Playground antics

It was Mothers group day today. We all decided that the local shopping centre would be a great spot to meet up. It's got a great playground for the kids to run amok on and a food court close by for those that need a coffee hit. I tried to fit in a bit of shopping before we met up but the 2 ratbags preferred me to chase them around instead!

Everything was going great. The kids were all playing nicely together, whilst the Mum's sat close by chatting.

Of Course that didn't last for very long......

An almighty scream came from underneath the slide. Nicole instantly recognised it as being Logan's bellow, so she jumped up quickly to see what was wrong. We had just been chatting about Logan's latest tantruming episodes, so the screaming was written of as dramatic toddler behaviour. A few moments later Xav emerged from under the slide, also screaming his head off. Grace was holding gently onto to his hand, leading him over to me. I knew instantly that he was hurt, but being the clumsy bum that he is I thought that he had tripped over or something. I picked him up and between his sobs he pointed to his arm. That's when I saw a bright red bite mark. I quickly told Nicole to check Logan and sure enough he was also sporting a lovely teeth outline on his hand.

Right. We were on a mission to find the offender.

With a child on each hip we headed over to the play area to see what we could find. We scanned the area, and just then we both saw at exactly the same time a boy about 2 lean over a toddler girl and just about to sink the teeth in. Nicole acted quickly and grabbed the little boy off the little girl. She held him by the arm and marched him over to the closest group of parents.

And this is the bit that has been cracking up every time I think of it.

She yelled out in a loud and authoritative voice, "WHO DOES THIS BELONG TOO?", whilst clutching little vampire boy. Oh, very Un PC, but her little boy had just experienced his first bite, and she was angry! It was also her first venture into the world of biting toddlers and being a bit frazzled she wasn't thinking about the right thing to say. We joked later that at least she didn't yell out, "We have a biter, Who owns the biter!"

A group of women were gathered to our right, who I was sure the little boy belonged too. 1 women looked at us nervously and then breathed a sigh of relief as she realised that it wasn't her child. This time.

After a few more moments a Mum came over from far, far away over in the corner of the play area. She was obviously embarrassed and no doubt nervous as she tentatively approached us to claim her child. Poor women was bombarded by Nicole and I as we tried to explain to her what had happened and shoving the bite marks in her face to see. She apologised and said she didn't really understand as he had never done it before. I do find that a little hard to believe though. Surely a child doesn't just start biting and then go on a 3 person rampage all in the space of 10 minutes? Maybe?

We then headed back to the table to console our baby boys. Lots of soothing cuddles, a dab of antiseptic wash and they were back to being fine. They were very deep bites though, so no doubt tomorrow the boys will be sporting matching bruises.

Biting is a tough one to deal with. I'm not really sure on the etiquette or the right way to deal with someones elses child who is doing it. I understand that it's common and just part of development, it's just hard not to react when it's your child on the end on a chomping jaw.

Choice

Where a family chooses to birth their baby should be their choice, but it's all become very political. Having an Independant Midwife and a planned homebirth is a safe choice for many healthy pregnant women. Soon though, this choice may be made illegal.

At the moment you can pay for your own homebirth, but come July 2010 there is a good chance that having a homebirth with a qualified midwife will be illegal. A review into maternity services has been conducted and included in the recommendations are that all maternity practitioners will need insurance to be able to register. Fine, that makes sense. EXCEPT there is NO insurance product available for Private Midwives. So if an Independant Midwife can not get insurance she can not practice and if she does practice it will mean jail time. This doesn't just rule out midwives at homebirth, it also rules out Independant midwives helping Mum's in the antenatal period and also postnatal. At the moment Independatn Midwives are registered but are not required to have insurance. They have a contractual agreement with their clients stating that they do not have indemnity insurance.

Homebirths will still be available in some states that offer funded midwifery programs, but whilst these programs are a great step in the right direction, the selection criteria is very strict and not enough spots to fill the demand.

Such a life changing and important event such as child birth has been medicalised to the point that the thought of performing the most natural human function at home is going to be illegal. You can choose a fully elective C/s, but you WILL NOT be able to choose to have one-on-one midwifery care at home.

I understand that homebirth is not for everyone, just the same that an Elective C/s is not for everyone, but at least those that choose to have a c/s can have one. It will not be an option after July 2010, unless the recommendations aren't followed through. Homebirth is not for everyone but it should still be a valid choice that is supported and respected, heck it should even be funded. Maternity takes up one of the largest proportion of beds at hospitals, surely if homebirth was available and funded these beds could be freed up for truely sick people. Homebirth is still such a minority, but maybe with more positive births talked about and the fear of birth worked through, it may become an option for more people. Too often women are labeled "patients" when for the majority, they are not sick, just pregnant.

