bring joy

The truth about natural birth.

pregnancy

In 2008, at the hospital, in labor with my third, Amalia.

{This post is reminiscent of a post I wrote several years ago, shortly before I gave birth to my fourth, Salem. Somehow, history repeats itself, & I find that self-doubt creeping up again.}

The truth about natural birth, is that, it hurts. A lot.

Last night I woke up in the middle of the night, my head spinning with thoughts of natural birth. Wide awake, I replayed the process, over & over.

You may know I’ve had four natural births so far–so I’m fairly familiar with how it works.

My history:

1st: Hospital birth; induced with lots of magnesium, due to high blood pressure (see this post for more), delivered by a CNM (certified nurse midwife)

2nd: Water birth at home with midwife

3rd: Hospital birth with CNM, pretty...

{MM} It’s a new year. (& I’m not in labor yet.)

marvelous mondays, pregnancy

Today’s {MM} is a bit different than my usual format of sharing good finds from across the web.

Since I took the past 2 1/2 weeks off from any online activity in which I didn’t read blogs, think about blogging, tweet, pin, or facebook, I don’t have much to share by way of links. Instead, I’ll share what I’ve been up to.

Oh boy was that nice. Just trying to take advantage of sleep before the newborn arrives.

Two fun ones–Wits & Wagers & kid charades.

Which according to the NY Times, nobody is reading novels anymore. To prove them wrong, here’s my current list.

Currently reading:
♦ John Grisham’s Sycamore Row–a contested will legal battle was never so thrilling (also loved his recent interview with Diane Rehm). Joseph & I are in a race to see who can finish it first.
♦ The...

blogging is weird & other thoughts (+ merry christmas, happy new years)

blogging, personal

pinned to my holiday board, image from StellarSky

This occurred to me the other day, in a startlingly acute fashion, when Joseph & I were having one of those early morning chats, like we do.

“Blogging’s weird, when you think about it.”

“Yes it is. I mean, you’re only just telling the world all about our finances, your health, our relationship, our kids. Anyone can pretty much know everything about us. That’s all.”

Well, when you put it that way…the thought is a little troubling. But we’ve got nothing to hide, which makes Joseph & I okay with sharing so much of our lives with whomever lands in this space.

That said, there ought to be boundaries. And indeed, I don’t, & cannot (for simple logistical purposes, if nothing else), share every detail of our lives (which would be rather...