November 22, 2006 by veronica.

But then again, M*A*S*H is always on.

I used to think that you can draw a parallel between anything going on in your life and an episode of M*A*S*H.  I still do.  It’s my own WWJD, but for me it’s WWHD (What would Hawkeye do?).  

So I’m reading as article on Slate about Robert Altman’s passing, and in it there’s a quote from Altman on the Iraq war.  Since he directed the orignial M*A*S*H movie (and I think directed/produced some of the series), this makes total sense, but it’s so profound I had to share it.  He said, “Every day this continues, two, three American soldiers, two more are dead, six more are dead … and eventually that’s going to add up to a figure that resembles the mileage between here and Mars.” And if you draw a line between this comment and M*A*S*H, I think you get a lot to chew on.

War, above all, is hell.

Posted in Life | 1 Comment »

November 20, 2006 by veronica.

Two things happened yesterday that I had to share.  Lily spoke full-on, coeherent statements on 2 separate occasions.  The first was while looking at fish at Petsmart.  We were bored, and it’s free entertainment.  While going by the wall of tanks, Lily pointed at the pretty guppies, and said, “Look at that.”  I about fell over!  It was so cool!

Then, and I’m sorry, but I’m proud of her because it’s one step closer of getting rid of diapers, she was playing in the living room last night.  She got very quiet, like she usually does when she’s dirtying a diaper.  We asked if she was doing something, and she said, “I’m poopy.”  And you know what?  She was.  Maybe that’s TMI, but like Mr. Rogers said, everybody poops.

 And the HELP portion of this post involves my sewing machine.  It decided to keel over last night, right while I was working on making rice socks.  My thread keeps breaking every time I start sewing.  Does anyone have a sewing machine I could borrow some time this week?  I’d need it for just a few hours, and I’d even use my own thread.  PLEASE???  Until I figure something out, I have an opened 25 pound bag of rice sitting on my kitchen table.  Please help me….I’ll be eternally grateful.

Posted in Raising baby, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

November 19, 2006 by veronica.

I made it through this week!  And I drove to Bloomington through rush hour traffic (and home through rush hour traffic) two days in a row!  Yay me!  Lily barely made it through the week, though.  She was having serious mommy withdrawl by Friday.  I missed Lily, too.

My doula workshop was, in a word, amazing.  In two words, it was life changing.  It is so rare to walk into a room and, within 5 minutes, feel totally at ease with 13 strangers.  I learned so much and had a wonderful time getting to know everyone.  By the time I left on Friday, I was really sad to leave the company of other women who all had the same passion I have.  It was a very emtional weekend, too.  Some older moms who gave birth 20, 30, and even 40 years ago told us what it was like for them, and we all mourned that lost part of motherhood with them.  One woman never got to truly mourn the loss of her stillborn son, as it was normal at that time to whisk away the child immediately after birth.  Another mom mourned not being able to room in with her 4 children after they were born.  We all cried and laughed throughout those 2 days, sometimes at the same time.  It was all so empowering and yet still humbling.

On the more practical side, I learned some really cool massage tricks.  I also learned some really neat ways to use a hospital sheet while a woman is in labor.   I also learned that knee pads are invaluable for a doula if a woman is having a natural birth and moving around a lot.  I also found out that it’s a good idea to have each mom I work with use a new rice sock.  Rather than ask each woman to make her own (and have 9 tube socks lying around after the fact), I will be spending a good part of today making a large batch of them and storing them away until I need them.    I have a 25 pound bag of rice in the kitchen just waiting to go into some tube socks.

Now I just need some births.  Anyone know of anybody who needs a doula?  I’m doing it for free right now.

I can’t believe it’s almost Thanksgiving.  This is crazy!  Well, a quiet holiday will be a nice break from the last few crazy weeks.

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November 15, 2006 by veronica.

Last night’s doula meeting went pretty well.  Most doulas did not show up.  Those of us who did have decided to put together a childbirth collective together and have a rough sketch of what we want to do.  By forming a chapter of the MN Childbirth Collective, we figure we can do much more to change the attitude of SE MN than any of us could by going it alone.  This is very good. 

I learned last night that Mayo’s epidural rate is around 95%.  That’s really really high!  That’s even higher than the national average!  This bothers me because very few people realize that epidurals have a list of very serious complications, and very often lead to C-sections.  C-section births result in tripling the infant mortality rate and result in four times the number of maternal deaths than vaginal births.  This is what we hope to do:  educate women about the risks invloved and empower them to make decisions based on facts, not fear perpetuated by the media or doctors.  As a comparison, OMC’s epidural rate is around 56%.

So tonight is breastfeeding class.  Tomorrow I have to drive to Bloomington all by myself, so this may be my last post ever.  I’m convinced that getting there will be awful.

