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Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog (35)

Massachusetts blogs (US-MA), 05/10/2012
16:47
That breastfeeding cover photo. . .
» Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog

Everyone’s talking about the Time cover for this week, with its photograph of a mother nursing her three-year-old son. I think it’s a brilliant, smart photo. The photographer says that he meant to reference images of Jesus and Mary, but frankly, even before I read that, I immediately thought of the many classic nursing Madonna paintings–something like [...]

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Massachusetts blogs (US-MA), 03/30/2012
14:27
Parenting (Book) Parodies
» Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog

Recently I read Let’s Panic About Babies, mostly because it was c0-authored by a fellow alum. It’s cute–not 200+ pages cute, but cute and amusing for about 10 pages, or a very quick skim. Then I read this post in the NYTimes Motherlode blog, about another parodic parenting book. I didn’t know parenting book parodies were [...]

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Massachusetts blogs (US-MA), 03/06/2012
20:15
Quick Links: What I’m reading. . .
» Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog

Huh. . . could having a new baby be keeping me a tad busy? Perhaps. Kid No. 1 is asleep in my bed as I type–we still co-sleep for most/all of the night, but he weaned himself completely (hasn’t even asked to nurse in two weeks, hasn’t latched in two months), very very gently. Kid [...]

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Massachusetts blogs (US-MA), 02/08/2012
11:37
Up with the Midwives in MA!
» Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog

Big year (so far!) for midwives in MA! The CDC home birth review has good, clear findings on midwife-attended home births, and is co-authored by an MA/Boston scholar and midwife advocate. And CNMs in MA no longer must practice under a doctor–wow! –Christina

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Massachusetts blogs (US-MA), 01/10/2012
20:12
Motherhood Museum
» Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog

I love Phyllis Chesler, feminist, professor, writer, psychologist, scholar, and poet-on-birth extraordinaire (just dip into With Child: A Diary of Motherhood if in doubt on that last point). On her website two months ago–but sadly I’m just seeing it now–she published an amazing review of the brand-new Museum of Motherhood that opened in September in Manhattan. [...]

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Massachusetts blogs (US-MA), 01/03/2012
14:41
Book Review: Viral Mothers
» Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog

Bernice L. Hausman. Viral Mothers: Breastfeeding in the Age of HIV/AIDS (U Michigan, 2011). What a great book! It’s academic, for sure, and not for the casual reader, but it’s a great, perceptive look at so many issues surrounding breastfeeding in our culture. Hausman considers the famous pro-breastfeeding ad campaign of a few years ago, [...]

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Massachusetts blogs (US-MA), 12/29/2011
07:32
Cute preschooler nursing anecdotes
» Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog

By the time I was 36 weeks pregnant and my son was three years and three months old, Marcus seemed to have forgotten entirely how to latch and suck. He still asked to wa-wa every couple days, but he just couldn’t figure it out. Stubborn little boy, though–when asked, he said yes, he’s still drinking [...]

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Massachusetts blogs (US-MA), 12/16/2011
11:44
More thoughts on being “post-dates”
» Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog

I’m 41 weeks pregnant. When I’m out and about and strangers ask me, “When are you due?” and I say, “Last week,” they look terribly shocked. Am I not supposed to leave my house until I have the baby? Clearly, activity is good for my body, and just as clearly, things need to get done–three-year-olds [...]

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Massachusetts blogs (US-MA), 12/13/2011
11:40
Simplicity (thoughts on being “post-dates”)
» Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog

I’m 41 weeks pregnant. Here’s an incredibly simple webpage (I didn’t make it up, but it’s a gem) that answers the question that comes at me from all directions these days: Have you had that baby yet? –Christina

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Massachusetts blogs (US-MA), 12/06/2011
14:25
Been there, done that. . . or not: second pregnancy thoughts
» Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog

I sort of thought that, well, I’ve done this all already, it’s somewhat anticlimactic, etc., about this (my second) pregnancy. But of course that’s not true at all–everything is different, in part just because the context is (I have a preschooler now, I’m working full time right up until the end of my pregnancy this [...]

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Massachusetts blogs (US-MA), 12/01/2011
14:38
Love for my birth ball
» Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog

How is it so comfortable? I sit for half an hour in the morning at a cafe on campus, check my email, get some papers in order for the day, file away any small recently-graded assignments, and have a mug of steamed milk, but oh my, that cafe chair kills me–my feet feel heavy and [...]

