I had always viewed birth has this huge life event. Yes, bringing a life into the world is an enormous and life changing event, but the event itself does not seem as vast as I used to view it. Giving birth to our 2nd son was just part of that days events. There was no big commotion over anything going on, there was no chaos. The day was completely unruffled by giving birth, it was like it was a completely natural thing to be going on inside that day. It was so natural and calm. Yes, I’d been planning out every little detail for countless weeks, we’d been preparing our home, buying all the supplies we would need, coming up with all these ‘worries’, and at the time of planning it seemed like it was going to be this huge time stopping event in our lives. That day came and went so quickly that our lives didn’t seem miss a beat. Maybe is has something to do with it being the second child, maybe it has to do with having a home birth this time, but no matter what the reason Kasens birth felt so comfortable happening. Its like he just slipped perfectly into our lives one Wednesday afternoon.
Planning a home birth in Nebraska is a little tricky because of the laws that are in place. I want to make things clear that this was not a decision that we took lightly. Home birth is a very safe and practical choice for some families. I didn't just say one day "lets do it at home" and left it like that. We did a ton of research on our own, I connected with other moms who had given birth outside of the hospital, and we made sure we took the necessary precautions for all the "what ifs". We finally decided that having our second child at home was in the best interest of our family. The very thought of having to goto a hospital to give birth had me very uneasy. So the months of planning went by very quickly yet as soon as the third trimester kicked in everything seem to slow down. I’d spent my days organizing the closets, cleaning the cupboards, and baking anything that would keep my mind occupied so I would not be counting down the days. My due date finaly came and passed. I knew that it was not likely he’d be born on his exact due date so we waited…and waited…and waited. A week over due I started getting all the questions, “When are they inducing?” “You know its dangerous to go so far over due right?” “You’re still pregnant?” as if I didn’t realize I was still pregnant, thanks. So off to the acupuncturist I went to see if that would start labor. It didn’t. I’ve heard being intimate with your husband is a sure fire way to get things going. It sure wasn’t. “Eat a whole pineapple” someone suggested. That did nothing. We tried just about every technique to naturally induce labor. It was pretty clear that this little boy was not going to come out until HE was good and ready. I reached two weeks overdue and from that point on I pretty much secluded myself from the outside world because I knew what everyone would say. I did quite a bit of research on the dangers of going past your due date...and to my surprise, the dangers of being medically induced are far greater then going past your due date. So from that point on I decided that we would just let this little boy pick his own birthday.
On Tuesday night my husband and I broke out one of our old favorite games, Rock Band! He jammed out on the guitar while I beat on the drums. It was nice to stop obsessing over when this baby was going to come. We went to bed a little later then planned and the thought of going into labor that night didn’t even exists in my mind. Six o’clock a.m I was coaxed awake by this gnawing pain in my stomach. I tried to ignore it and tried to go back to sleep. Ten minutes later there is was again. I decided I would try to get up and goto the bathroom. By seven o’clock these cramps were coming on every five minutes and lasting for over a minute. I woke David up, and then made a phone call to, we will call her Mary. “It’s finally my turn to have a baby” I told her. I figured things would take a while so we just laid in bed and tried to get some more rest. I quickly knew that sleeping was not going to happen. Then a million things rushed into my mind that needed to get done. I should cook breakfast for me and the boys, I need to do the dishes, vacuuming would be a good idea, my hair was a mess and I wanted to put on some makeup (we were, after all, having company), the pool needed blown up and filled, I needed to get all the supplies out and ready. So I got up and a contraction hit me to where I had to stop and work through it. When it was over I took a few more steps to get started on my to do list, and WHAM another contraction hit me again. These were not those nice little ‘wave’ contractions, these were hit you hard, knock you to your knees contractions. After a few more of these I realized I had only made it a few feet from my bed, I would not be getting anything done. I laid back in bed to slow the contractions down because I knew it would still be a few hours before Mary would get there. Our son, Jace, had woke up and wanted to be in bed cuddling and playing with me. At that point I was having to concentrate through contractions but I was trying my best to smile at him and explain to him he was going to meet this baby that had been in my tummy all this time. I tried to coach my husband through the most important things that needed done and I just decided I’d forget about the little things that didn’t really matter. He ended up getting Jace dressed and off to my mothers. He called Julie, our photographer, and told her to be prepared to leave work today. He got some water boiling, all the birth supplies out, the pool blown up and started being filled. Meanwhile I’m laying in bed working through these fairly strong contractions in between puking in the trashcan. I knew throwing up was a sign of being in transition, but I knew I was not there yet.
