$2.3M awarded in suit over botched circumcision

This is disturbing beyond words...

A Fulton County jury has awarded $1.8 million in damages to a boy whose penis was severed in a botched circumcision.

The state court jury gave another $500,000 to the boy’s mother in the decision rendered Friday.

"The case involves a child, identified only as D.P. Jr., who was born at South Fulton Medical Center in 2004. In a suit filed two years later, his mother contended that the doctor who circumcised him removed too much tissue and that his pediatrician failed to respond when a nurse complained of excessive bleeding.

The tip of the penis was placed in a biohazard bag and might have been reattached if a urologist had attended to the boy within eight hours, one of the mother’s lawyers, David J. Llewellyn of Atlanta, said." LINK

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O.K. I'm sure somewhere in my archives I said I would stop posting about circumcision, but this is *MY* blog, which means it's the one place I can go and NOT have to apologize for anything! People need to wake up, and the only way to do that is to come face to face with serious issues.

New Medicine Cabinet, YAY!

I've been begging hubby to smash a hole in our bathroom wall and put up this beautiful recessed medicine cabinet we received as a gift from good friends (thank you William and Linda!)

Today was the day :-) They hit some road bumps as they cut through the drywall and a huge pipe was revealed beneath, but they went out and bought some parts to move the pipe to a more suitable location. Happy me!

I've been waiting so patiently for a place to put all of my natural remedies and toiletries and such. It's so perfect where it is! I finally feel like my birth space is ready... except of course for curtains and curtain rods that need to be purchased and put up next week.



I love it!

Letting Go of Fears & Embracing Freedom

*If you are bothered by the discussion of placenta consumption,
you may want to skip this post!

One of the major benefits I have received from going to yoga is the relaxation period at the end of each class. It seems to be the only time where I am completely free to relax in every way and be with myself and my thoughts/feelings/fears/dreams/etc. There is something so special about being far away (and by that I mean far enough that no one can disturb me!) in a safe place where I can let go of needing to be so hyper-aware of everything and everyone around me. Months ago I would've likely said it wasn't important for me to have that kind of time set aside but it is so beneficial to me and everyone around me. Not because I'm away from everyone, but because I'm with myself. Something I can't seem to do unless I make an effort at it. I'm the kind of mom that sleeps with one eye open, always feeling like I need to be on call just in case. It's just how I am and I know that about myself. It's a good thing in many ways and I'm not looking to let that go, however, I am learning how to embrace the need to find a time/place/space where I can just be with *me*. It's amazing how much different I feel about myself, my life, my family and my time. I am so much more relaxed these days about... well, everything! I've looked in the mirror (figuratively) and faced all sorts of things I didn't even know about myself. Fears and deep rooted beliefs that have been showing up all over the place in my life without my even connecting the dots. So much of life can be lived on "auto pilot" without our awareness of it. Many of our decisions are not made by our authentic selves but our belief systems that were put in place long ago and have been secretly governing our lives while we ignorantly feel in control of it all.

I won't go into many of the things I've been discovering about myself because the details are very personal and the healing process is for me alone. But there are some things that pertain to pregnancy and birth which I'm always happy to talk about. For instance, I've spoken about the issue we faced after Justus was born, with his cord bleeding out even though we delayed cord cutting for what I considered to be a sufficient amount of time (not to mention his cord had been white, and limp for a while!). I've been shaken up about that since his birth. It took long time for me to even think about it without feelings of terror rising up, and all the "what if's" that my mind couldn't really handle. I vowed that I would never interfere with the separating of future baby's and their placentas! Can you blame me, really? Still it was a fear, and fears are not the ideal place from which we should make our decisions.

