That’s how I’ve been spending the last two weeks. I know, it sounds terrible. It is terrible to experience. But thankfully, it’s for a good cause. We are expecting our third baby - Yay!
When I had J, for some reason I expected her to be pretty much the same as M was. When she turned out to have a completely different personality than M has, I was shocked. That was a learning experience. Along the same vein, I keep finding myself feeling very surprised how different this pregnancy is, even now, at the very beginning, from my first two pregnancies. The fatigue is overwhelming, and the nausea is making me feel depressed. I can only hope that the morning sickness ends quickly and the rest of the pregnancy is smooth sailing. In the meantime, I’m living on whatever pre-made foods I find appealing on any given day, and all the beautiful CSA veggies are going to waste. I’m sure I’ll be writing more on pregnancy and our planned third homebirth as I begin to feel a little better.
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Last night was the first night that the ducks spent outside in their duck house. For the last week we have been carrying them outside first thing in the morning and putting them in a wire pen in the yard. The duck house hadn’t been finished yet, so we had to keep bringing them inside at night to their baby-pool brooder. Even though they were only spending nights in their brooder for the last week, it was stinking up the house to high heaven. Even with the window in the brooding room open and the door closed, the stench of duck poop was filtering through the crack in the door and seriously offending my nostrils. Four week old ducks shit a lot. Read more »
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I’m still working through the idea of homeschooling. I mean, I’m committed to doing it and convinced by it’s efficacy, but I’m still working through the wheres and hows. For instance, how did I make it to this point, when just 10 years ago I imagined my life so much more mainstream?
Just the other day I was telling M about his birth (at his request). I was thinking how strange it seems now to remember how, just when labor was getting really intense, I walked out of my home, got into a car, and drove through rush-hour traffic with my husband and the midwife to a hospital. That was one hard ride, and the hospital experience was no picnic either! The machines, endless checks by nurses, painful bloodwork, all were just distractions and hindrances of the normal course of my labor. In contrast, J’s labor and birth was all accomplished in my own home, with no interruptions except for occasional trips to the bathroom (How dare my bladder interrupt the flow of labor!). For J’s birth, I learned to trust - trust in my body, trust in the process, and embrace my intuition. It was so satisfying - a birth that brought us all together as a family - working together and learning the secret of life.
It occurred to me the other day that the trip to the hospital in rush hour is so similar to imagining suddenly putting M on an orange bus and sending him to that lovely institution called school. How weird would that be? What an interruption from the flow of life. Not only that, but all the things that come with school - the unchanging schedule, homework, report cards, etc. - would just put roadblocks up in the relationships going on in our family. So I now see that embracing homeschooling, for me, is just one more step in putting trust in the process of life - I trust M and J will learn the things they need to when the right time comes (and with my assistance).
Here’s a little pic just about 12 hours after J was born. I just love this one.
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Orgasmic Birth is a documentary film about the sensuous nature of birth. While the title seems risqué, it’s a really a documentary about natural birth and what an amazing, empowering thing it can be. We’re bombarded constantly by the media with images of birthing practices that are not conducive to a natural birth that is safer for the mother & baby, like pushing while lying down, eating nothing but ice chips (seriously - would you run a marathon with just ice chips to keep you going?!) and giving epidurals at the drop of a hat. Orgasmic Birth seeks to change that, but needs help. Donations will help the documentary be completed - more information about it can be found at the Orgasmic Birth website.
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