September 8th, 2010

Talking Hypnobabies with Michael!

I have known Michael for a little over a year, but I have known her through the childbirth community since her oldest son was born. I have watched from a far her choices of home births, and being a hypnobabies advocate, and birth professional in my area. I was looking for something fun to do, and I talked to her about doing an interview about hynobabies and her experiences…

So welcome Michael, and enjoy reading!

1) What is Hypnobabies?

Hypnobabies is Hypnosis for Childbirth. Some call it “hypnobirthing” but that’s a completely different program. Hypnobabies teaches moms *real medical hypnosis* from Gerald Kein’s famous Painless Childbirth techniques for the birth of their babies. With this technique, moms can enter hypnosis, deepen it themselves and remain mobile during labor, completely comfortable at all times. Using and practicing the Hypnobabies creates an automatically peaceful, relaxing and more comfortable pregnancy, a calm confident “Hypno-Dad”, and an easier, fearless and often pain-free birthing for the “Hypno-Mom”. I mention Hypnosis for birth and I’ve seen people immediately start putting up a wall. They’re confused by the fake stage hypnotists and what Hypnosis really is. It is NOT someone controlling your mind, or having you do silly things while they wave their hands around your head in dramatic ways. All Hypnosis is self-hypnosis. You are always in control of your own mind and your body while in hypnosis. You choose to enter hypnosis, stay in hypnosis, accept the suggestions, and emerge from hypnosis at all times. Stronger-minded and stronger-willed people are easier to hypnotize; not the other way around as is usually assumed. Hypnosis is not religion-oriented at all, just a way to direct your inner mind toward the positive for great personal benefit. What I really love about Hypnobabies is that it’s a complete childbirth education course, in addition to the self-hypnotic techniques. Because it’s a complete childbirth education, they don’t have to go elsewhere to another class to fill in any gaps.

2) Why did you choose Hypnobabies?

My aunt was taking a class to become a hypnotherapist. She first led me to the idea of using hypnosis for birth. I was honestly skeptical. I’m a Christian and was pretty clueless about hypnosis, having only ever seen the stage hypnotists and hearing about “mind control”. I thought it was someone *else* controlling my mind, which is false. I had already decided on a homebirth, so I figured I would look into the hypnotic techniques as my method of birth preparation. In my internet search I found that there were no Hypnobabies instructors in my area. I thought that I would benefit more from a live class so I took another program that did have an instructor near me. I was sorely disappointed. I learned next to nothing about Hypnosis, and it didn’t even touch on what to expect from the birth process itself. It took me a couple of months to figure out that I was severely lacking (and trying to write up my own scripts!!) I talked to my husband about buying the Hypnobabies Home Study program. In his mind, we’d already taken a class. He asked “Can’t you just… tough it out?” I bought the home study. I learned MORE about hypnosis AND birth in just the first weeks “class” than I did in the entirety of the other program. I felt like now I had something that would help me. Because I was so far behind in all this, I read the entire 5 courses in one sitting.

3) Can you tell us how Hypnobabies helped with your birth experiences?

I have had three VERY unique births. The first of which, I had only NINE days of practice with my Hypnobabies tools. NINE days, need I emphasize more? They really suggest at least 6 weeks of practice! I started my birthing time at 5am. I experienced no discomfort at all until 4pm. My son was born at 10:26pm. Between 4pm and his birth I had some pretty severe back labor as my son had turned posterior. The original program that I had taken had this underlying thought that if mothers experienced pain “they didn’t want it enough”. So I was disappointed in myself. However, Hypnobabies does NOT teach that at all. Looking back now, I’m rather proud of myself. Back labor was tough, and at the end was painful. I think I was holding him in. My mother’s plane arrived at 4pm, she didn’t get to my house until 6pm. My midwives said they saw me visibly relax when she walked into the room. Imagine what I could have done with 6 weeks of practice! As it was, I used every break in between a birthing wave to use my Hypnobabies tools and go completely loose, limp and relaxed so I could rest for the next one. That helped tremendously. My mother commented that I would go so deep and relax so completely into her arms that she had to hold my head out of the birthing tub. The next birthing wave would start and I would pop right up and start moving around for comfort.

