Knitting

This week, I have not been knitting as much.  I didn't complete any projects and started two more, but I didn't take pictures because they are Christmas gifts (plus the fact I left my camera in Pennsylvania on Saturday).  I am also knitting Peanut character baby washcloths for a woman at church who is having a baby.  The nursery (and shower theme) is vintage toys (Peanuts, Sock monkeys, Garfield, etc.)  I myself don't think of those as vintage, but those were specifically mentioned in the e-mail.  When I get my camera, I will post a picture of the washcloths.  :-D

I started reading Anne of Green Gables to my daughter!!  That was one of my FAVOURITE childhood books.  We're only on the 5th page; so, it will be awhile yet.

Join us at Ginny's Yarn Along with your reading and knitting.

Menu Planning {Plan It-Don't Panic Meal Planning Challenge}

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home has a 6 week meal planning challenge going on over at her blog, and I decided to participate. 

Why am I participating?  For my family, I have found that when I plan meals, I tend to spend less money on groceries.  I spend less money because I don't buy premade food, don't buy on impulse, and don't waste as much food.  Meal planning reminds me of the needed preparations for the next day or two.  Unfortunately, I have stopped menu planning and want to get back into it.  Breakfasts are rather boring, Drew and I have oatmeal for almost EVERY SINGLE breakfast, though sometimes I have an occasional smoothie.  For lunch, we have leftovers from the previous night.  So my menu planning will focus more on dinner than breakfast and lunch.

Monday: Spinach turkey meatloaf/Rice/Carrots

Tuesday: Stromboli (The recipe I have makes two strombolis.  I work on Friday from 7AM-7PM; so my plan is to put one in the freezer for Friday)/Spinach salad

Wednesday: Lentil taco salad

Thursday: Curried quinoa/Chicken

Friday: Stromboli/Salad (Drew will make the salad)

Saturday: Slow cooker Latin chicken/Cornbread/Raw apple cider (To drink!!!  Cider Saturday is on Saturday, and Charis and I hope to attend.)

Sunday: Church dinner-Taking grain free brownies

Happy 25th Mensiversary Drew!!

Today, Drew and I have been married for 25 months-which makes it our 25th Mensiversary.  If I had not married Drew, I would not know what Mensiversary meant.  See here: mensiversary.  I thought I'd leave you with a clip.  Drew and I walked down the aisle after we were married to "Linus and Lucy".  ENJOY!!!

Finished the Booties and Started a Tie {Yarn Along}

I finished the booties last Saturday.  So, now I need to get my friend's snail mail address in Colorado and mail them to her in the next few weeks.  I started knitting a tie for my brother in law for part of his Christmas gift and am already bored with the tie.  I'm ONLY ten rows into it; hopefully, I won't get too bored to forget about it.  It's mindless knitting.  I should put Sleepless in Seattle or While You Were Sleeping in and watch them while I knit.  Maybe, I'll do that after Charis goes to bed.

I'm STILL reading The Advantage of Doulas, and I'm convinced if I don't have a midwife for my next birth, I will have a doula.  The next book I'm planning on reading is Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Gatto.  I've never read it or heard of it, but it sounded interesting.  From what I can tell, it's about the failure of the way we do education in the USA.

Baby Booties and Respectable Sins {Yarn Along}

This week, I started knitting baby booties with the leftover yarn from my brother's Christmas hat.  I LOVE knitting baby gifts.  Why?  It's meaningful, made with love, handmade, and something you could possibly pass down a few generations-if cared for and washed properly.

One bootie is completed!!

Second bootie in the QUICK process of being knit.

For reading, I took a break from The Doula Advantage (I'll get back to it) and have been rereading portions of Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges.  Respectable Sins is a GREAT book.  In the church, we look down on those who commit adultery, murder, rape, etc., but we fail to address the more subtle sins, such as anxiety, jealously, envy, impatience, etc.