By 10:00am everyone had arrived at our home. Mary, her two apprentices, and our photographer. I tried to smile and say ‘hi’ to everyone but I knew I was not going to be a very good hostess today. We ended up running out of hot water so I had to wait till around 11am to get in the pool so they could fill the rest up with water from the pots on the stove. I almost felt like I was in the olden days with each stock pot of water they’d pour. Finally, after checking the babies heart tones, I gladly eased into the warm pool. Immediately things felt so much better, contractions were bearable again and I was able to relax and enjoy the moment. With each contraction coming and going I just floated through the waves of intensity. With the warm water surrounding me, everything was so calm. I sat in the pool with my eyes closed. The room felt so warm and welcoming. I sank deeper in the pool with each contraction, I became lost in the noises around me. The trickling of the water off my body, the soft music playing in the back ground, the swooshing sound of that Marys dress made, the soft opening and closing of Julies shutter on her camera. I became lost in the feelings around me. The feeling of everyone waiting…but waiting patiently. The feeling of the water surrounding me completely, the feeling of a loving strong hand pressing firmly on my back through each contraction, the feeling of knowing this labor was going to be ending soon.
At 12:15 it happened. I hit transition. I stopped and said “I can’t do this”, I knew pushing was coming up and I did not want to push. I was done! A soft, calming voice said to me “Yes you can, your body will just take over, work with it”. I looked up and saw the two apprentices smiling, like they knew something, they knew I could do it and they knew it would be soon. I closed my eyes to the world again and at that point I could hear soft rustling of people around the room getting things ready. Mary asked David if he was going to catch his baby, I remember thinking “no way is it already that time” and I remember thinking “no way does David want to catch his baby”, he is a little squeamish, but to my surprise he went over to where she was and she started explaining things to him. She said the position that I was in sometimes indicated a shorter cord so she explained what to do when the baby came out and to take the cord and baby under my leg, she explained quite a lot to him but her words started floating away. I must have called David over because the 1st chance he got to come hold my hands he took. I was on my knees bent over the pools edge holding on to David with all my might. By then Mary was right, my body had taken over and there was nothing I could do to stop it from pushing this baby out. With each push I heard Mary say “good job, that’s it”. She felt a cervical lip and ended up pushing it up through a contraction, which I was not even aware of that happening until afterwards. Finally I felt a POP, my waters had finally broken. With another push at 12:30 the MW said “whoa, pant pant”. I felt that horrible yet wonderful ring of fire. With my husband holding my hands he panted with me as I eased the babies head out, the next thing I heard was “The heads out, there’s a hand, the other hand, the body…” then at twelve thirty two, the rest of him slipped out. I sat back and I felt him for the very first time, in my arms. I will never forget how his precious skin felt against mine. He was so soft, and slippery. At that moment I felt every feeling and emotion there was to feel, yet I was completely numb. I felt like crying, I felt like laughing, I felt like I could do anything. Nothing else existed in that moment except my baby, myself and the arms surrounding me.
We sat there and waited until the cord stopped pulsing and David cut it. We sat in the pool for an hour and a half. He was so calm and peaceful, not a cry came out. His eyes were wide open and he was just looking around at his brand new world. He nursed, Mary fed me some food, and we all just let it sink in. Baby Kasen and I finally took a bath, got a weight and height for him, and then got dressed. He was 7lbs 2oz 19 3/4in long with an apgar score of 9! We then crawled into our own bed and just soaked him up.
We finally made phone calls to tell everyone and it was finally time to introduce Jace to his little brother. Jace immediately loved him and gave him kisses. Jace still isn’t sure if he wants to keep his little brother around, but he does love Kasen and is sure to give him kisses whenever he’s crying.
Giving birth at home was truly amazing, I wish more women were able to experience what I did that day. We all have these “Birth Plans” we put in place when preparing to give birth, and it almost never goes as planned. I certainly did not plan on only being in labor 6.5 hours, I had planned to do a lot more then I did that day. I thought I’d be able to get a little housework done while listening to this immaculate birth CD that I had been making for the past 6 months. I planned to do a lot more then I did, but sometimes in birth it’s best to relax and breathe and do nothing else, and that’s exactly what I needed to do.
