What to say to a formerly child-free person who is now pregnant
I am a self-professed child-free lady. A fellow child-free friend recently announced she was unexpectedly pregnant. I can tell she’s feeling pretty rattled and struggling with the sudden change in life plans. As a fellow child-freer in a similarly stable life situation, I want to empathize and be there for her and give her a break from all the squee-ing, but I don’t want to be a downer. What can I say to her?
“I don’t think I’ll stop feeling scared and apprehensive”: pregnancy after multiple miscarriages
With the help of some recent high profile announcements we’re starting to get better at talking about miscarriage, but when you clock three in a row no one really knows what to say. I’ve got one healthy child, three consecutive miscarriages, and now a fifth pregnancy that has stuck around to the 20 week mark, and is still hanging in there. In the past two years I’ve been pregnant for a total of 11 months.
How do you know it’s the right time for kids when baby fever clouds your mind?
Okay, so baby fever is hitting me hard, and I don’t know how to deal with that. How do you know it’s the right time for kids when baby fever clouds your mind?
Scars, costs, and regrets?: My tubal ligation FAQs
A few women have asked me about my tubal ligation, including a couple media outlets like ABC News and Huffington Post. As sterilization with the goal of never reproducing now seems to be a hot topic, I thought I would discuss a few frequently-asked questions. I hope this information helps other women who are thinking of making this decision for themselves.
BDSM in mainstream media: Why I taught my kids about safe words
Kinky sex has made its way into mainstream culture in places other than poorly written erotica-gone-NYT-bestsellers-list. Music videos like Rihanna’s S&M, Christina Aguilera’s Not Myself Tonight, for instance. Our kids are seeing it, hearing and some of them are even reading the book. I anticipate that the majority of learning on the topic will not be from me but they’ll likely see videos and ads, or hear things from peers that could use some context, and I prefer to be the person who provides that context.
My pregnant battle with Body Image Demons
Like a lot of people, I have a complicated relationship with my body. My body is wonderful. But due to not unusual hang-ups and high school experiences, I don’t treat my body as a friend of any sort. My body and I are were getting to a good place though. And, then I got pregnant. Though I was (and am) very excited to be pregnant, I was also now in full combat with the Body Image Demons™.
How to move back in with your parents when you have kids
It was only supposed to be temporary, but long story short, a year later we’re still here in my mother-in-law’s basement. I share my bedroom with my husband and almost-two-year-old daughter, while my son sleeps in the upstairs guest room and plans his eighth birthday. We’re getting ready to move back to the Island but in the meantime I’ve been learning how to share space with two other adults who also happen to be my kids’ grandparents.
What’s the deal with gender-neutral parenting?
In recent years, however, we’ve seen a trend come about: parents are now choosing to raise their kids in “gender neutral” ways, eliminating any preconceptions about what a child should like or not like based on the sex they’re assigned at birth, in varying degrees.