Moving to My New Permanent (Blog) Home

Well Blogger, it's been fun, but the time has come to move on to the bigger, better blogging platform...WordPress.

By now most of you know that I've been working on revamping, redesigning and aligning my overall vision over at Bring Birth Home.

The site is 95% finished. 

There is one part of the site in particular that is up and ready to go -  the new BBH Blog. 

So this little note is to let you all know that I'll be permanently moving over there for the rest of my blogging life.

If you are following This Mom Life, it is my sincere hope that you continue following my rants and raves over at my new home. You can do so by clicking the RSS feed at the top right corner of the site (the orange box next to the Twitter and Facebook icons).

I've written a brand new post about the re-birth of Bring Birth Home. You can get acquainted with the new BBH (if you haven't already seen it) by reading The (re)Birth of Bring Birth Home.

I think I'll miss this little blog. It has served me well.

Warmly, 

Kaitlin

p.s. don't worry - I'm not going to kill This Mom Life. It will still be here as an archive of the past. You can visit whenever you want. 

Don't Take the Advice of a Crazy Person

So we're all a little nutty.

We weed out the people who we think are more different than we are (crazy) and pack together in groups and communities of those we find most similar to ourselves (sane).

Most of the time we're not super close with someone who has completely opposing views, especially on social issues (although there are always exceptions - if you don't talk about the things you disagree on, things work out just fine).

Sometimes we are friends with people who are our complete opposites. We just love 'em and accept them for who they are.

But when it comes to getting medical advice, we tend to automatically trust the "experts," our nurses and doctors.

How well do you know your physician? Is he or she someone you're seeing for the first time? Do you have much of a relationship at all? Maybe you're lifelong pals.

Would you take the advice of someone who had completely different ideas about life than you? Because there is always room for one's personal opinions to slip out. Always. It's inevitable.

Let me provide you with an example of what I'm talking about....where this blog post all stemmed from...

Remember Dr. Amy? The Skeptical Ob? Blatantly against home birth?

We know how she feels about home birth. She's been more than clear about that.

But how does she feel about other health related issues?

I discovered some things about her that you might find pretty interesting...

1. Doctor Amy doesn't believe in prenatal vitamins. 
In fact, she doesn't believe in taking ANY vitamins, supplements, herbal remedies or homeopathics.

2. Amy doesn't believe sunlight is beneficial, only that it causes skin-cancer.
That's right. No healing properties in the sun. Just cancer.

3. Dr. Amy does not believe in intuition.
She doesn't think a mother can "feel" her child when it is physically away from her (as in sensing something is wrong).

4. Amy believes fluoride in our water keeps our teeth healthy.
No matter where that fluoride was derived from (coal fired power plants).

5. Dr. Amy does not believe the moon and it's cycles play a part or have anything to do with anything on our planet.
What about the life cycles of insects and other obvious moon-cycled patterns animals display?

6. Amy doesn't believe in "live" food.
No such thing as living or dead food.

Lets review:

Dr. Amy opposes home birth, (and water birth) vitamins, sunlight, chemical-free water, moon cycles and live foods.

That's cool. I mean, whatever, you know? She can believe in whatever she wants to. Fine by me.

But why on earth would I take her advice about home birth? Why when I so radically disagree with everything else that she believes in? Why would I care about what she thinks?

Well, I wouldn't. That would just be crazy!

My mama always said, "don't take the advice of a crazy person."

Call me crazy, but I think she's nuts. And guess what? She thinks I'm crazy too! So be it.

The Power of the Birth Moment

What will my labor be like? Will it hurt? What environment do I want to birth in? Will I want to labor in water? What position will I end up delivering in?

A first time mother will daydream these questions, interrupting her concentration at work; invading her dreams.

And for good reason. Birth is one of the few most monumental moments of a woman's life.

We interview doctors, midwives and doulas. Gather our birth supplies, say our blessings and light the candles. Do our kegels and walk, swim or practice prenatal yoga.

Everything we do during pregnancy, especially in the later half, is in anticipation and preparation for the big day.

Strangers may ask (or not ask) to touch your belly. They may ask you where you plan on giving birth or who your provider is. Some may go so far as to pry into more personal matters such as breastfeeding, circumcision, and vaccines.

As personal as the act of birthing is, the pregnant woman is ransacked by advice, opinion and questioning - some may be unwanted. I felt a great need to guard myself from these situations during pregnancy.

With all the talk I've noticed and observed surrounding a woman's pregnancy, specifically her labor, the emphasis is taken off the most powerful, emotional and sacred moment of all: the birth moment.

The power of the birth moment - the complete and utter joy that a mother feels immediately when laying eyes upon her newborn is as though time has stopped. Nothing else in the world exists. There is no past, no future. No hunger, or thirst...there is no pain.

All the challenges of labor and delivery have vanished. All the pressure, burning - all the pain is gone.

And it is replaced by pure love.

Having experienced an informed and planned pregnancy, labor and delivery at home, and those indescribable feelings in the moment after the birth of my daughter, I have a hard time understanding why more haven't shared this with women expecting their first child.

Rather, women share their birth-horror stories. 

Their tales of exhaustion, uncontrollable pain and dehydration.

Most women who birth vaginally experience complete awe meeting their baby. If this is true, why aren't more women sharing that part of birth with new moms (when actually having your baby in your arms is the moment we're all really waiting for)?

Remember, I am pro-informed birth, pro-planning and education. 

But the work you put into labor and delivery is just a part of the equation and often overshadows the point of it all - the moment our babies join us in this big world, when time stands still, their brand new skin on ours; their little swollen blinking eyes looking up into yours.

That is the moment we all wait for.

So don't take your eyes off the prize.