Will living together before marriage ruin your relationship?
I recently read the New York Times article The Downside of Cohabitating Before Marriage, and found myself filled with thoughts…
Living off the grid: photographs of people living a different life
Photographer Eric Valli has spent the last four years talking with people who are trying to reduce their impact on the planet by living off the grid. They hunt, they fish, they forage — they don’t use cars or buy many materials, and they look like people trapped in time.
Did you leave your job and awesome health insurance when you got pregnant?
My husband and I are in our early 30s and we really want to start a family. We got pregnant last August, but sadly had a miscarriage in October. Before becoming pregnant we decided that after the baby’s birth I would quit my job so I could finish my master’s and move on to a doctoral degree. I hate my current job (and I don’t use the word hate lightly!)… but it’s in the same universe as what I want to do, has really great pay, and awesome health insurance. On paper it’s an amazing job, but I find it wholly unsatisfying.
We share our one-bedroom apartment with our baby and we like it this way
My husband and I were usually met with three or four questions after we announced that I was pregnant. From the benign “When are you due?” and “What are you having?” to the rude “Was it planned?” and a fourth question was posed: “When are you moving?”
What my son’s unexpected Cesarean birth taught me about being a human
It was this realization that my sweet little fresh baby was going to be an old man someday that really did it. I felt like I saw his whole life flash in front of my eyes. That moment was fleeting, but it was possibly the most human I’ve ever felt. Since then I’ve looked at Kai differently than I did in the beginning; he’s no longer “the baby” or “that thing I grew.” He’s our new human, and he’s ours for only a brief period. It is not easy, but I am doing my best to cherish this time.
I let go of my self-righteousness and had a Cesarean delivery — and I’m thankful for it
When I got pregnant last January I was stoked about the joyful, carefree unassisted birth I had always dreamed of. My husband and mom, though, were concerned about the safety of freebirths and so I compromised with them and hired a Certified Nurse-Midwife who only did home births. She was a mother of two who lives on a farm and works primarily with the Amish women in our area. When I caught her voicemail, I noticed she signed off with “Namaste.” I thought: “Wow, this is going to be so great! She’s just like me! I don’t have to worry that she’ll force me to have medicines or procedures done that I don’t want.”
Ten minutes and you’re finished: a video of a Cesarean delivery
As some of you might remember, regular Offbeat Mama contributor Hunny wrote about the cesarean delivery of her second daughter, Zephyr in March 2012. Hunny opted to deliver via cesarean section for health reasons, and her husband Joe filmed the entire birth. I’ve actually had the privilege of being in an operating room while a baby was being born via cesarean section, but it’s definitely not something everyone gets to do any day of the week.
This is what a baby being born via Cesarean looks like
DON’T BE SCARED: there’s minimal blood and no internal body parts on display in this shot of a baby being born via Cesarean — just a cute little head poking out. Amazing.