Learn the business of birth

Two months ago I was able to watch Ricki Lake's documentary "The Business of Being Born" and was riveted by everything that I learned.

I actually took notes while watching it so I could share everything with you all, but I packed the notebook up in the move. So not as many facts as I want to give you...guess that means you'll have to rent the movie.

When I  got pregnant with Phoenix I knew right away that I wanted a natural childbirth. I read a book on the Bradley Method and anything else I could get my hands on. I purchased a big exercise ball, the last few weeks leading up to D-day I practiced all my squats. I printed out my birth plan from The Bump passed it to my doctor and slipped a copy in the hospital bag and one in my husbands wallet just in case.

I had all these visions in my head of a peaceful and serene birth for Phoenix. But I didn't quite get it.

I guess if I put my story up against others it wouldn't have been so bad. But for me, it wasn't what I wanted. The only thing that went according to my plan was not having any drugs.

I didn't want to be strapped to the bed monitored the whole time, but I was. I didn't want to be induced, but I was. I didn't want an episiotomy (Fact: over 1 million unnecessary are performed in the US each year) , but I got one PLUS 100 plus stitches. I had a pretty routine delivery, by hospital standards.

I know I left the hospital with a beautiful blonde baby boy, but I still was slightly disappointed in my birthing experience.

And after watching the TBOBB I really realized how much hospitals and doctors intervene and even cause problems in the delivery room.

The pitocin they give you to speed up your labor, that does nothing but make contractions stronger, which makes you beg and plead for some drugs (or a gun, in my case), that then slow your labor down, that makes the doctors want to speed things up with pitocon, which makes you beg for more drugs, and then they get the brilliant idea to give you a C-section to save your baby. But had they not done all of the interventions your baby wouldn't need saving.

-The US has the second worst newborn death rate among developed countries

-In Europe 70-80% of births are attended by midwives.

-Over the last 10 years the C-section rate has risen by 50%? 

Hospitals are in the business of making money. Open beds = more money. Natural vaginal delivers mean full beds for hours and even days. C-sections/inductions, = money. Period.

In the documentary some studies found that the amount of c-sections performed between the hours of 3 and 5 PM is staggering....and what they found was that doctors didn't like waiting around for a women to go into labor. Start the section then and you can beat traffic and get home to have dinner with your family.  

As women we have been told for so long all the horror stories of birthing and what we can't do it, that we are unable to trust our own bodies. I'm what you would call a creationist. I believe in God and that He alone created us all and everything that surrounds. And so I believe that as women He designed us for a very specific task....to bring forth life and everything that we need to do that is within ourselves. If we allowed our natural instincts to take over I think we'd be surprised at what we would be able to do.

I'm not saying that doctors and hospitals are wrong. I also wouldn't consider myself a "hippie" by any means advocating giving birth outside by a tree or anything. But we spend so much time when we're pregnant worrying about not drinking coffee or eating fish, that we don't spend enough time thinking about our delivery and the things we shouldn't be putting in our bodies at that time. 


And if you must have a c-section for medical reasons...by all means do so! Do whatever is safest for you and your baby. But always know that a c-section should not be your first thought and that being induced isn't always best either.


I've already made the decision that whenever I do decide to have another baby that I will be doing it with a midwife and either in a birthing center or at home. And if you are pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant do your research. Even if you choose to go with a doctor make sure its a doctor that's goal and objective is to give you, your best birth.

And check out the movie if you haven't seen it.


Good places for information and facts:


http://www.givingbirthnaturally.com/


http://thebirthsurvey.com/


http://www.motherfriendly.org/index.php

So is she or isn't she?

I know that you all have been sitting on pins and needles for the last few days to hear if I am with child again.

And the answer to this most important question would of course be no!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! 


Is that angels I hear singing?

I was so super relieved to I hear I wasn't.

I love all of my awesome new followers and commentors (is that correct English? Or should it be commentators). 

I lot of you were saying that I should take that little incident as a sign. 


But you see I didn't quite feel the same way.

I would have been excited if I was, but I was even more excited when I wasn't.


Having a baby right now just doesn't seem like the right thing to do.


Getting pregnant with Phoenix was at the worst time, but I wouldn't change it for the world. All I can do now is make the best decision I should have made back then. Which is to wait.


Hear that teens? It is better to wait!



I really enjoy being our little family of 3 and snuggling on the couch together. I enjoy that our life isn't super chaotic and that we can get up and go and only have to grab one diaper bag as apposed to two.


I'm just getting my figure back. I'm sleeping. And I am now just figuring out who Shawn and I are meant to be.


We didn't take enough time to do that before Phoenix and it is paramount to me that we take that time now while we still can.

