Monday, February 25, 2008

gunter baby

our gunter baby was born on saturday morning at her house. she had a gentle birth and is so full of health and contentment. more to come later...

Thursday, February 21, 2008

eating locally

last spring, i really got into eating locally grown and produced food and drinks. i tried to spend a month just eating local foods which proved to be very challenging in april for a few reasons. this spring and summer, we hope to be better prepared in our attempt to support local and sustainable foods. the first part of the learning curve for me was just knowing where and when to get local items. my options were the grocery store (whole foods, mainly), the local farmer's markets that had just begun on weekends, and the farm tour where i picked up a few things. i did not have my own veggie garden but did have lots of herbs thanks to the previous lovers/owners of my house. eating out would not have been possible should i wanted to stay totally local.

A CSA will solve this problem now but we were leaving the country last year so did not join one. We have met many farmers on the Farm Tour over the years that we would love to support by joining their CSA. Hopefully, we can get in early enough this year to join one. I am only at the very beginning of my journey this year.

wouldn't one expect "A southern Season" to carry lots of locally grown items? I did but was hugely disappointed to find labels claiming "north carolina's finest" then the back said, product of georgia. Hu? What? Over and over, again their shelves were full of items with the carolina blue colors but were grown by the bulldogs down south. there is a small section that does carry items grown and bottled/produced in nc. the stamp or label "goodness grows in nc" was helpful for locating items within this store.

one of the challenges for me, personally was getting enough calories and variety in a day, mainly b/c my diet is already limited to non-animal sources of nutrition. this works easier if i can eat whatever is available in the grocery store without a thought to how many miles it had to travel to get there. also, i do eat processed or ready made foods like say, bread from weaver street market's bakery. i didn't attempt to make my own bread products so that left me feeling the need for some bulk. i did eat lots of nuts, as NC grows them well!

Eating local has grown in popularity just in the last year with so many more resources and options being made available across the usa. Some people chose to define eating locally as a day's drive to and from one's residence while others stick to the "100 mile Diet" for items withing 100 miles of one's area. Still others will say that eating foods grown within the state or region is eating locally. What do you think of eating mainly or all local foods?

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

birth music mix

i am currently working on a mix to fill my ears while i am in labor...which could be any day now! bring it, baby.

I would like your recommendations.

here are some of my current picks:
sufjan stevens
the cure "just like heaven"
caitlin cary
third day over and over, again.
mason jennings
heaps and heaps of the innocence mission (thank you, baby brosie for the inspiration)
coldplay (just "yellow")
thad cockrell (which, yeah, that may be weird for me to labor to my single, guy friend but we can skip by it if necessary. i just had to have "warm and tender love"!)

clearly, i need some help now that i look back over this. it's so random. but, i think it will work. woo hoo! now, i just need some gentle and strong contractions to go along with the music.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

We are Friends of Midwives in NC.

North Carolina Friends of Midwives announces House Select Committee on Licensing Midwives

Wednesday, February 13, 2008 Meeting begins at 1:00pm Legislative Campus Room 1228/1327 LB

Speakers:

Russ - 20 minutes + Q/A
Sonya - 20 minutes + Q/A
Tom Mansfield (I think) - Director of Legal Department for the Medical Board
Dr. Frank Harrison - NC Medical Society (NCMS)
Chip Baggett - Director of Legislative Relations for NCMS

Directions: Directions can be found on the General Assembly website at http://www.ncleg.net/help/directions.html. We will meet in the lobby of the Legislative Building at 12:00pm. The meeting will take place at 1:00pm in room 1228/1327 LB.

Parking: The directions found at the above link will also give you directions to the parking decks depending on where you are coming from.

Parking near the Legislative Building is always tricky. Here are a few options:

Option 1: From the Legislative Building, continue on Jones St across Wilmington St. and take the first right into a visitor parking lot. (This lot fills up quickly.)

Option 2: From the Legislative Building, turn left on Wilmington St. Bear left at the end of the block to loop back onto Salisbury Street. Turn right into the third parking deck on the right, which is marked for visitor parking. (This lot also fills up some mornings.)

Option 3: From the Legislative Building, continue on Jones St. into the residential area and look for unrestricted parking on Jones and the surrounding streets. (This involves walking a few blocks, but you should be able to find a spot.)

What to Wear and Bring:

One of the goals of this meeting is to break the stereotype of midwives and homebirth supporters. In the words of Russ Fawcett, “We should be dressed smart and professional (I will be wearing my "tree hugging, earth munching peace dad" t-shirt underneath my suit and tie).

Babes in arms are welcome. We were coached that we should be very careful with toddlers, as legislators can get annoyed quickly if things get disruptive. If you need childcare, please read the section below.

