Birth Story

So, I've not hidden the fact that my daughter was born on The Farm. (Wondering why I chose that? See the info below) Anyhow, I have some interesting info for you... there's now a movie about the Farm Midwives! Want to know more? Here ya go!

Birth Story: Ina May Gaskin and the Farm Midwives tells the story of counterculture heroine Ina May Gaskin and her spirited friends, who began delivering each other’s babies in 1970, on a caravan of hippie school buses, headed to a patch of rural Tennessee land. With Ina May as their leader, the women taught themselves midwifery from the ground up, and became an integral part of a new, entirely communal, agricultural society called The Farm. The people of the Farm grew their own food, built their own houses, published their own books, and, as word of their social experiment spread, created a model of care for women and babies that changed a generation’s approach to childbirth.
Forty years ago Ina May led the charge away from isolated hospital birthing rooms, where husbands were not allowed and mandatory forceps deliveries were the norm. Today, as nearly one third of all US babies are born via C-section, she fights to preserve her community's hard-won knowledge. With incredible access to the midwives’ archival video collection, the film not only captures the unique sisterhood at The Farm Clinic--from its heyday into the present--but shows childbirth the way most people have never seen it--unadorned, unabashed, and awe-inspiring.


I watched it. I cried. Like a baby. But quieter. It made me some crazy kind of homesick, along with happy and sad and elated... it's one of those rare documentaries that doesn't make you paranoid - it makes you FEEL.

It will be out on April 30 on DVD and available for download (there's even an educational version! Thinking this might be good for doula clients and childbirth classes later...) Seriously. Check it out. Go see. There could be a screening yet in your area, too. Go look. And get all inspired and stuff. 

Now, I said I'd tell you why I chose the Farm for birthing my daughter. The following info is from their statistics.


The Farm Midwifery Center has served mothers, babies, and their families for over 35 years with a practice based on the belief that pregnancy and childbirth are natural life events. Prenatal care, support during labor and delivery, and postpartum supervision are provided by a group of seven midwives credentialed as Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) by the North American Registry of Midwives, and also certified by the state of Tennessee. Central to their work is the Midwives Model of Care© in which the midwife:

• Monitors the physical, psychological, and social well-being of the mother throughout the
childbearing cycle.
• Provides the mother with individual education, counseling, prenatal care, hands-on assistance
during labor and delivery, and postpartum care.
• Minimizes technical interventions.
• Identifies and refers women who require obstetrical attention.

The statistics for over 2500 births at the Farm Midwifery Center show a C-section rate of less than 2%
(compared to a national rate of 32.8%), with low rates of anesthesia use, forceps deliveries, episiotomies,
and perineal tears (see preliminary report of 2844 pregnancies, 1970-2010 below).
Total accepted for care: 2,844
Births completed at home 2,694 94.70%
Transports to hospital 148 5.20%
Cesareans 50 1.70%
First time mothers 1,048 36.80%
Multiparas (woman has given birth 2 or more times) 1,796 63.20%
Grand multiparas (woman has given birth 5 or more
times) 243 8.50%
Total Breech 99 3.50%
Postpartum hemorrhage 46 1.70%
VBACs (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) 123 4.30%
Intact Perineum 1817 68.70%
1st degree tear 485 19.40%
2nd degree tear 87 3.20%
4th degree tear 1 0.04%
Forceps delivery 10 0.37%
Preeclampsia 11 0.40%
Maternal mortality 0
Maternal morbidity 0
Neonatal mortality (out of 1000 births) 1.7
Source: Birth Matters, by Ina May Gaskin, Published 2011, Seven Stories Press Press, pp235-236

Probiotics for Children

Probiotics are a pretty big deal nowadays, so I'm sure you've heard of them. You may have taken a probiotic supplement, or checked the side of your yogurt container to see if it contains live active cultures (yes, this is a good idea!) You may have even tried kefir, or kombucha... but are you as diligent with your children? It can be hard to get probiotics into your kids - telling them it's good for them probably won't work. There are specially made probiotics for children, but are they worth it? How do you do it? Let's talk about that...

