Midnight Colinization

I've never shared with anyone other than Colin, the crazy things that he says to me at night. You see, Colin talks in his sleep. Being Colin, he can't do it like a normal person and talk about food or something. No, he spits out the most random phrases imaginable and I've recently started writing them down. With Colin's permission, I will now be documenting his sleep talking on my blog. It will be called "Midnight Colinization."

You see, at night I always read. I usually read too long because I'm kind of a book nut. Anyway, while I read, Colin is off in dreamland. A couple of times a week he will say something hilarious, ridiculous, and totally random. It usually begins like this: Colin starts making a gulping, clicking sound with his throat and then he begins to thrash around a little. He usually turns to me and starts mumbling incoherently. I say "What did you say Colin?" He repeats himself two or three times until he is speaking more clearly and then, I have my pearl of wisdom. He promptly turns over and begins the snore-fest.

So, without further ado, I will publish the first three Midnight Colinizations.

Midnight Colinization #1:
"Erin, you'd look funny coming out of the wall, mounted like a deer."

Midnight Colinization #2:
"I think it's best if he didn't hug his hogs!"

Midnight Colinization #3:
"That's some pretty fabulous foam inside the shampoo."

Note: I don't edit the grammar in these quotes and I SWEAR that I did not make this stuff up!

Gemma goes to Costco

Today in Costco, Gemma made a very loud squeal in the book section. It turned a head or two. To the untrained ear it would have sounded like she was quickly screaming "EeeeeeeOhhhhhh." To the trained parental ears of Colin and myself, it was easily understood as Gemma saying "Peeeetotes!" Which again, to the untrained ear would sound like "whattheheckdidshejustsay?" But to the trained parental ears it was easily deciphered as Gemma screaming the word "PRINCESS!"

Yes, Gemma saw a boxed set of Disney Princess books. This is what caused The Great Costco shriek of 2009. So, being the good parents (i.e. softies) that we are, we picked up the $6 set of boks and handed them to our little lass. Of course she began chanting "peetote" followed by "fankies"(thank you) and a kiss for Daddy. Let me point out that she is only 21 months old, yet she is already able to bend us to her will and melt our hearts. Well played Gemma. Gemma-1 Parents-0

Every creature was stirring. Even the Mouse.

The kids were very noisy tonight after we put them to bed. This is what I overheard.

Ben speaking to his Yucky Blanket: "...and I'll have a hat for you and gloves to keep your hands warm. But that's just pretend that you're real, Yucky Blanket. I love you Yucky Blanket. (high pitched voice)I love you too Ben."

Gemma speaking to baby doll- "Heeeeeey Lola, heeeey Lola, hey! Lola! etc,."

Carrot-Pumpkin Muffins.

I baked again today. It was really fun to bake in the morning and have a snack to bring to a playdate. I always bring something "Gemma safe" so today I made Carrot-Pumpkin muffins. Of course, they were eggless and they turned out really well. I have been struggling to bake perfect muffins that had no egg and I think that I finally succeeded! Yee Haw! I found a recipe on a vegan blog for carrot muffins and I messed with it quite a bit adding pumpkin and cutting the amount of sweeteners. My recipe is below.

Also, I should say, I had one of these cut in half with cream cheese and it was heavenly. These could very easily be turned into cupcakes with the addition of cream cheese frosting. Yummy.


Eggless Carrot-Pumpkin Muffins

Dry ingredients:
1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp salt

Wet ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
(I use the O Organics brand because it has the best vanilla flavor)
1/3 cup of unsweetened pumpkin puree
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup of warm water and 1 Tbsp of flax meal mixed together and set aside to congeal in a small dish (this makes the exact consistency of egg and serves as a binder in the muffins)
1/3 cup soy milk (or regular cows milk, we just use soy)
Give or take a bit on the soy milk, I just added it at the end until it was a nice batter consistency

1 1/2 cups finely grated carrots (2 big ones or three regular sized)
1/4 cup raisins
Sugar in the raw for the tops

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and line muffin tuns with papers.

Sift or stir dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl mix together wet ingredients except for the soy milk, carrots, and raisins. Combine wet and dry ingredients in the large bowl and stir until just mixed (it's important not to over stir) Then add the carrots and raisins. Add the soy milk to get it to the right consistency. It should be a thick batter, not too runny, but also not like a dough.

Fill muffin tins 3/4 full, sprinkle tops with raw sugar crystals, and bake for 15-20 minutes.

This recipe made 24 mini muffins (15 mins to bake) and six regular sized muffins (20 mins to bake.) Cool on a wire rack. Also, do not try to take them out of their wrappers until they are completely cool or they will stick to the muffin liners. Enjoy!