I'm not sure how many of you know this so I will tell it as if you're hearing it for the first time. With Justus's birth we had planned in advance to dehydrate the placenta and encapsulate it for me to take as a supplement during the postpartum period. We used a TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) recipe and followed it precisely to ensure the best possible benefits could be obtained. The outcome was incredible. I felt fantastic after I began taking the capsules. My bleeding slowed down considerably and I am a VERY heavy bleeder! My overall moods were lifted and my body bounced back quicker than it ever had before (I don't mean the size necessarily, though that happened as well, but rather the feeling of being back to myself in an incredibly short amount of time).

Justus's birth had left me rather confused about whether it is more beneficial to leave the placenta attached or take advantage of the benefits of consuming it. My fears had me leaning HEAVILY on the side of leaving it alone obviously, but those fears have been withering away as the time draws near. I found myself searching for information about the benefits and once again considering it a possibility. I'm still intending to leave the cord attached WAY longer than I did with Justus, but I'm no longer holding on to the belief that I have to have it one way or the other. I can have both, and it's o.k. This is freedom. The place where the best decision can be made. Where irrational (or rational) fears aren't governing my every move.

We went out yesterday and purchased a mortar and pestle to crush the placenta with once it's fully cooked and dehydrated according to the recipe. It was very liberating! I think Ivan is happy to be once again in charge of the process. He really enjoyed it last time around. It is important to have positive energy flowing while the placenta is being prepared (which takes anywhere from 10-12 hours total) so he was on guard the entire time making sure if any of the children needed something from the kitchen that they were in a happy place before entering (that is, if he let them enter at all! LOL). I watched as he crushed the dried pieces into powder form, not at all an easy task! And he made sure I never missed a dose and watched as I healed faster than I ever had before, feeling good about his efforts and their wonderful outcome. So much for a father feeling helpless as their wife births their child, huh? Ivan is anything but helpless when it comes to my births. He is a rock that I gladly lean on, I wouldn't want to do it without him!

So yeah, plans have been slightly adjusted, and I'm feeling really good about that. It's been quite the journey with this little one so far :-)

One of the other fears that I was holding on to had to do with two factors that are not at all related (apparently the mind doesn't care! lol). I have what I call an active uterus. Perhaps the medical community would call it an "irritable uterus" but I don't jive with the negativity contained in that term. I don't consider it a problem, but rather a benefit. My uterus is active and toned and NEVER fails me when the time comes to deliver! I've always carried to term and my cervix is strong and unchanging until it is time, so it's obviously not an issue. The other factor is my water breaking days before true labor kicks in. Again, another variation of normal, that would be considered a medical emergency, if of course, I went that route. Anyway, I have been aware throughout my pregnancies of a tensing up that happens when I have contractions. A slight fear that perhaps one of those contractions may cause my water to break long before baby is ready. I mean, this is totally rediculous because nothing in my history would make this fear rational at all. I'm a 40-41 weeker for crying out loud! But yet here I was feeling a little anxious when I had a contraction. Totally NOT what you want when you are preparing for a relaxed, pain-free, pure birth!!!

So, peace I have found with this as well. In my quiet time I focus on what's real, and let go of what is not. I practice changing my experiences by conciously changing the way I think and feel. It's amazing how if I fear contractions they can be uncomfortable or even painful, but when I consider to them to be pleasurable, and connected to orgasmic feelings, I get that result! Our minds are amazing pieces of machinery. A little time and energy spent considering what our highest possible outcome could be and we can change the course of our future! You get what you settle for, and there is no need to settle for anything in this life, that is something my mother taught me when I was a little girl. I didn't really believe her, and I don't think she even believed herself! But she was right.

Snacking during childbirth is safe, says study in British Medical Journal

EATING while in the throes of childbirth should no longer be a medical taboo, according to a study released today.

The duration of labour, the need for assisted delivery, and caesarean rates were all unaffected by munching between contractions, found the study, published by the British Medical Journal.

Doctors the world over have long discouraged women in labour from eating, for fear that it could lead to breathing food into the lungs in the case of an emergency caesarean while under general anaesthetic.

