Focus on ME!

Sometime in the middle of my pregnancy, I joined a very popular online community called BabyCenter. I was instantly addicted to the amazing resources and endless support available to me 24-hours a day.

What Once Nourished Her, Will Now Nourish Me

As part of my birth journey, I decided to have Aerielle's placenta encapsulated. Encapsulation is a ritualistic process where the placenta  is blessed, cooked, dried out, crushed, and put into pill form for future consumption by me. Immediate benefits include reduced hormonal surges during the postpartum period, relief from the baby blues, and even possibly preventing postpartum depression. If I choose not to consume the entire placenta during the postpartum period, I can use the  placenta pills in the future for relief of PMS symptoms and even to help make my menopause more manageable!

1 Fast Labor + 1 Awesome Birth Center = 1 Amazing Baby

Throughout this pregnancy, as I read more and more about natural, unmedicated childbirth, I knew that I wanted to write my birth story for others to read. Two of the most influential texts I read in preparation for my first birth experience were "Spiritual Midwifery" and "Ina May's Guide to Childbirth" both by Ina May Gaskin. Both works contain collections of birth stories that I found to be both inspiring and insightful. Its these stories, combined with the inspirational accounts of my mother's and sister's births and topped off with witnessing a dear friend birth her first child that gave me the strength to believe in myself and my body to perform the miracle of childbirth.

Yummy in My Tummy

Little baby Jessica after eating with a now full belly.

Getting To Know Me

As Aerielle settles into her new home, we continue to enjoy this new life god has blessed us with. As promised, here are some more pics of baby Aerielle uncensored.

Holy Crap......Really?

So I can't tell you the story now. That will be something Jessica will have to tell you later, but holly crap! I just can't believe it! She's already here and so unexpected. I can't express to you how I feel right at this moment, but it is a very good feeling.

WHAT? You're Not Going to the Hospital?

In an earlier post, I promised to tell you about our choice of an out-of-hospital birthing location. This was not a decision we came to quickly, and therefore the story outlining how we arrived at this decision is quite long. Enjoy!