The health benefits of probiotics include keeping your digestive system working well, reducing incidence and severity of digestive illness in children, and reducing antibiotic related digestive upset (not to mention the potential for immune benefits - the more we learn about the immune system the more we realize how closely it is related to the gut!) Hopefully with even the limited list I've given here you're saying, "Sign me up!" So, how?

There are many, many foods that contain good bacteria - I'm not going to list them all (I'm sure you can google it.) I've been most successful with freezing yogurt tubes for my daughter (she calls them "Gamine" - ice cream). My son loves Lifeway's ProBugs kefir smoothies in a pouch - it's fun to eat, and he asks for them daily. I always use whole organic dairy, and we only eat cultured dairy... if dairy isn't an option for you, consider yogurt made from goat's milk, sauerkraut, spirulina, miso soup, or even kombucha (be careful with some of these, as they could cause stomach upset if you're not used to them.) If you can't get your children to eat probiotic foods, keep working at it, but in the meantime...

There are two kinds of children's probiotic supplements that are easy to use. For younger children who won't take a tablet, there is flavorless powder you can mix into their food, breastmilk, or formula. My favorite is Children's Therelac - I take this myself from time to time because I have trouble swallowing pills. For older children, or those who are suspicious of something mixed into their food, there are flavored tablets... we've tried several and all are similar. It's probably easiest to look through the refrigerated probiotics area and find one that suits you - we need gluten-free and free of artificial colors, and then I tend to pick the one with the most strains of probiotics. 

With so many options for probiotics for children, getting them into your kids' diets shouldn't be too difficult - just keep trying until you find what works for you!

**I am not associated with any of the brands I've mentioned here - they're just what we've liked.

Stretching Your Grocery Budget: Meat

Too much meat!

You may or may not be aware that I live in the Washington, DC metro area. When we first moved here, our food spending jumped from $200/month to $800/month!! Part of it was being in an unfamiliar area, not knowing what was in season, etc. - but most of it was just the sheer cost of food here. I cook all our food pretty much, since we're free of artificial colors, flavors, and gluten (due to my children's dietary restrictions), so we don't do processed food, and we rarely eat out... so you'd think our budget would be on the low side anyhow. But I had to do a little re-learning, and stick to my normal budget-stretching endeavors a little more strictly. Since I've now cut our grocery budget by half, and I've hit my stride again, it's time to share a bit of what we do - and see if I can make things a little cheaper for you, too!

So first, let's talk meat. I've talked before about using a whole chicken, but I cannot find that post for the life of me. (If you can, go for it! One of my other blogs is here: http://www.whattoexpect.com/blogs/natural-mama-growing-organic-children )

You're probably aware that an easy way to make your diet healthier and cut your costs is to go vegetarian - but what if you don't want to? I'm not a big meat eater and neither is my son, but my husband and daughter are, so we're omnivores around here. So instead of cutting meat out, I stretch it. Most people don't realize that a serving of meat is only about 3 ounces. (This is about the size of a deck of cards.) If you eat meat, you probably eat more meat than that frequently. We don't. And we don't raise our own meat, or hunt (those will save you money, too, along with doing an animal-share, which we don't have room for.) So. How? I'm so glad you ask... come into my parlor!

CUT GLASS. No, I don't serve my meat in cut glass, I don't cook it in cut glass... it's a terrible acronym. CUT your meat into smaller pieces. Add more Grains. Add more Legumes. And Spices/Sauces. Try to ensure that your meat is cut into bite size pieces. If you're doing steaks, do 3oz filets, not big ol' honkin' 10oz porterhouses. You can measure with a kitchen scale, or do the cheater-estimator way - buy 1lb of meat. That's 16oz. Divide up accordingly. For my family, if I buy 1lb of (free range grass fed, so expensive) ground beef, I divide it into 2 - that's 8oz each package - and freeze one, use the other. That's 3oz each for Dr. Scientist and I, and 1oz each for the kids (they're small, they don't eat full adult portions yet.) Then... I add things.

