Wednesday, March 12, 2008

A funny thing happened on the way to the English language

Here are some funny things that Ben has said recently:

I was holding my breast pump when Ben asked
"what's that?"
He then answered his own question.
"pump!"
"Gemma's milk."
"wahhhh wahhhh wahhhh"
"Mommy's bwessss"
"besss besss"
"bassss"
"Ben's bath!"
Next, Ben looked up at me and said frankly,"I want to take a bath."

Wow! that was some serious free association!

I was asking Ben about all of the people in our family. We were going through the names of all the people we love and he didn't mention Gemma. I said What about Gemma? He looked at me and then pointed across the room at Gemma and said nonchalantly "It's over there"

I heard Ben scumbling around in the kitchen. He had obviously pulled some things off of the counter. When I entered the kitchen I saw that he was playing with a lid and a bag. I asked him what he was doing and he replied in a matter-of-fact tone "finding muffins." Oh really? I didn't know we had any muffins!

Ben likes to say "Ben is cute and po-creeshusss." He is trying to say precocious.

Saturday, March 08, 2008

The Business of Being Born




Today I watched the film "The Business of Being Born." I really enjoyed it. I'm not surprised that I liked it so much considering it falls into my favorite movie genre which is, what else, documentaries. It also really touched me considering the fact that I have two children of my own and have an unhealthy obsession with hearing birth stories.

Anyway, It was really amazing and shed so much light on the flaws of modern American medicine and how birthing is treated like a business or even illness, not a beautiful, natural thing.

When I was in the hospital with Ben they induced me after a week of unrelenting high blood pressure. They gave me pitocin for five hours and then told me that they were taking me off the pitocin because there weren't enough night nurses to help me deliver. Looking back, I should have screamed in the doctors face and said "HELL NO! You started this and we are finishing when I am ready" But I didn't. My labor stalled out and even though I had gotten to 6cm so easily, I still ended up with the c-section because I was interrupted while my body was doing it's natural thing. It makes me so sad to think that I had no idea that it was my right to stay in labor.

I now see so clearly the flaws of America's health care system and it pains me to see other women who think that they are not allowed to speak up and be heard by the people that they pay to help them. The rate for c-sections in America is the highest in the world. We also have the second highest infant and maternal mortality rates in the developed world. This is appalling considering how much more we pay for health care than any other country in the world.

I highly recommend this film to anyone who has children and I would insist that anyone considering having a baby or who is pregnant must see this film! I wish that I had know what my rights were. I'm seriously considering becoming a labor and postpartum doula because it is important for me to help other women to not end up with unsatisfactory births. Sorry for the rant everyone, I feel strongly about this. If you read this far, thanks for listening!

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Literally wonderful


I have so very much enjoyed my book club as of late. Last month we read a really amazing book called "Look Me In The Eye" by John Elder Robison. It is a memoir (my favorite genre)about a man with Aspergers syndrome. Really insightful and probably the cleanest book that I have read in a while. No *ahem* intimate scenes, just the occasional bad word. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys people studies. We also had a fun dessert theme this past month and we all brought desserts from the cook book by Jessica Seinfeld "Deceptively Delicious." I made some fantastic blueberry oatmeal bars with pureed spinach in them. Surprisingly yummy.

This month we are reading a novel titled "Away" by Amy Bloom. It has a very pretty cover. That's all that I like about it right now. I am just not able to get into it so far. Maybe things will change.

My big treat came today when my delightful mother-in-law volunteered to watch Ben for the afternoon. I started reading "Away", got four chapters in and then decided that I'd had enough and I was going to paint. After I cleaned up the house. So once i was finished nursing Gemma and tidying up, I painted a really nice picture for our living room. I'm actually quite proud of it. I think that I will buy a frame for it with my fun money. I've posted a picture for your viewing pleasure! Anyway, thank you Patty for my relaxing "me time" I really enjoyed myself! That's about all for now. Happy reading and painting to you.