If you happen to have some of the Liberate Labor, Mandate Midwives buttons,
please bring them on Wed so we can have the audience decked out!
From the GA website: Individuals or groups who enter the buildings for the purpose of expressing support for or opposition to an issue shall not carry signs or placards into the Legislative Complex or display signs or placards, except when the signs or placards are worn as badges or are otherwise attached to the dress, do not exceed twenty-five square inches in surface area and are not libelous or vulgar.

Please bring a pen and paper because we want NCFOM to help us take notes in any questions that the speaks ask.

Childcare:

Childcare will be provided in North Hills, Raleigh (about 15 minutes from the Legislative Complex) at the childhood home Jean House at 224 Ellwood Drive. Childcare will be provided by Ellen Cheek (mother of 5).

If you are interested in childcare or volunteering to help, please contact Ellen at cheekatribe@juno.com or 336-498-1949 or Jean at 910-508-8816. Jean will be at the house at around 11:00 or 11:30.

Here are directions to the childcare:

From I-440E (the Beltline) to the babysitting house:
Take the Six Forks Rd. North exit 8B toward North Hills
Merge onto Six Forks Rd.
Pass through a few stoplights and pass North Hills shopping centers on left.
After you pass Carroll Middle School on the right,
Turn LEFT onto Northbrook Dr.
Take your first RIGHT onto Terry St.
Take your first LEFT onto Ellwood Dr.
The house is the last house on the right at the bottom of the hill.
It is a white painted brick ranch on the corner of Ellwood and Pamlico.

Unable to Attend? We still need YOU!

If you cannot make the meeting on Wednesday, please email the committee members (again, a special note to a Representative from your area) and tell them that you know of the study committee and this meeting, that you are unable to attend but are anxious to see them recommend licensure for CPMs.

Copy your local legislators on anything you send to the study committee members so they are aware of the discussions going on and the concerns of their constituents. You can go to www.ncleg.net to find a complete list of members of House and Senate, where they're from, their contact info, how they voted, what bills they sponsored, etc.

Monday, February 11, 2008

kangaroo care

Tonight, e and i were watching a video my mom sent us about animals. When she saw the joey jumping out of it's mom's pouch, she said, "i need to see a kngaroo being born." thanks to youtube, i was able to find such a scene for her. we have watched it at least three times now. now, if i can just recall how to post a link to it for you all to see!



who knew that kangaroos essentially are born twice? once as tiny babes who then crawl into the pouch and nurse, nurse, nurse to grow strong on milk that changes for their stage of development (just like human milk does!). Then, around five month, they are born out of the pouch. pretty fabulous!

interestingly enough, there is a term "kangaroo care" used to refer to lots of skin to skin contact, breastfeeding and touch that helps babies born "early" to thrive outside of the womb. some of these babes would be sent to the machines of the NICU when they may just need some kangaroo care. we used this type of love for ez when she was born at 37 weeks (which is exactly how far along i am in my pregnancy right now!). she was born at home, weighing in at 5 pounds. She never needed a supplement beyond my milk, thankfully and we did not need to transfer to a hospital for any sort of care. we are eternally grateful to all the people that believed she would grow strong. she clearly has! those first few weeks were a shaky time for me as a new mom trusting my body to continue to grow my babe strong.

now, i am in that place of my pregnancy, again...and i am just so thankful to still be pregnant tonight! woo hoo! bring on more weeks of pregnancy...at least one or two for me. and, then bring on the sweetest lil newborn. i will continue to trust my body, my baby and my jesus to grow stronger and stronger the life force within me until it's birthday into the world outside of the womb. we look forward, so very forward to that day but wait patiently.

Friday, February 8, 2008

i am old now.

it's been over a week since i last posted. first, let me say a huge heart pulsing thank you to the best person i know for writing all of that sweet mushiness for the world to see. thank you for being open to all that it means to be my love and for constantly growing with me. i am so stoked for our upcoming chance to do the birth dance, again and fall more in love with you and jesus through that experience.

that's about what our week has been for the most part...gearing up to welcome baby g. sometime this month, we expect the babe in my womb to emerge earthside via a gentle birth at home. we went through all the birth kit type stuff, again and organized it. then, re-arranged all of our bedroom to accommodate it as a potential birthroom. it would have been fine the way it was but i got antsy about it and needed a change. we hung pictures, too. i have been creating a "wonder wall" of inspiring images. as i begin my 37th week of pregnancy, i am led to remember that e was born during my 37th week of pregnancy with her. i am hoping and even thinking it's true, that this babe will stay in a lil longer!

sleep has been coming to me this week thanks to a hip adjustment from the chiro. laying for more than 4 hours was killing both of my hips but i am sleeping so much better now, without any pain. i did wake up from a nap with some pain yesterday but it went away quickly.

we spent the afternoon at the park playground where poor e took a tumble down the stairs and now has a bruised nose. she recovered quickly though. with her future bro-in-law, we took a little walk down to the bench that resembles two hands to eat cashews and drink yummy fizzy drinks. then, her BIL rolled down the hill, making us laugh! we met a precious lil one with a new brother named ralphie. how, i love that name!