If I'm making chicken tacos, I take 2 3-4oz chicken breasts, cook them, shred them (easy trick for this: use your stand mixer on low to shred the chicken while it's still hot), and add in 2/3 c cooked quinoa, 2/3 c cooked lentils, 1 tbsp spice mixture, and 1 c salsa fresca. That's now my (very flavorful) base for my tacos - it'll make a TON of tacos, including leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Add in your lettuce, tomato, cheese, sour cream... whatever you put in your tacos... you'll only need maybe 2 tablespoons of the mixture in each taco. I make and fry my own tortillas but that's not necessary. Serve with a bit of steamed broccoli. And we just did dinner and tomorrow's lunch for about $6-8. (Less than 50 cents per meal per person, if we're counting.) Notice the order there - I CUT (shredded) the chicken. Added grain (quinoa), legumes (lentils), spices, and salsa fresca (sauces). Then ALWAYS add veggies to your meal - you ought to have 2 servings of vegetables plus one serving of fruit per meal, approximately, to get your daily servings of fruits and veggies. (this tip comes from a friend - hi Ellen!)

Always cut ground beef with cooked black beans. Smush them a little, mix them in, and it'll give a flavor, texture, and iron boost and nobody will be the wiser. 

Ok, what else can we do that takes plenty of grains, legumes, sauces, spices...? Here are just a few ideas for you

Murgh Makhani (butter chicken) served over brown basmati (instead of thickening with ground cashews or cornstarch, try thickening with a paste made of one onion, 5 cloves garlic, 2 inches peeled ginger, 1/2 cup white beans - in your food processor or blender.)  Also in this camp - any sort of curry!

Beef Stroganoff

Any sort of soup or stew!

Meatloaf or meatballs - some ideas for mix ins: bread or cracker crumbs, almond meal, oatmeal, black beans, salsa, minced spinach, carrot, celery, or onion, quinoa, bulgur or barley if you can eat it, eggs or ground chia seeds made into gel, minced sun dried tomatoes, etc. My favorite recipe is ground turkey, oatmeal, eggs, salsa, and spinach!

Cook your meat to make broth first - use that for a soup or stew and use the rest of the meat in something else!

Quesadillas - a small bit of meat combined with cheese, salsa, tortillas, sour cream, avocado, black olives, maybe a bit of black beans... this one's easy, too!!

Lasagna, enchiladas, anything that uses a little meat and a lot of other ingredients! (Bonus: nobody will notice or complain that you're not using much meat because it's not the main part of these dishes in the first place!)

Stir fry dishes, or Thai noodle dishes - a small bit of meat, lots of veggies, rice noodles or rice, etc. Sauces and spices. YUM.

There are so many more ideas, but it's time to wrap this up - so I'll leave you with my favoritest EVER spice mixture. I put it on EVERYTHING from smashed potatoes to baked chicken, to taco meat, to... everything. Not joking. If it doesn't have my curry spice mix it has this one. My poor family.

Best ever seasoning mixture:

1 part garlic powder
2 parts onion powder
2 parts dried oregano
1 part smoked spanish paprika
1 part cayenne pepper

Quinoa Dots (gluten free)

I really, really need to put some time into this blog - it's been forever. I've been a bit busy :) With doula work, with writing work, with working in the shop. And I'm not going to do it right now, either, because I want to share a recipe with you.

Quinoa dots

INGREDIENTS:
3 cups cooked quinoa, room temperature (this is about 2.5 cups water and 1.25 cups quinoa - ish. I like to cook it in veggie stock.)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (any cheese will do, but I like parmesan or sharp cheddar)
1-2 teaspoons homemade taco seasoning (recipe below)
1 1/2 cups gluten free breadcrumbs or crushed cornflakes
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

DIRECTIONS:
.Mix everything but the olive oil together, just knead it together with your hands like you would meatloaf. Let it stand for about five minutes. Take small handfuls of the mixture and form into little round nugget shapes - or (much easier) use a cookie scoop to do this (a little ice cream scoop deal that does about 2 tablespoons).