My second birth I started practicing in my second trimester. I wanted the best use of time and practice, especially with my first baby running around. I hear the “time” excuse a lot. “I don’t have the time for all that practice.” Who does? In reality, everyone is working or doing something in their lives that takes up time. It’s about priorities! What do YOU want out of your birth and are you willing to put the “TIME” into it to get it? In all honesty, I would put my cd’s on before bed and listen to it as I fell asleep. This was a perfectly acceptable way to practice. My conscious mind wasn’t the part that needed to pay attention. My subconscious did. When I got up to pee in the middle of the night, I would put the cd back on. During any down moment during the day, I practiced the “finger drop technique” which is unique to Hypnobabies. It’s what allows moms to use their hypnosis as well as walk around and bounce on the birth ball. I definitely wanted to be able to do this, so I practiced it a LOT. In the end, my second son’s birth was nothing short of enjoyable! It was definitely intense. I knew that going in. Birth is intense! But his birth was intense joy, intense pressure, intense stretching. I laughed during my birthing waves, I enjoyed them. I had mild discomfort during transition, but I had amazing support and I knew comfort measures that helped from having had my previous son. Pushing was wonderful and I enjoyed it immensely. It felt productive! I gave birth to a 9lb 5oz baby boy with absolutely no tearing. Hypnobabies taught me not just to use hypnosis for birth, but positioning to aid in descent. I learned to “breathe” my baby out (which I did in combination with the utter throw down pushes my body produced.) But I was able to ease his head out gently. You can see his birth on youtube :  (By the way… Check out Midwife and Science & Sensibility writer Amy Romano in the video!)

4) Tell my readers about your outstanding hospital birth?

Ahhh Trillian. Well first off I have to thank my incredible mother. And my insanely awesome Doula and dearest friend – Emily. Their loving, unfaltering support during my pregnancy and very long birth (by my standards) were nothing short of the best anyone could ever imagine or hope for. I love them with all my heart! Trillian’s pregnancy was such a stressful one. I developed blood clots in my first trimester and was put on blood thinners for the duration of the pregnancy. Home birth went out the window with the snap of a finger. With that, I was thrust into the high risk category, which meant a hospital birth at a big teaching hospital. My dad was a paramedic, I’ve been around hospital all my life. This time though, I was scared out of my mind. I started my Hypnobabies practice EARLY in this pregnancy so I could have the mental relaxation and positive reinforcement to help me get through the pregnancy with some sort of sanity. At every bloody appointment I went to, I had one nurse who loved to tell me “You could die”. Okay, I don’t know if she “loved” to say that, but she did. I can’t tell you how many times I heard “Pulmonary embolism is the number one killer of pregnant women in America.” Regardless of whether it’s true or not, they had no cares about how saying something like that repeatedly would make me feel. So like I said, stressful.

In the end, I was 34 weeks when they first discovered low fluids. We made the deal to see if I could up my fluid levels over night and if so they wouldn’t induce me. Thankfully, I was able to do just that. But the very next visit, my levels were lower than before. I had been downing water like crazy, so that let me know something was wrong. I should have been able to keep it up with oral hydration alone. They also happened to discover her being a footling breech. Here in America, they like to refuse to induce (let alone birth at all) a breech. That would mean an automatic c-section. I made another deal, give me that night to see if she would change position, since she had been head down when I walked into that office. They wanted my fluids up anyway before they started the pitocin, so the deal was made. That entire night I pestered the baby until I felt her head in my hip. I prayed she’d turn head down all the way, and the next morning the resident was completely shocked to find her head down! Induction it was. The next couple of days I was so thankful for the childbirth education that Hypnobabies had first provided me 4 years ago. There was a LOT that I now knew about, and I had options. There’s a quote that I love that says “If you don’t know your choices, you don’t have any.” For the life of me I can’t remember who said it, but I feel that it rings true.

