January Favorites

Favorites of this month for mom and toddler!

Stay tuned next month for February's favorites!

37 weeks

Aright baby! It's safe for you to come out now! But please don't feel like you are in a hurry, we still have to celebrate your big brothers birthday!

She is such a sweet heart, I love this little one so much and I can't wait to meet her and see what she looks like.

Will she look like her big brother? Light colored hair, fair skin, bright blue eyes and a dimple smile?

Or will she look the opposite? I don't care either way, I wouldn't mind if she looked like me. Josiah looks so much like his daddy in so many ways that I really like the idea of a mini me. :)

This week has been full of dull cramping, stabbing pains in my vag and thighs. I NEVER had this with my son. I was walking through the grocery store and I had to stop to breathe for a couple of minutes before walking farther. 

Weird. 

I asked my midwife about it and she said that it was completely normal especially with the 2nd baby nonetheless the 3rd. The more kids you have, the more likely you'll have them. :/ Bleck!

The cramping that I have comes and goes about 2-3xs a day, it doesn't really hurt, more of a nuisance really. I notice it more when I have possibly picked up my son way to many times that day. You know that's another thing. Before I got pregnant, I was really worried about picking up my son and it being too hard on my body. To tell you the truth, I haven't even noticed his 30lbs being a burden. I can carry that kid across the store, I would be out of breath, but I can do it! That wonderful husband of mine catches my tired cues pretty early too, so he takes Josiah almost the whole time that we are together.

I have gained 2lbs since last week. Which is fine considering I haven't gained much. I went from 156 to 158. She is suppose to gain a pound a week anyway. Pre-pregnancy weight was 154ish(i think). This new view of what I eat is going really good. I will be so happy once she is born and to step on that scale and see that I will be weighing less than I did when I conceived her. :) Then once I get the OK to work out, I'll be trying to get back to my lovely pre-Josiah body. I know that it will never be the same, but when you have been a size 4 nearly all your life and then have a kid(or 2) and go up to a size 10/12 and haven't gone back down from that. It gets sad, I miss buying the jeans that I really want that fit me right. A size 10-short in jeans is hard to find.

Well I think that it all I am going to say about this week. Check out my video log down below for a nice face-to-face discussion. ;)

-Jess

P.S.- I get to pack our bags this week! I'll be making video(s) of mine, the baby's, my husbands and Josiahs!

Today's mommy find

So today Josiah and I went to the children's museum. We finally got a membership there and today seemed like a good day to do it! He was getting quite antsy being stuck in the house the last couple of days because of the rain. You know how toddlers are. If they don't get there energy out somehow, it can affect the way your house looks and my house needed a break!

We had a blast! I tried the best I could to keep up with the little guy, but boy is he fast!

Some parts of the museum were super nice because I was able to sit my prego butt down and enjoy watching him play. Another great thing about going in the late morning is that there was hardly anyone there! I think that maybe a total of 5 families were there with there younger kiddos. Hardly any of them were older than five years old. I think that they must have been in school.

We pretty much had a lot of the place to ourselves. It was nice and quiet, a few moms talking in the back round. It was a really nice afternoon.

One thing about one of the moms really caught my eye, she was wearing a bag that looked really close to this one.

"I have seen bags like this before," I thought.

Then it hit me. Pinterest!

I had to ask her where she got her bag from. She said that she bought it from the American Eagle store.

Of course my DIY mind went to work and I just knew that I could easily make one!

All those times where I bypassed that pin and never pinned the darn thing because honestly, I thought that the bag really didn't look that good. 

But she made it look good! It looked comfortable, cute, and functional. I just have to try and make one now, what could it hurt?

This momma was really prepared. I saw her pulling snacks, wipes and chapstick out of her bag like a pro. I got super impressed when she pulled out her nursing cover and got to feeding her baby with ease with her other kiddo running around. She was relaxed and looked like a pretty neat mom. :) We did talk for a little while about the normal 3 "Bs"(boobs, birth and babies). She was so down to earth, it was fun getting to pick her brain a little bit.

