Birthing Without: a birth plan for the plan-adverse
It’s taken me a while to come up with a birth plan. I’m a daydreamy librarian (INFJ, Pisces, Type B — you get the picture), more at home reading a bunch of parenting and childbirth literature than actually putting any of it into practice. But since I had my first child almost five years ago, I think it’s about time I came up with something.
Our half-Mexican daughter was born at home on Dia de los Muertos
On Halloween night 2010, at 12:57am I rolled over in bed and felt my bag of waters breaking. I managed to get out of bed without getting the bed wet and as I was running to the bathroom, water gushed out all over the kitchen and bathroom floor. It was a gush like in the movies. As I was running I yelled to my wife Liz, “My water just broke!”
Any tips for feeding, sleeping, and caring for children born only a year apart?
My daughter is six-months-old, and I recently found out I am about 10 weeks pregnant. Most days it feels like I am just keeping up with my little girl, and she is barely crawling. She is going to be toddling around when I have a newborn — I am looking at the future wondering how and the heck I can cope with two little ones.
A polyamorous quad welcomes their first child
This is not a “normal” birth story. Which makes sense, since my family is not a normal family. Please note the lack of quotes that second time — it’s with good reason. While every birth is unique in it’s own way, and thereby not “normal”, most families in the United States welcoming a baby go through a fairly similar experience. And we had some of that, but when you are a family of four polyamorous adults, nothing is “simple”, “easy” or “normal” when compared to most people.
What’s the very best thing about having a child (or children) in your life?
We know you love the kids you’re raising and/or taking care of — our archives are filled with stories about the joys of breastfeeding, the indescribable wonders of adoption, the incredible ways families are being created, tales from parents of teens who share interests, and so many wonderful birth stories it’d take you days to get through them all.
I can’t believe I’m cloth diapering
Anyone who knows me in real life knows I am not an earth-hugging hippie. And now I’m cloth diapering, something labeled “too crunchy” for some of the crunchiest parents I know.
Family nudity: my sons see me nude at home
I have always been a nudie booty in my own home. I would come home from work or class and just shed my clothes. It’s not so much that I dislike clothes; I actually love them quite a bit. Not too long after the big gender reveal of our latest pregnancy, my husband came home and found me and our son playing in the bath tub together. He very calmly said “Don’t you think you should start covering up around him, he’s getting a little old for that.”
Using my wife’s brother as sperm donor – how we talk about it with family & kids
My partner and I (both women) have been thinking a lot about starting a family. We’ve thought about using a donor, and always come back to the possibility of asking my partner’s brother how he would feel about donating his sperm for us to start a family. It seems like a good option on some level — we would know about the baby’s biological history, and the baby would have both our genes.