Stand and Deliver

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

At play

At the playground in the parc du chateau, overlooking Nice...

On our rooftop terrace...

Bossing around some of our staff (aka making them play with her)...

Saturday, July 05, 2008

A great birth story showing how all hospitals ought to be! For women who want a VBAC in a hospital, it's often a frustrating uphill battle to "try" and "attempt" a VBAC in a climate that doesn't do much to facilitate it. So it's encouraging to read stories like this one.

Thursday, July 03, 2008

Home Made: Inside Baltimore's Home Birth Underground

An in-depth look at home birth in Baltimore, the article Home Made is worth reading.

ETA: The link hasn't been working recently, but I found the full text reprinted on this blog post.

How I spend my days in France

We're settled in here in France, Zari has recovered from jet lag, and our students have arrived and started their classes (French in the morning, plus studio arts/art history/French cooking in the afternoon). Here's my daily routine:

7:00 am: wake up

7:30 am: run for 30 minutes through vieux Nice and along the Promenade des Anglais, turning around at the Hotel Negresco.

8:30 am: breakfast

9:00-noon: walk with Zari up to the parks and playground on the top of the hill overlooking Nice.

Noon: lunch

1:00-4:00 pm: naptime for Zari, while I work on my dissertation and check email

4:00-5:00 pm: yoga on MWF (taught by one of our senior staff)

5:00-7:00 pm: swim in the ocean (a 5 minute walk away) or do other fun outings with Zari

7:00 pm: dinner

8 or 9:00 pm: bedtime for Zari

11:00 pm: bedtime for me

Eric joins us occasionally when he has some free time. Right now (8 pm, just after dinner) he's playing soccer in the courtyard with Zari. This a view from the terrace of our apartment, which is in the middle of the school on the 4th floor. All of the buildings in the foreground, including the clock tower, are part of the school. This picture shows about 1/4 of the school; it's huge.

Other news: I saw in our local paper that Angelina Jolie had checked into a maternity hospital in Nice for the duration of her pregnancy (however long that will be--they've been mum about her due date). One of the people we work with, an art history professor at the University of Nice, saw Brad Pitt yesterday. He happened upon him by accident when he was driving near the hospital.

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Pigtails

I put Zari in pigtails for the first time.

Sjogren's Syndrome and Fibromyalgia

I recently received a request for more information on how Sjogren's Syndrome and Fibromyalgia may affect pregnancy and birth. Please comment or pass on links if you can help out. I'm especially interested to hear from those who have either deal with these personally, or assisted pregnant or birthing women with these conditions.

UC & general natural childbirth (i.e. w/ a midwife either at home or in a
birthing center) seem to be geared more towards very healthy, low-risk
pregnancies. What about those of us who no matter what we do are
automatically classified as high-risk? I am 25, and have two autoimmune
diseases: Sjogren's Syndrome (attacks moisture producing glands in body), and
Fibromyalgia. Both are mostly under control with medication, mild
exercise, and massage therapy, and my husband and I have begun to think about
children. Sjogren's Syndrome is known to cause fetal heart blocks and,
like any other autoimmune disorder, you can either have a disease-symptom-free
pregnancy or one that will literally knock you flat on your back for nine months
because you are in so much pain. This scares me, yes, but I have felt so
out of control of my body for the last eight years that I want to see what it is
really capable of and welcome pregnancy & labor-- reclaiming myself, if you
will.
Unfortunately, if I become pregnant, I am automatically classified as "High
Risk" and most midwives probably will not want to work with me due to
this. I fear that I will not be allowed to have the kind of birth and
pregnancy I am hoping for, both as natural as possible, with the labor &
delivery in a birthing center.

Do you know of any resources for having a natural pregnancy & delivery
when you are a "High Risk" individual? I do not want to put our children
in any jeopardy of course, but I also do not want unnecessary medicines &
interventions.

Monday, June 30, 2008

Giveaways!

Someone's giving away a stash of Bum Genius diapers, and another person is offering a babywearing stash. Click on the links to enter:

Win a Bum Genius 3.0 Starter Kit from Nature's Child - Wholesome Goods for Mothers and Babies

Win the Essential Babywearing Stash from Along for the Ride (one Beco Butterfly, one Hotsling baby pouch, one BabyHawk Mei Tai, one Zolowear Ring Sling, and one Gypsy Mama Wrap).

Wow!

Monday, June 23, 2008

The AMA on Home Birth (updated)

Those of you in the birth world have probably heard about the AMA's recent position statement on home birth. I've come across a multitude of responses to the AMA, and I'll try to repost as many as possible here. Ricki Lake was interviewed by the AP about the resolution, which mentioned her specifically. (The AMA has since removed the reference to Ricki Lake.)

Responses to the AMA have come from all over: midwifery and childbirth-related organizations, physicians, midwives, journalists, and, of course, bloggers. If you come across other responses worth mentioning, please include a link in the comments section.

