Beautiful Home Birth Video

Born at Home from Kat Small on Vimeo.

Embracing Motherhood

I love this video from Birth With Confidence. It expresses some of my personal feelings about motherhood, and I find it very encouraging on some of my harder days.

The Longest Weekend of My Life: Preface

This is the first post in a special Saturday series.  Please check back next Saturday for Part 2.

Part 1: Preface

My husband and I wanted another baby, but we'd been planning to wait a few years. The last two kids were born pretty close together, and with 5 kids we definitely felt we had our hands full. We probably would have decided to stop having babies by now if we hadn't been strongly impressed that there's another little girl who is waiting to come to our family. In spite of all logical arguments, we planned to have another baby... just not yet.

We've learned with the last few pregnancies that our plans don't always work out the way we think they will. God often has a different plan or schedule in mind, and that usually trumps anything we've got in mind.

We absolutely love our big family, and we wouldn't trade that for all the riches in the world, and yet I found myself worried about what other people will think if they knew we were planning to have a 6th child. I'd even told myself that when I finally got pregnant again I wouldn't say a word to anyone, because I'd been afraid of the comments I might get. All I wanted was for our friends and family to support us, tell us congratulations and wish the best for us, but with each subsequent pregnancy it seemed they were less and less excited for us. With each pregnancy, as we strived to depend on the Lord for guidance more and more in our lives, we'd been both apprehensive and excited at the same time. With the last few being surprises it took a little while for the reality of the situation to sink in, but once it did it seemed like we couldn't stop smiling, and we got very excited to have another little one in our family.

Babies are precious, and they bring a light with them that nothing else in the world can compare with. I really like this quote from Larry Barretto:

"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."

When I was personally attacked online for having a big family I was told I should “stop having babies and find a new hobby”. This was from an anonymous person who apparently was very worried about global overpopulation and planned to never give birth to her own offspring. After recovering from the initial shock, I realized it wasn't a personal attack afterall, and I had simply fallen between the cross hairs of this jaded individual.

In my polite response to the anonymous attacker, I quoted Liz Armbruster:

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

How can you NOT bring children into this world? When you've known the incomprehensible joy and love that comes with nurturing and growing a developing fetus in your womb and then birthing it peacefully as a newborn babe into your arms, how could you even think this isn't a miracle? Children are a wonderful, blessed gift from God, and I feel honored to have been blessed with so many beautiful babies.

Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. - Psalms 127:3

I'd been learning Fertility Awareness after our 5th child was born. I felt strongly a few years back that I shouldn't take hormonal birth control any longer, and I'd been pushed to find a more natural way of approaching family planning. I know some people who don't use any form of family planning as they pray and trust that God will give them what is right for their family. I felt I needed something to help me plan. I am a planner, afterall, and it gave me peace feeling I was doing something positive for my family.

I had a few odd cycles as my body adjusted back to normalcy after my baby's birth. A couple of my cycles had been about 45 days long, while one had been only 21 days long. So I didn't think much about it when my expected period didn't come. I decided instead of worrying I'd wait it out and see what my body was doing. I wasn't feeling emotionally ready to be pregnant again with my baby only a year old. Afterall, my husband had decided 3 years would be a good gap and I had agreed and supported him in that decision. This is where we always seemed to learn the Lord has other plans for us. 


Part 2: Bittersweet
Part 3: Numb
Part 4: Peace
Part 5: Waiting
Part 6: Writing and Reading
Part 7: Decisions

Create

Modern Day Wet Nurses - Touching & Beautiful

Yes, formula would be much easier, but it wouldn't give this baby the best nutrition for his physical growth, and it certainly couldn't provide the emotional well-being and sense of family that this group of women have provided for the infant's entire family.

Nursing Moses: Moms step in after infant's mother dies

Honoring Our Cycles: Using Fertility Awareness to Achieve or Avoid Pregnancy

"Like the earth's surface, a woman of childbearing age moves through cycles of heating and cooling, which in turn create moistening and drying, which in turn provide a fertile environment for life to evolve. Rocks, glaciers, plants, and animals (including humans) all evolve in concert with these processes. Just as a meteorologist can observe and measure cycles in the earth's surface to determine weather patterns, a woman can observe her daily waking temperature, cervical fluid, and the cervix's changes to gauge her gynecological health and to determine when she can and cannot conceive. According to Leah Morton, an MD with a family practice in Santa Fe, New Mexico, 'The first step in being healthy is knowing about yourself and respecting nature. Fertility Awareness provides a way to learn these things.'"