But such incidents have declined dramatically in recent years, mainly due to the use of local anaesthesia.

Moreover, some doctors have long argued that fasting while in labour - which can last many, many hours - may be bad for the mother and the baby.

Studies to date have been inconclusive, so a research team led by Professor Andrew Shennan at King's College London investigated the effect of eating during labour on delivery rates.

The study split 2426 first-time healthy mothers into two groups. The first was only allowed to drink water, the usual practice.

The second group were encouraged to snack regularly on bread, biscuits, fruits, low fat yoghurt, isotonic drinks, and fruit juice.

Across a wide range of measures - spontaneous vaginal delivery, duration of labour, percentage of caesareans - there was virtually no difference between the two groups.

Even the rate of vomiting, about 35 per cent, was the same.

Nor were the babies affected by their mothers munching, or not, during labour. Link

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O.K. Am I the only one who thinks it's ridiculous that we even *need* a study to prove whether or not starving a woman who is about to engage in such a physically challenging event is a good idea?!?!

And then they expect you to purple push while being forced to lay in the stranded beetle position on top of starving you and assuring you won't have any energy to argue the "life saving" c-section thanks to "failure to progress". genius. sign me up, please :-S

Another Beautiful Birth...

I love the peaceful energy mom and midwife have in this birth. Midwife does nothing but take pictures because there's nothing else she needs to be doing, and mom is so happy and relaxed. The world needs more midwives like that!

Some Canadian Statistics...

Some moms still smoking, drinking during pregnancy

Updated Tue. Mar. 24 2009 4:04 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

The first-ever nationwide survey of women's maternity experiences finds that while most Canadian women found their birth to be a positive experience, there were a number of areas of concern.

The Maternity Experiences Survey (MES) interviewed 6,421 women, asking them more than 300 questions about their pregnancy and birth experiences.

The survey found that the overwhelming majority of mothers -- 80 per cent -- were satisfied with their labour and birth. Fifty-four per cent said their experience was "very positive" and 26 per cent said it was "somewhat positive."

More than half (57 per cent) of women said that most days in the year before their baby was born were either "somewhat stressful" or "very stressful."

Many of the women admitted they were guilty of not following some of the recommendations of medical experts during pregnancy. For example:

• 11 per cent said they smoked during pregnancy
• 23 per cent say they lived with a smoker while pregnant
• 11 per cent said they drank alcohol during pregnancy

It was also noted that many women were not breastfeeding for the full first six months after birth. Almost 90 per cent of mothers say they started breastfeeding, and by six months, 14 per cent were still breastfeeding exclusively; another 54 per cent reported some breastfeeding.

The Canadian Paediatric Society and other groups recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a healthy baby's life, and then breastfeeding alongside complementary foods up to two years of age and beyond.

Health care workers, too, were guilty of employing practices no longer recommended by the medical community, such as continuous use of electronic fetal monitoring during labour to check the baby's heart rate.

Research has found that continuous heart rate monitoring is related to increased use of caesarean births, forceps or vacuum. Experts recommend that continuous monitoring be reserved for higher risk labour or if there are concerns about the baby.

Despite those recommendations, nearly two-thirds of the mothers (63 per cent) reported that fetal heart monitoring was continuous during their births.

Almost half of the women interviewed (48 per cent) said they gave birth lying flat on their back, and 57 per cent of women said their legs were in stirrups when their baby was born. That's despite research that show that an upright or side-lying position can contribute to a shorter labour. They can also help mothers avoid medical interventions such as an episiotomy.

"Do women know the benefits of an upright position for labour and birth? How can women be supported to fully explore the options for labour and birth position with their health care provider?" the authors ask in a section of the study report titled "Some Things to Think About."