Getting to work on making myself one, now I just need to find that perfect-run-down t-shirt that I never seem to wear anymore...or maybe dig through hubbys(shh, don't tell him!!) ;)

I'll probably make quite a few more for grocery shopping bags. I guess we will see!

Thanks for reading my silly trip to the museum story!

-Jess

We are ready!

We got the last thing on our list for baby girl!!! We still needed a crib mattress because the one that my son has, he is still using for toddler bed. So because if that we had to find one for her. I really did not want to pay full price for one. Cause really? Those suckers are like $50 or more! Why are these mattresses so much?! Seriously!

Ben had the entire weekend off! So this was a good time to look for one. So yesterday I was looking around on Craigslist and a lot of people were trying to sell these things for $30. Which isn't bad, but getting used I still wanted a better deal. I know, I'm awful for it, but I search and search before I actually settle for something on Craig's. It took me days to find Josiahs toddler bed, and I don't regret it! I love the quality of his bed and it was a super good find.

Surprisingly, I found her crib mattress for only $10! I was skeptical though, cause it was the cheapest one I found.

I sent my DH out to go and look at it. I had a few things that he needed to look for.

1. It needed to be in excellent condition! No rips, stains or major wear.

2. It needed to be firm. This was really important cause my newborn baby was going to be sleeping on it.

3. It needs to be from a clean home. This is the part I am most picky about. If the house is nasty and not taken care of, I don't want the product that comes out if it. Call me harsh and arrogant, but this is what is important to me, especially getting baby products!

So aways he went, I was happy to hear that they were willing to give us their old waterproof pad and some sheets and a blanket. I thought why not? If they are gross I could always throw them out right? I was pleasantly surprised to see that my $10 find was a good one!

The mattress was hardly used, didn't stink and the linens were in great shape too! They smelled like laundry detergent! Clean!

Of course I washed them in my own machine when I got them, and I wiped down the mattress with some disinfectant. I am happy for this find. My husband and I have turned down things many times before and have no problem doing it. This time, it was good. Now, it's time for me to show you a bedroom tour. :) watch the video down below!

We do have her sleeping in our room for awhile. We live in a 2 bedroom home right now and are in the process of moving. For now, this is what will work for us! :) thanks for reading/watching!

-Jess

Pulling on my heart strings

Today is Saturday.

Every other Saturday I assist with watching some kiddos while a women's bible study meeting goes on at a local church. These women are all either very low income or are homeless. We provide them with a lunch meal during the bible study. 

Lately I have been wanting to do something more for the kids that come more regularly. They complain about how boring it is up in the nursery area.

The ages of these older kids range from 7-13. So I have to figure out a lesson or something for them in a separate room while the bible study goes on. I have really been wanting to do this for about a month now. With a baby on the way, it's going to be a little bit harder, hopefully we will have someone to volunteer more regularly it's hard just doing it alone. I usually have a lady who helps me with the littler ones, but she is busy for the next couple of weeks and isn't able to help out for a bit.

Today really hit me how important it is to get a lesson going for them.

I sat down with the 4 older kids and asked them what they like to do and what they want to learn.

The answers were all simple ones, until one that really struck my heart. I don't know how old children are suppose to be to do certain things yet, but I'm pretty sure that they are much younger when they know how to write out and know their ABCs.

The little 7(almost 8)year old girl asked me if she can be taught how to read. :'(

Being the pregnant emotional self that I was, I had a hard time holding back tears. 

But I did! You should be proud of me!

I try not to compare kids, but I thought that learning to read was something you did when you are 5 or 6 or in kindergarten? The reading part isn't really what got to me though. It was the fact that she was asking how to write a letter. A simple letter like the letter "A" she was unsure on how to write. I wrote down the ABCs on a piece of paper for her with upper case and lower case letters explaining how to use them.

She looked at me like I was a crazy. She really had a hard time understanding what I was trying to tell her.

