The Labor Day holiday presents a fitting day to discuss labor — the birthing kind! Here are my answers to the Labor Day meme. You can play along with Rocks In My Dryer too, but be sure to leave a comment here with your link (or just your answers if you don’t have a blog) so I know to go read your answers!
How long were your labors?
Kid #1, 22 hours.
Kid #2, 5 hours.
Kid #3, 11 hours.
See a pattern there? Nope, me neither.
How did you know you were in labor?
Kid #1, contractions that woke me up at …read more

From The Breastfeeding Answer Book:
Caused by postpartum hemorrhage so severe that the blood loss irreversibly damages the pituitary gland, Sheehan’s syndrome can cause breastfeeding failure. Other symptoms include loss of pubic and underarm hair, inability to tolerate cold, low blood pressure, and atrophy of vaginal tissue, as well as subsequent infertility.
p. 569. For more see:
~ Birthsource.com
~ “Infant Insufficient Milk Syndrome Associated with Maternal Postpartum Hemorrhage” (abstract) from the Journal of Human Lactation

Please do not take this list of advantages of a home birth to mean that I think every woman ought to give birth at home. Each woman should choose as she pleases and as is appropriate for her situation, and I know there are advantages to a birth center birth or a hospital birth (room service comes to mind!) These are just some advantages of a home birth that I appreciated.
1. Never having to get in the car during labor or soon after the birth.
2. Getting to (being encouraged to!) eat and drink during labor.
3. Being able to open the …read more

On Wednesday July 16 I was 38 weeks and 1 day into the pregnancy. The midwife had just finished her pre-birth home visit at 3:15 that afternoon. At 4 p.m. I was resting in bed and reading stories to my girls. Over the next hour I had some contractions, but no more and no stronger than I’d been having over the previous several days, so I didn’t pay much attention. Until I felt a little “pffzt” in my belly and I wondered whether that could possibly be my water breaking.

Nicole Marie White
7 pounds, 2 ounces
19.5 inches
Born Thursday, July 17, 2008
at 2:51 a.m.
At home, in the water.
Our first nursing session lasted a blissful hour. I am happy and feeling well! More details later!

Today marks 38 weeks of pregnancy. My thoughts at this point:
1. Husband home from Ireland [check]. Birth supplies bought [check]. Birth tub set up [check]. A million nesting tasks accomplished [meals in freezer - check; air vent dusted - check]. Group B Strep test negative [check].
2. Call them Braxton-Hicks, call them pre-labor, I call them “hinting at painful.”
3. Perhaps I ought to work on positive thinking and consider them not so much painful as powerful.
4. Why, when a woman is preparing to give birth and needs all the rest she can get, does she find herself with insomnia that …read more

In these last few weeks of pregnancy I am busy thinking through the details of the impending birth (those for which I can plan, anyway!) As I have mentioned, I am planning on a home birth with a midwife. Should the midwife already be attending another birth, I will go to the birth center. Should I need emergency transport, I will go to the hospital within 10 minutes of my home. One detail I am still working out is where I would go in the case of non-emergency transport, in the unlikely event that I change my mind about having …read more

To all readers in the United States, Happy 4th of July (and to everyone else, I hope your day is happy too, just not for the same reasons!)
Here I am at 36 weeks and 3 days of pregnancy. The baby has dropped even more than it looked in this picture, and I feel like she could arrive at any time! So from my experience, here are five ways you can tell you are about to have that baby!
1. You have to lift your belly to shave your bikini line.
2. You are not shaving your bikini line because you have any …read more

Me: Ooh, my hip hurts!
Me2: And my arm is asleep!
Me3: And I have to go the bathroom!
Me: Alright, time to get up. Roll over gently and sit up.
Me2: Wait! My tummy muscles didn’t expect that belly weight!
Me3: And my bladder! It’s squishing my bladder!
Me: Stop whining and stand up.
Me2: Oooph.
Me3: I’m up! I hope my water doesn’t break.
Me: Don’t be silly.
Me2: I’m thirsty. Get a drink of water before going back to bed.
Me3: But then I’ll have to go again soon!
Me: Doesn’t matter, you need to stay hydrated.
Me2: And besides, you’ll have to move your hips and arms again …read more

I was tagged for a pregnancy meme by Marijke at Womb Within. She asks the following six questions:
1. How did you find out you were pregnant?
2. How did you tell your partner (if you have/had one)?
3. Did you secretly hope for a girl or a boy?
4. Did you feel ready to have a child?
5. What bit of advice did you get that you hated?
6. What bit of advice did you get that you appreciated?
1 and 2. The first time, I quietly crept out of bed early in the morning and took a home pregnancy test following months of infertility …read more