Other findings included:

• 97.9 per cent of births occurred in hospitals or clinics
• 26.3 per cent of women had caesarian births
• While almost 90 per cent of women took folic acid supplements during the first three months of pregnancy, only 58 per cent had taken the supplements in the three months prior to conception, the period considered crucial for preventing neural tube defects
• While almost all hospitals have policies against routine vaginal shaving or enemas in preparation for birth, 19 per cent of women said they were shaved and five per cent had an enema

The MES Survey used questionnaires to understand women's perceptions of their birth experiences. The authors note that traditional analysis using databases, national vital statistics and hospital discharge records often do not give a full picture of women's experiences.

The Study Group was particularly interested in understanding the experiences of younger mothers (15-19 years), recent immigrant mothers, and First Nations, Inuit and Métis mothers, as these women are believed to be at increased risk for adverse pregnancy outcomes.

The study authors say their survey was important because "by hearing what women say about their maternity experiences, health care providers, public health officials, policy makers and families can work toward the best possible outcomes for all mothers and babies in Canada."

LOVE THIS!!!

Ok, I really need to stay off Etsy.com! I found this beautiful Bamboo Mei Tai that looks so so soft and comfy! I love it! Though, I think I may have reached my limit on new baby purchases LOL

Update on "Nursing Challenges"

It's a new day and I'm feeling much more centered and peaceful.

Have I made peace with the bottle? Sure... as long as it sits on a shelf collecting dust somewhere in the dark LOL!

My final thoughts on the matter yesterday were right on. It was my overdoing it the night before that caused me to be so painful and sensitive yesterday. I was completely fine today. I've nursed him every time he wanted and for however long he wanted to see how my body would respond. Well, I was fine :-) Better than fine actually. I feel great and I'm sure that's thanks to all the resting I did yesterday. So basically I need to slow down and just be pregnant! hee hee. Good thing too, because neither Justus or I have any desire to wean. We both truly love our nursing relationship. We love our special time together. We'll call it quits when we're done and not a second before :-)

Nursing Challenges

Early yesterday morning I nursed Justus for all of about 5-10 minutes and during that time I had really painful contractions. I've always had a very active uterus. I can feel contractions from the beginning of pregnancy and they are pretty frequent throughout the entire thing. I was dubbed "high risk" twice thanks to exceeding the medical community's comfort level of how many contractions one should have an hour. I know now through experience that I simply have an active uterus and it has no effect on me going into pre-term labor (obviously!) It's just another variation of normal. But this was different. These contractions felt like labor contractions and they lasted well over an hour after he finished nursing. I had to breathe through them, eventually waking Ivan up to help me relax. From that point until when I went to sleep last night I had really bad menstrual-like cramps and pockets of painful contractions scattered throughout the day. I was fantasizing about the blackberry Brandy my mother would give me as a teenager when my cramps were unbearble!

Anyone have any experience or words of wisdom to share? I went to a health food store yesterday and bought a bottle for him to have if this should continue to happen. He'll take a sippy cup, but he can't lay down with it and relax. I feel like I have to get past my personal (and very strong) dislike for my child having a fake nipple in his mouth, but I don't want to! I don't know what else to do. I need a solution for times when his nursing causes that much pain and discomfort. Like I said, he's fine with a sippy cup at wake times, but the problem comes when he's tired and wants to lay down. I don't want to be so hardcore in my ways that I dismiss a more gentle solution for this transition, kwim?

One of the reasons I think this has happened with his nursing is that my milk has changed. It looks almost like water when it comes out now, it's not white at all. My supply has also decreased significantly. My feeling is that my nipples are much more sensitive to stimulation based on the lack of milk production making it cause labor-like contractions/painful cramps. Nipple stimulation is a well known natural induction method for labor (if your body/baby are ready of course) but I find when I'm nursing a wee one that my nipples are pretty desensitized. I wouldn't really notice the difference except when the nursing relationship is completely over it feels TOTALLY different (a lot more sensitive) when they are stimulated.

