Post From the Past #3

    We are still several weeks out from breaking the news, but there have been a few going-ons on the baby front. We had a consultation with one midwife last week and and another one this week, and this next lady will give us contact information so we can meet up with a few more. That way we have to time to decide who is going to be right for us before the prenatal check-ups begin. These meetings have been exciting since it's pretty much the only time Joey and I have been able to discuss baby stuff with anyone else really. But other than that, the main development has been the sudden onset of some wonderful pregnancy symptoms like nausea and fatigue. For some reason I never really considered that I would get morning sickness. I think it's because I hardly ever get ill. I didn't really think about the fact that morning sickness has absolutely nothing to do with your immune system. As annoying as the sudden waves of day-disrupting nausea have been, the one thing I am thankful for is that so far it's really the only way I can tell I'm pregnant. On my mom's advice, I stopped the prenatal vitamins to see if that helps out my stomach at all. I was planning on asking the midwife about them anyway, seeing as I'm not too keen on vitamins period. But so far everything is going well. I'm having some random strong cramps that scare the living daylights out of me every time they happen, but since they aren't accompanied by any bleeding or anything I'm trying not to stress out too much.  I'm just amazed that something so tiny is already requiring so much room! But Baby is growing super fast right now, so I guess that's all normal.
    A few months back I had asked a friend about recommendations for prenatal yoga books for my doula repertoire, and she suggested "Beautiful Bountiful Blissful." It's based on Iyengar yoga, which I have never really done, but she said it was excellent so I went ahead and ordered it. So far I have only read the first trimester part and it focuses on different meditation exercises. I have been spending some time each morning doing these to prepare my mind in addition to my regular practice. It's a good book and you really don't have to be a proficient yogi to use it, so I highly recommend it.
   Speaking of doula stuff. You may or may not have heard that my classes that were supposed to start a few weeks ago for my doula training got postponed to February due to not enough people signing up. Well, that may have been a blessing in disguise. You see, once you take the classes and start the process, you only have two years to get all of your practice births done or you have to start over completely. It would have been hard rushing off at all hours of the night trying to attend births with an infant of my own! So I will probably be putting off the doula training for a couple of years. While I am sad, I am grateful for all the preparation I have done since it will be very beneficial for my own pregnancy and birth.
   Other than that, there is not much else going on with Baby. It's getting slightly awkward socially since I have been refusing coffee and alcohol for over a month now. I fake it when I can and lie when absolutely necessary (sorry everyone!). I have switched from beer to fruity mixed drinks (and have learned to depend on the discretion of waitresses and bartenders) to help alleviate some doubt, but I'm not sure how long it will last. Also, now that nausea is setting in, I find that pregnancy stealth may become slightly more difficult. But we are still going to hold out for as long as possible. Until then, I guess I'll just keep writing posts and not posting them!

Post from the Past #2

    It happened. Of course, by now YOU know it happened, because you read the first post-from-the-past. But today, October 11th, I know it happened. I have had a feeling that it might have, but I didn't want to get my hopes up only to be disappointed and I was worried that some of the "symptoms" I was experiencing might just be in my head. But this morning, I finally got up the courage. I took the test. And....nothing happened. The control line didn't even show up. And that was my only test. So I went to the store and bought some more, but wasn't sure I wanted to try again today. I mean, I used up the good first morning pee (if that is TMI for you, you may want to sign off this blog completely in the coming months). So I figured this test would definitely be a bummer. But I also just wanted to get it over with. So I did it. And as soon as I looked down at the stick, there they were. Two bold lines. I started giggling, crying, and shrieking all at the same time, running around the house like an idiot, scaring Fender half to death. Of course, it took Joey FOREVER to get home from the gym. As soon as he walked in, I told him- "I'm pregnant." The look on his face was priceless. It's that genuine, giddy grin he gets sometimes that I love. So there you have it! It worked! Our first time trying! If you want to know the nitty-gritty, message me or comment below and we can talk. But we did it. I went to the heath clinic earlier and they confirmed with another test, and I go for blood work on Tuesday of next week. We are so excited but also a little scared since it is still so early. I will feel more and more relieved with each week that goes by. Baby will be here in early summer. We can't wait. I feel like there is so much to do and plan, but right now it's still sinking in that I"M PREGNANT!!!!!  More to come soon. <3

This is me the day we found out.

