Archive for July, 2010:

Jul 15 2010

Can you help me find this song?

This has been driving me bananas for years. Seriously.

In middle school, during one of the choir concerts the 8th graders sang a song that I thought was so beautiful. I’ve been trying to track it down so I can get it on MP3, but I can’t find it anywhere!

When I Google the lyrics, it points to “Fly Away” by Mariah Carey, but that’s not the right song. I don’t get it.

Here are the lyrics:

We sing with the angels
they sing along.
Our spirit grows stronger, stronger with time. (with time)

We sing with the piper,
he plays our song.
Our spirit grows stronger, stronger with time. (with time)

And go yee with the rising of the dawn,
sail, sail on with the wind,
with the wind.
And keep alive the hope you have inside. fly away.
Fly away, fly away.

And like the mighty mountains high above.
Reaching to the sky. To the sky
The spirit in me rises with the wind
Fly away, fly away, fly away

Stronger everyday

—

Can anyone help? What’s it called? Is it available as a recording anywhere?


Posted under Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
Jul 12 2010

Boy or girl?

Well, what’ll it be? On Saturday, July 17 at 9 a.m. thereabouts, we hope to find out if we’re having a little boy or a little girl.

I have no intuition at all as to what it will be! Last time, I dreamed several times about a blonde little boy. And what do ya know, I have one!

But this time, I am not feeling a strong pull either way.

Shane had a dream about a baby boy, and I did, too, except I know for a fact that it was my friend’s baby (who is due later this month).

My symptoms:

- Not a trace of nausea at any point. I did have some food aversions early in the first trimester — didn’t want to look at raw meats, and certain food smells were bad. And if I took one bite too many, I’d have to get rid of it ASAP without swallowing. With J, I had a few days of mild nausea.

- My skin and hair look(ed) lousy, but it’s improving. My skin had quite a bit of breakouts during the first tri, but it’s much clearer now. This *could* coincide with weaning J, since that also affects hormones. My hair still looks crazy, but I’m not loving the haircut I have right now anyway so maybe that’s part of it.

- Food cravings? Can’t say anything in particular. Nothing out of the ordinary for things I usually like to have (sweets AND salty things, sometimes at the same time).

- I’m carrying low once again, but come on — I’m only 17 weeks, I’m SUPPOSED to be carrying low right now. The fundal height is still lower than my belly button.

So really, I dunno. Lots of things are similar to when I was pregnant with Johnny, in terms of feeling fine. The skin issue very well could have been a combo of pregnancy + nursing hormones.

Here is a belly pic if that helps make your guess.

Taken at 17 (and a half, ish) weeks.


Posted under Uncategorized | 10 Comments »
Jul 06 2010

It was a great weekend!

We had such a nice weekend! We’re generally really low-key people and don’t like to always be doing something. We had a pretty busy weekend, by our standards. The highlights:

- Saw Toy Story 3 at the drive-in theater. Really cute movie! And drive-ins are so incredibly family-friendly, wow. Johnny could move around, make a little noise, play with rocks and didn’t bother anyone. We enjoyed ourselves but didn’t stick around for the double-feature because Toy Story ended at 11:30 and we needed to go home. It was also the last instance where he had nursed. More on that in a future post.

- Watched fireworks! We were debating whether it would be a good idea to go see them. Fireworks are LOUD and Johnny doesn’t like super loud things. But our neighbors suggested a spot not far from where we live, and it was perfect. We could see a few different shows from our vantage point. The crowds weren’t bad at all, and we were far enough that we could see them, but the sound wasn’t terrible. I don’t think Johnny knew what to think of it all, but he didn’t seem to mind. It helped that he had his friend there to play with.

- Went swimming! It is rarely hot enough in Pittsburgh for me to want to go swimming. I need it in the 90s, otherwise it just feels too cold. But this weekend was warm enough and we went to an apartment pool (not in our complex, but we had privileges there). Again, went with our neighbors. It wasn’t crowded and the water temperature was great. Johnny needed to ease in the water slowly and hung out on the stairs for awhile but he seemed to have a nice time.

- Cooked out! Again, with our neighbors. I’m sure they’re tired of seeing us after all that! But we had a small, simple cookout. It’s just plain nice.

We also completed a few projects around the apartment. Shane did the things I had on his honey-do list, I washed the car inside and out (with Johnny on my hip for most of it! And he was still scared of the noise), and some more organizing.

I’m not quite finished with listing things on ebay or craigslist, and our bedroom closet is beyond messy right now. Maybe those things can be completed soon. I need to tally up how much I think my yard sale box is worth, and I may end up just donating it all instead. Dunno.

Finally, I ordered the Hypnobabies home study course now, since there is a 20% off sale, plus a free MP3 for the code I have. I listened to the two free MP3s they have on their site (one is an intro to Hypnobabies and the other is called “relax me.”). I think it’s worth a shot, since so many moms have success with it, including moms who have previously used Bradley and wanted a little something more.

Of course, I’ll share my thoughts on it all!


Posted under Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Jul 02 2010

Hypnobirthing. Seems dumb.

I just read/skimmed parts of the book HypnoBirthing: The Mongan Method. It’s dumb.