For pictures from that day be sure to visit www.juliebranyan.com
January 21, 2010
Sneak Peak Maternity Photo's
The wonderful Julie Branyan once again did a beautiful job capturing my family and i!! There are only a handful of pictures up on her website, but there will be more to come
Check them out www.Julie Branyan.com
Check them out www.Julie Branyan.com
Super Scrumptious!!
Nourishing & Scrumptious "Mounds" candy bars
"These little tasty frozen candy bars fill my sweet tooth, and are an easy way to get a higher amount of coconut oil into my family’s diet. I used coconut flakes, honey (I prefer raw), homemade chocolate, almond extract, dehydrated almonds, and coconut oil. A delicious and natural combination. Though I haven’t had one for years now, Mounds was a favorite candy bar of mine. These remind me a lot of them because they contain the same type of ingredients.
They have definitely been a hit around here. My husband has been taking them in his lunches (packed next to his ice pack), and my toddler loves them, when cut into small pieces.
And who said you couldn’t have candy bars on a “healthy” diet? With a little creativity, we are denied very few things while remaining committed to a nourishing diet.
I blogged about Nourishing Tradition’s Carob (which I made into chocolate) chip recipe here. It’s quite good. The original recipe used rapadura. I decided to use honey for this project. I think it’s a little easier to get to dissolve into the mixture (always a problem with using rapadura in this recipe), but you can really use whatever sweetener you want. If you use a sweetener like honey, be aware that if you were to refrigerate the chocolate mixture instead of freeze it, it would stay a little softer than if you used rapadura.
“Mounds” Candy Bars-makes 12, large
1 1/3 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/2 cup of coconut oil
1/4 cup of honey (raw is nice)
1 teaspoon almond extract
36 almonds, left whole or chopped (your choice)
1-Melt the coconut oil and honey over low heat until just melted. Whisk to combine. Add the almond extract and coconut flakes.
2-Now take out your muffin tins (you will need a 12 compartment muffin tin). In each compartment, place three almonds, or divide the chopped almonds) Then, divide the coconut mixture, making sure you get an even mixture of coconut flakes and coconut oil. Place in a freezer (make sure it’s on a flat surface), and freeze until hard (about 30 minutes)
Now it’s time for the chocolate! You will need:
3/4 cup cocoa powder (not dutch cocoa)
1/4 cup of honey (I used a scant 1/4 of a cup)
1 cup coconut oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3-Combine these ingredients in a 2 cup glass measuring glass and place in a pot of simmering water. Heat until everything is just melted, and remove from heat. Either whisk briskly, or use a hand blender to combine well (the hand blender is the easiest way to do this).
4-Take out the frozen coconut flakes mixture, and divide your chocolate mixture over it (about two tablespoons per muffin compartment).
5-Put back into your freezer, and freeze until hard (again, about 30 minutes). To get them out, simply slide a butter knife down one side, and pop it out. This is very easy to do, as long as you do it directly from your freezer.
Then, enjoy! (and keep them frozen, they melt fairly quickly)"
"These little tasty frozen candy bars fill my sweet tooth, and are an easy way to get a higher amount of coconut oil into my family’s diet. I used coconut flakes, honey (I prefer raw), homemade chocolate, almond extract, dehydrated almonds, and coconut oil. A delicious and natural combination. Though I haven’t had one for years now, Mounds was a favorite candy bar of mine. These remind me a lot of them because they contain the same type of ingredients.
They have definitely been a hit around here. My husband has been taking them in his lunches (packed next to his ice pack), and my toddler loves them, when cut into small pieces.
And who said you couldn’t have candy bars on a “healthy” diet? With a little creativity, we are denied very few things while remaining committed to a nourishing diet.
I blogged about Nourishing Tradition’s Carob (which I made into chocolate) chip recipe here. It’s quite good. The original recipe used rapadura. I decided to use honey for this project. I think it’s a little easier to get to dissolve into the mixture (always a problem with using rapadura in this recipe), but you can really use whatever sweetener you want. If you use a sweetener like honey, be aware that if you were to refrigerate the chocolate mixture instead of freeze it, it would stay a little softer than if you used rapadura.