"With Fertility Awareness, a woman can be in sync with her own cycles, and couples often experience enhanced communication and intimacy."

Honoring Our Cycles: Using Fertility Awareness to Achieve or Avoid Pregnancy

This article gives an introduction to Fertility Awareness and how it can be a benefit to couples. For more information about Fertility Awareness, please read the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility: The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control, by Toni Weschler.

Some thoughts about my breech baby

There was something I neglected to mention in my blog post about my home water birth. A few weeks before the baby's due date I went to my OB's office to get the Group Beta Strep screen. My midwife had recommended it and it was only the third time I'd been to the OB's office during my entire pregnancy because I had been seeing my home birth midwife for regular prenatal visits.

As part of the visit, the nurse-practitioner checked the position of the baby. When she felt the large mass down near my cervix she looked confused and really started to feel around more. She told me she wasn't sure it was the baby's head that was down, and that I should have one of the OB's double-check the baby's position the next time I came in. I had no intention of returning to their office, so I brushed it off.

When I got into my car to head home I sat and thought for a moment. I remembered that my midwife had felt the baby at each prenatal visit and said he was head-down. I wondered "what if my baby is breech? Would it change my plans?" I realized that no, a breech position would not change any of my plans. I knew that my midwife had caught a surprise breech at a home birth just a few months before my baby was due, and I trusted my midwife to be able to handle any situation at our planned home birth.

If you've read my birth story then you know that my baby was indeed breech, and we didn't realize it until I had already started to push him out! At the time I was extremely grateful to be at home in the birthing tub with a wonderful support team, and all turned out beautifully well.

Since the birth I've come to realize that if I had planned a hospital birth with my breech baby it would have ended in a cesarean section. I know this without a doubt, and this knowledge has brought me greater gratitude and appreciation for my amazing birth experience. I'm so grateful that I was open to home birth and able to embrace it fully. I had peace with me throughout my pregnancy that home birth was exactly the right thing for this birth, and I also had peace knowing that my baby would be healthy and all would be well. For me this peace came as a result of much study, careful introspection, and prayer. I personally feel that God was loving and gracious in offering me a natural, peaceful means of bringing this precious baby boy into our family, and I am eternally thankful for that.

10 Great Reasons to Breastfeed Your Baby

As published by the Public Health Agency of Canada

Click here to download or print a free pdf copy of this pamphlet

"Today, most mothers are choosing to breastfeed their babies. As more Canadians understand just how much of a difference breastfeeding makes to the health of both the mother and her baby, more families are supporting mothers to breastfeed longer, up to 2 years and beyond. Here are 10 Great Reasons to Breastfeed your Baby:

1. Nutrients and Protection
Nutrients and ProtectionBreast milk is the best food to help your baby to grow and develop. It is custom-made by each mother for her own baby, and contains the perfect amount of protein, carbohydrate, fat, vitamins and minerals. Remarkably, as your baby grows, your milk will also change to keep up with your baby’s needs. Human milk is also easier than formula for your baby to digest, which means less mess and fuss!

Breast milk contains valuable antibodies that help prevent disease and may reduce the risk of your baby developing allergies. After birth, your first milk, called Colostrum, offers vital early protection and helps to prevent the growth of harmful bacteria by coating your baby’s digestive system. This early protection is even more important if your baby is born prematurely – Colostrum protects!

2. Brain Power
There is strong evidence that children who were breastfed score higher on IQ tests, as well as on teacher ratings of their academic performance.

3. Convenient and Portable
Breast milk is always safe, fresh and exactly the right temperature. It’s ready for baby at a moment’s notice, and you don’t have to heat it, boil water, or sterilize bottles. This makes night time feedings a lot easier. Since breast milk is always with you, travelling and shopping with your baby is simpler, with no equipment to carry or refrigeration needed.

