Waiting on a Woman

When I decided to pursue being a doula, I knew that it would make my life less predictable. It has certainly done that. I've had several clients who gave birth a month before they were "due" and several go well past their due dates. One (that's right, one) lady has had her baby in the week of her estimated due date.

Lately, I've been waiting on a lady who I really did not expect to go past the estimated due date. Yet here we are, with her over a week past "due" and me heading six hours away for the Thanksgiving weekend/friends' wedding. With everyone else having birthed weeks before or after when their babies were expected, I shouldn't have been suprised by this one coming later than expected.

Enter the doula networking group. This is a time when I am grateful to be part of a group of women who attend births and work with pregnant women. I called a couple of the ladies from our group and, as much as I don't like the idea of not being the one there, I can know that there will be people available for her when I'm away.

When we talk to clients and other doulas about our group, part of what we tell them is that we back each other up. This is what that means. It means that when you, the doula, have a client who you swore would have had her baby already, but is still pregnant when you have commitments out of town, there are people who will be there for her when you can't.

Hopefully, right after I've fallen asleep tonight, my phone will ring. I'll head over to be with her, the baby will be born and I'll get back home before the rest of my family wakes up. Then I can sleep in the van while Tim drives us to Baltimore. That's what I would like to have happen. If not though, the Doula Connection has us covered.

Holiday Giveaway

Hello readers!

From Saturday, November 20th to Friday, December 11th, I will be running a holiday giveaway!

One lucky winner will win a calendar from http://www.beautyofmothering.com/ and a copy of What Your Pediatrician Doesn't Know Can Hurt Your Child by Susan Markel, M.D.

You can learn more about Dr. Markel and her new book at http://www.attachmentparentingdoctor.com/attachmentparentingbook.html

There are several ways to enter:

1. Become a follower of my blog (and post that you did)

2. Find my facebook page, "Syracuse Natural Parenting Support," become a fan and post it here

3. Find my doula group's facebook page, "CNY Doula Connection," become a fan and post it here

3. Visit http://www.cnydoulaconnection.com/ and post something here that you learned about doulas or our group

4. Visit http://www.attachmentparentingdoctor.com/ and share something that Dr. Markel says about breastfeeding.

Doula Open House in Syracuse on December 9th!

The CNY Doula Connection will be hosting an information night for expectant parents on December 9th from 6-8pm at Cicero United Methodist Church. Bring your questions about pregnancy, birth and nursing! Parents will also have the opportunity to chat with different doulas and make an appointment for a free consultation with a birth or postpartum doula.

The Doula Connection boasts a well-educated group of women, including two lactation consultants, a licensed massage therapist, a midwifery student, childbirth educators and most importantly, women who have experienced birth and love nurturing families through the transition to parenthood.

Light refreshments will be served. This valuable event is free to attend.

Cicero United Methodist Church is located at 8416 Brewerton Rd, Cicero, NY 13039.

For more information, check out www.cnydoulaconnection.com or email cnydoulaconnection@gmail.com

Homeschooling Everyone

Our week was fairly productive considering that while I was away at a birth all day Monday and Tuesday, apparently my husband told the babysitters that the kids didn't have to do schoolwork. That threw our homeschool plans off a little bit because the children had an unexpected four day weekend.

Wednesday morning, I took the kids to a field trip to the Temple Society of Concord in downtown Syracuse. For Delilah's American Girl (history) book club last month, the kids had read through the "Rebecca" books. Since Rebecca is the only Jewish American Girl character, our group went to the temple to learn more about Judiasm. I also took the kids to our homeschool P.E. class at the Y Wednesday afternoon.

http://www.templeconcord.org/

We stayed home Thursday and tried to get a decent amount of schoolwork/housework done, my attempt to make up for the past three days of the kids not accomplishing much. Patrick and Delilah both worked on their CLE Math books and their Writing Skills workbooks. Delilah had fun writing short stories, mostly about Halloween.

James had speech at the school this morning. We all dropped him off and went to Wegman's to get our grocery shopping done with one less child. Patrick and Delilah both worked on their CLE Math books again when we got home. After lunch, we went to a friend's house for art class, then to the YMCA so I could work out while the kids played in the babysitting rooms.

Here's the picture that Delilah drew while we were at the Y:

She says that someone there asked if she could draw dragons. It looks to me like she can.

Aside from attending a two-day birth, I also had a meeting of the CNY Doula Connection where we talked for hours about birth, doula-ing, and everything else we could think of. We watched a DVD that one of the ladies brought with her, called "It's My Body, My Baby, My Birth," which I'll probably end up purchasing to share with people:

http://itsmybodymybabymybirth.com/Home.html

I've started reading Rediscovering Birth by Sheila Kitzinger. It's another one of the required reading books on the BirthWorks Childbirth Educator reading list. I'm hoping to get through it this weekend so I can get them my book report about it.

If you're into birth, you'll recognize these people...

The members of the BirthWorks advisory board form a pretty impressive cast. Michel Odent, paradigm-changing doctor and author of perhaps a dozen books about birth and oxytocin. Elizabeth Davis, midwife, teacher and author of Heart and Hands (a midwifery textbook. Jan Trittenden of Midwifery Today and Ina May Gaskin, to name a few.