Kids rooms done at last!

Hey, Where'd That Blog Go???

Sorry.

It's been wild around here.

I took a bunch of "before" pictures of our 'new' (40-year-old) home, and I thought I'd start posting when I had some "after" pics.

Snort.

Ya, right!  I still have boxes in corners, and moderate chaos still reigns.

So here's a little update:

I am, indeed, still pregnant.  38 weeks and 1 day, to be exact.  I got severely dehydrated and didn't realize it a little over a week ago and actually went in to the hospital to get a fetal monitor strip because baby stopped moving.  (If you knew me IRL, you would know Id have tro be awfully concerned to do that!)  Baby was fine. 

Last week I had 2 different days of unexplained bleeding and had another NST and sonogram, which determined that the placenta is fine, but I was still dehydrated.  I managed to get my fluid back up and the bleeding, which was not to extreme, stopped.  So we assume it was just a weird cervix thing.

Over the weekend I started bleeding again but I was sure it was just a repeat of the cervix thing.  I started having really regular contractions, bleeding stopped, contractions picked up, and I thought I was really in labor.  We actually went in, all 5 of us, Sunday morning at 3 am, expecting a baby to accompany us home!  But as soon as I stepped into the birth center, everything stopped dead in its tracks.  Poor midwife!  Poor mama!

Naturally, as soon as I got home yesterday morning, and snuggled back in my own bed, contractions started right back up again.  Thanks, baby.  I explained very camly to my baby that while I, too, wish we could just snuggle in and get 'er done here, that she would have to accept the fact that she IS going to come at that darn birth center, whether either of us like it or not.

(FYI, it is not illegal to homebirth in Nebraska, but it IS illegal for CNM's to attend homebirths, and direct-entry midwives face stiff legal action if they choose to do so.  As of right now, no midwife within 3 hours of Omaha will catch babies at home.)

After a long day of contractions, everything stopped.  Out of curiosity, I checked myself and found a smooth, membrane-covered head pretty much right there.  I'm not very good at determining dilation, but I'd say a 4?  Unfortunately, she is really wedged deeply in there, posterior.  I've been trying to get her to rotate, but no luck so far.

That was probably TMI for many of you- sorry.

Anyhow, that's the news for now. 



"The thing about family disasters is that you never have to wait long before the next one puts the previous one into perspective." 
~Robert Brault

"There is no cure for laziness but a large family helps." 
~Herbert Prochnov

32.5 and counting

 This in not my current belly!  It's Rosie in there, at about 38.5 weeks.  (I'm nowhere near this big yet, at the moment.)

"When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced.  Live your life in such a manner that when you die the world cries and you rejoice." 
~Indian Saying

I start to focus inwardly at about this time during pregnancy.  Externals fade into the background and what's going on inside seems a lot more real than what's going on outside of me.  (You know, homes being bought and sold, landlords trying to screw us, 3,000 square feet of packing, trading in mountain canyons for tidy square lawns....)

 I thought we were nuts just a few months ago, planning a pregnancy that would mean giving birth just weeks after a major move.  Some moments I still do.  But I also realize, as always, life's insane timing is a blessing in disguise. 

"There is no other organ quite like the uterus.  If men had such an organ they would brag about it.  So should we." 
~Ina May Gaskin

My stress tolerance is quite low.  Usually I would be a mess, a total mess, with all the logistical and financial stress we're going through right now.  But instead, I have this perfect, peaceful retreat right under my heart, where I can escape every day.  It seems easier with every pregnancy to feel the baby's... soul? spirit? personality? in utero.  And the last couple of months of pregnancy I feel like I really live in 2 worlds.  The regular day to day world, and the secret, dark world inside, where only myself and my baby exist.

(Doesn't she look big and healthy?  9 lb 6 oz!)

"Babies are bits of star-dust blown from the hand of God.  Lucky the woman who knows the pangs of birth for she has held a star." 
~Larry Barretto

My last birth was nearly perfect.  And, honestly, it was painless.  However, I attribute that equally to mental prepredness, perfect baby positioning, and really, really, REALLY high pain tolerance.  (I can't handle a lot of stress, but I can handle pain.  That's the lasting benefit of surviving a major car crash and extensive bone surgery, I guess.)

"There's time enough, but none to spare." 

~Charles W. Chesnutt

Attended homebirth is illegal in Nebraska.  This means we have to choose between an unattended birth in a hostile environment (i.e. in case of transfer/ emergency/ complication), with a lot of difficulty surrounding aquisition of a birth certificate, blood typing for Rh factor, and so on, and giving birth in a clinical setting.