4. Size Doesn’t Matter
The size of your breasts doesn’t matter. Big or small, they will produce milk for your baby. Breasts begin to prepare for baby very early in pregnancy and are able to produce Colostrum (the first milk) from about 24 weeks of pregnancy. As soon as your baby is born, hormones begin to activate the breasts to make more milk for your baby. You will continue to produce milk through the wonderful partnership of supply and demand – the more your baby breastfeeds – the more milk you will produce!

5. Benefits Mothers Too
Research suggests that breastfeeding provides a measure of protection against breast cancer, ovarian cancer and weak bones later in life. Your body uses calories to produce milk, so breastfeeding can help you to gradually lose weight gained during pregnancy. Exclusive breastfeeding may also delay the return of menstruation for at least a little while.

6. Continues the Special Relationship
The closeness and comfort of breastfeeding strengthens the bond with your baby, as one part of all the things you can do to build a secure, loving relationship. Dads and moms can’t spoil a baby, so give your baby all the cuddling she or he wants.

7. Benefits Don’t Stop
Research shows that breast milk is so important that it is the only food or drink your baby needs for the first 6 months of life. Beginning at 6 months of age babies need a variety of foods in addition to breast milk, which continues to provide nutrition and protection. Many mothers continue to breastfeed until their babies are two years old or more, as recommended by Health Canada – any amount of breastmilk is always good for babies.

8. Easy on the Budget
Breastfeeding saves you money! Without question, breastfeeding saves hundreds – even thousands – of dollars.

9. Works for Working Mothers
Your baby can have all the benefits of your milk even if you plan to go back to work or school. You can express milk by hand or with a breast pump and leave it with your caregiver to feed the baby. Breast milk can also be frozen for future use. Some mothers have childcare facilities at their place of work, school, or nearby, so they can breastfeed during their breaks.

10. Good for Environment
Breastfeeding is good for your baby, for you and the environment! Human milk is produced and delivered to the consumer – your baby - without any pollution, unnecessary packaging or waste.

Ask for Breastfeeding Advice and Support – it is worth it!
Breastfeeding is natural, but learning to breastfeed can sometimes take a little time and patience. There are many groups and individuals available to help you, including: public health nurses, lactation consultants, the La Leche League, your doctor, midwife, family members or friends who have breastfed.

For more information on where to get breastfeeding advice and support, please visit the Public Health Agency of Canada at the following web address: www.publichealth.gc.ca/breastfeeding Also available on this website, is the 10 Valuable Tips for Successful Breastfeeding, a guide to help make your breastfeeding experience successful and enjoyable."

Co-Sleeping, Share Sleeping & Family Bed

C0-sleeping is when parents sleep in the same bed with their babies. It is also sometimes called share sleeping or family bed.

My husband and I have co-slept with each of our 5 children so far, and I would have it no other way. Our youngest is 2 months old and sleeps with me every day and night (including a nap each day, which I love). Particularly when the baby is very small, I find it very comforting to have my baby next to me where I can hear and feel his breathing and movements and know that all is well.

I've also breastfed all of my children, and night feedings are so much easier when I can just nurse the baby in bed with me. The baby never has to wake enough to actually cry because I am tuned in to his hungry cues even when we're both sleeping, and can simply put him to the breast and we both fall back asleep easily. I never have to get out of bed to go to the baby or prepare a bottle, and we both sleep better because of it. My baby nurses longer at night time feedings, but I think it's because he nurses less often during the night than during the day (about twice each night), and it doesn't bother me at all because we are usually just sleeping through the feedings anyway.

My babies have never slept well in cribs. They always sleep more soundly and longer when they sleep with me. On the few occasions I tried putting my baby in a crib with my first baby, I would wake up worrying about whether or not the baby was breathing, and would have to get up just to check, and it interrupted my own sleep quite a bit.

I've always been a deep sleeper, and as a teenager it took a huge amount of effort just to wake me. However, when I sleep with my baby I am always aware of where the baby is and instinctively know how to lie with him. I usually sleep on my side with the baby in front of me, and I feel like I'm being a protective shell as I can curl my body around him.

The following article in Mothering Magazine explores the cultural impact of co-sleeping:
The Complexity of Parent-Child Cosleeping: Researching Cultural Beliefs

An interesting discussion of individual viewpoints and the safety of co-sleeping:
Breastfeeding Discussion from Milkalicious on My Best Birth