Our Bodies, Ourselves (aka the Boston Women's Health Collective) responds
Ricki Lake, Jennifer Block, and Abby Epstein wrote a response to the AMA in the Huffington Post: Docs to Women: Pay No Attention to Ricki Lake's Home Birth.
In Responses to AMA/ACOG Strong-Arming Women, author Jennifer Block includes responses from family-physician-turned-obstetrician Andrew Kotaska (who is one of my obstetrician heroes--you can read more about him in Pushed) and the UK-based National Childbirth Trust and the Independent Midwives' Association. An excerpt from Kotaska's response:

"We do not force patients to have life-saving operations, to receive blood transfusions, or to undergo chemotherapy against their will, even to avoid potential risks a hundred fold higher than any associated with home birth. In obstetrics, however, we routinely coerce women into intervention against their will by not “offering” VBAC, vaginal breech birth, or homebirth. Informed choice is the gold standard in decision making, and it trumps even the largest, cleanest, RCT.(randomized controlled trials)....If ACOG and the AMA are passive-aggressively trying to coerce women into having hospital births by trying to legally prevent the option of homebirth, then their actions are a frontal assault on women’s autonomy and patient-centered care."

This release from Ohio Families For Safe Birth contains comments from several physicians who support women's right to choose home birth.
A lengthy response to the ACOG and AMA statements on home birth from OB/GYN Stuart J. Fischbein. Also mentions VBAC policies--worth the read!
Author Tina Cassidy writes about Making Home Birth Illegal?
The Big Push For Midwives calls it Father Knows Best Meets Big Brother Is Watching.
Navelgazing Midwife argues that "it is the hospital system itself that writes the homebirth script." I don't entirely agree with her argument that home birth's existence is only a function of the current hospital birth climate, but it is definitely a strong factor.
Family physician Denise Punger discusses why she will not join the AMA. In the post, she writes:

"When ACOG came out with their statement Permission to Mother was not published yet, but now I can say I have a book that describes in a stepwise, logical progression from medically managed birth to my breech homebirth (where no doubt I was in the safest place for my circumstances). Permission to Mother is my response to this financially & selfishly motivated statement which does not look out for the best interest of women and their families."

Midwife Pamela Hines-Powell responds briefly and includes other responses to the AMA.
Hathor the Cowgoddess has devoted several recent comics to the topic.

Some of the many blogger responses to the AMA statement:

The Bee In Your Bonnet calls it a Civil Rights Issue
A Doula Too
Firefly Mama
Mentioned in a post about medical rape by Feministe
Fearless Birthing urges us to Protect All Safe Birth Options

Below is an email Ricki Lake sent out on June 18 about the AMA resolution:

June18, 2008
Dear BOBB Friends and Supporters:

We wanted to make sure you are all aware of the news story that has exploded over the last 24 hours regarding the recent AMA Resolution against homebirth and Ricki's response to being named in it.

In February of this year, one month after the premiere of BOBB, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) reiterated its long-standing opposition to home births. In an obtuse reference to The Business of Being Born, ACOG stated, "Childbirth decisions should not be dictated or influenced by what's fashionable, trendy, or the latest cause célèbre." If that wasn't enough, ACOG, this past weekend, introduced a resolution to the American Medical Association (AMA) at their annual meeting. The resolution commits the AMA to "develop model legislation in support of the concept that the safest setting for labor, delivery, and the immediate post-partum period is in the hospital...". The reasoning for this resolution begins, "Whereas, There has been much attention in the media by celebrities having home deliveries, with recent Today Show headings such as "Ricki Lake takes on baby birthing industry: Actress and former talk show host shares her at-home delivery in new film...". (Resolution 205, click here to read).

Since when did Ricki become an evidence-based data point? What are they so afraid of?

Just last week, Medical News Today reports that "about 8.2% of infants born in the US in 2005 had low birth weights, the highest percentage since 1968." US infant mortality rates continue to rank us below 30 other countries, 22% of pregnancies are induced, and most worrisome of all, in the last 4 years, the maternal mortality rate has risen above 10 per 100,000 for the first time since 1977. To us, these seem like the troubling trends, not home birth.

News outlets including the AP quickly picked up this story yesterday as it hit TMZ, E! USA Today, Daily News, FOX.

Ricki will be featured on Good Morning America this Saturday discussing the controversy. (If you Google "Ricki Lake, AMA" you will see the bloggers are all over this!)

Filmmakers Abby Epstein and Ricki Lake teamed up with journalist and Pushed author Jennifer Block to pen the response (following at the end of this email) for the Huffington Post (click here to read).

Late yesterday, the AMA changed the final wording on resolution 205 to omit the mention of Ricki. (Hmmm...) The AMA says that the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) drafted the initial statement so any issues should be taken up directly with them.

Stay tuned for more news to come...