(My what big hands you have!)

"Women's bodies have near-perfect knowledge of childbirth; it's when their brains get involved that things can go wrong." 
~Peggy Vincent

 I realize that to families who have never experienced homebirth, it can be quite mystifying why it is SO important to some of us.  But all I can say is, once you have experienced a homebirth...

 things will never be the same.

"Life happens too fast for you ever to think about it.  If you could just persuade people of this, but they insist on amassing information. "

~Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Birthing at home is safe.  Statistically, babies fare the same and mothers fare better, both physically and psychologically, compared to hospital births.  (WHO statistics.)

 Luckily, we found the almost brand-new birth center in Omaha to be fantastic.  The midwife is about as excellent as one could hope, and she herself wishes she could attend homebirths, as is passionately pursuing legislature that will allow her to in the future. 

"Birth is not only about making babies.  Birth is about making mothers... strong, competent, capable mothers who trust themselves and know their inner strength." 
~Barbara Katz Rothman

(In fact, her assistant midwife was a homebirth midwife for 20 years before she was threatened out of business.)  In other words, they get it.

 So now it's only a question of whether we can actually make it the 30 minutes there before baby just *pop* arrives. 

"$13 to $20 billion a year could be saved in health care costs by demedicalizing childbirth, developing midwifery, and encouraging breastfeeding." 
~Frank A. Oski

(My recurrent dream is waking up in the middle of the night, realizing I'm in labor, and before I can even get out of bed, FER (fetal ejection reflex) takes over and baby just slides out.  And no kidding, John Paul was almost like that!)

(First nap, 12 hours old.  Isaiah stayed up till 2 am to watch Rosie's birth.)

"I brought children into this dark world because it needed the light that only a child can bring."

  ~Liz Armbruster

Anyway, between packing and laying around with my babies, all 4 of them, blogging isn't really at the top of my to-do list these days!   

(A little bit of heaven.)

"Children make you want to start life over." 
~Muhammad Ali

I've got ice cream, vaccines, birth preparation, unplugged travel, and a number of other ideas on my blogging docket, and we'll see how many of them materialize here over the next few weeks and we head from the mountains of northern New Mexico, to the Sonoran Desert of southern Arizona, through our home on the Kansas range, and on to our new home in Nebraska.

Our Lady of the Way, pray for us.

"There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval." 
~George Santayana, "War Shrines," Soliloquies in England and Later Soliloquies, 1922

The Chicken Pox Vaccine: Let's Call a Spade a Spade

(Editing to add:  This blog post is my opinion and understanding of information gathered by myself, for myself, over the last 9 years.  Your health and your child's is your own to read up on, decide on, and make peace with.  Here is anexcellent article with more info on the history and statistics involved with chicken pox and shingles, before and after the intro of the vaccine(s):
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/11/02/chicken-pox-vaccine-creates-shingles-epidemic.aspx )

How long can you write a blog on natural living and children and avoid the vaccine issue?  As long as you want, I guess! 

In my opinion, the issue of vaccination is not cut and dry by any means.  That's why my favorite vaccine to discuss with folks who get up in arms when anyone questions vaccine at all, is the chicken pox vaccine.  (And btw, this information is not esoteric, repressed, or secret in any way.  There are a number of places you can look it up.  One of my favorite, balanced books on vaccines is What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About(TM) Children's Vaccinations . It is on sale right now for $6- a serious bargain- and I can't recommend it highly enough.)

Let's start with what the chicken pox vaccine does for your child.  Does it prevent your child from getting the pox?  Many parents think it does.

It doesn't.

The vaccine, simply put, decreases the amount of time your child is contagious during the chicken pox.

Really?  Yup. 

(Editing to add: This info is based on the old recommendation of a single dose- now children get 2 doses which supposedly "fixes" this problem and gives better- but never 100%- immunity.  It is up to you to read the info from various- aleays conflicting- sources and make decisions based on your knowledge!!!)

Interestingly, your child will receive this vaccination AFTER the extreme 'danger zone' for chicken pox is past.  Why?  Because your infant's immune system is too immature to handle the vaccine before. 

Why then, does your child receive the chicken pox vaccine?

Well, Merck went to the federal government and said, hey, did you know that the economy loses about 5 billion dollars a year due to parental time off for chicken pox?  If we develop this vaccine, parents in 2 parent working homes or single parent homes will only need to take off 1/2 to 1 days versus 4-5 days of work for each incidence of chicken pox. 