Trust of birth is lost in the need to induce, intervene and perform surgery. So many women are falling victim to the cascade of interventions, and made to make uninformed decisions based sometimes on manipulation and fear. It starts with all talk of being overdue. Normal gestation is 38-42 weeks, only 3 % of babies are actually born on their magic due date. It's an average. So many women are offered inductions just after passing the 40 week mark, because they are so overdue. I wonder if many women are told about the higher risk of other intervention that goes along with being induced? How often are they told about the importance of keeping waters intact until they break by themselves? Your waters are there to cushion the baby, allowing them to move into the best position for birth. If they are artificially broken, the baby is dropped into the pelvis suddenly and sometimes not in the optimum position, making for a harder second stage. Of course this still happens if waters break naturally, but why break the waters unnecessarily just to speed things up?

Homebirth is not all about long-haired hippy women birthing their babies with whale music and incense burning in the background. Those that choose to homebirth do so because they have faith in the process and understand that birth is a physiological process. They want what is best for their baby and that is to be in a safe, protected environment, surrounded by positive people who are all emotionally involved in the intimate act of their birth. The midwife is there for the one women, not rushing ragged between a few rooms, trying to give optimal care and support to many. The midwife and the family have built up a relationship throughout the pregnancy, which gives them a better chance of picking up problems should they occur. Most homebirthers are well researched and informed with their decisions, they understand that birth is safe most of the time, and are willing to take full responsibility for their choices. If during the pregnancy or labour a medical problem presents, then of course you go to the hospital and seek medical advice.

Once again, I understand that homebirth is not a choice that a lot of people want for them self. However, if we start taking choice away from women in regards to birth, what else can be taken? Do we really want to go back to the days of being dropped of at the front door of the hospital by our husbands, shunted up to the "delivery" ward, strapped to a bed until the Dr comes into to declare it's time to push?

Birth should be an empowering time of our life, whichever way the baby comes out. If you want your experience to be with an elective C/s, and you have been given all the information in order to make an informed decision, that's fantastic. It's your choice, and It's great that you have the option. Then why does the family that choose homebirth not afford the same choice? They should also be able to assess their situation and make an informed decision as to where to birth their baby. Isn't it shocking that one could be made illegal! Wrong for so many reasons.

I am writing to my local MP about this, it's something that I feel strongly about. My dream is to one day become a midwife and after getting experience I want to become an Independant Midwife. This dream could very well be shattered. I also will be homebirthing my next baby, and I wasn't planning on getting in before the July 2010 deadline, so I hope that this whole issue can be resolved.

I know that homebirth will never stop happening, but if it is made illegal it will happen without proper care. Those that do not want to birth under strict guidlines of hospitals, will only have a choice to freebirth and they will. I'm not sure how I personally feel about an intentional freebirth, I like the attention and care of a qualified midwife.

Anyway, enough ranting and time for action:

Here's a petition to sign:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/australianhomebirth/

And of course a Facebook group to join:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/group.php?gid=55667514020

Birthday weekend

Well we have just finished a fantastic weekend.

Saturday morning I was woken with big wet kisses from both my beautiful husband and my gorgeous little girl, along with a slightly off key rendition of "Happy Birthday". Sleepy head Xav doesn't "do" early mornings, preferring to laze around in bed until about 8am, so I didn't get kisses from him until later.

After everyone was up the kids gave me my present and then Grace eagerly starting unwrapping it for me. I was spoilt rotten with a 50mm 1.8 lens, which is exactly what I wanted (seems the constant mentioning of it worked well!). There was also a Photoshop magazine, which is not what I wanted so Duane was shipped back to the news agency to exchange it. he was under strict instructions to swap it for a Digital SLR one, but still managed to come home with another editing book - Finally got it right the 3rd time.

We were supposed to be going out for a nice lunch at the Golf Club, but a couple of corroded spark plugs nipped that in the bud. A bit of pleading and a guilt trip and our new mechanic went to work for the day to fix it all up for us. So Duane spent most of my day hanging out in the mechanics waiting room whilst I cleaned up at home in readiness for the afternoon tea that Duane had organised. I'm sure it was a scam for him to get out of cleaning.

Anyway, he made it home by 1.30pm, just in time for everyone to start arriving at 2pm. I really couldn't be bothered doing anything for my birthday, so it was nice to have a little surprise and also to have Duane organise everything (well except the cleaning!). He had organised a huge seafood platter, date scones and my absolute favourite cheesecake - Apple Crumble from the Cheesecake shop. So naughty, but oh so Yummy!