It's sad that something simple like flash cards from dollar tree could help her tremendously, but yet I overheard the little girl talk about how her mom just got a $200 tattoo. 

The judgement side really kicked in me, I was struggling hard to not be mad at this mom who was more interested in impressing her abusive boyfriend(again I was eaves dropping) rather than help her daughter with schooling or getting her a tutor or something! It really angered me. Is this really what our world has come too? This little 7 year old girl really craved my attention, she talked to me a lot! She asked questions about Jesus and why he died for us. I am tearing up a little bit writing this, but I must ask you moms. What would you do? I'm not going to confront the mom or anything, I am tempted to buy some flash cards for this little girl, but will it really help?

I think that starting up these new lessons will really help. Not just with reading part, but I hope that it helps with their inner selves. Let them know that God is there for them no matter what and that they can ALWAYS turn to Him.

One thing that made me happy and not think that I wasn't doing anything to help them was what the little girl said to me before I left today.

"Jessica, you are very pretty, I want to be as pretty as you someday" (tear)

"Thank you Krystal, but you can be! Just love Jesus like he loves us and you will always be beautiful."

The biggest smile in the world was on her face when I told her that.

It is true, Jesus is what makes me happy and he makes me beautiful inside.

Thank you all for reading!

-Jess

A little taste of 2 kids.

Tonight we are babysitting our little cousin.

She is so sweet and cute, and her cry is so quiet. I seriously can used to that! Compared to my son's cries, hers are nothing! lol 

I think that she is just over a year and is technically Josiah's 3rd cousin.

So it's Ben's cousins daughter. It can get confusing I know, but we are all family. :)

While watching her, it really hit Ben and I how much work having a second little one will be.

This little girl is super challenging.

She is a VERY picky eater.

She has only been watched by her mother, grandmother and grandfather. So separation anxiety really kicked in when she got tired. She cried on and off for a long time. I understand cause she misses her family, I guess that I should have expected it.

When it was time to put her down for bed, she was fine for about 5 minutes in the play pen in our room. But then we heard crying and we went to go and get her.

Sadly, the reason why she was crying was because the poor little one vomited. :( I felt so bad. 

Clearly it wasn't anyone's fault. She just threw up. 

So we got her some of Josiah's old pajamas, and wiped her down with a warm washcloth and had her come upstairs with us. Within a matter of minutes she was passed out in my arms.

Even though this little one smelled like vomit, and even though she isn't even a blood relative of mine, I still saw her so sweet and easy to love. How easy it is to fall in love with an innocent child.

We tried to put her back in the play pen to sleep, thinking that she was in a deep enough slumber. But apparently that wasn't working for her.

Ben and I traded off and now he has his turn with her sleeping on the couch.

I really needed to get off that couch anyway because this big prego belly is getting the way. :)

I was getting really uncomfortable and achy, you pregos know how it goes.

This post is kinda random, but I like to make note of things time and time again. It's nice to look back on these and see what I have done in my life.

I know that it'll be different with a newborn and Josiah. At least that way he can ease into having a sibling. 

So now I know what it may be like with 2 kids.

With the exception of age of course. ;)

-Jess

birthday.baby.job.move.life

There is so much going on right now.

Some changes are going to be happening here soon and it's not just with the baby coming. Although that is probably the biggest change. Being a family of 4 is going to be interesting. :)

All before summer(or so my husband and I hope) these are the things that are quite possibly going to happen.

February 17th- I am right in the middle of planning my son's 2nd birthday party! 

February 20th- Baby's girls DD! I am really hoping that she is satisfied with staying in there for awhile. This time around I kinda want her to be born a week late. Hopefully she won't be born ON her brothers birthday.(fingers crossed)

However, God has a sense of humor. ;)

Those are the only SET dates that we have. After the baby is born, my husband will most likely be getting a different job if not before she is born. Something that pays more and has a set schedule of hours. His hours are usually all over the place.

Ex: One day he could be working 6-3, next day 11-8, next day 4pm-12am. Then he would work at his other job some hours in between to help pay for the rest of bills.