The Post of September Past

   I am writing to you from the past. The 12th of September, 2012 to be exact. I am writing this post because of a conversation Joey and I had tonight. Tonight, we decided we were going to try to start a family. We have both always wanted kids, so the fact that we would have them was never a question. It was always a matter of when. We knew for sure we wanted to at least get started with our PhDs. Get to a new place, get settled in, all of that. Well, we have been in Tucson for a few months now, and while we are not completely settled in we feel...well, we don't really know. Nested? Anyhow, we are both at the point where making a baby is something we want. But we do have to be slightly strategic about it in order to make life slightly easier as we pursue our doctorates. It would be most convenient to have a baby in early summer, when we would have a few months off from school to adjust and spend time with baby. That would put the ideal conception date in August or September. So if we want to go this route, we have about a two month window each year to try. Tonight we decided we will give this month a shot. If it happens, awesome! If not, we will wait until next August and try again. We might give up on our timing eventually if nothing happens this year or next, but for now that is the plan.
   So why I am not posting this the day I am writing? Because we don't know if anything will happen. Because I don't want people asking me about it. And mostly because I don't want anyone to know I am pregnant right away. We both agree that we want to wait until around the end of the first trimester to tell anyone, that way if something *happens* there are less awkward, heart-wrenching phone calls to make. Therefore, I am saving this post as a draft until the time is right, be it this year or several years from now. So, for those of you who are a little slow to put the pieces together and still think this is a post about us trying to make a baby...guess what? I'm pregnant! Probably a few months pregnant, as a matter of fact. And I plan to write more posts-from-the-past as our journey continues and post them after I let this one sink in. That way everyone will be caught up, and then I can start posting in real time again. Confused yet?

Here are the "before" pictures. These were taken the day we decided to start trying. They serve two purposes- 1) a comparison for the coming pictures and 2) a reminder for me and Joey that I did look like this at one point in time.

*Note added 11/30/12. I keep telling myself that I don't look pregnant (which is mostly true) and I can't even tell a difference and blah blah blah...and then I come back to this picture. Yeah. There is definitely a difference. I don't know who I'm kidding.

And they asked, heyayayayay, heyayay, what's goin' on?

    We get this question every time some one calls. I always feel guilty because my answer is never very interesting. School. That's it. No really. It's not that I don't want to talk or that I'm trying to dodge more in-depth conversation. That is really all we do for the most part. We go to school. We come home.We read stuff. We write about the stuff we read. We go back to school. We talk about the stuff we read. Lather, rinse, repeat. It's not very exciting. But I feel obligated to let all of you know that we are alive and well. And I thought long and hard about some at least semi-interesting things I could post about. So here you go:

1. We went to a concert. On of the radio stations here put on an outdoor one day music fest at the Padre's stadium. It was a hodge-podge of bands, but we got to see All That Remains, Corey Taylor, and the Offspring. It was a good show and we had a lot of fun. 

2. Our garden is doing fairly well. My beans, tomatoes, and zucchini are doing awesome. The eggplant, brusselsprouts, chives, cauliflower, spinach, and carrots are coming along as well. We'll see if the cooler weather helps them out at all.

3. We put in a mini cactus bed in the front yard. So far my bird of paradise bush isn't doing too hot. I hope it's just getting used to its new home and not completely dying. 

4. They are opening a Camp Bow Wow in Tucson. For those of you unaware of Fender's affinity for the doggie day-care chain, this is a huge blessing in terms of having somewhere to store our 150lb. Great Dane when we go out of town.

5. We booked our flights for Christmas. We will be in Memphis from Dec. 19th- 28th. 

6. We bought some rugs (can you tell how desperate I am for interesting information?). We got a nice big area rug in the living room and some smaller ones around the house. 