I was absolutely spoilt with presents. I now have a gorgeous tan handbag, Pandora "sister" charm, Luis Vuitton silver coin purse, set of lip glosses, some body shop hand creams, Coles/Myer vouchers, new handmade earrings, photo frame and a Michelle's Patisserie mini Chocolate mud cake which I need to get some vanilla ice cream so I can devour it.

It was such a lovely relaxing day. The kids all played happily together whilst the parents got to sit around chatting and eating. Perfect.

Sunday morning was a bright and early start as we were heading down to Brunswick Heads for the day with the Truets. We left here around 8am, just enough time for sleepy head Xav to wake, get dressed and shovel down his weetbix. The rest of us had been up since 6.30am packing eskies and getting everything ready.

The car was fine for the first few minutes, until we hit a hill. Then it starting splattering, missing and loosing grunt. I text my younger petrol head brother and he suspected it was the leads. I wasn't too worried, cause I had already dealt with split leads a few years ago and just got some young guy at Repco to change them over for me. I figured if on the way down to Brunswick it was still playing up we would just buy the leads and then my non-mechanically minded husband cold pop the boot thingy, fiddle with all the leads to work out which ones are the right ones, step back and ponder, fiddle a bit more, poke and prod then declare he has no idea. Then we'd just have to find someone to change them.

We drove a little further, wiling to the car not to conk out as it spluttered up the hills. I then remembered back to a little trick I was told to do if your leads are starting to split, tape them up with electrical tape! So we pulled into Pottsville, bought our tape and went Magyver Style on the leads. It worked and we had a smooth ride for the rest of the trip.

We spent the morning in beautiful Brunswick Heads. The dads took the kids to the beach whilst Nicole and I went looking for holiday houses to rent. We found a perfect street, close to the surf beach and the calm kid beach, also a nice easy walk to all the shops. We've booked a week stay for the end of March and I can't wait.

Nicole and I then headed to the beach and spent an hour or so floating around in the beautiful water. The kids dug in the sand and flittered around the waters edge, under the watchful eyes of their Daddies. Afterwards we headed up to the playground with some yummy fish n chips and enjoyed a picnic lunch. The kids were exhausted by this stage, so we loaded up the car and headed home.

It was a beautiful weekend. Can't wait for the end of the month to go back down there.

Tag debut

Yipeee......I've got my very first tag!

Thanks to Ave for tagging me - hopefully this will break me out of my blogging funk at the moment.

The rules:

1. Go to the section of your computer where you store all of your photos.

2. Select the 6th folder.

3. Select the 6th photo from that folder.

4. Post and explain about that picture.

5. Tag 6 other people.

My photo:

I am just thankful that it was the 6th photo I needed to put up, otherwise it would have been a very unflattering and graphic picture of me bringing my little boy into the world!

Anyway about this pic. It was taken on 3.59am on the 17th/07/2007, easily one of the best days in my life. Xav was actually born 8 minutes later at 4.07am.

I had been in the bath for about 10 minutes, after going into transition in the shower. I had planned all along on having a water birth, so as soon as it was full I was in. Oh, to be weightless and surrounded by warm, comforting water - Perfect.

Not long after getting in the water a familiar grunt escaped from my mouth. I knew exactly what that was, but didn't possible think that it was that time yet. Moments later it happened again and there was now no denying it - I was pushing. The anicipation was mounting, it would be soon that we would meet our brand new baby. My waters had just broken in the water, I was slightly disapointed as I was hoping for him to be born in the caul.

Duane was in the water with me, splashing my exposed skin with the soothing warm water. Mum was there rubbing my back and offering sips of water in between contractions. Tracey, my gorgeous midwife, was just watching, completely hands of and just encouraging me to do what ever I wanted to. Trude was being my official papparazzi, capturing everything whilst also offering motivation from the sidelines.. I was surrounded by people that I completely trusted. My mind and body was at it's most vulnerable, yet I was comfortable and calm.

It looks really bright in the pic but the lights were off and the only lights on were coming from the spa and the flash from the camera. Everyone was calm and relaxed as we waited for the pushing contractions to intensify, and for his little head to be visible. It wasn't much longer, another 8 minutes and he was completely out. Just magic.

This photo takes me straight back there. I was strong, powerful and fully in control of birthing my boy. I was superwoman for the day!

Now, I don't have 6 people to tag so I'll have to make do with 3.

Konnie

Charli

Beck