They wanted to use cytotec with me but I refused. They wanted to rupture my membranes (wasn’t their concern that I had low fluids?? Not a day ago, they had threatened me with stillbirth if I didn’t go to the hospital ASAP because of low fluids. Now they wanted to take away ALL the fluids?). I refused and said that if we needed to in the end, that was fine but I wanted that protective bubble as long as possible. I opted for a foley bulb to aid in manual dilation. That got me a couple centimeters. Then the rest was all pitocin– upped slowly. I had to remain on the monitors, but they put me in the room that had telemetry. I moved around a LOT. I slept on the floor on blankets instead of the bed because that was what was most comfortable for ME. I sat in the shower for hours. I was very comfortable just using my hypnotic tools, and staying in my “zone” for about 36 hours. I asked that the nurses provided me be ones who would help me achieve a natural (drug free) birth. I had a couple of awesome doctors who kept people out of my room.

There are a lot of what if’s for me. What if I popped my water earlier? What if I had taken something to help me sleep during the night? That was what did me in, I was so SO tired. I had been in the hospital the week prior. I was in the hospital the night before the induction. I was pooped. I was becoming very uncomfortable. I was proud of myself for using my Hypnobabies to handle the back to back birthing waves that never really went away. They were constant. I ended up getting an epidural when I was checked and found to –still- be at 5cm. My goal now went from drug free, to vaginal birth – period. I feared that if I wore myself out too much, I wouldn’t achieve that. I hated the epidural. It didn’t work the first time, leaving my left hip open to all the discomfort. So they had to administer it all over again. They thankfully left it a “low dose” epidural. I didn’t feel the discomfort, but I felt the birthing waves. I could move my legs and feet, but couldn’t really feel it when I scratched my leg. 6 hours later, I was checked and found to be at 8cm. I told them that I didn’t feel rectal pressure but I felt vaginal pressure. They said it would be a while and walked out of the room. I told the nurse again that I felt like she was coming out. She checked me and baby’s head was a knuckle from crowning. I birthed my baby into my hands, with the help of a WONDERFUL nurse to help catch. The video seems to be utter “panic” around the baby being born “without assistance”. The truth is we planned it out, and made it seem urgent. They had their chance, they walked out. Lol I had her 15 minutes after they found me at 8cm. Don’t underestimate mothers, especially a third time mom! There was worry about her health being that she was only 35 weeks, but she came out, peed on me, then nursed. My healthy little thing, I was SO happy. You can see me “breathing” her out here in the video. I did very little pushing, my birthing waves did it all for me. So I literally just breathed and “ahhhhh’d” her out.

5) Would you change anything about your births?

Had this been asked days or weeks after their births, I’d probably say yes and list some things I would have changed. Now, I pretty well accept them. They helped form my thoughts and opinions today. They showed me how much I can overcome, and just the amount of control my mind has over my body. I’m proud of myself, and I’ve loved the birth experiences that I’ve had. Even Trillian’s, though it was less than my idea of “ideal”. I believe that it has gone a long way in helping me to overcome my fears of a hospital birth. I learned just how in control I am over my own reproductive health, even if it takes an argument or two. I learned how backwards their reasoning is sometimes! I learned how loved and cared for I am by the people I chose to be on my support team. They were up and tired just as every bit as I was! So, no. I wouldn’t change anything.

6) Do you think your experiences would have been different had you chose a different birthing method?

I would have to assume yes. I really don’t think I would have had the pain free birth experiences that I have had, had I NOT used Hypnobabies. Their program is so detailed and easy to learn, and their techniques are what helped me in ALL of the births, no matter the outcome. Roan’s birth was super hard, but I accomplished a LOT with only 9 days of practice. Willem’s birth was so amazing, I had the practice behind me and I could literally just sit in the tub, enjoying and relax with my “lightswitch” tool that I learned. Trillian’s birth was empowering thanks to all the incredible information I’d learned and put to good use. Granted this was my third birth, but I had the confidence to say no to a procedure I felt would do more harm than good. I learned how to talk with my care providers, ask the questions, take the time to think it through. Not just blindly jump into a situation. That coupled with my hypnosis, made her birth that much bearable if not easier than had I not. There are so many wonderful programs out there that have excellent childbirth education. It’s my feeling though that the education, and the relaxation techniques – combined with the deep Hypnosis to help in pain elimination really goes light years beyond any other program that I’ve heard of. Hypnobabies really has it all. No offense of course!

