Jack be nimble...

I know I've written before about how music etc..... brings back memories. What's funny is - this song made Steve and I think of the same thing.

I had some music playing the other night on my computer and it came on.... Madda was seriously busting a move and all the sudden my husband says, "I'd like to go roller skating sometime."

I said, "OH MY WORD I would LOVE to go roller skating again I haven't been since forever!!!!"

It's exactly where my mind went when I heard the song....

But Steve said we couldn't go until the baby was born. boo. : ( Plus, I don't know of any skating places anymore......

Baby Got VBAC

I had lunch with my amazing friend Carrie

yesterday and she gave me this great book... all of my mom friends know how desperate I am to have a VBAC this time around with baby2. So much so that I have been reading up lots on Natural childbirth so that I have the ability to move around while I labour instead of being confined to the bed. I would say I have an "average" pain tolerance - certainly not superwoman. A few of my friends have done it naturally and my mom did it 28 years ago with me. I know it can be done - pioneers did it right?

For some women it's a badge - as well it should be! Personally - I don't care if anyone else knows if I do it naturally or not - I just want to add every small iota of a chance to have a VBAC. Even if I can put it off for an extra 3 or 4 hours I'll be happy. I had horrible horrible back labour with Madeline and I simply can't imagine going through it again but... I also thought I'd never be pregnant again and - here I am!

So anywho - my friend Carrie (who is having triplets ergo is a superhero) gave me this book and I got straight to reading it last night. I KNEW I was going to like it when I opened it up to the first chapter. "The Cesarean Epidemic: Obstetrics on the cutting edge." Her first paragraphs:

In 1970, the U.S. C-section (CS) rate was a stable 5 percent. By 1980, it had more than tripled. By 1983, one in 5 women was giving birth by major surgery and the rate has yet to drop below that number. CS is the most common major surgery performed in the U.S.

No objective person could possibly believe that one in 5 women requires major surgery in order to be a healthy mother giving birth to a healthy baby. Experts estimate that the national rate could be safely halved, which means that at a minimum, nearly half a million women have unnecessary CS every year.

Compared with vaginal birth, CS carries substantially increased risks of death and permanent injury. To give you an idea of the capricious natures of the cesarean decision, researchers asked 5 experts to review nearly 50 cases of CS for "fetal distress." In nearly 1/3rd of the cases, 4 of the 5 reviewers agreed the CS wasn't necessary. However, 3 months later, give the SAME 50 cases, the same experts changed their minds in 25 percent of the cases.

CS babies incur extra risks as well. The baby may be cut, and are more likley to be in poor condition at birth. Apgar scores are consistently lower on CS babies. (In her stats she sites that these were on ELECTIVE C-sections - so there was no "fetal distress" to begin with - the mother simply wanted a CS) Babies born by CS were over 3 times as likley to be admitted to intermediate or intensive care and 5 times more likley to need assistance breathing. It is also documented that more newborns born this way have breathing problems and jaundice.

All of this - AND the World Health Organization has also admitted that there are simply too many CS being performed. The U.S. government set the goal of achieving a 15 percent national CS rate by 2000. Ironically, in 1979, the National Institutes of Health viewed a 15% rate with such alarm that it convened a panel of experts to develop recommendations on how to lower it.

I guess after reading all of this I shouldn't feel so terrible about wanting a VBAC so badly. I guess it just makes me mad that all of this research shows us that there are simply too many being done and for some very very shady reasons. I am trying to look at the bright side that all of the CS moms in my moms group were able to have VBACS the second time round. HOORAY for inspiration!

This is just to say

I have been missing reading/teaching a meaty literary sylabus. My husband is in the process of writing his Master's Thesis which is focusing on digital storytelling. Ergo, he has to compare it to "typical" narratives. As such, it's allowed to me help a little by suggesting fun short stories and narratives to which he might draw a comparison.

As I was flipping through some of my old curriculum, I came across one of my favourite poems. It's called "This is Just to Say" by William Carlos Williams:

I have eaten
the plums
which were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet and so cold.

It's a fun poem that I used to have my students write parodies of. It floated out of my mind until today when I was buying another pair of deep discount pajamas. Per my last post many of you read how much I loved my new PJs. Well, my husband doesn't so much. Since they are dark red with white dots - he calls me "St Nick" when I wear them.

I couldn't help but think about the PJs I used to wear and the ones I wear now. So, as I bought my clearance jammies I composed this little ditty to my dear and loving husband.

I am wearing
the pajamas
once worn only
by old ladies
and men in old movies

Made of flannel
and fleece
and no lace

Forgive me
they are so warm
and so forgiving.

Ode to Pajamas

I have long been jealous of Madeline's footy pajamas. Especially since Indiana has turned Arctic. Steve and I bought a pair for our friend Tony as a joke for Christmas and he LOVES them. One night after we bought them, it was so cold that I threatened to get them out and wear them. (Would my husband ever forgive me for wearing footy pajamas?)



The coldest room in our house is our bedroom. I don't really want to talk about it because it puts me in a bad mood, but our room is always always freezing. It doesn't help that I am always cold anyway. SEGUE - everyone always tells me how much they hated having a summer pregnancy because they got so hot. Madeline was a summer pregnancy and I LOVED IT! I don't dig this winter thing as much I don't think. Anywho, my gorgeous nightwear usually consists of a pair of sweats and a long-sleeved shirt. (And my heated mattress pad cranked to 11) But lately it's been so cold even that isn't cutting the mustard, so I've added a sweatshirt to the mix. (I know I know, try to hold yourself back from that gorgeous imagine.)