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Massachusetts blogs (US-MA), 11/29/2011
14:33
Nursing through pregnancy, and super gentle weaning
» Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog

My son is three years and three months old. He’s still nursing, nominally, even though my milk is, as far as I can tell, entirely gone. If there’s colostrum there already, he doesn’t seem to notice it. Basically, he’ll ask to nurse every 1-3 days these days–this has actually been the pattern for the past [...]

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Massachusetts blogs (US-MA), 11/22/2011
13:09
High-protein snacks for pregnancy and beyond
» Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog

I guess I’m nesting (at 38 weeks along). I’ve stashed ziploc baggies of raw almonds around the house, near my bed and favorite nursing chair, and I I just made 6 dozen high-protein pancakes and stuck them in the freezer for the next couple weeks, and beyond. These pancakes are packed with cooked quinoa, instead [...]

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Massachusetts blogs (US-MA), 11/15/2011
19:06
Book review: Cynthia Gabriel’s _Natural Hospital Birth_
» Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog

Cynthia Gabriel, Natural Hospital Birth: The Best of Both Worlds (Harvard Common Press, 2011). “Everything goes in cycles in medicine and in health care, just as in life. Cynthia Gabriel’s new book comes at a fortuitous ‘sweet spot’ when obstetric birth practices in the United States are again changing [and]. . . liberalizing” (vi). So [...]

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Massachusetts blogs (US-MA), 11/09/2011
20:44
Babies in carseats
» Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog

I think a lot of parents have heard of positional asphyxia and the risk to newborns/young infants, but many don’t really connect what they’ve heard to the everyday basics of carseats–especially those so-called baby buckets. I’m on an online messageboard where parents (mainly moms, but some dads) post about questions or concerns about their children, and [...]

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Massachusetts blogs (US-MA), 11/02/2011
11:25
Inspirational novels for pregnancy?
» Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog

When I was pregnant with my first child, I read a lot. I read the standard books on pregnancy and birth, and then their counter-cultural counterparts, and then all the things referenced in all of those, and then anything tangentially referenced in those, etc. I also read and reread some novels, though, and I think the Sigrid Undset Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy, [...]

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Massachusetts blogs (US-MA), 11/01/2011
15:19
A Dr. speaks: Spotlight on c-sections here in Massachusetts
» Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog

This article came out in The Boston Globe Magazine just this week. Written by an OB, it’s a pretty amazing story of the Massachusetts c-section rate. Because the Globe online is now subscription-only, you might or might not be able to follow this link (or try to find the article yourself via another search; if [...]

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Massachusetts blogs (US-MA), 10/25/2011
07:54
Another parent vs. person identity crisis
» Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog

Ever since my husband and I have been married, we’ve had an annual Halloween party. When we moved to our current place just one week before Halloween, we still pulled it off; when our son was just two months old one Halloween, ditto. Now, though, with more of our friends having toddlers, I’m in a [...]

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Massachusetts blogs (US-MA), 10/20/2011
14:25
Mini-Reivew of Magical Beginnings by Deepak Chopra
» Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog

Somehow, though I read extensive about pregnancy and birth with my first child, I never came across this volume, so I recently picked up Magical Beginnings, Enchanted Lives: A Holistic Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth, by Deepak Choprea and David Simon (Three Rivers Press, 2005). It’s hard to “review” a book like this, I think. For [...]

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Massachusetts blogs (US-MA), 10/15/2011
14:13
Mini-Review of Origins by Annie Murphy Paul
» Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog

A month or so ago I finished reading Origins: How the Nine Months Before Birth Shape the Rest of Our Lives, by Annie Murphy Paul (Free Press, 2010). It was, overall, a worthwhile read, but I think I had higher expectations than I should have for it. A few things I’d read, before picking up [...]

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Massachusetts blogs (US-MA), 10/10/2011
14:19
Pregnancy and Publicity
» Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog

I’ve been thinking about how funny it is that pregnancy is written on our bodies, and that such a private, intimate state–between me and my husband and me and my child–becomes public knowledge just by my moving around the city. It’s strange, really–long ago, I completely rejected the idea of an engagement ring for exactly [...]

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Massachusetts blogs (US-MA), 10/02/2011
08:25
“A Woman’s Right to Choose”
» Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog

Recently on a forum I participate in, someone mentioned women who get pressured by their OBs into c-sections, and someone else spoke up in (what I interpreted as) a combination of defensiveness and genuine curiosity to ask why pro-midwifery folks always “get all preachy about” this issue, and why we couldn’t just see it as [...]

