YOU MUST ACT NOW to save the home birth option for New York Women:

Call:

*311

*Wendy Saunders, Executive Deputy Commissioner for the NY State Department of Health,                                 appointed by Governor Paterson.  518-474-8390

*Larry Mokhiber, the Secretary of the Board of Midwifery (518-474-3817, extension 130)

With the closing of St. Vincent’s Hospital, half of the licensed, highly trained home birth midwives serving NYC have lost their Written Practice Agreement (WPA).   St Vincent’s was the only Hospital in the city supportive of a woman’s right to choose a home birth and willing to sign a WPA.  In the weeks since it’s announced closure, these midwives have reached out to hospitals and obstetricians all across the city looking for support, with no success.  Please help us to save the homebirth option in New York.

People can also email the Governor at http://www.state.ny.us/governor/contact/GovernorContactForm.php.

Face of Birth

Where the personal Gets Political

Homebirth Australia

2 ½ C flour

1 ½  t baking soda

¾  t cinnamon

1 t ground ginger

½  t ground cloves

½  t salt

½  t cayenne pepper

8  T butter

½  C  sugar

1 C brown sugar

1/3 C molasses

¼  C egg whites

Preheat oven to 350°. Combine flour, baking soda and spices and set

aside. Cream the butter and sugars together. Add the molasses to the creamed

butter, then add the egg whites until combined. Add the dry ingredients

slowly. Once incorporated, roll dough into 1 inch balls and place onto

baking tray. Bake 8-10 minutes.   Recipe by Gale Gand.

Cool.  Eat.  Hope for a baby.

I bought the microfiber towels at an auto store and, five years later, we’re still using them. They’re soft, absorbent, long-lasting and inexpensive. While we do have a stack of paper napkins at the center of the table, they are only for guests. My children ask for the rag when they need it, I am a neat eater and my husband just doesn’t seem to care much about food on his face and hands.

My children don’t need frequent reminders not to waste paper. They have seen the reason to conserve and they won’t soon forget it. Last year, while vacationing in the Adirondack Mountains, we decided to go for a hike. Really, it was my husband and daughter who decided and I just went along hoping I wouldn’t get any dirt on my boots. We picked up a pamphlet with some directions for area hikes and selected one of the more family-friendly ones, my children being young and me being a priss.

When we got to the site, we found that the directions were somewhat confusing and, after a bit of going back and forth, we decided to go this way rather than that way and off we were on what was obviously the right trail. Well, it would have been the right trail had we intended to trespass on the property of I-don’t-know-what paper company, which is exactly what we were doing.

We’ve gone on nice hikes in the lush “forests” of Van Cortlandt Park near our home in the Bronx and here we were in the wild Adirondacks surrounded by smelly wasteland and oily puddles. It wasn’t a lovely hike, but it was useful in our household as the waste-not lesson goes easily taught with a simple, “Remember the forest in the Adirondacks?”

About a year ago I discovered that school children in Japan have, packed with their bento boxes, moist towels called oshibori. You can just imagine the variety of whimsical cases they sell for them. I remember being given warm, moist towels on airplanes and in restaurants as a child. Those days are gone, but the idea of the oshibori lives on in my family. When packing lunch for one of our outings now, we always include at least one oshibori rather than paper napkins. Not only are we conserving paper, but a wet washcloth is much more handy than a dry napkin even for a neat eater like me.

Unfortunately, like too many of us, I am a multitasker.  As I type this, I am making juice, planning tomorrow’s itinerary and talking, squeezing as much as possible in the little time I have.  I am remarkably adept at the physical challenge of patting my head while rubbing my abs and switching hands swiftly.  Where has that gotten me in life?

My husband has a marvelous ability to focus and tune everything out but for his task at hand.  To an outsider it may look like I preface half of my interactions with him with a plea for permission to speak, but actually I’ve learned that not getting his attention first will land me in a monologue.  He has accomplished in this way many great things.  I am merely able to do lots and lots of little things.

My two greatest accomplishments did involve some extent of unitasking, I suppose.  The brain of a pregnant woman shrinks about 7% because she needs to concentrate on a particular job.  She is making a human being and this takes a great deal of focused energy even when she doesn’t realize it.

Studies have shown that multitasking is, in fact, inefficient, but I don’t think that will stop me or many of you from overdemanding  productivity from so many of our minutes.  I will, however, try to focus on some of my undertakings with a little more zeal for simplistic accomplishment.  Perhaps during breakfast with my children or yoga or, at least, during savasana in yoga, when I am supposed to be deeply relaxed.  For me, these are great endeavors, worthy of my focus.

First I should clarify that I am a birth junkie and, as such, am giving here suggestions for the pregnant woman you may know.  If you are looking for a shopping guide for someone else, all I say to you is shame- you should have done your shopping last January.

So, if you’re shopping for a pregnant woman and you’re reading this blog, it is quite likely that you can look up her registry and shop from where you are sitting.  I don’t discourage that.  I like to buy gifts from people’s registries because I know I’ve chosen something that they want (and hopefully need, but with baby things, there is sooo much they just don’t need).  I don’t stop there, however.  I like to add something to the gift so that it is more personal and thoughtful and so they don’t end up knowing how much I’ve spent.  Go ahead and buy the bouncer, but then add a book.  Not to be read while the baby is bouncing- I was thinking more along the lines of Active Birth by  Janet Balaskas, The Complete Book of Pregnancy and Childbirth by  Sheila Kitzinger, Birth by Tina Cassidy or maybe The Birth Partner by  Penny Simkin (which she should leave lying around for her partner to pick up).  Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth by  Ina May Gaskin has some inspiring birth stories she can easily read without realizing how much she’s getting from them.  There are so many great books.  For some more suggestions, click on my books tab.  You might also consider getting her a mix of herbs to use in a sitz bath or regular bath to heal her postpartum perineum.  I make a lovely organic batch you can purchase by contacting me.

Another fabulous idea is some spa time.  This is actually good for any adult on your list.  In fact, if you know me personally, please assume I am hinting directly to you.  A gift certificate to a spa that has regular packages as well as prenatal massage is great because she can choose to use it while she’s pregnant or some time afterwards, when she will probably need it just as much.  If she hasn’t used it by the time the baby is born, however, part of your gift should be a nudge to get going as it is likely she will never find the time to do it on her own.

My final suggestion is to offer to pay, either partially or in full, alone or with some friends, for the services of a doula.  You might choose a birth doula or a postpartum doula or have the mother-to-be decide which she would prefer.  Either way, you shouldn’t actually hire a doula for her, even if you’ve gotten a recommendation for the best doula in town, as hiring a doula is very personal.

I hope that there is a great decrease in the number of unnecessities purchased for the babies of 2010 thanks to this blog.

Happy shopping!  (that’s an oxymoron, isn’t it?)

Formula Fed America