Poor Gisele

I am not one to read the newspapers or follow the famous folk, and I've been really out of the loop since I was out of wi-fi range for two weeks. But suddenly I started hearing confusing remarks about Gisele Bundchen Brady and her comments about home birth and breastfeeding.

Here's the most balanced article I have seen so far, if you want to catch up on the story before I dive in with my own personal comments:

http://www.examiner.com/family-recreation-in-atlanta/moms-are-you-critical-of-holistic-moms

From the little I know, she's a famous model, birthed her son at home with a water birth, and has said that she believes everyone should breastfeed for at least 6 months.

Good.

What is the problem everyone has with this?

I was fortunate enough to have a home birth. I loved it. It was the most amazing, incredible, empowering, and intense experience I have ever had and ever expect to have. I didn't use drugs and didn't need to. I would encourage every woman who wants a home birth and is able to have a safe one, to do that. And if I loved my birth experience, is that a reason to say a negative comment about me? I realize that not everyone can have this experience, but I would still encourage moms to keep it as natural as is possible. And don't hate the people who work really hard to accomplish something like a home birth. (I consider it an accomplishment myself because there is a lot of prep involved and I mean that in many ways). I felt it was safest for me, my baby, and it was how I wanted to welcome her into the world. And whether one argues that it is lucky, or a simple birth to have no complications, I think simply staying out of the hospital in the first place reduces complications overall. (Of course, I realize that some births do require medical interventions, but I would put that in the 10-15% rate, not the majority of cases.)

And should every woman breastfeed for at least 6 months? In most cases, yes, at least try it, and 6 months is probably light. If the entire WORLD did this, it would save billions of dollars and many lives. Not to mention the health and emotional benefits of breastfeeding. There will be women who can't breastfeed for medical or personal reasons, but we should still be able to see an 80-90% breastfeeding compliance rate. (That was proposed by WHO-the World Health Organization).

And then I heard Gisele was criticized for losing weight and getting back to modeling quite soon after. What is the problem there? For moms who are worried about losing weight, try breastfeeding. The pounds will melt away. Hasn't Gisele's life revolved around her health and diet and exercise? Of course, she will lose the weight right away. I'm just a regular person and I lost the baby weight within 8-12 weeks.

I am happy to see a celebrity who is speaking as an advocate for natural birth and breastfeeding. Why do her choices seem more crazy than opting to, voluntarily, have a baby by c-section? Or introducing a foreign food hours after birth? As women, we should be supporting each other in such holistic decisions.

Stop picking on her!

Hooray for Midwives

It is International Day of the Midwife. We're at home with a teething Scarlett instead of at the Midwife "celebration" tonight, so I will take a few moments to share how happy we are to have a baby that was born with the help of midwives-oh so long ago.

Our midwives were Joy and Shianna (and we hope to work with them again) from the Cochrane Community Midwives. It was worth driving out to the farm for our monthly and then weekly appointments. It felt like driving out to the farm of Ina May Gaskin fame!

Why I loved our experience:

• Our midwives spent time with us at our regular prenatal visits (we had 1/2 hour visits).
• Prenatal visits themselves are empowering as I would take care of such things as my weight changes, urine pH, etc.
• The midwives we worked with during our prenatal care were with us for our birth (shocking concept, I can't imagine a rotating team of 8 doctors!)
• They supported us in whatever birth we wanted. Sure, we had nothing extreme in mind, but they didn't question us unless it was going to affect my health or the baby's health.
• They provided lots of information for us to make an educated decision about such things as Vit K, using oxytocin after birth, and eye drops for baby.
• They were able to refer us to like minded birth classes and health professionals.
• They laughed when I asked who would "catch" the baby.
• And of course our birth. Not a word of stress was added to the fact that my labor started on day 10 after my due date. I labored for 12 hours and got to experience it all-showers, walking the stairs, many labor positions, and I have no idea what else for that 12 hours. They came when I needed them, left us alone when we needed it (just in another room) and kept me out of the birth pool since I was slow to dilate. I pushed for 2 1/2 hours-in many different locations in the house too, including the birth pool, on the birthing stool, and they made me walk around as the head was partly crowned. I could not have made myself do that. For a birth junkie, it was all the perfect experience.
• They asked us if we had a boy or a girl, instead of telling us.
• Not to mention the midwives enabled us to have the home birth that I believe was the most gentle, non-invasive way for Scarlett to enter the world.
• And after the birth-we had visits multiple times over the week to help with breastfeeding and baby care. We saw them until 6 weeks after the birth. And it took us until then to figure out breastfeeding anyways.

Did I get it all? Not to mention that it is lovely to be surrounded by individuals that believe in the strength of the woman's body and the process of natural birth, the way it is supposed to be. I wish all women could experience birth in this way.