Put them on a parchment or silicone lined baking sheet (or two). Brush the tops with a little extra virgin olive oil. Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes - you want them to feel fairly firm; these are a pretty sturdy food.

Serve with sour cream and salsa for dipping, either warm or at room temperature. The leftovers store quite well for about 3 days, but I sincerely doubt they'll last that long in your refrigerator (they don't in mine!)

Birth Doula Services!

**I AM NOT AVAILABLE TO DOULA DURING 2013!! If you'd like doula recommendations, please feel free to contact me. I know other doulas who are wonderful and very much available!**

Portal to a Greener Dimension is now offering Birth Doula Services!!
This is a very exciting development for us. I'd like to give you a little of my background information here, along with how to contact me if you're interested in hiring a birth doula in the Washington, DC area (Maryland side).

A doula is: A guide. An advocate. An assistant. A coach. A servant. A friend. Two helping hands. One loving heart.

About me:
Name: Christina
Location: Rockville, MD
Phone: 310-633-1573
Email: cseronello@gmail.com
Qualifications: in process of DONA certification
Personal notes: I have two children. My son was born in the hospital via c-section. My daughter's birth was a natural VBAC water birth in a birthing cabin on the Farm. I am still nursing both my children, and I will either have to pump for them or have my husband or sitter bring them to me during births if the labor is long.

Services:
* Two prenatal visits in order to discuss your hopes for your birth and how to plan for a happy, memorable experience. I am knowledgeable about natural childbirth, common interventions, comfort measures for labor, pregnancy, newborn care, breastfeeding, baby wearing, cloth diapering, and natural and green birth and parenting topics.
* A lending library of childbirth and parenting books.
* Attending your birth, including laboring with you as soon as you feel you need me - at home or at the location you've chosen to birth your baby. I will provide continuous labor support during the labor and birth according to your wishes. At this point I prefer to attend births at homes within one hour of White Flint Metro station or at the following hospitals (in order of preference due to distance): Shady Grove, Walter Reed/National Naval Medical Center, Holy Cross, Sibley, George Washington University.
* Phone and email support both before and after your birth to answer questions and provide emotional support as needed.
* One postpartum visit to review your birth with you, answer any newborn and postpartum questions, and provide breastfeeding and emotional support.

Labor Support:
* I will suggest positions that may help to relieve pain or make labor more effective.
* I will help with any positions that require physical support.
* I will provide emotional support in whatever way you need.
* I will provide massage, counter pressure, hip pressure, etc. as you need.
* I will demonstrate and assist with using a birthing ball (I provide one if you're of average height.)
* I will suggest and assist with deep relaxation and visualization techniques.


Links:
See my Pricing here!
See the Q&A here!Please see my client calendar at DoulaMatch!
Facebook
Pinterest
Twitter

Berry Cobbler

Yes, it's delicious. Even my picky 3 year old ate it. No, you can't find the recipe somewhere else, and I hope I remember what I did, because I just made it up as I went along!

4-6 cups assorted berries (I used raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries)
1 cup water
1 tbsp corn starch
1/2 cup sucanat

3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
3/4 cup oats
3 tbsp butter
1 cup sour cream
1 tbsp water or milk

1 pint cream
1 tbsp powdered sugar

Mix the first 4 ingredients in a large saucepan with a lid. Turn it over medium heat until it's bubbling gently. While it's cooking, mix the next 3 ingredients with your fingers until it resembles coarse crumbs, then stir the sour cream in with a fork. If it's not all moistened, add a tablespoon water or milk and mix again. It should be thick, like biscuit dough. If your berry mixture is slightly thickened and bubbly now is the time - turn it down low and add dollops of the cobbler mixture. I like to use a small ice cream scoop. Then put the lid on and set your timer for 20 minutes. When the timer goes off, turn all the little dollops over, put the lid back on, and turn the burner off. Let it cool for a few - you don't want it boiling to serve it. When it's just warm, beat your cream and powdered sugar until soft peaks form - you don't want it too stiff for this. Serve one dumpling with berry sauce and whipped cream over the top to each person :) Wish your belly could hold more.