The past few months at church their have been many good announcements-announced pregnancies, jobs, restored relationships, etc., and I've been jealous of this announcements (not because I want to be pregnant and I am happy for the other people). But because it hurts to realize that my husband and I have been praying for a job for him over the past year, and it seems he's getting nowhere.  I HAVE to work outside the home and there are frustrations I have with work.  It seems my attention is divided in two-work and home; on the weeks I have to work, housework goes out the window.  But, God has slowly been convicting me of my sin.  It's a SIN to be jealous and envious of other people.  I have not taken the time I should be to be thankful for what God has given us.  

God has given Drew a part time job (about 32 hours/week).  I work PRN as a nurse at a nearby hospital, which means I can pick and choose what days I'll work and which days I will not work.  Plus, I only have to schedule myself to work two 12 hour shifts per schedule (28 days).  When I have gone to work, Drew is able to stay home with the pumpkin (or his parents come and watch her).  The good news though is that I don't have to wallow in my sin.  Christ died for my sin, and I am covered in His perfect righteousness.  God has given me salvation because of Christ alone!!

Cotton Babies Does It Again!!

My favorite one size pocket diapers are BumGenius.  Why?  I find they are a truer one size diaper on my daughter than other "one size" diapers.  They have a higher rise than FuzziBunz one size diapers-which is extremely important!!  Charis' rise is 18+ inches.  So, you are probably not surprised that I was happy when I saw this video this morning.

Cotton Babies announced bolder, brighter colors and two new prints!!  The prints are AMAZING, especially Albert.  It almost makes me want to have a boy so I can put the diaper on him.  Note: I know I am aware that I can put it on Charis, but so many people already mistake her for a boy I don't want to put it on her.  I also like the new colors (Dazzle, Mirror, and Sassy) over their pastels.

I am also impressed with Cotton Babies for this reason-a month or two ago on their Facebook page they had about 5 prints and they asked their fans what they thought of them.  MANY people did not like them and suggested the artists go back to the drawing board.  When I first heard that this video was going to show their new prints, my heart sank and I thought, "Oh no, please don't let it be the prints they showed earlier this summer."  But, I soon found out that Cotton Babies listened to their customers and fans.

What do you think of the new colors and prints?

My Little Psalms {Read Allowed Thursday and Thrifty Thursday}

I LOVE shopping at thrift stores.  Why do I?  I like saving money.  So many times, people give something that they've never worn or still in the package, but at the same time, I try be choosy and not purchase things unless I have something specifically planned for them.  I can find things that are unique or that I might not readily find in a store.

One item I recently bought at our nearest thrift store was My Little Psalms.  It came to a grand total of 35 cents.  It does not look like anyone even read it, but when I saw it, I immediately grabbed it off the shelf.  Our church denomination sings Psalms exclusively and I wanted it to read to Charis.  I do not know what translation it is in, but I've read a few selections out of it to my daughter.  I love the Psalms.  Some things that Charis can learn from this book are that:

• God is the Creator "The sky was made at the Lord's command." Psalm 33
• God is good "The Lord is good. His love continues forever." Psalm 100
• We are to be thankful to God "God, I will thank you forever for what you have done." Psalm 5

Finished the Soaker and Etsy {Yarn Along}

I finished the soaker I was knitting last week, and it FITS my pumpkin!!  She has not worn it for an extended period of time because I just finished it on Monday and it's now lanolizing (for a tutorial see How to lanolize a wool diaper).  I have not put cloth diapers on Charis this week because she has diaper rash and I have been putting Desitin on her.  I plan on making Fleece liners, so I can go back to the cloth diapers, but have yet to do that.

The finished soaker on Charis.

It can fit under her onesies!!
(Sorry for the poor picture quality.)

Charis' favorite toy.

This week I am knitting a few baby items and have not taken pictures yet.  I'm thinking about opening a store on Etsy (see my Etsy post).  If you do have an Etsy store, I'd love suggestions, recommendations, things you regret doing or not doing, etc.

I have a confession.  I have not read anymore from The Advantage of Doulas since the Yarn Along last week.  We had guests staying at our apartment this past holiday weekend, and rather than reading, I decided to visit with them.

If you like knitting and reading, 

don't forget to join us at Ginny's Yarn Along.