It's getting old. I hate having him work super long hours. :( 

Either way, we will probably be moving out of our little town home. It could be across the state to Eastern Oregon. It could be moving back in with the in-laws. It also could be a larger place around where I live now. We just don't know yet. It all depends on whether a job is given to him here or not. 

So I am doing my part. Nesting is definitely kicking in a lot which really helps with the organizing and selling of some items that we don't use or need anymore. I am trying to clean up and organize the house a little each day so that when we do move, it will be an easy one. I already plan on not doing very much at all when she is here. Dear husband understands and he is willing to do most of all the work. But for now, I am doing what I can. :)

We are probably crazy for doing this all at once, but you gotta do what you gotta do, right?

Sometimes to get things done and taken care of, you gotta step it up when it's already crazy and just do it! 

In the end, all I really want is to have my little family beside me. I want our kiddos to be able to play in a fenced yard. I want to be able to spend more time with my husband. Ben probably wants to have a job with steady hours and better pay so that we can actually do fun things as a family.

Here we go life!

-Jess

Newborn Cloth Diaper Stash

Why do I have a newborn cloth diaper stash?

Because one-size diapers don't truly fit a newborn. A lot of the time they are too large for the newborn to wear and so it results in a lot of leaking. If you have an average size newborn, its a good idea to have a smaller stash for those first few weeks.

I have different kinds so that it will be easier to Ben and I to change our little girl while we are tired and "zombied out". :)

I have included a video down below for you guys but I also included more details with the brand of diapers that I have.

4 lil joeys AIO diapers- 2 brown, 2 light blue. These have the umbilical cord snap down option. I paid $50 for all 4. Normally would be $60 if I didn't have coupon code. These newborn diapers get really good reviews for being a good fit for a newborn.

3 light pink Grovia AIO- These get OK reviews, but because of how they are made, some people complain about these diapers wicking urine onto the clothing. I can see why, the fringes face out rather than inwards like most diapers. I got these used. 3 for $15 off of ebay.

2 Happy Heiny's mini pocket diaper- 1 lavendar, 1 dark purple. I got these for $5 a piece, they did not come with inserts, but I managed with ones that I already had. These have mixed reviews.

2 xsmall fuzibunz pocket diaper- 1 cotton candy. 1 crushed berry. I got these for about $10 a piece. They get great reviews on the fit. I love the sized fuzibunz on my son, and so I can't wait to try these out on my daughter.

1 kissaluvs fitted diaper- its a fitted, so it need a water proof cover. These are recommended for night time use because they have so much absorbency. Used for $7.

1 wahm fitted diaper- I love buying from other moms! The quality is always great! Who other to make your diapers than a mom who has experienced it all. I included her store below for you.

http://hyenacart.com/stores/mandismenagerie/

2 xsmall thirsties covers- 1 aqua, 1 blue. These are going to be great for when I need to use my prefolds. They get great reviews on newborns. I got one for free with a purchase and the other at a local baby boutique used for $3.

12 newborn prefolds- I embellished these to give them a girly side. :) I had a lot of fun doing it!

Prefolds are what your grandmothers used as diapers. Nothing special about them. I got a dozen for $10. They are the most economical and a huge money saver if you want to cloth diaper! I haven't heard a bad thing about them yet. 

Then of course I have my homemade baby wipes which I make out of scraps of fabric and old flannel receiving blankets. I love them for my son and will love them for baby girl!  I like my homemade ones so much better than the ones that I bought awhile back when I first started cloth diapering.

I have a few odd and end things, but this is about it for all the cloth diapers that we will use for our newborn! I can't wait to try all these on her. I will give an update on how they fit her and which ones I like and dislike.

We have some diapers for when she grows out of these, but that is still in the process of getting stocked up. The majority of those are medium size gDiapers which my good friend Britney sold to me. :) I can't wait for all the girly colors!

Thanks for stopping by! 