Ivan's not at all comfortable with me risking going into labor early because of something we can prevent. He made some really valid points about protecting the little one inside, and Justus (being almost 2!) will be just fine finding comfort in his arms a little more often so that I can rest when needed. Honestly, what is my issue? I am giving him the same milk (rice milk) in a sippy cup that I would the bottle, so it's not an issue of artificial milk, but of the means used to get it into him. I suppose it has everything to do with it becoming substitute for the comfort that he finds in HUMAN arms. Yeah, that's it. It's the very idea that he will attach to a piece of plastic (no matter how "BPA free" it is!) and seek it out for comfort instead of coming to his parents. GRRR. I hate that. I'm all mad about it again now >:-/

When I was dealing with the painful contractions I took some homeopathic tinctures, lit an essential oil diffuser with lavender and layed down for a while in the dark talking my body into relaxing. It worked as far as stopping the intense contractions, but didn't completely stop the cramping and pressure.

Then Justus got hurt last night, he fell down somewhere and scrapped a little chunk out of his knee. He came to me for comfort nursing while I was trying to relax and Ivan (meaning well) called to him and offered to take him and give him some milk in the bottle. The mama bear in me lit up like a Christmas tree! I was ENRAGED, not at Ivan, but at the fact that there is a bottle in my house and it's a shitty-ass substitute for mommy's comfort!!!!! I nursed him anyway and all was fine.

I just can't be "whatever" about these things, ya know? I don't have it in me. I am seriously hoping that what I experienced yesterday was due to my overdoing the housework the night before. I went to bed with a burning back and aching all over. It's quite possible I was just overloaded with stress in my body from all that I did. Yet another reason why it's so important that I take this "rest" period I spoke about a couple of posts back.

*sigh*

Breathing Baby Out

Naitre_enchantee
Uploaded by magalidieux

Happy Birthday Cory!!!

Corwin

Happy *1st* Birthday little man! It's been such an amazing year watching you grow :-) From the day you joined us on the outside you've been a such a ball of mushy love. Your mommy, daddy and big brother Dermot were blessed beyond measure to have you join their family, and boy do they know it :-)

You are loved, little one.

"Unassisted Childbirth"

As most of you know by now, Laura Kaplan Shanley, specifically her website with all of it's information, were the turning point for me and my thoughts/beliefs about birth. I've written about that here (and on my last pregnancy blog) before.

Funny thing is... In the past 8+ years of "knowing" her I somehow never managed to get a copy of her book in my hands, which is really strange since I *love* reading! Well, I finally purchased her book "Unassisted Childbirth" and have spent the past couple of weeks reading it. It's a fairly small book but there's a lot of really good morsels in there I have enjoyed chewing on slowly. I know I will be going back and re-reading much of it again.

I'm gonna sound like a broken record here, but what I love about Laura's work is that the focus isn't just on birth alone, in fact, if that's all you get you are really missing out. Rather, her focus is on our character/belief systems/thoughts/etc. that wind up shaping our life experiences, one of them being childbirth. So you could read her book without being pregnant or ever planning on it and STILL walk away incredibly blessed and transformed.

I've been reading what I think are key points to Ivan here and there and they've provoked some deep, lengthy conversations which have blessed us both. This is a must have for the home library!

Win a free Bumgenious 3.0 Diaper!

Win a free Bumgenius 3.0 Diaper! This is a valuable All-In-One cloth diaper that you can use for yourself or give as a gift to someone expecting a baby! Go check out Hot Belly Mama's Blog for details on how to win this wonderful All In One Cloth Diaper. Hot Belly Mama will announce the winner on March 30th, after her 30th birthday!

Here is the direct link to her blog:

http://hotbellymama.blogspot.com/

Good luck!

Diapers & Diaper Bag!!!

