On Monday, the whole family and I headed into the city so that I could meet with the backup OB for my midwife.  Partly, this was a visit so that I could be familiar with the OB just in case of a transfer.  But mostly, I was just documenting that I was having prenatal care in Costa Rica so that we will have an easier time getting a birth certificate after the birth.
Initially, I was a bit freaked out about seeing the OB at all.  For one thing, I often …

That’s me.  I suppose that’s to be expected for the third trimester.
I feel like I need a nap pretty much every day.  Small outings exhaust me.  I think my iron’s OK, but I should probably open the Floradix that I lugged here on the plane.

I’ve been reading about various governmental reviews of homebirth midwifery in Australia for some time now, and feeling fear in my heart for all the women and midwives in Australia that want to keep it going.  But several recent blog entries, here and here, are making my blood boil.  I want to cry for the women and midwives of Australia that are under seige.  I’m really hoping that the midwives and supportive families can pull together and change things before it’s too late.
I’d like to see a world in which …

This post over at The Human Pacifier reminded me that we currently have a placenta issue.
We’ve got J’s placenta in our freezer.  It’s been there for almost 4 years now.  For awhile, I considered burying it in the backyard, but that never seemed quite right.  I always knew we’d be leaving this house, and I never wanted to leave something so personal behind for strangers to live with.
Last summer, when we decided to go on a family camping trip in Upstate NY, I finally realized that the lake we were …

I just read another amazing article by Gloria Lemay in which she talks about the dangers of induction.  But it was a quote at the end of the article, coming from Linda Hessel, that brought to mind my post from earlier this week on the difficulties of choosing a homebirth midwife.  Here is the quote by Hessel, via Lemay’s blog:
We all want to see women empowered to make truly informed choices about their care. Unfortunately, most birthing women tend to simply trust that their birth attendant will know what is …