I learned that women are stronger than I knew.  Does strong mean that everything goes perfectly? No! We can’t control everything but we can control how we react to everything around us and a woman who pushes herself farther than anyone could have guessed and then takes it one step after that. A woman who can laugh, tell jokes, cry, and then give it her all. That’s a woman I want to be around. I thought I knew about birth but I don’t. I know so little.

All I can think about is crawling into that bed with her and asking her to tell me everything she learned, everything she knows because I am in awe.

By the time I got home last night I was exhausted. My brain was over worked to exhaustion and it’s going to be even more intense today and tomorrow. I was VERY nervous about being away from the house and the kids for 3 full days but I shouldn’t have been. Dinner was ready and delicious, the kids were clean and had their naps and my house was spotless. There isn’t a single thing Chuck could have said that would have felt as supportive as all the little things he did while I was away. Thanks, babe!

I’ll try to keep posting as long as my brain doesn’t explode! Wish me  luck!

Oh, and if any of you are looking for a doula drop me a comment or an email.

Between Pushed and the book I’m reading about the Canadian Bride-Ships I think this fills my quota of feminist literature for this month, I think. Pushed is extremely interesting so far. It’s obviously about childbirth but I think her writing is fascinating. She’s very good at writing clearly and explaining terms and definitions without making me feel stupid.

She starts her first chapter with a real life example of how things are drastically different between having a natural birth that is allowed to progress normally and a hospital birth where the Dr on call uses up to 16 different interventions on a single woman. I can’t even imagine having 16 different contraptions strapped to my body while I’m trying to have a baby!

The real life example Jennifer Block uses is of the Labor and Delivery department of Florida Hospital Heartland Medical Center during Hurricane Charley. Because of the hurricane the hospital lost main power and was functioning under a back up generator which meant that “there was no air-conditioning and no lab capabilities.” The ward did not “have the lab setup required to manage epidural anesthesia safely.” The doctors and nurses had no choice but to care for the laboring women in a very different way. What followed was an amazing experience. They canceled all labor inductions and sent women home if they were not in active labor.

A nurse, Tracey Lethbridge, was working during this time and noted that “women were delivering within hours of arriving, even first time mothers, without any Pitocin… We had no cases of fetal distress during labor and no respiratory distress on neonates following delivery.

In 2004, Florida Hospital’s C-section rate was 29.4%. Nearly half of all deliveries were induced that year. During Hurricane Charley 17 women gave birth; one was induced, 2 had scheduled repeat cesareans, and only one had a cesarean for “failure to progress”. That works out to a c-section rate of 17%. Excluding the repeat cesareans that works out to 6%.

I got all of this from only the first couple pages of Jennifer Block’s book. There’s more numbers about current statistics than any other childbirth book I’ve read in the last couple years.

This book is absolutely fascinating and I think that any woman preparing to have kids should read this book and get ready to make fast decisions about her delivery experience.

This past week Colby Cosh, from the National Post, wrote an article on a new development in the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada. I am so glad that news like this is reaching large media outlets in Canada like the National Post. It would be nice if we could get to a point that the medical field no longer approaches childbirth like it’s an illness and approaches it like the natural procedure that it is. There are definitely times when a more medical, hands on approach is necessary but to approach pregnancy and childbirth, on the whole, as an illness is a terrible message to send to mothers everywhere.

Colby Cosh wrote a great and enlightening article and I hope you have the time to read its entirety. If not, here are some of my favorite bits.

On Wednesday, the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada (SOGC) changed its clinical guidelines and dropped its recommendation that Caesarean sections should be considered automatic for mothers carrying a single fetus upside-down, in the breech position. This may seem like a quiet bureaucratic change. But it marks the end of one of the most extraordinary controversies in modern medicine — a battle which seemed, less than a decade ago, to have been settled forever in favour of the other side.

…other studies suggested that C-sections led to more maternal complications, and that the two delivery methods were equally safe in places where obstetricians are especially well-trained in “catching” breech babies.

…a generation of obstetricians has been turned loose without training in planned vaginal breech birth — essentially limiting mothers in countries like Canada to C-sections they may not want, and creating more risk for those who, for medical reasons, have no choice but the vaginal route. So the SOGC, the authority on childbirth in the very country that unleashed the TBT, has put its foot down. It intends to not only change the clinical guidelines, but resume training obstetricians in both delivery methods.

If you remember, I announced the Indigo Festival a couple weeks ago and that’s where I went on Saturday. I was excited to go and support people and businesses that believe in some of the same things that I do. I was going to encourage more events that celebrated holistic pregnancy and parenting. I’m still learning about a lot of aspects related to holistic parenting but I’m loving it.

The kids had a great time playing in the Kids Area while I walked around and browsed through natural house care product catalogs or Discovery Toys catalogs or Playsilks catalogs. I could go on and on about everything I learned and saw and coveted but that’s not why I’m writing this. I’m writing this to tell you where I’ve been.

When I left the festival I couldn’t see because everything was white. Blowing snow was blinding everything and everyone. Cars were skidding into ditches and several were rolling and landing upside down. Chuck’s cousin, Sherry Ann, is also a Crunchy Granola and was at the festival showing moms how to wear their babies and how to use the myriad of slings out there. She lives not far from Red Deer so I followed her tail lights, white knuckling the steering wheel all the way. The weather stayed bad for less than 24 hours but in that time the roads were dumped with enough snow to keep me at Sherry Ann’s until Monday afternoon.

I’m finally at home and getting back into our school time routine. The kids and I are going to go snuggle in bed and read books. Right now we’re reading about the Trojan War and Odysseus’s adventures.

While I’m reading in bed I thought I’d give away a $25 gift certificate for Momzelle Breastfeeding Apparel. Momzelle has some beautiful tops that make it easy to breastfeed without showing off all your goods at the same time. All of Momzelle’s clothing is organic and made in Canada. What I want you to do is go to Momzelle’s website and tell me which top is your favorite and then come back here and let me know. I will choose the winner randomly on Friday at 8:00 pm so get your comments in so you can get this gift certificate. I promise you, it will make breastfeeding just that much easier.

Happy shopping!