“Mounds” Candy Bars-makes 12, large
1 1/3 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/2 cup of coconut oil
1/4 cup of honey (raw is nice)
1 teaspoon almond extract
36 almonds, left whole or chopped (your choice)
1-Melt the coconut oil and honey over low heat until just melted. Whisk to combine. Add the almond extract and coconut flakes.
2-Now take out your muffin tins (you will need a 12 compartment muffin tin). In each compartment, place three almonds, or divide the chopped almonds) Then, divide the coconut mixture, making sure you get an even mixture of coconut flakes and coconut oil. Place in a freezer (make sure it’s on a flat surface), and freeze until hard (about 30 minutes)
Now it’s time for the chocolate! You will need:
3/4 cup cocoa powder (not dutch cocoa)
1/4 cup of honey (I used a scant 1/4 of a cup)
1 cup coconut oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3-Combine these ingredients in a 2 cup glass measuring glass and place in a pot of simmering water. Heat until everything is just melted, and remove from heat. Either whisk briskly, or use a hand blender to combine well (the hand blender is the easiest way to do this).
4-Take out the frozen coconut flakes mixture, and divide your chocolate mixture over it (about two tablespoons per muffin compartment).
5-Put back into your freezer, and freeze until hard (again, about 30 minutes). To get them out, simply slide a butter knife down one side, and pop it out. This is very easy to do, as long as you do it directly from your freezer.
Then, enjoy! (and keep them frozen, they melt fairly quickly)"
January 1, 2010
October 4, 2009
so i've gotten so lazy about updating....sorry to those who check this hoping for a new post. its hard to get around to everything.
But we found out last wednesday that we are having our 2nd boy, and we couldn't be happier! I did feel a tiny bit sad when i saw up there on the ultrasound a little buldge between the legs. I thought how i wouldn't be able to dress my daughter up in little dresses, or do her hair, or have that bond mothers and daughters have, plan her wedding, watch her give birth. I defiantly felt a little sad. but honestly, i don't think i am made to raise a girl. the drama, the tears, the attitude, the exspenses, the teenage years ect ect.... I've always imagined raising a houseful of boys and i couldn't be more blessed. Yes, boy are tiring. But i feel girls are tiiiiiiiiiiiireing. I am getting anxious, finally, about having a little baby around. i've been scared to death about how i'm going to handle it, but tonight i just had this vision of holding a little baby again and i smiled. The excited to give birth is slowly coming to. i'm starting to gather up a good soundtrack and that always helps to look forward to. But with the whole moving thing up in the air i'm still pretty unsettled about giving birth because i'm not sure where exactly it will be happening. I think i just need to let it go and let whats meant to happen...happen. things have worked out thus far, so i guess i shouldn't stress. onto the the names...now thats stressful...
But we found out last wednesday that we are having our 2nd boy, and we couldn't be happier! I did feel a tiny bit sad when i saw up there on the ultrasound a little buldge between the legs. I thought how i wouldn't be able to dress my daughter up in little dresses, or do her hair, or have that bond mothers and daughters have, plan her wedding, watch her give birth. I defiantly felt a little sad. but honestly, i don't think i am made to raise a girl. the drama, the tears, the attitude, the exspenses, the teenage years ect ect.... I've always imagined raising a houseful of boys and i couldn't be more blessed. Yes, boy are tiring. But i feel girls are tiiiiiiiiiiiireing. I am getting anxious, finally, about having a little baby around. i've been scared to death about how i'm going to handle it, but tonight i just had this vision of holding a little baby again and i smiled. The excited to give birth is slowly coming to. i'm starting to gather up a good soundtrack and that always helps to look forward to. But with the whole moving thing up in the air i'm still pretty unsettled about giving birth because i'm not sure where exactly it will be happening. I think i just need to let it go and let whats meant to happen...happen. things have worked out thus far, so i guess i shouldn't stress. onto the the names...now thats stressful...
September 29, 2009
i couldn't help but love this
Many fathers that I have read about made the decision (circumcising their son) based on wanting themselves to match their sons. Personally, I think that if that is your only reason, then you need to look at more practical approaches – haircuts, shirts, matching tattoos, but leave the boy’s poor penis out of it. I can't imagine there will be a time that my son will look upon my penis with a glimmer in his eye and a smile on his face and exclaim, “Daddy look, we match!” It’s just not that important to me. Taken from here
August 29, 2009
Birth is not an illness
Its 2009...we have a 'black' president...7 year old children have cell phones...we can go anywhere in the world with-in hours...movies that used to be rated R would now be considered almost PG...yet in the state i live in having a baby at home is taboo! Its actually illegal to have a medical professional attend your home birth, which in turn makes it more dangerous to deliver at home in Nebraska. These laws are forcing families who want to deliver in the privacy of their own home to have unassisted births, of course there are grey areas but it's still can be pretty messy to work around.