And our government said "COOL! Go ahead!"  and now your child receives the vaccine, even if you stay at home and the time-off-work thing wouldn't affect you at all. 

THEREFORE, in the case of the chicken pox vaccine, if one parent stays at home already, the chicken pox vaccine carries 100% risk (medications always carry some risk) because as designed, the vaccine benefits you 0%.

So, let's see here.  A vaccine was developed to save us all money?  Hmm.  (How much of that 5 billion saved is funneled directly into the pockets of pharmeceutical giants like Merck?)  I thought vaccines were developed to safeguard the health of our children and the population at large?  Well, many were, but not all. 

(Obviously, the posters on the doctor's office wall aren't advertising the history of each vaccine!  You have to dig, but just a little, to find some of this info out.)

This is how I personally like to get informed about different vaccinations:

The first question is WHY was this vaccine developed?  You might find that question especially pertinent to any vaccine developed in the last 10-15 years, (ahem), and very especially in cases of vaccines like HepB, Hib, HPV, and HepA.  (You really might want to ask yourself if vaccinating against sexually-transmitted diseases is appropriate for newborns as opposed to, say, 20 year olds.  Then you might want to ask yourself if you find it appropriate to vaccinate against sexually-transmitted diseases if you are opposed to handing out condoms on college campuses and such... see the connection?  It's part of the same mindset.)

The second question is, when is the vaccine administered as opposed to when is the danger zone for the disease?  In the case of chicken pox, your child is already mature enough to handle the disease (assuming you are a loving, responsible, and reasonably-informed parent with competent healthcare) by the time the vaccine is generally administered.  Is there a more appropriate time to vaccinate against this disease?

The third is a more difficult to answer question, because many health care providers don't know or won't want to tell you- if I delay this vaccination, will the whole series be required?  Is there a more appropriate time to vaccinate against this disease, when my child is older and a single dose will be as effective as a 3 or 4 dose series now?  (Remember, most vaccines are the same dosage whether your child weighs 12 or 50 lbs, so vaccinating 3 times on an infant is exponentially more foreign material in his system than 1 dose at age 3 or 4!)  For instance, my John Paul recently nearly severed his big toe when a very dirty bench fell over on it.  I wanted a single-strain tetanus vaccine, but it couldn't be gotten in time.  So I agreed to the DTaP.  I asked both the ER nurse and doctor several times about the need for boosters and both very clearly explained that boosters were unnecessary.  I asked why infants receive several doses of the shot, then?  (The doctor thought the shot wasn't absolutely necessary, but the nurse kept emphasizing it was hospital policy.)  No one was willing to answer me on that!

The fourth is what does this disease do, how common is it, and what risks will it incur for my child if he or she contracts it naturally?  Is there any documentation of factors that increase natural resistance or better ability to withstand the disease?  (I'm forgetting where this came from, forgive me, but in the case of polio, it was noticed that many people had the virus but no symptoms.  Their common factor seemed to be a diet especially low in sugar.)  Your children or child may have particular issues that make it sensible to vaccinate against certain diseases.

One big criticism of non- or selective-vaccination is that the more people who do not vaccinate, the more some diseases now rare will reoccur.  However, there have always been large pockets of the population who have never vaccinated.  Think some Christian sects like the Amish (apparently many sources claim the Amish vaccinate so I will stick with the 2 groups of whom I have more first-hand knowledge), traditional Mennonite,  and Christian Scientists.  (These sects do not NOT vaccinate because they are Christian sects, but because they have beliefs as groups that make them less likely to choose an artificial drug over a natural alternative.)  These groups often live en masse, in their own communities, but with lots of co-mingling with outside populations.  Do these communities have higher incidences of the diseases we usually vaccinate against?  Do you know the answer to that question?  If you don't vaccinate, or you feel threatened by those who don't, then you SHOULD know the answer to that question!

I could probably write more on this topic, volumes and volumes more, but I hear little people stirring upstairs.

Happy reading-up and have a great day!


"Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." 
~World Health Organization, 1948

"The... patient should be made to understand that he or she must take charge of his own life.  Don't take your body to the doctor as if he were a repair shop." 
~Quentin Regestein

Strewsday Tuesday: Where Have You Been?

Between stress and the recurrence of morning sickness, it's been, may I say, a bad week.

I knew this would be a stressful month, and I thought bentos would be a nice distraction for me. However, instead I've been focusing very intently on my little people. And staying off the internet.

"When the student is ready, the master appears."
~Buddhist Proverb

Sometimes the internet is a helpful diversion and sometimetimes it feeds stress.