Of course now morning naps are a battle for the sunny spot on the office rug.

7. I'm teaching three yoga classes a week at the studio I work at, which is a nice distraction as well as extra cash in my pocket. 

8. We decorated for Halloween. Our neighbors seem to be into it, so we figured we would join in a put a few things up. I'm not sure what the trick-or-treater volume is like, but we plan on passing out candy and chilling at the house this year. 

9.   And we finally made it up to Mt. Lemmon for some hiking around. 

So that's it. That is all that you have been missing out on. I told you, we just don't do much. Occassionally we try a new restaurant or go the park or something. But for the most part, our lives revolve around school. 

Doula [doo-luh]

 
     I'm going to be a doula! But you already knew that, because you read it in our first blog post, right? Well maybe you forgot. Anyhow, it's now official and I have started the process. For those of you who don't know what a doula is click here for the wiki-quicky (see what I did there?). Basically, a doula is non-medical birth assistant whose role is to support the mother before, during, and immediately after childbirth. A doula usually meets with the mother (and birth partner) several times during the pregnancy so everyone can get to know each other and develop a trusting relationship. The doula can offer basic information concerning pregnancy and childbirth as well as direct the mother to more complete resources. A doula can help an expectant mother develop a birth plan and prepare for childbirth and be sure the mother's wishes are followed during the birth.When the woman goes into labor, she calls the doula who comes over and stays with the mother until after the child is born. The extent of the doula's role is up to the mother. She can be the primary support person for the mother, or simply an extra pair of hands and someone to go out and get food. For a more indepth explanation, check out The Feminist Breeder's Resource Guide (who coincidentally, uses the same Google image as me, lol).  She has put together a great rundown.
    So, as I mentioned above, becoming a doula is process. I have chosen to become certified through DONA International, one of the larger and more widely known and accepted programs. Certification involves a lot of reading (I'm working on my book list now), attending childbirth classes and breastfeeding classes, attending a series of doula workshops, and attending a number of births. My childbirth classes and doula workshops begin in October. Once I complete those and my breastfeeding class, I will need to attend three births and obtain letters of recommendation from the mothers and doctors/midwives. Once I have all my certificates of completion for my classes, letters of recommendation, and essays written, I submit my packet to DONA and they approve me for certification.
    Why, might you ask, would I want to be a doula? Well, as some of you may or may not know, my area of study falls under an umbrella commonly referred to in political science as "human security". While there are several official and academic reports that go into more detail, such as this one, it is basically a "concern for human life and dignity" (see linked article). Previously I have focused on hunger and the global food system.  But through some odd stumblings around on the internet, I began reading of lot feminist mom blogs and many of them were dedicated to concern over maternity care available to women here in the U.S. At first I was all like, "But this is America! (pronounced 'merica). We are awesome, and I know this because we are always talking about how AWESOME we are and we have awesome healthcare which is why we are not going to let those stupid communists change anything about it!. I mean, maybe we are like number 2 in the world because Japan probably figured out how to grow babies in cool shaped jars or something, but still." Well, come to find out the United States is 49th in the world for maternal mortality. There are 48 other countries (including some in Eastern Europe and the Middle East) where women are much more likely to survive childbirth than here. But the U.S. spends more on healthcare than any of these countries. Something is wrong with this picture. I could go into detail, procedure by procedure, about the factors that are creating this disaster in the birth industry, but for time's sake I will refrain. (Note: If you do have any specific questions or do want the long version, please comment or message me in some way). Basically, only about 1/3 of medical practices in maternity care are up-to-date, evidenced based care. Can you imagine going to a heart surgeon who was using techniques only 1/3 of which were supported by medical research?  If that doesn't compromise human life and dignity I don't know what does.
    So there you have it- that ^ is why I want to be a doula. So I can be there for women. So I can help them to be as informed as possible. So that they know the risks and benefits and are able to be active participants in their birth and be in control of what is done to their bodies. Once again, if anyone has any questions what so ever, please please please contact me. We can chat. Or check out ImprovingBirth.org for more information.