Birth is a miracle, a rite of passage, a natural part of life. But birth is also big
business, in fact it is a billion dollar business! Hospitals need to make money and hospital birth brings in HUGE revenue! So its no wonder doctors use all their technology....cha-ching!! They don't want women laying around their hospitals laboring for hours, they want you in and out so they can fill more beds.
Now of course if something starts to go wrong at our home during labor i will not hesitate at all to go to the hospital if that's what needs to be done. We do have a backup doctor that we are doing a fewprenatals and an ultrasound with so if something goes wrong that doctor will be the one delivering our baby instead of just an 'all call' obstetrician. We were actually in a prenatal visit with this doctor and one of the nurses came in to draw some blood and she says to me "your brave!". I wanted to tell her thati'm not the brave one, women who choose to deliver in a hospital are the brave ones. They are the ones who have to deal with interventions and scare tactics doctors use. Now the most important thing is my babies safety, and that is a huge reason we're doing it at home. I strongly believe that it is in my child's best interest to let our bodies work together do what they were made to do. I do not want someone offering me drugs that will hinder mother and babies natural process of working together. I do want a nurse telling me i need to lay on the bed when it feels better and helps the baby move down wheni'm up and moving. I do not want wires and IV's stuck to me everywhere. I will drink and eat just fine while in labor i do not need synthetic nutrients pumped in my veins. I do not want my child to be born in a chaotic mess with people in face masks running around, and bright lights shining in its poor little eyes that have never seen such horrible things. I want it to be a calm, relaxed, quiet, and dark environment to where it comes into this world. Being born is such a shocking experience in itself, i do not want it to be any more traumatic then it already is. I do not want a dirty look from the nurse when i decline the eye goop they put in their eyes, i want my baby to be able to see its mommy and daddy and know our faces. I don't want it whisked away to be put under a heat lamp. My bare breasts will do the job better then any synthetic light would. My heart beat and temperature will regulate the baby's. I don't need my baby to be put in a plastic tub and taken away to a nursery to bathe and to let me rest. I will bathe my own baby, my bed will do just fine for its crib, and i will be too high on my own endorphins to want to sleep anyways. But when i am tired, i will rest peacefully with my newborn right beside me. There will be no one coming in disturbing us every hour of the night. I will birth where i want, in the kitchen, in the bathtub, on the toilet, in the bed. I will have no one telling me what i should do because my body will instinctively know. At home i will enjoy my labor. "Birth is not an illness, it is not something that needs to be numbed"-Riki Lake, taken from the Documentary movie The Business of Being Born.
Despite the fact that it is illegal, we are currently planning a home birth for our 2nd child due in February. People ask "Why? With all the wonderful technology why would you want to deliver at your house?" even my husband said once, before he looked into things more, "our house is not sterile enough to give birth in". Yes hospitals do have wonderful technology that is very important and should be utilized when necessary but unfortunately it seems like now-a-days its routine to use all that equipment and therefore interfering with a very natural process. The thing with nature is that when you mess with it, it usually bites back. Yet with all this technology the united states has the SECOND worst newborn death rate in the developed world! The united states stands alone, almost everywhere else in the world midwives are attending the majority of births. It is almost an automatic thing now to give a women who comes into the hospitalpitocin to 'help' their labor along. Pitocin induced contractions are so much more intense then natural contractions, so the rate of requesting an epidural sky rockets! Epidurals slows the contractions down to where the doctor needs to administer morepitcocin . The women is in pain again, so what do they do? Up the dosage of the epidural. All these things are putting so much stress on this poor little baby whose trying on its own to find its way out. Eventually the baby is under so much stress that the doctors decide to do an emergency c-section and then in the end say "thank God we got your baby out in time!". Wait...how did this all start in the first place? Think about it for a minute... A Cesarean is extremely doctor friendly, because instead of having women in labor for an average of 12 hours, a C-section only lasts twenty minutes. Statistically, most C-sections happen at 4:00 PM and 10:00 PM. This way the doctor can be home in time for dinner, or in time to go to bed at a decent hour.