-Jess

Crockpot Whole Chicken

This recipe is so easy!

I usually just throw all of the ingredients together, but just for you guys I stole a recipe from Pinterest that is nearly identical to mine. It has all the exact measurements for all the spices that I use. I know, I'm lazy and I probably should have done it myself all the measuring and stuff, but if its already out there, why not give someone some credit? ;) Here is her link

Ingredients

1 whole chicken

1 medium onion

2 tsp salt

2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp thyme

1 1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp garlic powder

Grease crockpot, set your crockpot on high.

Put your diced onion on the bottom of the pot

Put all spices together in a bowl and mix.

Put all the spices onto your chicken, it's like a dry rub.

Throw your chicken into the crockpot!

Takes about 4-5 hours to cook, so I would start cooking at about noon.

Use a meat thermometer to check temperature of chicken. Cook longer if needed. :)

Optional:

If I have it on hand, I put a few stalks of celery and/or whole garlic cloves inside the chicken. SOOO good!

Give this recipe a try and let me know what you think!

NOTICE:
When I mean that I had the chicken setting out all night, I actually had it sitting in the FRIDGE defrosting.
Don't have it sitting in room temperature all night! You could get food poisoning!

36 weeks

Today I am 36 weeks!

I will officially be at full term next week! She can be here any day after that.

We are almost ready. Just 1-2 more things and we are set.

Here is this weeks pregnancy vlog

Family Pics

We are so blessed to have friends that are willing to do pictures for us for free/cheap!

Once a year we try to do family pictures, we like to keep everything up to date. 

Usually we have our friend Tara doing pictures for us, but because she is due any day now we had a different photographer do our Christmas pictures.

Tara will be doing our newborn photo shoot for sure though! I can't wait for the girly colors and big, fluffy tutus that I am going to put her in!

Here are just a few of my favorites! Enjoy!!!

This one was on our Christmas card this year

I hope to get this one on a canopy soon! I absolutely love it!

All credit goes to Nichole Haverland at Haverland Photography

Pretty soon our little family of 3 will be 4 and I can't wait for pictures of us in the future!

Thanks for reading! 

-Jess

Change for the Good!

This morning Ben and I went to see our new midwife. I must say that I am in love with the lady.

Blogger mommy friend Kayla already said it in her blog while she was midwife seeking, and I just have to agree with what she said. 

The new midwife that I have, her name is Mabel. A woman from West Africa with a heart of gold. The moment she walked into the room, I immediately felt comfortable. She has done quite a few home births in her time and gets where I am coming from.

So down to earth and she has such a wonderful relaxed presence about her. So sweet. :)

Even my husband was super happy, his exact words were "Babe, she is by far my most favorite midwife that we have seen yet!" No offense to any other midwives out there, but I have to also agree with my husband. In the first visit I felt more at home with her quicker than the others. Perhaps this move was meant to be?

I already told Ben that for baby #3(why am I talking about this already?), if we are still living in Salem in a house I will probably ask her to do a home birth for me. Apparently, she still does those on the side of her midwifery work! Awesome!

So today, I left the clinic feeling happy and relaxed. I feel like having my birth the way that I want to is going to happen even more than before.

Everything really does happen for a reason, in this case it just took an extra step to get to where I am suppose to be. All thanks be to God that everything is falling into place so easily and stress free!

Now we are just waiting.

Waiting for the weeks to pass so that we can meet our brand new baby girl!

36 weeks on Wednesday! I can hardly wait! :)

-Jess

Natural Birth at a Hospital

I would say that this quite possibly may be a challenge for me or for anybody for that matter.

If you were at a birth center, or choose to do a homebirth, you don't have the option of an epidural. If an emergency arises, then yes, a midwife will take the necessary steps to get you taken care of.

Natural birth is already something that I want to experience and I feel like now that I am birthing in a hospital it may be just a little bit harder.