The Business of Being Born

Since The Business of Being Born came out, I had been wanting to watch it, but never got around to.  BIG MISTAKE.  About two weeks ago, I was in our public library and happened to look at the documentaries and saw it.  I immediately grabbed it and went to check out.  I watched The Business of Being Born that night and watched it again last night with my husband.  I highly recommend it for any woman, especially those who are pregnant, wanting to have children, and those who've had children.

The documentary shows that primarily hospitals and doctors are interested in money, litigation, and the physicians' convenience.  Medical decisions and interventions are being made for monetary and legal reasons, not because they are necessary.  The Business of Being Born showed that the two peak times during the day women have c-sections are at 4PM and 10PM.  Why is this?  C-sections are doctor friendly.  Around 4PM, one wants to get home and have dinner.  Around 10PM, doctors don't know how long this woman will be laboring-will they have to get up at 2 or 3 in the morning.

I learned a few things from the movie (and many things were reinforced):

• Midwives attend over 70% of births in Europe and Japan, but in the US, they attend less than 8%.
• When births went into the hospital, midwives did not go with it.  Unfortunately, this is definitely true.  You may remember from Part 1 of Charis' birth story that the reason I did not go with midwives was because the hospital did not (and continues not) to grant privileges to midwives.  This has been true for all three hospitals I have worked at since 2006.
• The c-section rate went  from 4% to 23% in the decade that Electronic fetal monitoring was introduced.

A few things I want to change (D.V.) for my next pregnancy delivery:

• I DO NOT want to be induced.  I wish I had put my foot down more with Charis.  There was NO MEDICAL reason to be induced and have Pitocin.  
• I want to have a midwife.  If for some reason I can't see a group of midwives, I want to have a doula with me during the delivery.
• I'd love a waterbirth, but unfortunately I don't know of any hospitals in the area that permit this.  
• I'd like to move around more in labor and NOT push lying down (pushing from lying down is doctor friendly, but closes the pelvis more).
• I DO NOT WANT FUNDAL PRESSURE!!!  Read Part 3.
• I'd like to try and avoid an episiotomy.  I honestly think this was performed for two reasons, I was not able to squat, but was lying down, and it was shortly after 5PM, and the doctor wanted to get off work soon because the evening doctor was going to be on call soon.

For more info, go to The Business of Being Born.

Have you seen The Business of Being Born?  

If so, what are your thoughts?

Note: I think the biggest reason OB-GYNs do all the tests and interventions that they do is because they are concerned about litigation and a mother coming and suing them.  I do not think doctors are evil.  I believe it is an individual choice if one sees an OB-GYN or a midwife.

Charis' Debut {Part 3}

This is the FINAL part of Charis' birth.  If you haven't read Part 1 and/or Part 2, start there before reading.

I started focusing too much on the pain and was tensing up.  I felt nauseous.  I began to think, "I can't do this."  Drew was trying to help me calm down, but it was not working.  Finally, he called the nurse in and asked if the medication could be increased.  That's when she reminded me about the fact that I could deliver medication by pushing a button.  I felt STUPID.  Here I was, a nurse, who has had patients who have PCA pumps, but when I had one, I completely forgot what to do.  So, I clicked it (started feeling some relief) and clicked it 15 minutes later, and the pain started getting more under control.  During this time, the nurse said she could check me if I wanted.  I said, "Yes."  She checked and I was 8 or 9 cm dilated; I forget what station, but she thought that I'd be pushing before the hour was up.

I started pushing Charis around 3:30 PM.  Even though I had an Epidural, I could still feel when I had to push, for which I was thankful for.  The nurses were great.  One nurse was precepting a new graduate nurse.  The doctor was discouraging around 4:30-4:45, he started applying fundal pressure frequently.  I was frustrated because it was SO PAINFUL.  And it felt like, I could not do it on my own; he needed to "help", but it was not helpful.  I believe there was NO MEDICAL REASON IT NEEDED TO BE DONE.  Then, around 5:10 PM, I was given an episiotomy, without my knowledge or consent, and Charis was born at 5:13 PM.  She weighed 9 lbs. 12 oz. and was (and still) is a beautiful baby girl.