There is NO ONE RIGHT WAY. There is only what feels right to that individual mother.

I want to thank Michael for opening up for an amazing post, and great birth experience to share with my readers!

September 7th, 2010

OB’s Aren’t Listening to ACOG

OB’s aren’t listening to ACOG. While this is a huge shock for some people, it is not surprising for others. But how did I come to this conclusion?  Well, becoming pregnant put me in a position I was not comfortable being in yet. Being a woman looking for a trial of labor after two previous cesarean sections.   One that was not medically necessary at all, and one that saved my youngest son. While I believe if things had been done slightly differently the second could have been avoidable, but it was a catch 22.

In July of this year, ACOG released new VBAC recommendations in response to the growing cesarean rate, complications that are a direct result of that, the falling VBAC numbers, and the lack of access for VBAC that was all brought out in the National Health Institute’s VBAC Consensus back in March.  I was lucky enough to be able to watch the entire conference from home, and take a ton of great information from it. But it also hit ACOG hard because their representatives knew that their guideline changes essentially caused the decline in VBAC access for women Nationally.

On July 21st, ACOG made a new press release detailing some of their new VBAC guidelines, which included a statement on women with two previous cesarean deliveries.

In keeping with past recommendations, most women with one previous cesarean delivery with a low-transverse incision are candidates for and should be counseled about VBAC and offered a TOLAC. In addition, “The College guidelines now clearly say that women with two previous low-transverse cesarean incisions, women carrying twins, and women with an unknown type of uterine scar are considered appropriate candidates for a TOLAC,” said Jeffrey L. Ecker, MD, from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and immediate past vice chair of the Committee on Practice Bulletins-Obstetrics who co-wrote the document with William A. Grobman, MD, from Northwestern University in Chicago.

Ok, so what is the big deal right?  It says right there that ACOG supports and finds a trial of labor acceptable and essentially a safe option for women with two prior cesarean sections.

So what is the hang up? Apparently all the same OB/GYN’s out there that were quick to jump ship on VBAC when the guidelines changed years ago with new guidelines on the readiness of Anesthesia in the hospital, are NOT as quick to jump back ON the VBAC bus despite the clinical information showing it to be a safe choice.

Where does that leave me right now?

Screwed!  I have a hand full of options I am looking into at this point, but I can’t go see the midwives I was with because their backup OB practice won’t take me on… I have an appointment with a high risk Perinatology group who seems to be open to my request, but the two words high risk scare me because I know it is going to limit the availability of a natural birth. Although the positive of it all is a friend of mine, who had two home births, and came down with a horrible blood disorder during her third pregnancy had a 100% natural hands off birth with this same practice. So… I have hope…

We’ll see!

September 6th, 2010

What to Expect While Expecting = Worst Pregnancy Book EVER!

I have never been a fan of this book. I think it is frightening, inaccurate, and gives a lot of outdated information, even in the newest additions. But of course it is still the number one selling pregnancy book of all time. How it got there I will simply never understand though. Maybe it is the catchy title?  Other than that the book belongs in my backyard fire pit.

I belong to a message board of all local women in Connecticut, and a couple weeks ago, one of the women was reading her copy for her own pregnancy knowledge, and came across a section about alternatives to sex if you are put on bedrest, pelvic rest, not allowed to orgasm, etc.  I was completely turned off by this section for a number of reasons, but the number one reason was the suggestion that was put in place for pleasing your partner if you cannot have sex.

Honestly?  None of it sounds satisfying at all. Seriously, is this 1950?  Do we need to be the perfect housewife, or partner and make sure our partner is satisfied?  Maybe some of us are all for the extra work, but no woman should be made to feel like she MUST please her significant other if she is not comfortable with it at that point in time. Not for nothing, but the day I let my husband screw my “thighs” would be the day that hell froze over.

Who makes this shit up? Seriously?

Although I am glad that I wasn’t the only person completely turned off, and upset by this portion of the book. There certainly was a great amount of outrage at the comment. I just can’t believe this book is reaching as many pregnant women as it does!