I think what a lot of women don't realize is that our Obstetrician are trained surgeons and trained to do procedures. Giving birth is not a procedure and it isn't anything that needs fixed.
“Unfortunately, the role of obstetrics has never been to help women give birth. There is a big difference between the medical discipline we call “obstetrics’ and something completely different, the art of midwifery. If we want to find safe alternatives to obstetrics, we must rediscover midwifery. To rediscover midwifery is the same as giving back childbirth to women. And imagine the future if surgical teams were at the service of the midwives and the women instead of controlling them.” — Michel Odent, MD
I think what a lot of women don't realize is that our Obstetrician are trained surgeons and trained to do procedures. Giving birth is not a procedure and it isn't anything that needs fixed.
“Unfortunately, the role of obstetrics has never been to help women give birth. There is a big difference between the medical discipline we call “obstetrics’ and something completely different, the art of midwifery. If we want to find safe alternatives to obstetrics, we must rediscover midwifery. To rediscover midwifery is the same as giving back childbirth to women. And imagine the future if surgical teams were at the service of the midwives and the women instead of controlling them.” — Michel Odent, MD
Birth is a miracle, a rite of passage, a natural part of life. But birth is also big
business, in fact it is a billion dollar business! Hospitals need to make money and hospital birth brings in HUGE revenue! So its no wonder doctors use all their technology....cha-ching!! They don't want women laying around their hospitals laboring for hours, they want you in and out so they can fill more beds.
Now of course if something starts to go wrong at our home during labor i will not hesitate at all to go to the hospital if that's what needs to be done. We do have a backup doctor that we are doing a fewprenatals and an ultrasound with so if something goes wrong that doctor will be the one delivering our baby instead of just an 'all call' obstetrician. We were actually in a prenatal visit with this doctor and one of the nurses came in to draw some blood and she says to me "your brave!". I wanted to tell her thati'm not the brave one, women who choose to deliver in a hospital are the brave ones. They are the ones who have to deal with interventions and scare tactics doctors use. Now the most important thing is my babies safety, and that is a huge reason we're doing it at home. I strongly believe that it is in my child's best interest to let our bodies work together do what they were made to do. I do not want someone offering me drugs that will hinder mother and babies natural process of working together. I do want a nurse telling me i need to lay on the bed when it feels better and helps the baby move down wheni'm up and moving. I do not want wires and IV's stuck to me everywhere. I will drink and eat just fine while in labor i do not need synthetic nutrients pumped in my veins. I do not want my child to be born in a chaotic mess with people in face masks running around, and bright lights shining in its poor little eyes that have never seen such horrible things. I want it to be a calm, relaxed, quiet, and dark environment to where it comes into this world. Being born is such a shocking experience in itself, i do not want it to be any more traumatic then it already is. I do not want a dirty look from the nurse when i decline the eye goop they put in their eyes, i want my baby to be able to see its mommy and daddy and know our faces. I don't want it whisked away to be put under a heat lamp. My bare breasts will do the job better then any synthetic light would. My heart beat and temperature will regulate the baby's. I don't need my baby to be put in a plastic tub and taken away to a nursery to bathe and to let me rest. I will bathe my own baby, my bed will do just fine for its crib, and i will be too high on my own endorphins to want to sleep anyways. But when i am tired, i will rest peacefully with my newborn right beside me. There will be no one coming in disturbing us every hour of the night. I will birth where i want, in the kitchen, in the bathtub, on the toilet, in the bed. I will have no one telling me what i should do because my body will instinctively know. At home i will enjoy my labor. "Birth is not an illness, it is not something that needs to be numbed"-Riki Lake, taken from the Documentary movie The Business of Being Born.
August 22, 2009
Wedding photos are in!!!
Julie did an amazing job! I love the pictures and how it all turned out!
Click here to goto the pictures!
Click here to goto the pictures!
August 3, 2009
Well its official!
Thats right, we found out over a month ago that we were having another baby! David is hoping for a girl this time around....and me? It doesn't matter to me one bit. Jace it excited some days and other days not so much. I ask him "are you going to love you baby brother or sister?"...depending on the day he either says "ya" or shakes his head "no". So we're just going to have to play it by ear. We are defiantly preparing to have an amazing birth, i'm convinced that it will be different this time around! (not to say Jace's was not-amazing, it was). So come sometime in february our family will turn into a family of 4!
