Around the farm March 30, 2008

I thought I would fill you in on life here at placid farm. 

It isn’t the most exciting, but it sure is relaxing and beautiful.

The kids just love to spend time with the grandparents. 

 

 

We are trying to keep our garden small this year.  We have only planted a few things.  Last year we over did it and ended up having our garden demolished by squash bugs. 

We also have so much going on at the church that it is very hard to keep up with the daily work in the garden and our hectic schedule.

 

 

 

We do have a new batch of chicks in.  We lost our last hens to some local wildlife while they were out free ranging it. 

The boys are so excited to see them growing.

We are really looking forward to fresh eggs in the fall.  We will definitely be sharing the love with people come September.

We had a visitor on Saturday.  He sure looked harmless, but not harmless enough.

I took this picture from a distance.

Robin found another one in our barn last week.  Hopefully they will make their homes somewhere beside our back porch.

That’s it for now.  We are just enjoying this lovely weather and spending lots of time outside!

Tax Deductions March 27, 2008

Here is an idea.  

 ABC News reports a list of Tax Deductions You Should Know About, including the fact that:

You can deduct a number of medical expenses as they pertain to the expansion, or even delay, of your family. Deductions include fees paid for childbirth preparation classes, certain fertility enhancement procedures, birth control pills and/or legal operations to prevent having children.

Wonder if Doula services would be permitted, too?

Birth Art March 26, 2008

The first class of each series, I give my class their first project. 

One is that they have to track their food intake for the next week and the other is that they have to come back the following week with some type of artwork.

This art can be in any form, from paper to clay. 

I ask them to simply put into art what they feel about birth and this pregnancy.

It is SOO exciting for me to see what these ladies and their partners come up with. 

It is really probably a selfish project on my part simply because I enjoy it so much and I don’t have to do anything for it.

I really love how the art reveals so much about their attitudes and deep feelings about birth.

The following art work was from a lady who has a child already (which is obvious from the use of crayons) and will be giving birth in a birth center this time.

I LOVE MY CLASS! March 14, 2008

This is a picture of the latest group from the Complete Childbirth classes.

I just love them!

They are full of questions and have such a great attitude about birth.

We had our labor rehearsal class on this night and it was sooo much fun.

I always love this class because it is so hands on.  I am a very hands on kind of person, so it makes it so much easier for me to understand and communicate when there is stuff to actually do instead of say.

We made rice socks which is always a hit with everyone. 

We fill up a long crew sock with rice and add some essential oils and tie a knot in the end.

They can then take it home and stick it in the microwave for 2 minutes and have a great smelling, good feeling heat pack.

 We also practiced lots of different relaxation positions and techniques while using aromatherapy and listening to some lovely relaxation music.

It was great fun.

New Business cards and stuff March 8, 2008

My wonderful husband made me some great new business cards, that are actually grammatically correct.

My last set of cards were pretty on the eyes, but said “labor assitant”.

Obviously this is not a good thing for many reasons.

1. I only have two jobs listed on the card which makes it all the more noticeable.

2. I don’t want people to think they are hiring a teacher who is illiterate.

3. I just want my card to look good.

I also ordered some great new stuff for my childbirth class.

One of which was a beautiful and VERY detailed chart of everything from human anatomy, conception to birth.

Let me just say here that I have a good bit of advice to all other childbirth educators, if you decide to purchase this particular chart from Childbirth Graphics, you should not view it with your children or husband present.

First of all it will immediately and I do mean immediately bring about LOTS of questions from your children and then quickly following that will come lots of muffled laughing and “wait, what on earth was that” and “is that really necessary?” from your husband.

I mean really, this is a great chart but……(on the off chance that you are a man reading my birth blog, stop reading this now, before you are totally grossed out)

do we really need to show the penis in the vaginal canal????? Don’t we all know (adults anyway) that this is where it would naturally belong.

The point of the whole page was to show you the female reproductive system, ovaries, uterus and egg.

Unfortunately at the bottom of the page, you are casually looking at the picture and then…out of no where…

A penis in the birth canal! Come on. They already described the male reproductive system on another page, couldn’t they have just given the woman her time alone!

By the way…this was all illustrated by a woman.

So, now I have a very wonderfully graphic chart that I will have to put a post-it note over when showing the female reproductive organs.

I got some great handouts and such that I will be using in class, I also got a new breastfeeding video that should be here shortly.

So exciting!

I love birth.