Thank God I have my awesome doula(Britney) to help me with this. Her and my wonderful husband will be a huge help. Not only to help me to relax but they will both remind me at how badly I want a natural birth. They will (hopefully) ;) keep those nurses away from me that want to ask me if I want painkillers.

I think that hospitals don’t expect women to give birth naturally.  They don’t expect that you understand or are prepared for your labor and birth.  They don’t expect you to be able to manage your contractions. They expect that you will be in pain, be overwhelmed, and want interventions and medication and that is what they are set up to provide. They don’t expect that you would actually desire to have a natural birth experience. I am not against hospitals in any way. I just think that they push it too far sometimes. But I mean they do somewhat have a point, why go through pain that can easily be managed by drugs? I have had a lot of women ask me why? Why do I want to do a natural birth?

I want to be in complete control of everything that my body is doing. When I had the epidural with my son I had no control over my legs, I couldn't feel him coming out and the result in that was he came out much too quickly in my opinion. He was pushed out in 20 minutes(my husband says it was less) the result of that was an awful tear! ugh! Postpartum healing in that region down there was no joke. I seriously needed a full 6 weeks of healing, and it took me awhile after that to even think about sex. I seriously believe that if I were to feel him while pushing, and was taking my time and not pushing as hard as I could like the hospital midwife wanted me too I would not have torn nearly as bad. I don't want that awful postpartum experience again. 

There are many other reasons that I want to go natural but I won't list them here. That probably should be in another blog post. :)

I will still be open to options for when i go to the hospital to have my baby. But as for now, I really desire a natural, drug-free birth. Women have success stories and that is super encouraging to me. I have done a ton of my own research on the different types of drugs that are offered and what exactly they do to you and your baby. Compared to my son's birth I am so much more prepared for this little one, I hope that her birth is gentle and beautiful as I imagine it to be.

Do you have any good advice on having a success natural birth experience?

I would love to know!

Thanks for reading my thoughts! :)

-Jess

***Nesting***

Ah yes, my favorite part of pregnancy. 

Nesting. 

Right after my baby shower it did not take me long at all to get started on the washing, organizing, and just holding all of those little girl items.

I know that it's silly, but I nearly cried when I was drying her last little load of clothes and blankets, and the lint catcher came out all pink. :) I am loving all of the flower headbands that were made for me and now I have a great excuse to make her a little frame to hold all of those adorable head pieces.

I truly cherish all of these little moments of her moving in my tummy. She is definitely an active one! If she is anything like her big brother, I may be a very busy mommy for the next few years. Even Ben loves to talk to her and put his hand on my belly as she kicks. He was pretty affectionate with our son while I was pregnant with him, but I think that because of the fact that he knows what is to come, he pays a little more attention to the little moves that she makes.

This pregnancy has been emotionally and physically challenging. On top of having a busy toddler, I had to switch out my midwife because of some unexpected insurance changes. :/ I am sad that I will not be birthing at Bella Vie, but everything happens for a reason right? After much prayer of what to do, I am at peace at where we will be birthing our daughter. 35 weeks and now I have a different midwife, I was heartbroken when I told my Bella Vie midwife, and she seemed to be too. But that's OK, it'll all work out. :) I am trying to stay positive. :)

I definitely have not been keeping up with this pregnancy on my blog, but I have weekly updates on my YouTube instead. It is just so much easier to make a video about what's going on rather than to type it up. Of course it doesn't help that pieces of my poor computer still doesn't work. :/

So I'll give you a mini update now.

Weight gain? None! Which is good! I am at 155, eating healthy and going for little walks here and there when the weather is nice. I hope that after I have this little girl, I will keep up this habit and get back to the weight that I was when I married my husband. Wearing maternity clothes is a challenge because the ones that I have are TOO BIG! I am actually wearing my old jeans pre-pregnancy and doing the hair tie loop trick. Shirts are a little more of a challenge though. But that's OK! I'm not going to buy anything maternity clothes for this baby. She is almost fully cooked! ;)

I am measuring right on track. Did you know that when they measure your belly, it is roughly suppose to be how many weeks you are at? I had know idea! Good to know!