Ugh, I guess that is the end of my vent…

September 5th, 2010

Breastfeeding at the Apple Orchard

Yesterday my husband and I took our children on our annual trip to the apple orchard up in Middletown, Connecticut. Lyman Orchards to be exact. We have been going annually since our oldest was about 9 months old, and it overall is a super fun day. We get to go into the orchard and pick, then head down to the old country store and get some delish fresh baked goods, fresh product, etc.

We had gotten a bag of seed to feed the ducks with the toddler, and my husband walked with Ben and our bags to the car to put them in the trunk, and meet us over at the duck pond.

I walked out of the country store, and down the steps to see three women sitting on a blanket all breastfeeding babies that varied in age from about 3 months to about 6-7ish months. I stopped in my tracks and wanted to go over to them and give them a standing ovation. You hear so many nasty stories about women being told to cover up, or harassed in areas that are meant for families, and here they are, breastfeeding proudly in the middle of this little park area.

Then my toddler looked at me and says “Mommy, what are they doing?”  It all clicked, and this was the best opportunity that I was going to have to teach my toddler about breastfeeding before the new baby comes. (Or at least I think)

I leaned down to him, looked over at the ladies, and said to him “They are feeding their babies… The babies are drinking their Mommies Milk.” The women looked over, smiled, and we all went on our way.  They continued to nurse, and we walked over to the duck pond to feed the duckies, where a million questions came into play about the Ducks mommies, their milk, and why we were feeding the ducks seed instead of milk.

Oh the joys of parenting. But this was such an amazing opportunity for teaching. I am sure the women were worried they would end up being one of those stories with us harassing and telling them to cover up because I didn’t want my kid to see that, that we hear about so typically.

September 3rd, 2010

Put a Sling on ‘Em

I am being lazy today, and I am sorry for that, but I have been looking for an excuse to put this youtube video up.   As if baby wearing isn’t fun enough although I have never personally worn a sling (I am looking forward to finally doing it with this baby!) I am a huge fan of slings and baby wearing in general.

I learned about this video during my Passion for Birth training, and ran home to youtube it. I have to say it is probably the cutest idea ever!

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

September 2nd, 2010

Enter to Win a Lactivist T-Shirt!

I have an awesome giveaway to post today!  I am going to be giving away a Breastfeeding T-Shirt of the Winner’s choice to one of my lucky readers!  This T-Shirt is being donated by MamaPear Designs! I met founder Lara on Twitter in the past months, and love what she is doing!  Not only does she sell these adorable Lactivist inspired T-Shirts, as well as a letter writing campaign called The Breastfeeding Blitz aimed at the Oprah Show.

On to the giveaway!

One lucky winner will win a T-Shirt of their choice from MamaPear Designs!  My favorite one is :

Cute huh?  There are tons more on her site that range from shirts for kids, to shirts for Dads, and even Tote Bags!

So what do you have to do to enter?

Use any THREE from the list below as ONE entry… Do all Six for TWO entries!

1. Follow MamaPear Designs on Twitter
2. Follow Momotics on Twitter
3. Follow MamaPear Designs on Facebook
4. Follow Momotics on Facebook
5. Go to MamaPear’s website and pick your favorite item on the site, and post it in your entry!
6. Join the Momotics site!  (Over there on the left, half way down the page, you will see the Google Friend Connect)

Good Luck and Happy Winning!

September 1st, 2010

Is WIC Killing Breastfeeding Relationships?

This is something I have always thought about when it comes to organizations like WIC giving out formula in large amounts for women to be able to feed their babies. I dealt with WIC here in my state for a short period of time after my youngest son was born, and I found their breastfeeding information to be outdated, and not helpful at all. I clearly wasn’t a first time mother, but we had a rough time, and their help, which I already knew was bunk didn’t go a long way.

While many of the women in my area that qualify for the WIC program, also qualify for the government based health care program medicaid, I noticed that the vast majority of lactation consultants, or real, working, and certified IBCLC’s do not accept patients with this kind of health care coverage.  Kind of boggled my mind.