June 27, 2009
whew
Its been crazy lately! I've been so busy and so tired i can't seem to get anything done!David got promoted to Internet Sales Manager at work, he puts in a significant more amount of work but he likes it.
Jace is a crazy 1yr old! Although he is starting to sleep through the night, yea! He loves being outside sooo much, and that kid is getting tan!
Here's some random pictures since i've updated last.
Family picture are by the wonderful Julie Branyan. Who also did our wedding and we're waiting patiently for the pictures for her! Meanwhile we're holding ourselves over by looking at all the pictures friends and families took!
Me and Jace did crash Davids Stag weekend (by invite), and we brought some boob and butt cupcakes!
More to come....Stay tuned for more up and coming exciting news from The Linthakhans!
May 30, 2009
Back from Cali
Jace and i boarded a plane with my sister and her family and off we flew to California....
We had a connecting flight in Denver...
Did a little driving around....
There was lots of jumping on the bed...
Slumber parties...of course Jace was the 1st one awake...
Saw where every single Jelly Belly in the whole world was made
And of course ate some!
Yes...it did get a little hot...
We did hang out by the pool a bit...
Went to Lagoon Lake...
We chased the "puppies" around....
"Here pup pup"...
We jumped on the train and headed to San Francisco...
We got to ride the F-line through Fishermans warf...
Saw Alcatraz...
um...but no body warned us when we left that the 95 temperature would drop down to 62 by the bay...so needless to say we left with some nice unplanned souvenirs---fleece!
When your on the coast you HAVE to eat at Bubba Gumps...
Late night train ride back...
We started to miss daddy a lot so we headed home...
of course you have to drink on the plane!
all in all it was a fun trip. It was nice to be back. Five days without David was just enough time to realize i should marry him. Hehe...just kidding. He also realized that he HATES doing dishes...what did he think...they did themselves?
****TIP****if you ever go to San Fransisco dress in layers, just in case its cold. now you can't say no ever told you! thanks for the warning locals. *shaking fist*
We had a connecting flight in Denver...
Did a little driving around....
There was lots of jumping on the bed...
Slumber parties...of course Jace was the 1st one awake...
Saw where every single Jelly Belly in the whole world was made
And of course ate some!
Yes...it did get a little hot...
We did hang out by the pool a bit...
Went to Lagoon Lake...
We chased the "puppies" around....
"Here pup pup"...
We jumped on the train and headed to San Francisco...
We got to ride the F-line through Fishermans warf...
Saw Alcatraz...
um...but no body warned us when we left that the 95 temperature would drop down to 62 by the bay...so needless to say we left with some nice unplanned souvenirs---fleece!
When your on the coast you HAVE to eat at Bubba Gumps...
Late night train ride back...
We started to miss daddy a lot so we headed home...
of course you have to drink on the plane!
all in all it was a fun trip. It was nice to be back. Five days without David was just enough time to realize i should marry him. Hehe...just kidding. He also realized that he HATES doing dishes...what did he think...they did themselves?
****TIP****if you ever go to San Fransisco dress in layers, just in case its cold. now you can't say no ever told you! thanks for the warning locals. *shaking fist*
May 22, 2009
wedding to come....
MySpace Countdowns
i've tried to be on top of everything and send out invites to everyone i could possibly think of....if your readying this and did not recieve an invite...i sincerely apologize and hope you won't hold it against me :) check out the wed-site and see if its something you want to attend and then just RSVP, we would love to have everyone we love there. Also if you've heard "well i wasn't invited"....point them to the website too :) i don't want anyone feeling left out.
And those of you who did get an invite and have NOT rsvp'd....you better get on it :) there is valuable information on our wed-site you shouldn't miss !
Check out our wed-site
May 18, 2009
photo shoot
We found a wonderful photographer to do out wedding....actually we got extreamly lucky. instead of an engagment shoot we did a 1yr old/fam shoot. I am blown away at the photos she took of us and could not be more excited for her to share our wedding day with us and capturing the little moments. She is so talented and is turning me into a vain person because all i want to do is stare at the pictures of us :)
to see a sneak peak of the pics so far go to her website!
click here
www.juliebranyan.com
to see a sneak peak of the pics so far go to her website!
click here
www.juliebranyan.com
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