I told Steve that when I have this baby I'd like to get a pair of cute pajamas to wear in the hospital. I lived in hospital gowns last time and it was a nightmare. I wanted a pair of cute flannel pants and a button top. I had a few extra moments yesterday so I stopped in to Kohls to look for a pair.



What luck! They had clearanced their "Simply Vera" collection to 70% off! I found a really cute pair of red pajamas with white dots. They were such thick fleece, that I was tempted to put them on in the middle of the store!



Last night I decided to give the pjs a test drive. "I'll just try them on" I told myself, "To make sure they will fit in the hospital and everything..." So I put them on - and was transported directly to couture heaven. I don't know what the VW people made these pajamas out of but I have never, in my life, felt anything softer or more comfortable. It was like it added 20 degrees to the temperature around me. I padded around for a while and then informed my husband that I would have to buy another "special" pair of "birthin' pjs" because these weren't coming off any time soon.



As I got up this morning, I remarked at how well I had slept. At the expense of sounding like an infomercial - I feel owe it all to the pajamas. It was like sleeping in silk with the warmth of sherpa! I have no intention of getting out of them any time soon. They had a few different colours and patterns so I could easily get one for every day of the week.



And to think Madda was keeping all this warm pajama goodness to herself!

I see a red door...

the finished project!

The "before" pic

After the base coat

I don't know why BLogger won't load my pics right - it is jumbling them around and won't let me put them later in the post. GRRRRRRRRRRR

I have wanted to paint my kitchen for as long as I can remember. The builder put flat paint in the kitchen (seriously? come ON!) and if you know anything about flat paint you know that if you breathe on it it marks up. Well, that's not cool for a toddler! Ours quickly got stained with handprints, nose prints (the dogs), strained carrots etc..... to the point where I was embarassed to have people in my kitchen.

I have been talking about faux finishing it forEVER. I LOVE the look of it and thought it would do well to cover up all the little marks we manage to get around here :) Well, last week my husband had had enough. While we were picking up paint for baby2's nursery I saw a complete faux finish look that I loved. I went on and on to Steve about how it was exactly what I wanted. He told me to buy all the paint, to stop talking about doing it and actually do it. I hemmed and hawed but finally decided to get all the paint. So we left Home Depot weighed down with gallon upon gallon of paint.

I told my father about my plans, and he offered to come up and help me get started. So Friday he came up bright and early and started taping up all the doors and windows. WHAT a job that was! Glad I didn't have to do it! My old friend Kyle (and his adorable daughter Lilly) also came up to help. He'd done a bunch of faux finish painting before so he was a huge help in teaching me technique.

I had NO IDEA how much work painting was! When we did Madda's nursery it wasn't too bad because we just painted on top of the basecoat already there. Plus we were painting flowers and trees, not the entire wall. By the time my husband came home, I was exhausted! I was just thankful little Madeline wasn't there to stick her hands in everything!

However, I love the end result. It's very very different, but I love it. It's motivated me to get some other rooms painted in this house of Beige and White. We'll see...

Follow Up

I was checking out my favourite parenting website early this morning and they had a great article on "Push Presents." Since I brought it up here a few days ago (and now my blog exports to Facebook and I got a lot of interesting replies there, most of which said that husbands deserved the present after a long grouchy pregnancy ha ha) I thought I'd post it.

Pro-Choice

I've always been pro-choice, even when it wasn't popular with those around me. Even as a teacher molding young minds... I'm pro-choice.

And apparently, so is Mr. Obama. Maybe we have more in common than I thought!


(Disclaimer: This is MY blog which means they are MY thoughts. You don't have to agree with me, you can think I'm way off base - that's totally fine. I'd love to engage in *educated* discussion and welcome comments as such. If, however, you either: 1) Don't know what you're talking about on this issue - much like I am about things like: hedge funds, the string theory, and dadaism, please don't parrot others views and instead just read others' input. AND I'd encourage you to do some research and come to your own conclusion! Even if it's different than mine! 2) Are going to get all bent out of shape if someone makes a valid point on either side of the issue and run away crying like a 4 year old.)

BTW - the ONLY president to put his children in public school was Jimmy Carter. Hm. All I have to say is that the Obamas are lucky they live in a place that supports school vouchers. If his administration gets rid of them, his kids will lose some classmates!

Motivation to have more children!

I recently read an interesting article in the New York Times.

As you can read, there is a new trend called "Push presents" that a husband typically buys for his wife. It's a way, I guess, of showing gratitude for what a can be a very grueling 9 months and 24+ hours of labour. I hadn't really heard of this during my first pregnancy until a few of my friends showed up sporting their gorgeous "push presents." Now, it's even in some of my pregnancy books!

So - come back to me on this - girls - what do you think of push presents? Do we deserve them after dedicating ourselves to almost an entire year of Excedrin and Diet Coke free living? Or is it a shameless excuse to ask for new stuff? Jewelry being the most popular gift of course. And let me ask a few sub-questions. If you are PRO push present, do you want diamonds? Or maybe something with the baby's birthstone? OR, would you rather have something practical like - your husband arranging to have the house cleaned for 3 months or a massage every month for a while?

If you are"Anti" push present - why? Do you feel it's a wife exploiting something that she agreed to? Or is it more about materialism?

I don't know where I fall on this issue. It's hard for me to turn down jewelry at any point, but to be honest - the best thing my husband could give me for what is a hard 9 months (plus the endless months of nursing and the lifelong toll pregnancy takes on your body) would be a really nice, long letter. Reminding me of the ups and downs of the pregnancy, thanking me for trying to do my best to take care of the little guy while he's still cooking - telling me how lucky he is to be my husband. You know, all that stuff.....

But if you ARE interested in a push present.......THESE and THESE are really cute!!