I know this question has been posed before, in other blogs, so I wanted to ask my readers to chime in here today and let me know what you think, and your opinion on WIC.

I will fill you in of course on my thoughts.

Do I think that WIC kills breastfeeding relationships?  Fully! Women are not being given the support, and information that will allow them to have successful breastfeeding relationships, and are often given bad information because of a newborn weight the WIC clinic may not like, or may find alarming. In that case many of the suggestions include supplementing, or switching completely. I have seen children told there was a failure to thrive situation as newborns, and 3 years later they are still in the less than 10% percentile for weight or growth.

Not only that but the growth charts being used today are based on formula fed babies, not babies that are exclusively breastfed. That is one of the biggest problems with weight gain issues.

So these women are given free formula, which they would have never bought on their own because one of the main reasons for breastfeeding for so many is the cost factor, and they don’t feel bad at all because they are still feeding their baby for free.

Giant circle of fail.

Anyways, that is just my take on what I have seen locally here in Connecticut.
So ladies, let me hear what you have experienced with WIC & Breastfeeding!

August 30th, 2010

Goodbye Sanity!

If you recall, I made a post a couple weeks ago about my toddler pooping like my mothers chihuahua in her backyard as an answer to all those people who asked when we plan on having our third child. Well apparently someone else had different plans for our family. For the past week or so I haven’t been feeling too hot. Not sick, but just really tired. I was freaking out slightly, but I assumed because we have been careful (besides a minor accident we had) it as another issue like anemia, or maybe something being off with my thyroid.

Goodbye Sanity! Hello Third Elwood Child!

Well I guess I was wrong. And after a week of sitting on the edge of my seat, and a full 24 hours of disbelief and shock, and lots of questions flying through my head about VBA2C, providers, money, a new car that can fit 3 car seats safely, money, money, and money again, and heck, where are we going to PUT another kid?  I have come to terms and now I am in Momma Bear mode. Get shit done and take no prisoners….

I have a laundry list of things to do in the next 9ish months.

I think my husband took it the best out of the two of us. As I cried like a baby spouting off question after question, he kept it together and just said we need to do X, Y, and Z and we will be fine… Calm down, relax, and everything will be ok.  Thank god for him and his calm reaction, even if it was only a show in front of me to keep me from running down to the Housatonic River Bridge and hurling myself off the side.

So, sit back, and relax, and watch the loss of my sanity over the next 9 months.  It should be a fun ride.

August 29th, 2010

NCMEC & BlogHer

If you do not know what NCMEC stands for, it is the abbreviation for The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. When I was preparing to go to BlogHer, I got contacted by a representative from Tavern Direct, and this is where it may get confusing to some. What does a company that sells delicious specialty foods have to do with missing kids?  Well long story short, 50 cents from every item sold through Tavern Direct goes straight to NCMEC.

Great cause!  We were invited to a delicious dinner at F. Illi Ponte Ristorante. It was an amazing, and probably the best food I had the whole time while I was in the city. We sat down, and listened to a Gentleman from NCMEC talk about the cause, how he got involved and what they are looking to do with Bloggers. I hung on to his every word because it was something so important to listen about. With two little boys, who will sooner rather than later be leaving the house for school, and activities where I cannot watch them 100% of the time it is better to be safe than be sorry.

We learned a lot that evening, and I am planning on working with them more to learn more about their cause, internet safety, and other things that I could write about that will be important to parents who have children all ages.

August 28th, 2010

Did Your Parent’s Teach You That?

I try to leave most of my family activities out of this blog, and on my family blog, but last nights activities have me so upset, I have to write about it on a much larger scale than just for friends and family.

When my husband came home from work, he suggested we go to a local Italian festival that was taking place in the next town over. It sounded like fun, but first we had a couple chores to run. My husband’s haircut, stop and get a couple parts for one of our cars, etc. So by 7pm we had two sleeping children in the car, and decided we would head to the fair for dinner, and maybe a couple rides for the toddler.

We got to the fair, bought some ride tickets for the toddler, and then got some dinner. I had awesome Chicken Parm, DH had pizza, and the kids shared the Ziti from my children. The food was AMAZING for a fair, and we were all in a great mood when we set off to ride some rides.