Say a prayer for me that I may commute safely the next 2 days.

Posted in The doula journey | No Comments »

November 13, 2006 by veronica.

Well, Lily has now been to 2 weddings.  I have to say, she didn’t do as well this time.  Maybe it was becuase she had to sit on my lap and be quiet.  Or maybe it was because I wouldn’t let her run down the outside aisle.  I’m so mean.  She did like the reception, though.  She ate for almost 3 hours straight.  See?

The wedding was beautiful, and the food at the reception was pretty good.  The DJ was…ok.   The photographer?  AWESOME!  That’s right, because he’s my wedding photographer (and maybe yours!)…….Buddy Holly!  Or Andy Dick.  Or, actually, this time he looked like my Uncle Mark.  OK, so it was actually Rob Meyer.  He rocks.  I really REALLY recommend him.  He’s the best.  We actually ended up sitting by him at dinner since we somehow ended up at the loser’s table.  *sigh*

So that was our weekend.  Sorry, no other good pictures at the wedding.  I had a baby to juggle.  I did manage to take this very cute video of Lily dancing and singing with her baby doll last night.  Hopefully it can find its way onto the family web site.  That’s Chris’s department, not mine.

Tomorrow?  Doula meeting.  Onward and upward!

Posted in Life | 2 Comments »

November 10, 2006 by veronica.

I have to say, it feels wonderful to have voted this year and, for the most part, be in the majority. It was terrible the last 3 elections to go vote, always hoping that my voice would be heard, and then sit in front of the TV and computer all night and get…nothing. It’s like yelling under water. So it’s a very good feeling to see that maybe this voting thing can work. Take that, Karl Rove! Gerrymandering districts can’t override the will of the people!

I will lay off all political comments now for at least a few weeks.

Last night marked the beginning of my week and a half of total schedule insanity. I went to a movie premiere of a documentary called “With Women”. The movie theater had a bunch of booths with exhibitors, so I talked to some midwifes who work in and around Rochester, gave them my cards, got theirs, and picked up some playdate schedules. I was really looking forward to the movie, but….the sound didn’t work. Something about the Dolby system not being compatible with movies edited on home computers. It was disappointing. My hero, Ina May Gaskin was in the documentary too, but it was hard to hear what she said. I may end up buying the movie for $35, which I guess, in the end, helps out the filmaker more than just going last night. If I do pick it up, I will totally lend it to anyone who is interested.

So that was last night. Tomorrow, we have a wedding to go to. Tuesday I have a doula meeting. Wednesday, Breastfeeding class at OMC (for doula certification—I do have breastfeeding down pretty well by now!). Thursday and Friday– doula training in Bloomington. I guess there’s 2 days off in the middle of the insanity. I’m sure I’ll need them. I’ll post updates of everything and pictures from the wedding– if I remember to bring my camera! But hopefully by the end of next week, I will be all ready to doula. That will be a good thing– because yesterday, I got my second doula client! Yippee!

Posted in The doula journey, Soapbox anyone? | No Comments »

November 6, 2006 by veronica.

Just a few thoughts about this election….

When someone says that we have to put health care back in the hands of patients, all that will boil down to is health savings accounts and price lists online.  I do work for a health insurance agent, and nobody uses them.  It’s all a bunch of lip service.  And it puts more money with the health insurance companies.

I have no idea why the Republicans keep calling me.  I’m a registered Democrat.  Calling me, reading a really fast message about why babies will be eaten by Osama if the Democrats take over Congess, and then hang up.  How is that promoting a healthy democracy?

Why is “Liberal” a bad word?

And why is it OK for Iraqi babies to die?

I’m just saying…

Posted in Soapbox anyone? | No Comments »

November 2, 2006 by veronica.

Halloween this year was pretty much a non-event in our house.  We didn’t hand out candy because there are really only a few kids in our neighborhood. We didn’t take Lily trick-or-treating; she can’t eat the candy and it was friggin’ cold here.  We did dress her up, though.  We ended up just going to visit some friends.  Lily was a lilypad.  I just couldn’t justify spending $20 on something she’s wear for an hour, especially since we weren’t taking her out.  So I bought blue sweats for “water”, used self-adhesive craft foam to make the lilypad and flower, and had her wear my tiniest kermit on a ribbon sash.  Voila.  Easy costume.  She can even keep wearing the sweats since the foam peeled right back off.  Super thrifty, if you ask me. Super thrifty and very punny.

Here’s a picture from this morning.  Lily was on a reading kick.  She made both Chris and I read to her over, and over, and over.  And when we got home tonight, she did the same thing.  Looks like she’ll be a reader.

Posted in Raising baby | 1 Comment »