Autumn: The Happy Season

Eggless Chocolate chip cookies


Fall is in the air. I can feel it. Today, the sun is shining and the horizon is a crisp, bright blue. There is a definite bite of cold in the air and my cheeks look a shade rosier every time I go outside. Although it isn't technically Autumn until September 21st, I'm just going to pretend that it's already here. I can't get enough of this time of year. September is usually when I finally come out of my lazy-days-of-summer heat coma. I re-connect with my inner housewife and thus begin a new season of baking, sewing, knitting, and curling up on the couch with a blanket and reading. (okay, so I read all year-round. Whatever.)Life outside of the home slows down but indoors, I feel like I'm just waking up.

To celebrate the changing season, I baked cookies today. I have wanted to make some eggless chocolate chip cookies for a long time. I found a good base recipe and tweaked it. It make a pretty good cookie. I also experimented and added oatmeal to half of the dough and baked them in a mini-muffin tin instead of a cookie sheet and I actually liked them more than the basic cookies.

It was very fun to be able to allow Gemma to eat cookies and not be worried about them making her sick. They were the first home-made chocolate chip cookies that she has ever eaten. It was pretty special. I took some pictures and have put up the recipe as well.

First bite, not so sure about this "warm cookie" business.

Hey! That's good!

Seasoned cookie connoisseur trying out the new recipe

It passed inspection.


INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2/3 cup margarine or butter
1/3 cup shortening
1/2 cup vanilla nonfat yogurt
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.

2. In a medium bowl, cream together the brown sugar, white sugar, margarine and shortening until light and fluffy. Stir in yogurt and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until incorporated, then mix in chocolate chips.

3. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets.

4. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until the edges begin to brown. Cool for a minute on the cookie sheets before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

To make oatmeal chocolate chip cookie bites:
Add 1 cup of rolled quick-oats with dry ingredients. Spoon dough into greased mini-muffin tin and bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees on top rack.

Oatmeal chocolate chip cookie bites

Camping in Montana (and the King's living room)

The upwards view from our campsite. It was even more incredible at night. I've never seen so many stars...

On August 21st-24th we went camping in Montana at Lake Alva with our friends The Andersons, The Kings, and Mr.Syris Trahan. We had a grand old time sitting by the fire and sharing stupid/embarrassing stories (I think that Jon King took the cake with his "poop can" story. Honestly) singing, and playing guitar. We also spent a good amount of time eating, and eating some more, and then eating s'mores. We played at the lake and let the kids get as dirty as possible. Gemma had a great time sucking on rocks and Ben spent a large amount of sitting on a box next to a cooler, holding the handle of the cooler and pretending like he was riding an "ice ta-box." (I'm pretty sure he was trying to say ice toboggan)

After two very chilly nights we all decided that we had spent enough time being at-one with nature so we packed up our camp and headed to The King's house in Missoula. We ate delicious pizza and played a super fun card game called "Bang." Ruth King (who made the most amazing marshmallows) made some to-die-for cinnamon rolls for breakfast. She even made a tiny batch for Gemma without eggs. I was so touched that she considered Gemma's allergy. Anyhow, we had loads of fun and hope to go camping again next summer.

The few things that I would change would be:

The amount of nasty aggressive bee type-things attacking our food and us. Colin got a sting and so did little Naomi King. That was not okay.

Also, the toilets were REALLY NOT OKAY. I've never been in a toilet that smelled so pungent. Try to imagine this: A cheap knock-off perfume factory explodes and takes with it the neighboring sewage treatment plant, causing the two overpowering, acrid aromas to mingle and swirl about in the same airspace. That is precisely what these wretched pit toilets smelled like. I almost added some puke smell to them. I didn't. But seriously, it was so strong that I held my breath in them. Yet, despite my best efforts, after I had run 10 yards from the defiled area, I would breathe out only to find that my nasal passages had trapped "the reek" and I was forced to inhale the offending fumes. *shudder*

Okay, enough about the toilets-of-wretch... Here are some pictures!

Our epic tent "The Cave of Wonders". Yes, that's a hinged door.

Ahhh, nature. Now, where do we put our massive amounts of stuff?

The King Family. (From left to right: Jon, Naomi, Ruth)

A happy Colin. He's happy because the ancient percolator worked (I had serious doubts.)

Syris in his ottoman-equipped camp chair reading Wired Magazine. Because, it's important not to lose touch with technology when you are in the wilderness of Montana.

Ben driving the "ice ta-box."