First was the little cars, which Camden loves, then was the big slide, then the Ferris wheel which is when the night started to go downhill. Besides the fact that I was previously soaked by what appeared to be invisible ink some teen boys were throwing at each other, the night has been event free, even though there was a mass amount of parent free teens.

I was standing with Ben on my back, the stroller filled with food and prizes, and waving to my husband and toddler as they went around and around on the Ferris wheel. Then I saw it… SPIT come flying through the air. Repeatedly. Then I saw my husband waving his hat at the guy running the ride, and another carnival staff member running towards the ride.

It was at that moment I saw the teens. Two Ferris Wheel cars totally 6 boys spitting on each other… In their immature fest of bodily fluid THEY SPIT ON MY HUSBAND AND TODDLER!

When their car was visible to me, I started in yelling at them, totally embarrassing them from the ground as all the people looked and shook their heads at the actions of these kids, and my now crying 2 year old.

They were escorted off of the ride, and directly to the main gate, where they were all instructed to call their parents, and the carnival head honcho waited with them. Well, my husband who was beyond livid took the toddler on a couple more rides to calm him down, and calm himself down because I was damn near sure he wanted to choke those kids half to death.

Well I walked straight over to where they were all waiting for their parents and started in on them.

“Spitting is the most disgusting and disrespectful thing you can EVER do, and you SPIT on my 2 year old. A little boy, who was scared half to death because you wanted to act like babies”

They all just stared at each other with not a thing to say.

“I am going to sit here and wait, because I want to talk to EVERY last ONE of your parents”

They looked like a deer in headlights. I could hear exactly what they were saying in their heads. “OH SHIT, we are SCREWED now”

The carnival guy proceeded to tell them that there was a similar incident that took place in New York State, and the kids who did it were arrested. It was considered an “act of terrorism” because spit could carry diseases. Lovely, now my mind started wandering to what kind of nasty bugs could these snot nosed teens have.

I sat and waited for a good 20 minutes, their parents still weren’t there. The baby at this point started crying, and my husband was done with all of our ride tickets trying to salvage a little bit of the night these punks ruined in 60 seconds.

And I left. I should have stood my ground and waited for their parents, but my own children were more of a responsibility, and now I had an over tired 15 month old, and a 2 year old I needed to bring home and bathe.

I still am running through this all in my head… I cannot BELIEVE this actually happened. I cannot BELIEVE it!

August 27th, 2010

Just Wait 10 years!

With the back to school season upon us, many kids are really excited about going back to school. It just so happened my two year old, who will be three this December is also super excited about school. For the past three days Camden has been picking up his backpack, putting on his shoes and baseball cap, and heading towards the front door proclaiming that he is leave to go to school.

I am going to be sure to remind him in a decade, when it is a battle to get him out of bed, and off to school of these days. We all know in another couple years school will be more of a chore than something he wants to do!  Isn’t that the way it always happens?

While I am excited about his enthusiasm, it is heart breaking because he has another year before he can be enrolled in a “pre-school” program that isn’t more than a glorified daycare in my town. Not only does he need to be three on the first day of school, but he also needs to be fully potty trained, which is something we are working on, but he is not quite there yet.

Yesterday I started looking into pre-school-ish programs that he could attend that are not based through our town school system, and I came across a couple. One which was $185 for ONE full day a week. ONE freaking day! Highway robbery! I then knew immediately that this wasn’t going to be easy.

Luckily a good friend of mine has decided on re-opening her in home daycare this fall. She has a son who is a year older than Camden, and they have a blast together. Camden stayed with her for one night, and two day’s when I was at BlogHer and they did everything from Peach picking, to the indoor bouncey house place up the highway.

I talked to her about working something out where Camden could come two half days a week, it is looking like Tuesday, and Thursday from 10-2, not only to get him around other kids his age, but I know she does a pre-school based curriculum, and learning based play with the kids.

I also feel fully comfortable having him in her care, which relieves the added stress of wondering who the people are that work in these pre-school centers.  I am really excited that Camden is going to be taking this step, and I am sure it is going to be a huge deal to him because he loves going to her house, and hanging out with the other kids. And calling it “school” is going to be exactly what he needs.

