The Life Of A Mother

The very moment you become a mother, your life changes forever.  After that very moment, you are a mother.  Always and Forever.  From that moment on, life is always a series of emotions.  Some happy, some sad.  Through it all, there is no money in the world that I would take to buy those memories.

Take tonight as an example.  I am in the living room with Brent, Hannah, and Jacob.  Then, Brigham walks in the room.  I look down upon his little head, and what do we all see?

A small child trying to look like he had no ideas as to why I would be asking him if he had cut his hair. 

Brigham trying to pretend he didn't cut his hair.

Then he realized he was in trouble, and led us to what he used to cut his hair.  He had snuck scissors from the kitchen, into the bathroom, and cut off his head.  He had gotten within an 1/8 of an inch.  So...  I took him outside, and shaved his head.  He was an 1/8 of an inch from being shaved completely bald. 

Brigham, after realizing he's in trouble.

After the hair cut.

The life of a mother, never ends, and neither to the memories.

Could My Journey Be Starting?

My first home birth was in 2006, with my first son Brigham.  I loved my midwife, Suzanne.  She taught me a lot about pregnancy and birth.  Brigham was my fourth child, and I had no idea how ignorant I was until I began talking with Suzanne.  That is when I decided to begin studying about pregnancy and birth.  I didn't want to be ignorant and uneducated.  I made it my personal journey to know everything I could about natural birth.  I have studied to the point that my husband had started calling me a "Birth Cultist".  Saying that all I do is study and discuss pregnancy and birth.  Somewhere inside of me, I knew what was to come.  I want, like nothing else, to become a midwife.  It is my absolute dream.  For the time being, though, I am wanting to be a doula.  It is my passion.  It is what I would love to do for the rest of my life.  I want nothing more than to help and support women with their pregnancies and births.

With all of this, I am a member of a group on Face Book called Birth Is Normal.  Today, as I've been pondering how to become a doula, they posted a new Document telling me one way to do this.  I am going to post it here, so I can later reference back to it, and maybe it will help someone else.  I found this inspiring, seeing how my path became clouded and confused after reading through the DONA site, and not finding the help that I was seeking.

Here is the document...

So you are thinking about becoming a Doula.....

Overwhelmed and confused where to go from here? Have the passion and desire to help other women through the childbearing year but don't know how to go about it? Here is a little step-by-step guide that will hopefully help you.

First contact local doulas in your area, set up a time with them face-to-face and pick their brain. Ask challenges they face as a doula in your area, how they became a doula, training program they choose and why, do they do doula mentoring, average doula rate for your area, etc. Become familiar with all the doulas within a 2hr radius.

Network with other birth professionals (doulas, midwives, childbirth educators, LC's) in your area, look for the nearest doula network, and contact Le Leache League chapter, ICAN Chapter and other birth group chapters.  Attend meetings and get to know other birth activists.


Watch the following documentaries to learn more about the current status of the maternity health care:
The Business of Being Born
Orgasmic Birth
Attending Birth
Pregnant in America


Read the following books:
Special Women: The Role of the Professional Labor Assistant by Paulina Perez
The Birth Partner by Penny Simkin
The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth by Henci Goer
Born in the USA by Marsden Wagner
Ina May's Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin

Get to know your local hospitals and birth centers. Find out if they have midwives on staff, do they offer water birth, what their c-section, induction, epidural, vbac, vaginal twin, rates are. Then find out about practices that serve each hospital and their individual rates for c-section, induction/augmentation, vbac, epidural, etc.


Research the various doula training programs. There are many to choose from! Just a few are:
Birth Arts International(BAI), Childbirth International(CBI), CAPPA, AVIVA, Birthing From Within, DONA, Birth Works, ICEA, Christian Childbirth Association, etc. Remember you can train but you do not have to certify with any organization; however if the area you live in is heavily populated with doulas and there is a lot of competition certification may be necessary.

Join the doula networking site www.alldoulas.com 

Good luck on your journey to empowering women!

Last night was very interesting.  A few minutes before 11pm, Brent and I were sitting in the living room watching TV.  All of a sudden I noticed things didn't feel right.  I was almost dizzy feeling, like I was being moved back and forth.  I looked at Brent, thinking he was shaking the couch, but he was in the chair, a couple feet away.  Then, thinking there was something wrong with me, I looked at my hands to see if I was shaking.  Very confused, I looked over at the bottle of water next to me.  The water in the bottle was sloshing about.  I looked back up at Brent, who was looking at me, and asked if he felt that.  He had.  We had just gone through our first earthquake.  In Kansas City, Missouri.  I called my mom, but she hadn't felt it.  My brother did (and another one at 1am as well). 

After we went to bed, I woke up when I felt the same feeling.  I jumped awake from my dreams of earthquakes and restless sleep.  My heart was racing, and it took me a bit to calm down.  As I was dozing off, I felt it again, which caused me to jump out of slumber again.  I had thought it was Brent rolling over in bed causing me to relive the feeling.  However, since my brother said he felt it again at 1am, I am wondering if that is what startled me awake. 

Then I had this video brought to my attention...  Saying the New Madrid fault line is showing plumes, and to expect a 5.0 in the next 2-4 weeks (posted Nov 1, 2011).