Gemma enjoyed sharing her special rocks with Aunt Theresa(Anderson).

Gemma and Uncle Jon(Anderson). Jon King pointed out that Gemma closely resembled a tiny ewok. I heartily agree.

Naomi King peeking in on Caleb Anderson. Adorable kids!

Naomi. Or, as Ben and Gemma called her "Maoni." Same letters, wrong order.

Colin made this percussion instrument with an old guitar string, flattened beer caps, and a stick. We saw some at a street fair and he got inspired.

Ben playing the back-woods percussion instrument.

Syris in his awesome Costa Rican (correct me if I'm wrong please) hammock. How cool is it that Syris slept in a hammock? (I'm glad that a bear didn't lumber into the camp and eat him)

Montana. The happiest place on earth.

The picture that will make Gemma cringe in 10 years

I'm not really sure what else to say about this picture, but that Gemma will most likely dislike this picture in ten years. I personally, think that it captures the spirit of The Moot quite well and I will relish showing it to her future husband. :)

Sporty Shorts

Ben has decided to wear sports themed underwear today in lieu of pants. He is calling them his "sporty shorts." The fancy underwear are nicely complimented by a cowboy themed tee-shirt and green froggy rubber boots. Should I be worried?

Ranch Dressing

I just went out back and cut a ton of fresh chives. They made my hands smell, but I don't mind it right now at least. Anyway, in order to use my bounty I whipped up some scrum-didily-umptious ranch dressing. Here's the recipe:

1 cup of non-fat plain yougurt
1/8 cup of mayonnaise
1/8 cup finely chopped chives
2 cloves of fresh garlic, pressed
1 teaspoon of dill
1 Tablespoon of dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon of onion powder (NOT onion salt)
1 teaspoon of Kosher salt

Put all ingredients into a mini food processor and give it a few pulses (until it turns a lovely light-green hue) and then store in a jar or airtight container.

Why Naps For Mommy Are a Bad Idea

Today has been pretty interesting. I'm not going to say bad because despite all that has transpired today, I'm still pretty bubbly. The day started with Ben bouncing in to our room at 5:45 am to inform us (cheerfully, mind you) that his mouth hurt. Upon hearing this revelation I realized that crap, my throat hurts. Ahhhhh, I see now. After my revelation Colin croaked out, "I feel sick, my throat hurts." Seeing as how Gemma has been sick for a day already, I now understand that every one of the Smiths has a cold at the same time.

When Gemma's nap-time came, I was exhausted. I almost fell asleep reading "Frog and Toad" to Ben so I decided to rest while Gemma was napping. I closed my door and had Ben come into my room and play with some books and toys. He was a bit feisty in the beginning, slamming the closet door repeatedly, but eventually he quieted down and I tripped off to dreamland.

When I woke up 45 minutes later, I had a little surprise waiting for me. I had (un-opened) tampons on my head "making Mommy pretty." Ben found my bag of feminine items and he had collected them in an empty laundry basket. He was pushing them out of the side of basket torpedo-style and saying that he was "Shooting sticks. For my work." I'm sorry Ben, but what job is this exactly? I fail to see how that is legitimate work. That was not the end of the madness. The floor had sanitary napkins adhered to it and I was told by Ben that, again, "I'm doing my work, I put windows all over the floor."

This is what I get for taking a nap. I knew I should have ignored all of those unwanted bits of advice to "sleep when your baby sleeps."

Ass-tronomy lesson

I've always stayed away from potty humor. I honestly do not think that it's funny. The males in our house are usually very polite and never make rude jokes (out-loud at least). Until today. I have been teaching Ben the order of the planets. He's very interested in all things astronomical and has decided that he will "be an astronaut and go on missions" someday. Anyhow, he was doing such a good job learning. I was having him recite the planets for Colin and it took a turn for the worse around the seventh planet. Here's how it went down:

Me: "Ben, tell Daddy the order of the planets."
Ben: "Mercury, Venus, Erf (Earth), Mars..."
Me: "What's the big one Ben?"
Ben: "Oh! Jupiter. Ummm..."
Me: "The one with rings."
Ben: "Saturn!"
Me: "What's next?"
Ben: Stares blankly
Me: "Urrrr...."
Colin: "Your Butt!"
Ben: "He he, your butt!!! Uranus!"
Me: "Good job Colin."

We didn't get to Neptune.

Ben ate dinner in an unusually good mood because of his new joke, occasionally yelling "your butt!" It was soooo classy. I couldn't be more proud. The worst part was, I found myself hiding snickers from Ben. I never laugh at this kind of thing but this time, I just couldn't help myself.