Cravings? Grapefruit! Citrus! Anything sweet! The holidays were a challenge, all those yummy cookies and candies just laying around. I did indulge a little, but I made up for it by staying away from bread like items. Which is also another thing that I crave.

One of the things that I noticed that I didn't get with Josiah, was that her kicks and stretches are painful! Like, I have to cringe when I feel a strong jab or a long stretch. 

She sits up higher and farther forward, making breathing difficult. Also my poor ribs are so sore. 

This last month of pregnancy is going to go by so fast. I know about a total of 4 girls that are all due ahead of me. 2 boys, 2 girls(including me) and 1 surprise! So it's all just a waiting game to see who all has their baby first. According to my iPhone calculations, baby girl can come anywhere between January 30th and march 5th!. Quite a big range there, but I truly have no idea when she will come. I do have cramps on and off which really aren't a big deal. Just the norm for being in the last month.

I hope to keep up with this. I am sorry that I have been slacking on making any kind of updates. I hope that you all are having a great New Year like me! Love you all!.

-Jess

Baby shower Haul

Dresser/Changing table set-up

My thoughts on C-Sections

Before you read this I just want to let you know that the grammar is probably off and it's kind of all over the place with my wording. I guess this is what happens when you blog on your smart phone. ;)

So I was reading an app on my iPhone today. You all know how great those are when you're pregnant. A fun read here and there when you're waiting for something or someone.
This little note about c-sections really caught my eye. I will try my best not to sound arrogant or anything, but this is truly what I think about this topic.
Having a c-section IS major surgery. No you aren't put under, you aren't passed out or anything, you are fully awaken during it yet it is still surgery. All surgery comes with risks, some that can include death. They have to cut through skin, then muscle, then your uterus to get to your precious baby. Then they take your baby out of you. Some doctors are not the most gentle taking your baby out. If you actually watch a c-section birth, there is nothing nice about it. You can't hold your baby right away, you can't even see your baby right away. It's sad that you will probably be the 5th person to hold your baby. Where is the motherly bond that they say is so important? You have to go through so much more medical intervention having your baby this way.
There are so many women that have completely normal pregnancies, so why do some many women have major surgery to have their babies? In the US, about 30% of women have there babies this way. Which is WAY more than what should be happening. On top of that, about half of these are elective! What?! That kinda blew my mind.
Elective(meaning to choose) surgery is when you schedule your surgery, not an emergency, but still somehow necessary . I don't hate doctors, in fact I love them!
I just wish that more doctors were up to trying all the options before a surgery.
With that being said, if my baby ever were to be breech, I would probably get many second opinions before opting for surgery.
I would rather deliver my breech baby vaginally before a c-section. Women have done it this way for 1000s of years! Why aren't we striving for more vaginal births this way? Why don't we have more OBs trained to handle more difficult births in a natural sense? Why are midwives the only ones willing and comfortable delivering breech births or even larger babies?
I had a friend who was told with her second baby that she would need a c-section because they estimated a 10 pound baby. Well, when the day came to have her daughter, turns out baby was only about 8 pounds. This poor momma had to go through something unnecessary and have the physical and emotional pain that comes with it. Which is much harder than having a vaginal birth.
Now if she were to ever decide to have a third child, she would have to go through the process of having a V-BAC. Which from what I hear, isn't easy sometimes. Now I am not an expert at all on this subject.
The only thing that I ask, before you say ok to a cesarean, look at all the options. Ask more questions, you and your baby will thank you if you just research and ask questions more. Get another opinion, go that extra step, you won't regret it!
In fact, even if you do have to get surgery in the end, at least you can say you tried to avoid it.
Surgery is absolutely necessary for some women. I am thankful that it is there for the ones that have a high risk pregnancy. But for many of you, it can be avoided.
I love you all and I hope that you aren't offended by my post. Let's make moms aware if their options. Doctors are so great, but they are human like you and I. They make mistakes just like we do. No one is perfect.