My little baby boy is going to go to “school”!
I can’t believe it!
It was like just yesterday I was cradling him in my arms at 3am when he wouldn’t sleep.

Where does the time go?

August 26th, 2010

Medicaid Changes Proposed in Utah?

A very slippery slope if I do say so myself, but I can totally see where Dan Liljenquist is saying. Recently, a lawmaker in Utah has proposed that medicaid stop paying for elective procedures such as epidurals, and elective cesarean sections. I am kind of torn on the subject myself though.

I will explain the best I can.

Since medicaid is already paying so much annually for childbirth (it is estimated that in the United States, over 40% of c-sections are paid for by medicaid) it is only sensible that women making the choice for an elective procedure be the ones who pay for it. A cesarean section is a huge cost, and why should state funded medicaid have to pay for it when it is not something that is medically necessary. They aren’t going to be rallying for medicaid to pay for elective comedic surgeries, so what makes this so different?

On the other hand, saying women who are on medicaid will not be allowed to, or will be billed for epidural’s or pain relief methods during level is taking it to a different extreme. While the majority of women out there who get epidurals are not getting them for medical reasons, the same women not allowed their epidural could down the road in labor need that epidural for medical reasons. Whether it be the mother is tired, cannot relax, etc.

I guess it comes down to who is the one that gets to decide what is elective, and what is medically needed. Will it be medicaid, the provider, the hospital billing department, lawmakers?  Who?

I certainly do not advocate for tax payers paying for elective major surgeries such as a c-section for a mothers choice to have a surgical birth when a vaginal birth would not harm her, or would be the safest option. But the epidural is a slippery slope type question for me.

What bothers me most is that the lawmaker bringing this to light is a man. Someone who will never give birth, someone who has never given birth, and someone who cannot sympathize with a pregnant women, or mother on the same level.

Although in Utah the medicaid numbers are high, most students starting their families, I still think these women, and their partners should be able to utilized medicaid, and different birth procedures to an extent.

I guess all in all, my biased on c-sections simply cannot say let the tax payers pay for elective cesareans. I just can’t. I don’t think medicaid should be paying for elective surgery, especially cesareans. I am NOT opposed to medicaid paying for emergency medically necessary cesarean births, or necessary surgical deliveries.

I am sure I will get beat up over my opinion, but people would be super pissed off if medicaid was funding other elective surgeries like breast implants, or botox.

August 25th, 2010

Choosing Formula? Bring Your Own!

Something I am very excited to see starting all over the world!  Some hospitals are starting to tell mothers, if you are choosing to formula feed your child, bring your own formula to the hospital. They will not longer be giving out free cases of formula to the new mothers giving birth.

How awesome is that?  I originally saw this over on The Stir on Cafemom, and I followed the link to the news article based out of the UK. But what I didn’t understand about the article on The Stir, written by Jeanne Sager, is that there is really no information on the story itself, instead it is a right to choose piece encouraging mothers to choose what is most comfortable for them, whether it be breast or bottle.

What the article doesn’t touch on is the politics behind it all, and why what this English hospital is doing, is the right thing. We see women giving birth in the United States left and right, and truly wanting to breastfeed, or going to the hospital with the full intent of really giving it a try, and even having their heart set on it. And we see hospitals with their free formula samples ruining many breastfeeding relationships that could have survived had it not been for that one bottle of formula in the hospital.

But for the women who go into the hospital to give birth fully knowing they intend to formula feed from the get go, why should the hospital provide them with free formula? It is no secret that formula is a huge expense and many women who choose to formula feed cannot even afford that cost, and end up with WIC assistance. I have seen this time and time again on forum’s such as cafemom. Women knowing they are not even going to give breastfeeding a try, but get pissed off when the number of cans of formula WIC allots for a month doesn’t feed their baby for the whole month. It is not meant to feed your child completely, it is an assistance program.

Hospitals are not going to tack the $24.99 a can of formula onto your hospital bill, and insurance would never cover the costs.

So I say GOOD for England for starting this!  I hope the hospitals in the United States start to follow!