I took advantage of our trip to Toronto yesterday and headed over to Diaper-eez. They had a special deal this month that if you spend "x" amount in diapers and/or covers you get their largest diaper pail, 2 diaper pail liners and 6 months worth of deo disks free! (that's all worth over $100!). Well, it wasn't hard to reach that magic number considering I need a whole new stash for this baby! I am really starting to feel like we're getting ready now :-)

I chose:

32 Motherease One Size Bamboo diapers
10 Motherease Bamboo Liners for the diapers
6 Motherease Air Flow covers.



About a month ago I went to Diaper-eez in search of the "Lexie Tote" diaper bag made by Fleurville. I saw one I fell in love with on their website but unfortunately they wouldn't ship to Canada. I had to find a local store that sold them in order to even have a chance at owning one. I pretty much accepted that since Diaper-eez is the only store close enough that has them I will likely end up with a bag that wasn't exactly my first choice but hopefully something I liked well enough. After looking around the store several times and finding a decent second choice, Ivan walks in and says "There's your bag up there isn't it?" Oh, I was SO excited!!! The EXACT one I wanted!!! The lady who rang up our order was so sweet, she gave us a free Ringley for the baby :-)

What's so special about this diaper bag? You can read all about it here.

Taking Care of Me...

I usually allow myself a week or so at the end of pregnancy to take a break from the world and any responsibilities that are outside of my immediate family. This time, I've decided to start a bit earlier. I feel like it's finally time that I start thinking about me and what's best for me at this moment in my life. How nice would it be to rest in the peace of not having anything tugging on me when I most want to relax and prepare. So here I am, approximately 2 months left, and I'm ready to take a step back and honor what I feel like I need. You see, it's my tendency to say yes to EVERYTHING and then silently deal with feeling totally wiped out and depleted. So call me selfish but I won't be doing that anymore.

To me, having a baby is not at all about seeing how much of my life remains the same. In other words, how quickly can I get the baby to work around my existing schedule. It's about embracing motherhood, and all that entails, yet again. Accepting that life is about change and transition and so the world can no longer expect the same things from me, because my life is not at all the same. Baby comes first. So if I'm not answering the phone, and you don't see me out and about, just know that a very special thing has occurred. Know that I am fully embracing these tender and fragile moments that pass all too quickly. Know that I am in no rush for life to "get back to normal". Know that I am in maternal bliss.

Now is the time to turn inward, to explore my heart and mind as the day approaches where a new beginning takes place and transition will occur. This is the time I have left to hug my baby on the inside :-) To savor every last moment we have alone together. This is my time to create the atmosphere I desire for my birth space. To sit in it daily and set my intentions for the birth and the babymoon that follows.

I'm not at all saying I'll be locked in my house until birth. Just that I want to do what feels right and good without feeling obligated or guilty. The only plans I intend to keep are my yoga classes. They have been beneficial in ways I cannot express and I never come away regretting my time there. In fact, it is by far the most loving and nurturing thing I have gifted myself with.

This life is so miraculous. Everyday moments can be so wonderful and meaningful. But in order to fully experience *life*, we must learn to live life in awareness. We must be present in every moment and live consciously, in love. We must break away from all that is superficial and shallow that begs to take over our very existence on a moment to moment basis. We must free ourselves from the pressure to meet the expectations the world has placed on us, or the need to please others. We must live from our heart. If we never learn to be truly loving toward ourselves, we will find it nearly impossible to truly love others. If I desire to love my children, my husband, this baby that sits in the root of my being, I must first understand what it means to love myself. Of course, I am speaking of something much deeper than a self preservation type of love.

Marshall Rosenberg says we must ask ourselves 2 simple questions...

What is alive in me?

What would make life more wonderful?

Then we can ask that of others as well...

What is alive in others?

What would make life more wonderful for others?

This is what I believe LOVE asks. When was the last time you asked yourself, "What would make life more wonderful for me?" This is exactly what I've asked myself, and I feel very blessed to have begun living out the answers.

My Beads Have Arrived!