Gemma's special words

Here are a few silly and cute things that Gemma says:

Gummy- Monkey
Mommy
Daddy
Bee- Ben
Dapee- Diaper
Booby- Poopy
Wubby- Water
Cuppy- Cup
EAT!
Dees! Dees!- Cheeks! Cheeks! (said while pinching my cheeks)
Uppy- Up
Dow- Down
Bookie- Book
Buckie- Binkie
Walkie- Walk
Caw- Chalk
Weeeee!- Slide or swing
Ba, Ba- Splash, splash
Beh Bee- Baby
Tseees- Cheese

Egg-free recipes

As some of you know, our dear girl is allergic to eggs. It has been interesting trying to feed her and we've pretty much banned foods with eggs in them around the house. My biggest challenge has been baking without the leavening properties of egg. I thought I would post some recipes on my blog so that I can use them and also, in case you ever want to bake for us, you can have some safe recipes. :)



Eggless Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour ( I’ve been trying to use more whole wheat flour so I use 1 cup whole wheat flour and 1 cup regular)
1 cup sugar, plus 2 tsp. more
4 tsp. baking powder
1 cup milk
3 Tbs. melted butter
1 cup fresh blueberries
Raw sugar crystals for the top

Heat oven to 350. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners. Combine flour, sugar and baking powder in a medium-size bowl. Stir in milk by hand and melted butter. Fold in blueberries. Fill each cup 2/3 full. Sprinkle tops of muffins with raw sugar. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.


Carrot Cake Loaf

Ingredients
9 large carrots, shredded
2 cups flour
2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup raisins; chopped (either golden or dark raisins)
2 large bananas; mashed
1 cup apple sauce
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Optional: 1 cup of chopped walnuts

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease and flour two loaf pans OR line the pans with "release" aluminum foil
Mix all ingredients thoroughly until well combined.
Bake about 1 hour or until top browns.
If you want to glaze your loaves, just mix 2 cups of powdered sugar with 1-2 TB of milk or cream.
You can make a thinner glaze by adding more liquid.
Pour this over the cooled loaves and spread evenly.

Anatomy 101

How often do we take for granted our vocabularies and the knowledge that we have. Sure, we know our body parts, their names and functions but we had to learn that all and someone taught us. I decided to teach Ben a more in-depth understanding of his body. Gemma is currently learning to touch her eye when we say "eye" and so on. It's very cute because whenever we say (in that border-line pratronizingly sweet voice) "Where's Gemmma's nose?" She presses her little snoot as flat as it can get and then starts making a whistley sniff sound while crinkling her eyes up and shreiking with delight. She's a doll.

Anyway, Ben's understanding of his bady is a bit more advanced than Gemma's condsiring the fact that he's has had two extra years to learn about the human body. I have been quizzing him about the lesser-know body parts. How many people know where their philtrum is? Well, Ben knows. He can now identify his philtrum, septum, nostrils, palate, gums, taste buds, temple, eye lids, jaw, scalp, throat, ear lobes, thumb, pinkie fingers, index fingers, knuckles, ball of foot, arch and heel. He has also learned the five senses and the parts that give us the ability to hear, see, smell, taste, and touch. Let me remind you that he's not even three yet. I know I'm bragging. I'm honestly, just really impressed with my little genius.

Quoteable Quotes

Okay here are some cute quotes from Ben (who refuses to be called anything but "Monkey Moo" at the moment). Right now The Moot (aka Gemma) is at the "ba ba ba, ma ma" stage so her quotes aren't quite as memorable as Ben's but her time will come.

Ben saw his pool hanging in the garage and very sadly told Colin: "That is my swimming pool. I love to play in it, but it is taking a nap."

The other day Ben said "A am a stinky vinegaroon. I need to take a bath."

While playing together Gemma managed to get a hold of Ben's hair and pull a chunk of it out by the roots. Ben didn't cry or fight back but he looked up at me with a pained expression while holding his head and said "Does Ben's head hurt?"

We call Gemma our vacuum baby because she spends her days scanning the carpet for lint, hair, crumbs, rocks and anything else gross that shouldn't be eaten, so that she can eat it. While my mom was babysitting the other day, Gemma has gotten under the table and was doing her vacuuming and Ben said to my mom in a slightly disgusted tone of voice "Those are called bits, Gemma eats the bits." He has also tattled on her and exclaimed "Mommy! Moot (Gemma) is being a vacuum baby!"