Our Facebook Group

We now have a group on Facebook.  It is smaller, at 85 members.  It is full of wonderful women, who are very loving and helpful.  Feel free to stop by and join in our little community.  It is a closed group, so you will need to apply.  However, everything said on the group stays there.  It is not visible on your wall, or other areas of Facebook.

I hope to see you there.

Our Birth Journeys
http://www.facebook.com/groups/ourbirthjourneys/

Breast Milk - The Miracle Medicine

The night before last, I woke up in the middle of the night with pink eye. My left eye was burning, itching, scratchy, and partially crusted shut.  Everything I knew was pink eye. 

I was nursing Jacob, so I took some breast milk from my other breast, rubbed it across my eye, and went back to sleep. I did it again in the morning, and about three more times during the day. I did it again before bed, along with my other eye because it was starting to feel like my left eye did the night before. Just to be certain, I rubbed breast milk in both eyes during the night and when I got up this morning.

Both eyes are perfectly fine today.


I love Breast Milk!



It really is amazing all the uses breast milk has, other than feeding your baby.  Breast milk, being high in antibodies and antitoxins really is the Miracle Medicine!


What CAN you use it for?

It is great for cracked nipples.  When breast feeding, more than likely your nipples are going to get sore and possibly cracked.  Just rub a little milk on them after each feeding to help with this.  


Eczema, acne, cuts, diaper rash, burns, bug bites... Just clean the area, then apply breast milk and air dry!


Ear infections?  Yep, it helps with that too.  Just pour or squirt some breast milk into the sore ear.

Do you have a cold?  The flu?  Pneumonia?  Stomach bug?  Drinking breast milk can help with these as well.

For a stuffy nose, you can squirt breast milk into the 

It has even been suggested that breast milk can even kill cancer cells.

Although the special substance, known as HAMLET (Human Alpha-lactalbumin Made LEthal to Tumour cells), was discovered in breast milk several years ago, it is only now that it has been possible to test it on humans. Patients with cancer of the bladder who were treated with the substance excreted dead cancer cells in their urine after each treatment, which has given rise to hopes that it can be developed into medication for cancer care in the future... (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100419132403.htm) 

According to the Iowa Extension Service, every teaspoon of breast milk has 3,000,000 germ killing cells in it; so if a baby gets even one tsp. a day, it is very valuable!

.. it has been shown in man and in several animal models that immunisation via the gut, and also the lungs, stimulates a special population of antibody-producing B lymphocytes. They appear in large numbers in special aggregations in the gut - the Peyer's patches. These lymphocytes leave the gut after having met bacteria and viruses there and move or "home" to exocrine glands such as the mammary, lacrimal and salivary glands, as well as glands in the mucosal membranes of the bronchi and the gut. As a consequence, human milk contains sIgA antibodies against all those bacteria and viruses which have been in the mother's gut. This gives the milk capacity to protect against those microorganisms to which the infant is exposed, because they are usually the same as those its mother has been in contact with.
source: L A Hanson et al. Breastfeeding protects against infections and allergy. Breastfeeding Review; Nov l988 , pp l9 - 22.

For some interesting tables and charts on breast milk, and it's antibacterial, antiviral, antimicrobial, anti parasitic factors... Go here... http://www.latrobe.edu.au/microbiology/milk.html

The Diaper Experiment

Well, the other day I finally got around to making my first cloth diaper for Jacob.  I started out really late, cutting the pattern out at 11:30 pm.  I wanted to make one, and cut into the fleece blanket I had bought just for this project.  I knew most of what I was doing, but still needed a little help from my mom with the elastic.  I had no idea what it was wanting me to do.  After reading the instructions multiple times, we decided to pull out a fleece diaper I had bought from someone on a Cafemom group (Cuties With Cloth Booties).  We quickly figured out what I was needing to do.  As I was finishing up the last bit of stitching, my mom mentioned it was almost 2:30 am.  Come to find out, sewing is like a time warp.  I was abducted by my sewing machine, and lost several hours of my life! 

The diaper turned out perfect, though.  I was so happy with it!  The stitching was perfect, and for a first diaper it was amazing!  I was even more shocked at how much easier the diaper was to sew than the nursing pads.  I really just hate circles.  As a beginner at sewing, circles are something I need to practice.

It's a pretty easy pattern. I was only stumped for a bit on the elastic (how to sew it in), but got it after a bit. Here's the ...link to the pattern. http://themafiatutu.blogspot.com/2010/04/free-cloth-diaper-pattern.html Anyway, Jacob loves his new diaper.

Healthy Eating Once Again

Now that Jacob is born, I am looking to get back into my pre-pregnancy weight. My plan is to drink lots of water, like 3/4 of a gallon of water. AFTER that, I can drink milk or 100% juice. I am going to start eating healthier. Whole grains, lots of fruit and vegetables, limited white sugars/flour/sweets. I know it's not possible for me to cut out all the "bad foods" right now. There is really no point in making that part of my plan, when I know it's not going to happen. It will only make me feel like a failure, and I'll just quit.

I am also going to start exercising again. I'm going to start off with 10 push-ups (girl style), 25 reps of the kettle bell, and 25 hindu squats (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPSVpo4mzNI) for the first week. I'm going to start tomorrow, take Sunday off, and then start up again on Monday-Friday. After those get easier, I'll add 5 per exercise. I am also planning on starting up my 30 Day Crunch video again, once I find it in my packed boxes.

What are some of your favorite foods, exercises, and ways to get your body healthy again?