Sit down before fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every conceived notion, follow humbly wherever and whatever abysses nature leads, or you will learn nothing.
~Thomas Huxley

This week we've been back in the swing of making all our own bread. We don't eat a ton of bread, as I avoid wheat in our menu at both breakfast and dinner, but even so, it requires quite a bit of bread to get us through the week. The children LOVE making it. And there's a lot of math and science in breadbaking. Not to mention economics, as it saves us a pretty penny... since the only stuff I will buy costs between $3.50 and $4.50 a loaf. Ouch!

"I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught." ~Winston Churchill

More time in the the canyons and the parks. Rosie wants to learn the name of every flowering thing she sees, and Isaiah wants to learn the name of every rock and pebble. Need to aquire a few more nature guides!

"We learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself."
~Lloyd Alexander

(Don't know Lloyd Alexander??? We adore him around here. Best read-alouds ever. And as a bonus, Dad or Mom will want just one more chapter, too.)

Isaiah continues his blog of drawings at www.isaiahsimages.blogspot.com. It's fun to see him so motivated. In addition, he's chosen to start a journal in which he writes every day. I find when projects like this are internally motivated, the outcome is far more exciting and 'educational' than when I plan and asign them. Sometimes it just takes a little person being ready, then finding the spark of inspiration. In this case, it was Eustace from Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

"The one real object of education is to have a man in the condition of continually asking questions."
-Bishop Mandell Creighton

John Paul is into my belly- a lot. He talks to the baby and about the baby constantly. "Hold the baby. Kiss the baby. Come out baby." We have a particularly nice book of unborn baby photos we all look at frequently. Does that make it more real to him? Lots of age-appropriate discussion of human anatomy and how babies get born.

"I prefer the company of peasants because they have not been educated sufficiently to reason incorrectly."
~Michel Eyquem de Montaigne

And, I think I have mastered my own granola recipe. It invovles soaking or sprouting several of the ingredients, then mixing, then almost dehydrating in the oven at 170 for 12 hours. Involved, yes, but SO worth it. I'm planning to post it, as well as our bread recipe and a couple other things I've been working on (while I was supposed to be making bento box lunches, right?). If cooking and nutrition were on the SAT, I teel ya' my kids would get full-rides to Yale and Harvard.

"We seem to be going through a period of nostalgia, and everyone seems to think yesterday was better than today. I don't think it was, and I would advise you not to wait ten years before admitting today was great. If you're hung up on nostalgia, pretend today is yesterday and just go out and have one hell of a time."
~Art Buchwald

And that is a little snippet of our week in review.

Pretending

Well, I've enjoyed a completely unplugged week to celebrate the holiday.

We celebrated Thankgiving (multiple times).

We celebreated Isaiah's First Communion.

We ran in a Trail Stomp. What is a Trail Stomp? Weeeeell, it involves lots of mud, biting wind, poorly marked paths, and me- with a 30 pound toddler strapped to my chest, getting lost and ending up on the "Extreme Trail." To top it all off, I lost my camera and couldn't photograph the evidence- several pounds of mud caked on my butt.

Nice.

And I've gained 2 pounds.

Now I am sitting on my 2nd favorite chair, in our 'old house,' trying to decide exactly how much I miss Kansas. I'm glad the house hasn't sold so I could come back and feel it again.

If I pretend we never left, it feels suffocating. If I pretend we never come back here again, it aches. If I pretend we come back here for good once we're done wandering, it feels just a bit restless.

And I'm reminded of the words of St. Therese in Story of a Soul, 'This life is nothing but endless aching and sorrow; so many chains of bittersweet goodbyes.'

Er, she wrote something like that. My library is a thousand miles away at the moment, so I can't look up the exact quote.

I suppose it's a special privelege for a Christian, to feel oneself as never-quite-at-home. It keeps one hyper-aware of the fact that this world never will be our True Home.

Good for the soul, but kinda hard on the psyche...


"How hard it is to escape from places. However carefully one goes they hold you - you leave little bits of yourself fluttering on the fences - like rags and shreds of your very life."
~Katherine Mansfield

Christmas is Coming...

The goose is getting fat!
Please put a penny in the old man's hat.
If you haven't got a penny
Then a ha'penny will do-
If you haven't got a ha'penny
Then God bless YOU!

In our consumer-driven, sugar-saturated culture, it can be difficult to develop one's own healthy, spiritually meaninglful holiday traditions.

I've been waxing long on nutrition and food- man, that series of 11 posts was a lot! It burned me out a bit. What do you do to celebrate the Holiday of holidays when you choose not to resort to gingerbread houses, a bottomless candy dish, piles of presents, and all the other typical Christmas trappings?