Do I want more babies? For absolutely, maybe, certainly, possibly.


I'm thinking after Phoenix's second-ok maybe third, or fourth, or seventh birthday I'll be ready to talk about it again.


But for now being the three soup cans (See cuz our last name is Campbell and it's kind of a play on the Three Amigos. Get it? No? Lame? Ok.) is ok by me!

More importantly however, why is my title post is third person?

Definition of Irony

Did you read my post yesterday about wanting to have more kids?

I had my IUD put in place in April and my follow up was 6 weeks later. Well I forgot about my appointment and kept forgetting to reschedule. 

It wasn't until last week that I got my reminder card for my "yearly well woman's visit" that I remembered about having my follow up.

Today was that day. 

I go in and jokingly say to the nurse that I hope my IUD hasn't rusted up there. Of course that's the beauty of the Mirena. It won't do that.

So my nurse practitioner gets me to put my feet in the stirrups and gets me all uncomfortable and she says "Well, your IUD is hanging out"

Alarm bells are RINGING in my head!

"I'm not pregnant am I?!" I screech.

Of course she couldn't tell and she decided to take my IUD out and since the last time my husband and I "visited" with each other was Sunday she wanted to wait until next Wednesday to take blood and put the IUD back in on the 15th, If I was in fact not knocked up.
  
Question: Do I take this as my sign to get impregnated again?  

I'm leaning towards no, but unsure because since Penny's birth Shawn and I both have talked about doing this again.

And what better way for God to tell you what to do but make all your safety options null and void?!

Scratching the baby itch

My beautiful niece made her arrival on Thursday. Being in the delivery room, and helping my sister nurse, and hearing Penny's tiny little cries sent me back to 14 months ago when my own terror on two legs was just a tiny little boy.

Since I've had Phoenix I have had two minor pregnancy scares. Once I had Phoenix I have literally gone back and forth on the option of having another baby. 


I'm the oldest of 8 kids ranging in ages from 22 to 8. I've been around kids my whole life and when I was younger I resented being from an older family.


But when my family packed up and we moved to Maryland when I was 17 my family was all I had. When you've already graduated high school it's hard to find friends. So my sisters, brothers, and I developed a very close relationship.


Combine that with not enjoying being away from home when I was 15 at Bible College and my urge to have tons of kids started to hit me. A number somewhere between 4 & 6 sounded pretty good to me.

But then my lovable, snugly, cooperative infant turned into a spirited (this is Tracey Hogg's description of him) wild energetic, fiesty, spicy, toddler.

I can barely manage to make a 20 minute trip to the grocery store with Phoenix before he's throwing his paci because he's mad at me or trying to lick the tops of the cans!


So I knew that at least until Phoenix was calm or three which ever came first, and at this point it both seems so far off, that more babies are out of the question!


And at times I also feel like we are complete family. When I envision our future I'm not always sure I see other little ones running around.


But when I walked into the L&D room Thursday afternoon I was hit with that feeling of excitement I had when I was rolled into L&D exactly 14 months and a day before! And then when the stunning Ms. Penelope made her debut and I got to snuggle with her and smell that new baby smell! I was enthralled!


And I walked out of the hospital wanting to make the first appointment I could with my Gyno to have my safety friend removed and get knocked up STAT!


But then Phoenix screamed and hit me and I was jutted back into reality.

But still over the past few days I've been able to spend with Penny that desire keeps coming back.


So those of you with more then one, what made you decide it was time to try again?



And those of you who have only one what made you decide one was it and do you ever get the desire to have more?

Top 10 Reasons I'm a bad mommy

My philosophy on blogging has always been to:

Be yourself. Be transparent.

Be random. Be you....regardless

So in that vain I'd like to be honest and make a post of the top 10 reasons that make me a very bad mommy.

10. I let my son sleep with blankets in his crib starting at about 4 or 5 months, completely ignoring the whole "no blankets! no bumpers! no nothing!" that other moms tend to follow. The good thing is. He's still alive and we've never had any problems....Well there was...

9. The time I went to check on him and his swaddle blanket was    wrapped on his head.....So for a bit I did stop that.

8. I let my son drink juice most of the day and always forget to give him water.

7. I just started remembering to brush his teeth daily.

6. I planned an over-the-top first birthday party, kept him up for hours, gave him an entire cake to himself, and completely "over-stimulated" him.

5. I'll probably let him keep his paci until he's 10. It's just a battle I don't want to fight. 

4. I let him play with pens. Yup. That's right. Writing pens. But only if the cap is on and I watch him like a hawk. Whatever it takes to keep him from screaming.