I took a Bradley Method childbirth class to prepare for getting Johnny out, and it was great in terms of educating Shane and I about what would happen during labor, how to cope, nutrition, breastfeeding, etc. It was a fairly complete course and I think it helped us both quite a bit.

I plan on reviewing those materials as a sort of refresher, but I also am interested in other methods of natural childbirth to see if I can gain anything positive from them.

During the intense parts of labor, I remember wanting something for my mind to focus on, other than just plain “relax” and consciously trying to relax various body parts.

Now, there is a little bit in the Bradley course to help with visualization but it isn’t an extensive part of the method. I didn’t rehearse where my mind was going to be. I just rehearsed how to keep my body relaxed, and that part was helpful and I’m glad I did that!

So I thought a Hypno-something or other book or course could be helpful to me. I could practice the techniques at home and then call upon them when it’s my baby’s birthday.

I picked up the HypnoBirthing book on PaperBackSwap. It came with a CD with two tracks, but I didn’t listen to them because I thought the book was dumb, so I figure I won’t like the CD.

I just wrote a crabby email about it all to Karen, who just bought a HypnoBabies (completely different) home course, and will hopefully receive it soon. Here is an excerpt of what I wrote to her, to save me time from rewriting it:

The book is definitely intended as a supplement to the course. Lots of references of, “You will learn more specifics about this technique from your instructor.” Um, thanks. And I think there’s lots of unrealistic info about how birth is.
She said that most Hypnobirthing moms don’t experience vomiting during labor because they’re more calm. Whatever! The body will barf (usually this is during transition) if it wants to help clear your stomach out to maximize your gut space. It doesn’t want to waste time and energy digesting something when it’s focusing on getting the baby out. I barfed! So what? I had a bucket for that, and mouthwash to rinse the ick out.
I also burped really loudly in front of a nurse, and I apologized and she said, “It’s ok! It happens” and I’m sure it does. And I didn’t really care all that much, I just apologized because I knew that would be the polite thing to do.
The book says we aren’t supposed to push our babies out; we are to BREATHE them out. Are you kidding me!? I don’t even know what this fully means, since there isn’t a big explanation of it. She says the urge to push is a cultural condition that comes from the hospital way of doing things.
I distinctly remember having an urge to push, and my body started to push and I helped, and I got relief from that. If I DIDN’T push at that time, it would hurt!
The book lacks a lot of valid medical info (and it even says that it purposefully lacks it) because it doesn’t want to worry pregnant moms about what probably won’t even happen to them. Um, I think it’s good to be prepared in case you’re in any particular situation.
Like getting your labor augmented, or developing pre-e while in labor. Things that happened to me.
The author is a hypnotist and a mom but I don’t think she has enough of a birth-related background to really know what she’s talking about.
Some of the critical reviews I’ve read about her method make it seem like if you felt any pain, then you didn’t do the method right. Idiot. And way to go for making a new mom feel guilty and like a failure!
So yeah, this is a dumb book and probably a dumb method. I didn’t even get much hypnosis info from it. There were a few sections on visualizing, but it was so ridiculous.
I’m just disappointed that I didn’t get a good overview of how hypnosis can be used during birth. I was hoping to get that from this book!
—
I wonder if I had read that book and taken that class when I was pregnant with Johnny, if I actually would have believed all that. I think even then, I’d be skeptical of the “pain free” part. Like really? It’s not even going to hurt a tiny bit? Sure.
I know that some moms love the book and course. The reviews on Amazon and the testimonials on their site show that some people do benefit.
Oh, and another false thing — the book says, “Many physicians will not even consider artificial initiation of labor in the absence of any special circumstances until you are at forty-two weeks.” (page 192).
And this copy was revised in 2005!
That statement is so misleading.
For the record, the average, healthy pregnancy will come to term between 38-42 weeks.
And once you hit 42 weeks, you are “post-dates” or “overdue.” NOT at 40 weeks as so many women are led to believe.
Really, women (and doctors!) should consider their due-date to be whatever it is at 42 weeks. But to induce when a mom is 39, 40, 41 weeks or so for no other reason than they want to prevent her from going overdue…yeah. That’s no good.
Especially since when left alone, the average first-time mom delivers at 41w1d.
So she thinks she’s 8 days “overdue” but really, she’s pretty normal.
Ugh.
But anyway, many intervention-happy doctors will start talking induction much sooner than 42 weeks. Or try to do things to “encourage the baby along” like sweeping or stripping the membranes and such (which can actually break the water, and then you are truly on the clock!).
So there’s some misinformation in the book and I just think it’s not a useful tool, overall. There are much more complete books and courses out there!
I am optimistic that HypnoBabies is going to be a worthwhile course. It can actually be taken as a home course, so it is much more complete than this book, which pretty much requires you to take a class. And it doesn’t promise a painless birth, though it does try to help you minimize it.
I’m looking forward to hearing Karen’s thoughts on the materials she receives and I just might buy my own copy.
Do you have any experience with HypnoBirthing or HypnoBabies, or some other method? Tell me!

Posted under Uncategorized | 5 Comments »
Newer Entries »