Nov 8 2012
By Erica Fleischer at 10:13 am
Recently I sat down with forms for my daughter’s new day care, ready to answer endless questions about whether she uses bottles or sippy cups and how we get her to fall asleep.
I was not expecting to have to answer any questions about my pregnancy and delivery, which happened nearly 15 months ago. But in a section labeled “Part Four: Pre and Post Natal,” there were a few shocking questions including one that made me stop in my tracks: “Did you have any anesthesia or medication during delivery?”
Really?!? What does a day care need with that information? Here, I thought I was moving past my birth experience, enjoying my daughter walking, talking, and climbing, and day care was throwing it back in my face, effectively saying: you may have damaged your child with an epidural.
Read the rest of this entry →
Oct 11 2012
By Stephanie Kanowitz at 3:19 pm
I’d heard of Second Kid Syndrome long before Baby Two was on my radar. I thought, “I won’t be that lax with the second kid.” Then I had him. Last week. And instead of a fully-prepared diaper bag, I took a plastic shopping bag to his first pediatrician visit.
It’s early onset Second Kid Syndrome. You probably know what I’m talking about. Symptoms of SKS include a much calmer approach to having an infant. Instead of giving my son a full bath and new pair of pajamas as soon as the smallest droplet of spit-up hits his footie, I wipe it away as best I can and declare the PJs’ condition good enough. Read the rest of this entry →
Jul 31 2012
By Julie Satow at 2:06 pm
Do I need a birthing ball?
On Friday I went to my OB for my regular check up.
Unlike my first birth, where my husband anxiously held my hand each month in the waiting room and smiled excitedly when the thumping of the baby’s heartbeat came over the sonogram speakers, eight months into this birth and he has attended only a smattering of check-ups. The reason? I usually don’t tell him about them. Why have him leave work and trek across town to witness a 10-minute check of my vitals and weight gain?
So maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised when my doctor chastised me for failing to book a tour of the new hospital the practice had recently moved to. Or realizing that at 32 weeks, it was now time I see her twice a month. Her actual words: “You are in denial that this baby is coming.” Read the rest of this entry →
Nov 11 2011
By Gabrielle Birkner at 3:10 pm
All the Jewish parenting news you probably didn’t have time to read this week.
- You’ve heard of a nanny cam, but a mommy cam? For a fee, one Los Angeles therapist will record and analyze, frame by frame, your interactions with your children. (The Los Angeles Times)
- Go the f**k to sleep, mom! More mothers are apparently leaning on sleep aids. (The New York Times)
- Mississippi’s electorate voted down the so-called “personhood amendment,” which would have defined a fertilized egg as a person. Buoyed by anti-abortion activists, the measure would have effectively criminalized abortion, and could also have outlawed some forms of birth control and placed new restrictions on reproductive medicine. (The Washington Post)
- European Jewish leaders are moving to prevent anti-circumcision initiatives from becoming law. (Ynet)
- It’s 11/11/11 — and it’s a big day for C-sections in Seoul. (Reuters)
- Time to say “dayenu“? Over at Babble, Stephanie Wilder Taylor has an open letter from “19 Kids and Counting” star Michelle Duggar’s uterus. (Babble)
- And before you give your newborn a name like “Trendy,” we suggest you consult Kveller’s Jewish Baby Name Finder. (Yahoo! via Babble)
Aug 8 2011
By Leah-Perl Shollar at 11:28 am
My last pregnancy was when I was 41--but I'd already had six babies before it.
Over the span of 20 years and six children, my birthing experiences had run the gamut from gurney-hopping in the bad old days before labor and delivery rooms, to an unplugged, unmedicated delivery with midwives. But a few constants remained: my belief in prenatal exercise, my categorical rejection of C-sections, and my disdain for those who bottle-fed. My babies were plump from mother’s milk!
I was delighted to become pregnant at 41; my two previous pregnancies had miscarried, one at 20 weeks, in a serious hemorrhage. I breathed a sigh of relief as we passed that mark, and walked every day and ate nutritiously.
The first bleeding episode happened at 23 weeks, the second at 28 weeks, and the third at 32 weeks. I was diagnosed with placenta previa–the placenta was covering the cervix. Which meant I was in danger of suddenly hemorrhaging, putting me and baby in mortal danger. On bed rest, I was to stay in the hospital until 36 weeks, when I’d be c-sectioned, since a vaginal delivery was impossible.
When the placenta previa resolved at 38 weeks, I rejoiced that I no longer faced a Cesarean and went home to enjoy a few weeks of freedom. We made it to full-term! Feeling accomplished, I arrived at the hospital to give birth-–naturally. But the baby was transverse (instead of its head being down, its shoulder or back was down). Read the rest of this entry →