Lending Library

Now available for clients is a lending library!!
The rules:
1 - Please limit yourself with how long you keep my books; I do have other clients!
2 - Please return all materials by your post-partum visit!
3 - If I don't have a book in right now, let me know you'd like to borrow it and I'll hold it for you when it's returned!
4 - I'm always trying to expand this lending library - if you're done with a book after your pregnancy and would like to donate it please let me know!

Pam England:
Birthing from Within

Pamela Fierro:
The Everything Twins Triplets and More Book

Ina May Gaskin:
Ina May's Guide to Childbirth
Ina May's Guide to Breastfeeding
Spiritual Midwifery
Birth Matters: A Midwife's Manifesta

Henci Goer:
The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth

Dr. Alan Greene:
Raising Baby Green

Dr. Harvey Karp:
The Happiest Toddler on the Block

Marie Mongan:
Hypnobirthing: The Mongan Method

Heidi Murkoff and Sharon Mazel:
What to expect When you're Expecting
What to expect: The Toddler Years

Gayle Pryor:
Nursing Mother, Working Mother: The Essential Guide to Feeding your Baby Before and After Returning to Work

William and Martha Sears:
The Birth Book: Everything You need to know to have a safe and satisfying birth

100,000 Baby Names

(DVD) Yoga Pregnancy

Giveaways and Theft!

I want to link you to a blog post recently written by Julie of Cloth Diaper Geek about an Ergo that was scammed after a giveaway from the Abby's Lane Twitter party held last week. I'm linking to this both because it may be a good warning for bloggers who do giveaways, and also because - the person who actually won it was me! I couldn't figure out what was going on... but Julie did. And luckily enough, Abby's Lane was fantastic and contributed an extra Ergo so I could have one, too. So, Thank you, Stephanie and co, and thank you Julie for being so honest and helpful - and for the lovely Ergo I hope to receive soon!

Vaccines, Immunizations, Vaccinations....

I get asked (a lot, for some reason) if my children are vaccinated, and how, and why.

Before I actually answer that question (and yes, I will answer it) I want to start by saying... like most parenting decisions, this is up to YOU, the parent. What do I mean by that? I mean you should research vaccinations, both as a whole and each individual one. I mean you should know what is going into your child, and why. You should know the risks of vaccinating, and the risks of not vaccinating. You should know when your child should be getting each vaccine. You should know the alternatives to conventional vaccinations and the CDC recommended schedule. Once you know all this... you should make the decision based upon your knowledge and your family situation.

How can you learn all of this? The internet is a good place to start. Let's check out...

The CDC's recommended schedule
Vaccines on Dr. Sears' website
A rebuttal to Dr. Sears' alternative schedule
A "user-friendly" alternative vaccination schedule, and some info, by Dr. Donald Miller (author of "Mercury on the Mind")
A much longer and more articulate post than mine on vaccines by Samantha McCormick on Ronnie Falcao's site, gentlebirth.org

After wandering the CDC website (there's a lot more on there than I linked to), and reading a little bit online, you're ready for some articles and books, right?

Underimmunization...
Just an abstract at this link, but it's about immunization against influenza in patients with rheumatoid arthritis - interesting
The experience of physicians about parental vaccine safety concerns
MMR doesn't increase incidence of IBS...
Safety of MMR...

There are about a million more, too. Just look. There is so much info out there it's overwhelming. So what if you want it all in one place? How about a book or two? Here's a few, with the top two being frequently recommended.