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Massachusetts blogs (US-MA), 09/29/2011
06:08
Thoughts on surviving with a newborn
» Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog

Oh yeah, it’s all about survival. Babies cry when they’re separated from us–from our warmth and our heartbeats especially–because of survival, because our species wouldn’t have made it this far if we could set a baby down on the ground in the jungle: quiet babies, in those circumstances, would have been quietly nibbled up by [...]

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Massachusetts blogs (US-MA), 09/22/2011
05:57
I’ve figured it out!
» Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog

I think I’ve figured out the difference between my first pregnancy and this one–don’t laugh! The difference is–um, I have a child now. Yep. Short of some basic randomness involved in the biology of the thing–baby might be positioned differently, so the kicks might feel different, etc.–I think for me the big difference is really [...]

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Massachusetts blogs (US-MA), 09/18/2011
09:22
Cheers for vaginal birth!
» Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog

An online friend just had a vaginal breech birth, in a hospital, here in Massachusetts. That shouldn’t be such a rarity, such a cause for celebration, but things being what they are in this country, it unfortunately is. When I mentioned this to my midwife, she knew immediately which OB and which hospital she must [...]

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Massachusetts blogs (US-MA), 09/12/2011
09:21
Expectations: thoughts on a second pregnancy, birth, and child
» Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog

When I was pregnant with my son (now three years old), the most difficult thing for me about the experience was that I’d never done this before–it was all completely new to me. In retrospect, I think that newness also made some things easier to accept. Now, though, at 28 weeks along with whoever this [...]

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Massachusetts blogs (US-MA), 09/06/2011
08:42
Due/Do
» Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog

At 27 weeks along, I all of a sudden look obviously pregnant to strangers. No longer do people give me those funny little glances, trying to figure out if I am–I am now offered a seat everytime I get on a bus or train, and people I meet (a friend of a friend, a new [...]

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Massachusetts blogs (US-MA), 09/03/2011
18:21
“Necesareans”
» Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog

I’ve long been a fan of Jill’s great site, Unnecesarean.com, but I just recently stumbled across this interesting and thought-provoking blog post about “necesareans,” or truly medically necessary c-sections. It’s definitely worth a read; there’s a lot of information here, and lots of links to external sources, and it’s written by someone with a natural-birth [...]

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Massachusetts blogs (US-MA), 08/25/2011
18:15
Placental encapsulation–yea or nay?
» Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog

This local placenta encapsulator was recommended to me recently, and as I think about my upcoming homebirth, I’m not yet decided whether to go this route. The squeamish factor that some cite doesn’t bother me, but I am truly terrible at taking pills. Awful. I gag every time. I nearly vomit every third or fourth [...]

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Massachusetts blogs (US-MA), 08/18/2011
18:14
Birth circles, homebirth meet-ups, and other social events
» Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog

Recently, on a parenting listserv I’m a part of, there have been several pleas for real-life, in-person get-togethers to discuss birth. One mom began by asking if others would be interested in a natural-childbirth-focused discussion group, and the discussion along those lines made me think about the idea of birth circles (I’m not aware of [...]

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Massachusetts blogs (US-MA), 08/09/2011
09:35
Homebirths (still) in the news!
» Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog

This just in from The New York Times–and, shockingly, it’s not even in the “Styles” section, which is normally where they stick all their breastfeeding/natural-birthing articles! –Christina

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Massachusetts blogs (US-MA), 08/01/2011
10:00
Homebirths in the news!
» Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog

My sweet friend from Brooklyn is featured in this piece–go take a look! –Christina

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Massachusetts blogs (US-MA), 07/20/2011
22:49
Quick links: What I’m reading
» Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog

I’m waiting on the book Origins: How the Nine Months Before Birth Shape the Rest of Our Lives from the library, but meanwhile I thought this Lisa Belkin–even though she normally aggravates me–preview (not really a review) of it was intriguing. Beyond intriguing, into downright uplifting, is this piece about one hospital’s attempts to lower the [...]

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Massachusetts blogs (US-MA), 07/19/2011
04:18
Great read!
» Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog

How is this article different from all other mainstream news reports about birth outside of hospitals? Well, it gives the birthing mother agency (even in the title!) and emphasizes her calmness, strength, and innate bodily knowledge. Worth a quick look! –Christina

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Massachusetts blogs (US-MA), 07/14/2011
09:24
Babies vs. Big Boys
» Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog

My son is almost three, and a self-proclaimed “BIG BOY!” We didn’t consciously use that language with him, but he must have picked it up from somewhere, and now uses it constantly: “No, mommy, I put my shoes on by myself–only BIG BOYS can do that!” He’s still nursing, and he still co-sleeps for at [...]

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Massachusetts Friends of Midwives Blog (35)