Well, at our house, we don't decorate for Christmas till Christmas Eve.
We mark the passing of December, Advent, with stories. The stories start with a big, red book on the purple-clad buffet in the dining room. (Purple is the traditional color for penance and waiting.) An Advent wreath sits on the dining room table. And on the first night, we begin.

Every night we hear a story from The Jesse Tree and each child makes a tree decoration with a picture of the story. For years I've been working on a fancy-shmancy embroidered set of Jesse Tree decorations, but this year I officially give up. I don't think it would mean as much to take turns hanging up a pretty bauble mommy made- they take so much pride in creating their own tagboard picture, tying on a ribbon, and hanging their story on the tree. And there's no fighting over who's turn it is to hang up the decoration!

In addition to reading through the history of the Poeple of God from Adam and Eve, to Noah, to Abraham, to Jesus, we revisit all our favorite Advent and Christmas stories. For 28 days, we will read and bake; play and plan. We usually start with Merry Christmas, Strega Nona becasue of the emphasis on preparation and waiting. Then come all our favorite St. Francis books- Merry Christmas, Strega Nona being our favorite! We talk about how different Christmas would have been without St. Francis' gift- the nativity scene.

The stories build to Christmas Eve, when, before Mass, we listen to the story of Christmas from the Word Itself (the Bible), and we place our Baby in His waiting manger. (Our nativity is great- Mary can hold the Baby, so He's usually there- "Where He belongs, Mommy!" the children say.)

Can tales and really mean as much to children as Christmas wishlists, 'Toy Boy' (remember him?), and cookies for Santa? I certainly think so! After all, what is Christmas but the beginning of the greatest Tale ever told? And even in a family that celebrates a more mainstream presents- cookies- Santa Christmas, making the telling of stories of the real meaning of Christmas part of your family traditions adds a layer of richness to the experience of the season.

Here are a few more of our must-read, Christmas-wouldn't-be-the-same-without-it story books:

The Real Santa Claus: Legends of Saint Nicholas

Hark! A Christmas Sampler

An Early American Christmas

The Night of Las Posadas
(This year we will actually get to go to the "Posadas" in this book, in Santa Fe, New Mexico- we are very excited!)

Baboushka and the Three Kings

Do you have any special books that mean "Christmas" to your family?


"Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas."
~Peg Bracken

When Life Happens

It's a bit off-topic for my blog, but since this has become my primary means of communication with lots of friends and family, you'll have to suffer me a bit. At the very least, it's an explanation of where I've been for the last weeks!

"In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit."
~Albert Schweitzer

Brothers.

"All for one and one for all
My brother and my friend
What fun we have
The time we share
Brothers 'til the end."
~Author Unknown

"Constant use will not wear ragged the fabric of friendship."
~Dorothy Parker

"After a girl is grown, her little brothers - now her protectors - seem like big brothers."
~Terri Guillemets

Fun uncle.

"Blessed is the servant who loves his brother as much when he is sick and useless as when he is well and can be of service to him. And blessed is he who loves his brother as well when he is afar off as when he is by his side, and who would say nothing behind his back he might not, in love, say before his face."
~St Francis of Assisi

Crazy husband.

"Laughter is the shortest distance between two people."
~Victor Borge

"Are we not like two volumes of one book?"
~Marceline Desbordes-Valmore

"Love one another and you will be happy. It's as simple and as difficult as that."
~Michael Leunig

"Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction."
~Antoine de Saint-Exupery

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet."
~James Openheim

"I love being married. It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life."
~Rita Rudner

"A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person."
~Mignon McLaughlin

"Ah me! love can not be cured by herbs."
~Ovid

"Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet."
~Vietnamese Proverb

"My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, both are infinite."
~William Shakespeare

"The highlight of my childhood was making my brother laugh so hard that food came out his nose."
~Garrison Keillor

Before pictures:

Lovely centerpieces, aren't they? Ahem. Thank you.

And, after:

That would be the hors d'ouvres table, in 5 inches of standing water.

This dude deserves a raise.

Ya, you might as well laugh!

I ate 4 a piece of the wedding cake. I detest wedding cake, but this cake was crazy good. There was a chocolate layer. There was a spice cake layer. There was a strawberry shortcake layer. The best wedding cake ever.

Ed dancing with Great-Grandma!

He slept through most of the reception.

She couldn't make it to the end.

But he did!

And the next day, our baby turned 2!

"If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain!"
-Dolly Parton