The Vaccine Book
Vaccine Safety Manual

Vaccine History
Vaccine Epidemic (pretty inflammatory)

And if you go to Amazon and look around, you'll find a lot more.

Okay. You're all info'd out. I've linked you to a lot, and told you there's WAY more out there. So... what did I do?

I read, and read, and read. I considered our unique situation - my husband is a scientist, researching various diseases. I considered the fact that I breastfeed my children full-term (until they're ready to wean themselves) and that this provides them with a degree of immunity. I read the news, and considered the outbreaks of illnesses in various areas around the country. I spoke to friends, and family, and pediatricians galore. I listened to my heart, and to my gut.

Then, I made up a schedule. I confirmed it with Dr. Scientist, who knows more about this stuff than I do to start with. Even so, he did his research anyhow, made a couple suggestions, and agreed with the final product. Our children get one immunization at a time. These are spaced at least 6 weeks apart. If a child is particularly ill, we'll put it off until the baby's well again. They're in order according to what the baby is most likely to be exposed to - with the most likely being first on the list. This list actually changes, and rearranges, due to outbreaks of illnesses that we can vaccinate against. I speak to the pediatrician each time when we go in for a well visit, and discuss if the schedule is good at this point or if we should rearrange it due to current circumstances. At most ages, my kids have the same vaccinations as their CDC-recommended vaccinated peers, minus those we've skipped. If we move or travel to a country where they're likely to be exposed to something they've not been vaccinated for, we bump up the schedule a bit.

So... all that to say... we did what works for us, in our unique situation. And to anyone who's wondering what they should do? It's that. Not what we did... but what works for you, in your unique situation.

Valentine's Day!

Let's talk a little bit about Valentine's Day. I often hear people say they hate this holiday. I also hear that it's a "made up holiday". Here is my problem with that... they're ALL made up holidays!!! Yep. ALL of them. How do I know this? Was there a calendar with holidays on it at the creation of the universe? ... Yeah. Now you're thinking. Of course not. Was any holiday divinely ordained? Of course not.

What is the definition of a holiday? It comes from Middle English - and it's just "holy day". In modern English the common definition is:

: a day on which one is exempt from work; specifically : a day marked by a general suspension of work in commemoration of an event

(That one's from Merriam Webster.)

So, by that definition, they're pretty much all made up holidays. Unless you're reading the Bible, and then the 7th day when God rested is pretty much a holiday, right? But if we're talking about Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Year's, Independence Day... any holiday from any culture (but I'm American so those are my examples)... is made up! By people! WOW. Are you flabbergasted yet?

So why do people hate Valentine's Day? I figure it's one of three things: 1. They don't really like holidays at all. 2. They're bitter for some reason about a day intended for courtly love. or 3. They don't like the fact that the origins of Valentine's Day are pretty obscure.

What are the origins? If I recall correctly, there are a number of Saints Valentine - two of whom had a day on the 14th of February until sometime in the 60s when the then pope decided to take it off since nobody knew who they were anyhow. And, back to that Middle English deal, Chaucer wrote about Seynt Volantynys day, or some other ridiculous spelling (yes, I know there was no standardized spelling then and Chaucer was pretty awesome anyhow) as being when birds choose their mates. Now, that doesn't make a heck of a lot of sense to me, because I sincerely doubt birds choose their mates in February in England, but whatever. So some random writer dude decided that the Saints Valentine were cool and should be used to express love, since nobody knows what they were really all about anyhow, and we ran with it from there. I know there's some modern legends that it had something to do with Lupercalia, or one of the Saints Valentine was performing marriages in secret, or some such... but honestly, here's the deal: Who cares? We don't really know, and it doesn't really matter.

Why? Because it's a holiday. Not in the sense of holy day, but in the sense of a time when we celebrate, and that's cool with me. I like celebrating love. Isn't it considerably better than a lot of other things we could (and sometimes do) celebrate? For real, yo. Now go give someone a kiss.