3. When he was a baby, baby, I would shower while he was on my bed. I did this until he was about 3 or 4 months old. He never went anywhere.

2. I let him watch as much TV as he wants.

1. We cuss around him and because of that yesterday he started saying "Bish, Bish"....any ideas what that word is?! Oy vey!

Phew! That feels so much better since I've gotten it off my chest!

::Putting on my shield and armor for the stones....::

What makes YOU bad a mommy?

And the results are in...

I hope I'm not the only irrationally momma out there who thinks every headache, upset tummy, and sleepiness are signs of another occupant living in my belly!

Seriously ever since I've had Phoenix every few weeks I'm like 'Oh crap! Where' my aunt Flo?' and then sure enough she shows up a few days later then I expected. Since having Phoenix making those little red dots on my calendar once a month has been the least of my concerns!

I remember the day we got our little Charlotte girl I was on the way to Target to get pet supplies and it hit me "Oh my GOD! WHERE THE HE!? IS MY PERIOD!!!!" All through Target I walked around in this cloud thinking of two screaming babies, piling laundry, 2 diaper bags and fat rolls galore! I quickly ran to get a pregnancy test and drove home as quick as I could! I called Shawn to come upstairs and I was shaking and crying! Don't get me wrong. I love my monkey baby and I even loved being pregnant. But I don't have a lot of patience and I have always known popping kids out one after another was just not me!

Shawn tried to calm me down and say he really didn't think I was, but based on my math I hadn't had a period in like 45 days! So I pulled open the Clear Blue Easy box and peed so fast!

Those 5 minutes were truly agonizing! But of course it read "NOT PREGNANT!"

Phew! What a relief! But I sure did call my doctor and make an appointment to get Mirena...

But even with this trust little device, I still feel paranoid. Every few weeks when it seems my period is late again (she must like making me sweat) I'll ask Shawn if he thinks I could be, I'm always to scared to pull out my emergency pee stick.

But last night, my mom really freaked me out! After dinner I was debating if I wanted to go to Coldstones for dessert. And I said I had been "craving it"and of course my mom says "You aren't pregnant are you!?" "No!" I shouted. But that 15 minutes ride down the mountain really f'd with my head and as soon as I got home I pulled out my emergency test, took a deep breath and let it go.....



In case you can't see it, that does say NOT pregnant. Phew! Dodged another bullet!

Frazzled Mom

Yesterday I was Frazzled Mom in the Safeway. Shawn offered to keep him while I did the weekly shopping, but I actually enjoy taking him. Makes me feel all mom and wifey and grown up. When I was like 14 I used to be so scared I wouldn't know how to grocery shop or PUSH a cart because I was so short I couldn't see over it. I still am short and barely see over it, but I push the cart with confidence now. Anyway, I like taking him and Shawn had work to do. When we get there it started off pretty well him growling at me, me growling back like normal. Then he decides he wants my pen. I say no he doesn't cry he screeches! Then the rest of the trip he's screeching, throwing the paci, turning around in the seat! It was a mess! I finally take him out, throw him on my hip and then I have to load stuff onto the grocery belt thing and he's still screeching pulling things off the belt. Safeway workers are helping me get groceries out of the cart. He's dropping my credit cards. It was an utter mess. I don't want to become that mom who can't grocery shop with her kids or get anything done. Or the mom that is stressed 24/7. Basically I don't to be Kate Gosselin. I think where I messed up today was he hadn't had a nap all day so that's why he was so cranky. So mental note to self. 'Always make sure Phoenix is well rested before venturing out shopping'

Video's for your viewing pleasure

I've been trying to upload cell phone video's to my blog for a looooong time, but every time I did it made the weirdest noises. For my push present (yes I asked for one) I got a new Gateway laptop. So it was only 8 months old, but last week it broke, it was a mess! So I got a new HP one that I LOVE but that was a hassle because the Gateway was a 32 bit and the HP was a 64 bit (whatever that means) so none of my work programs worked so I had to buy new ones, long story short the 64 bit is supposed to be better and I decided to see if video's would work now and guess what? They do!

Here are FOUR video's from this week. Sorry they are grainy. It's from my cell phone and you have to tilt your head to the left to see the other two. I'm not a cinematographer, but I'm tryin'. Now that I know this works I'm going to pull out my RCA Small Wonder will work.

Enjoy my screechy baby!

You're a wild one Mr. Man

What is it with men and those ridiculous ultimate fighter shows? Shawn's making me watch it, so I decided to post instead...I guess its the same thing as my "thing" with those ridiculous NY, OC, ATL Housewives on Bravo.