At the beginning of this pregnancy I joined an online community of other crunchy moms who were due around the same time I am. We decided that it would be neat if we all bought beads and sent them to a designated leader who would then make up batches for each woman containing one bead from each of us to make up a birthing necklace.

My beads came in the mail today! I was so excited to open them. Each bead is so unique and carried with it a poem, quote or good wishes for the birth.

I've ordered a custom pendant to be the center of my birthing necklace and I can't wait until it arrives so I can put all these beads together and wear them, YAY! I'll post a couple of pictures of individual beads below.

This one came in a red felt bag with a cord attached to represent the placenta :-)

This one is a shell that was picked up on the woman's vacation to Kauai!

This one reads "This heart represents a healthy, vibrant and robust placenta"

And this one says "The flower in full bloom represents an open cervix, ready to release your baby into the world"

I love feeling connected to other pregnant women, we are all on our own little journey's but yet we walk together in so many ways.

My Personality Type

You Are An INFJ

The Protector You live your life with integrity, originality, vision, and creativity. Independent and stubborn, you rarely stray from your vision - no matter what it is. You are an excellent listener with almost infinite patience. You have complex feelings, and you take great care to express them. In love, you see relationships as an opportunity to connect and grow. You enjoy relationships when they are improving and changing. You can't stand stagnation. At work, you stay motivated and happy... as long as you are working toward a dream you support. You would make a great photographer, alternative medicine guru, or teacher. How you see yourself: Hardworking, ethical, and helpful When other people don't get you, they see you as: Manipulative, weak, and unstable

What's Your Personality Type?

Birth Supply List

A couple of my friends have asked what's on my birth supply list so I figured I'd just post it here.



One thing I have realized over the years is that my birth supply list has remained pretty simple and always more luxury based than a list of medical supplies, this is why I don't bother with homebirth kits that are already made. I don't need sterile gloves, gauze pads, cord clamps, or any of that kind of stuff. I'm more concerned with creating the right mood based on what I know I want and practical supplies to keep clean up to a minimum.



So, I'm making up 2 Rubbermaid type bins, one for supplies and one for mommy and baby items. On the lids I have taped a card which lists the contents of the bin so it will be easy should Ivan need to retrieve something for me. The items that haven't been crossed out are still needing to be purchased (this week, YAY!)

Birth Supply List

Birth:

*** Birth Pool ***

1. Shower curtain liner x5 – Drop Cloths X2 (protect floor/pool area)

2. Old towel0

3. Sheet x3 (place over plastic on floor)

4. Washcloth x4

5. Trash bag x4

6. Olive Oil

7. Placenta Bowl

8. Lavender (placenta)

9. Sea Salt (placenta)

10. Fish Scale/Ring Sling

Me:

1. Red Raspberry Leaf Tea

2. Postpartum Cloth Pads

3. Peri bottle

4. Mesh panties

5. Clothes (for after)

6. Lip Balm

7. Heating Pad

8. Snacks

9. Water Bottle

10. Motherwart / Emergen-C / Contract Ease / Rescue Remedy

11. Laundry detergent (for my pads)

12. Peroxide x3 (pads)

13. Witch Hazel (wipe solution)

Baby:

1. Hat

2. shirt

3. Cloth Diapers - Potty - Bowl

4. Baby blanket

5. Thermometer

6. Nail clippers

Miscellaneous:

1. Camera (charged & ready)

2. Emergency Childbirth Book (printed & in birth binder)

3. Music

4. Mirror

5. Beeswax tea light candles x8

6. Beeswax candles large x2

7. Essential Oil diffusers x2

8. Placenta Prints (Christine)

Baby Hat

I was learning how to crochet a baby beanie hat thanks to YouTube tutorial video's. I thought it would be cute to make one that matches the blanket I made for the baby earlier in the pregnancy. Well, Justus assumed I was making it for him (of course!) and so I made a few adjustments in the size and length and now it's his :-) He looks cute, doesn't he?!