The other day I brought Ben into bed with me because he woke up way too early and I was hoping that he would go back to sleep. That did NOT happen. instead he wiggled around and entertained himself by annoying me while I tried to sleep. I actually did fall back to sleep for a bit but once he realized that I was sleeping he located a hole on my shirt and poked his finger through it. He thought it was hilarious and he kept on on poking me and then finally asked me "Are you naked?" Groggily I said "no Ben." To which Ben replied "Are you half naked?" I then got to explain why holes in clothing existed. I did not get to go back to sleep.


Words that are not said properly at the moment:

yeast- "geese"
zit- "zip"
camera- "crama"
Sandal- "sannual"
Buzz Lightyear- "Bud White-Ear"

Big Sky Country

I'm getting excited for our trip to Montana! If you've never been there then you can't understand that the sky really is BIG there. I'm a bit anxious about the incredibly long drive but we've done it twice before just not with two kids. We have a lot of fun things planned mostly involving food or the out-of-doors. Anyway, I'm just glad that Colin finally decided that he didn't know enough about sailing (from reading on the internet)to rent a 20' sailboat. I was a good wife and didn't crush his dreams, but good gracious, I was relieved when I could put my abundant and irrational fears to rest. If you are reading this, sorry Colin! :D

We are leaving tomorrow at 4:00 am and we will be Tweeting (on the website "Twitter") along I-90 from here to there. We would be overjoyed if you want to follow us along the way. Please do so at :

https://twitter.com/ErinEliseSmith
and
https://twitter.com/davidcolinsmith

Sewing and other notions

I decided recently that I wanted to sew and so now I'm kind of going nuts with it. I thought that I'd put up some pictures of Gemma in my homemade creations. I have been kind of making the designs up so that has been fun. Who needs patterns right.... Fabric was purchased from www.sewmamasew.com.

Mommy-Of-Two Olympics

Colin got off work late last night and I had been having a pretty stressful day. He called as he was leaving the office and I suggested that we have pizza for dinner. All I had to do was call it in and he would pick it up. I also had to pre-heat the oven. This seemingly simple task turned out to be the most challenging 30 minutes of my day. As it turns out, I was in the Mommy-Of-Two Olympics and I had to win the gold before I had my reward, a dinner prepared by someone else. Here's the play-by-play.

Welcome ladies and gentlemen! Thanks for tuning into to the Mommy-Of-Two Olympics! Our competitor today is Erin Smith. Let's see how she does. She's at the starting line and, she's off!

Erin starts the competition strong with a bolt up the stairs while holding the thirty pound Ben. She quickly sets him down to play while she finds the Papa Murphy's website, decides on a pizza, calls in and places an order under the name Colin. Amazing! This event was completed in almost record time! Now to the finish line, pre-heating the oven. But wait! She isn't done with this leg yet because Ben has just surprised her with a setback. While she was ordering he found a pump bottle of lotion and emptied it's contents onto the nightstand, smeared it in his hair and rubbed it all over his hands and arms. Erin surprisingly bounces back and scoops up Ben and washes him and the nightstand off while remaining untouched by the lotion explosion. She is moving on like a pro.

Erin starts to head downstairs to pre-heat the oven but as she is entering the hallway with Ben in tow she hears Gemma wake up from her nap with a horrific wail. Still thinking on her toes, she enters Gemma's room grabs her and plunks her on her free hip. This mom isn't going to let anything get in the way of the finish line! She bounds down the stairs with 45 pounds of dead weight on her hips and it doesn't even phase her. She's almost to the bottom of the stairs, but wait Gemma has a surprise as well she has vomited all over Erin's shirt and herself. Without skipping a beat, Erin sets Ben down at the bottom of the stairs and hurries to the living room. She strips Gemma, puts her in last nights pj's that were miraculously on the couch and tears her own barf saturated shirt off to reveal her black lacy nursing bra! But there is no time to go back upstairs to get a new shirt right now. Erin can see the oven, her finish-line. She can taste her cheesy, saucy victory.

With Gemma in the bouncy seat Erin begins her sprint to the finish. Just as she enters the final stretch she realizes that Ben is nowhere in sight. Wait! Ben has escaped onto the deck. Wasting no time, Erin runs outside to grab Ben. But wait, she is only wearing her bra! Thank God nobody sees her! With victory on the brain, Erin drags herself (with Ben on her hip) to the kitchen and turns on the oven. She's done it! She has reached her goal.

A jingle of keys is heard and the door is opened! Colin is home! What amazing timing. But wait what is that draft? Erin looks down to see that Ben has unlatched her nursing bra on one side. As Colin rounds the corner holding Erin's delicious winnings. She realizes that Colin was the true winner. He got pizza and an eyeful!

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.

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!