Phoenix is constantly in everything. I haven't ordered his gate yet, not for any reason really. I forget about it probably. I have bought him 3 pairs of Robeez this week, but no gate for some reason. I think I'll actually go get it this weekend. So since I haven't gated off his playroom yet I've baby proofed the rest of the downstairs (for the most part) and just let him crawl around all day screaming "Ah! Ah! Ah!". He is fascinated with the weirdest things. The little paint sample's for his room (which will hopefully be completed this weekend. It's all painted just waiting for the mural to be done) he carries around all day. He loves the empty boxes that are still sitting in our kitchen (are you seeing a theme here? We're procrastinators) and this week I've started packing up his too small clothes and he keeps pulling them out of the boxes and dragging them around. But yesterday was the weirdest thing. I was working and he was crawling around and I hear him near his baby chair. Then all of a sudden it gets really quiet....I peak around the arm of the sofa and this is what I see.....



He has some how managed to crawl into the basket on the bottom of his chair! I don't know where he thought he was going or what he was trying to do but I couldn't stop laughing. All the while he is still holding on to his little Asparagus Green paint card.

Did you see this week's edition of Silent Sunday?


He crawled into that's basket all on his own! He's only 8 months old and I already know that I'm in for it! I often find myself giving side glances to those moms with the like 4 year old being pushed around in a stroller as his feet dangle over and drag on the ground and I'm like "What the H?" but then I'm like "Who am I kidding? That'll be me!" I can hear me screaming "Phoenix no! That's glass! Stop it! No! Come back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" This kid is going to be wild! I knew he was even in utero (I love that word) but then for those first few weeks he was so zen that Shawn and I thought that's what he was gonna be...yeah. Nope! But I love it! He has so much energy and testosterone all ready. Even in his sleep he's wild and crazy. He grunts himself to sleep. He just oozes boy! I think having a little boy like Phoenix is going to be very fun.

I'm sure all of you are waiting with bated breath to hear how my cake turned out....Yeah not so great. I ended up adding three times the amount of cream cheese hoping it would stiffen and not adding three times the amount of the other ingredients because I didn't have enough. I've heard that baking is an exact science and all the measurements have to be correct. So all though it was semi good, it was not what I wanted. I'm reluctant to post pictures because the cake was lopsided and the creme/icing was runny. But I plan on trying again sometime this week. I will prevail!

Baby food time is ovah!

This past weekend brought us closer to the day that little Phoenix puts on his little book bag, waves and hops on the school bus. We started Phoenix on baby food at 4 months. We could instantly tell food was a pure hit for him. Nothing satisfied him and everything tasted good. At about 6 months we bumped the solid intake up to 3 meals a day and went to stage two baby food. Still after a whole jar of food and a nice serving of baby oatmeal he still didn't seem satisfied. Over the weekend we had Jason Upton come through our church (he was great. awesome. such a blessing) Shawn and I volunteered with the meetings because it was almost 600 people. So we get there 2 hours early and are kind of just hanging out. We had food for the band and after they were done there were leftover. Of course my husband and my pregnant sister and a few other make a bee-line for the food. I knew that the moment Phoenix saw anyone put anything near their lips he would flip so I decided to nurse. We sit down, have a nice little nursing session. Do you think this kid is full? Please! Not in the least. He sits up and starts reaching for his Dad, who always passes him treats. Then for his Aunt Abby who starts to feed him green beans and stuff. We eventually had to make him a plate because he kept going after every one's food. One lady even says to me "Wow, does he ever get full?" and I was like 'Nope! He doesn't!" He was making me look like I never fed him! So after an almost adult size plate I finally put my foot down and tell him that meal time was done and over. So we move on we go out and enjoy the worship service. Then his Papouli aka my Dad comes back and starts trying to feed him Fritos! I'm screaming "No!!!!!!" And again this is after a recent nursing session. So I go make him a bowl of oatmeal and fruit, feed him that. He starts flipping out when its over and so not to disrupt the people trying to enter in I give him ANOTHER jar of squash. When that's over he is STILL screaming! So to this my mom says "Al, I think he's done with this baby food" Later that evening we went out to dinner and order him chicken tenders, which he eats, along with Shawn's mashed potatoes. And starts screaming because we tell him it's time to go!

We went Sunday to Buy Buy Baby which I am soooo in love with. I mean seriously! Babies R Us has nothing on BBB. We bought him a new highchair and this great Skip Hop playmat. We are turning our new dining room into his playroom. Our new kitchen is HUGE. Big enough for my office, eat in kitchen and an island with bar stools so we really didn't need a formal dining room. We also are in the process of re-doing his nursery too. It's going to be really cute! Fun, Fun Fun!