The BOBB Team

Nice is nice

We just arrived in Nice, France yesterday, where we'll be working over the summer. Eric will be directing a summer study abroad program for high school students. It's a French immersion dormitory program with 85 students in a beautiful residential French school in the heart of town. For the past 7 years, I have co-directed French study abroad programs with my husband, but this summer I am just doing the accounting in exchange for my plane ticket. I am excited for 5 1/2 weeks of summer in the French Riviera!

I brought just one baby carrier with me, my Fauxhawk, and I think I'll need either a stroller or a baby backpack. I thought she'd be able to walk farther distances, but she can only go so far on foot. And it's too hot with her directly on my back, except for short walks or late in the evening. I had a hiking backpack that I bought at a consignment store, but it started falling apart at all of the stress points in the past few weeks, and now it has no structural integrity. I was disappointed that it only lasted 9 months. Since we have a great running stroller back home, I think I'll look for an inexpensive umbrella style stroller.

The past 3 weeks have been incredibly busy: getting an offer on our house, packing and moving and then driving back to our old town (all of our flights were booked before we put our house on the market), going to family reunions in northern Wisconsin and upstate New York, and then traveling to France. Zari didn't handle the jet lag very well this year, but it was probably because she also got sick during the plane ride: fever and nausea. She's in a much better mood today after a long, but fitful, night's sleep.

Zari is pulling toilet paper off the roll and putting it into the toilet. At least she knows where it belongs...I better go!

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Separate and Unequal

In this excerpt from a book-in-progress, Faith Gibson describes working as a L&D nurse in a segregated maternity ward in the South. She contrasts the care that white and black mothers received. Ironically, black mothers and babies fared much better because the institutional "neglect" allowed them to have physiological births with very little disturbance or management. From the early 1900s and well into the 1970s, the standard of care for white mothers in this hospital included separation from family members, enema & shave, confinement to bed, heavy use of narcotics and Scopolamine during labor and general anesthesia during the birth, episiotomy and forceps delivery, and separation of mother and newborn.

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Survey on Birth Choices

I’m passing this along for Holly Witteman, a PhD student at the University of Toronto. Please participate!

ETA: Holly just contacted me, and she has closed some of the surveys because they have received so many responses. Thanks to everyone for participating! She is still looking for American women who fit any of the following criteria:

- have chosen to give birth at a birth center
- have chosen to give birth attended by a family physician
- have chosen to give birth unassisted (unassisted will close soon -- that bin is almost full.)

She is also still looking for responses in all categories from women who live in Canada.

Subject: Research study about choice of birth place (home, hospital, birth center) and birth attendants (OB, FP, MW, UC)

A group of researchers at the University of Western Ontario, the University of Waterloo and the University of Toronto in Ontario, Canada, and Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada invite you to complete a survey about where and with whom you choose to give birth.

Are you or were you planning an "elective" c-section? A hospital VBAC? A midwife-attended homebirth? An unattended childbirth? We would like to hear about your choices and ask you some questions about yourself and how you made your decisions.

You may be eligible to participate in this survey if you are currently pregnant or have had a baby in the last 12 months.

The survey will be completed online and will take about 30 minutes. We are looking for 400 women total to complete the survey. We will randomly select four (4) out of the 400 women to receive an honorarium. Each of those four women will receive a $100 gift certificate to Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, or her country's Amazon.

If you are interested in taking the survey, please follow the link to learn more about the study and see if you are eligible to participate:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=BD3C4wSnW68QzctGAou1VA_3d_3d

Holly Witteman
Ph.D. candidate
Interactive Media Lab
Human Factors
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Doctoral Fellow
Health Care, Technology and Place
University of Toronto
holly.witteman@utoronto.ca

Do the math

Hathor the Cowgoddess had me laughing over the new VIP concierge services some physicians are offering. For only $15,000 cash, in addition to the normal charge for prenatal care & delivery, you can receive extra services such as:

limited number of patients, so the physician can devote more time to each patient
no waiting
longer office visits
round-the-clock availability via e-mail or cell phone
private birthing classes
one massage per trimester
optional home doctor visits
guarantee that the physician will be at the hospital for her patients' full active labor and delivery

So, you can pay the full cost for prenatal care & birth (with or without insurance coverage), plus an additional $15,000 to get these "extra special" services. Or you can pay $1,000-4,000 total (and less if your midwife accepts insurance) to get all prenatal, birth, & postpartum care and those extra-fancy services, and more, as the standard of care from your midwife.

From the article on VIP treatment:

Most physicians who offer concierge health care recognize the absurdity in paying so much to get the same kind of treatment — the non-medical perks aside — that used to be standard. But the model of the amiable country doctor who knows your kids and treated your grandparents has been replaced by a bureaucratic insurance behemoth that rewards physicians for seeing more patients in less time.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

The Energy Crisis and Modern Medicine

I've been enjoying Sharon Astyk's discussions on the potential effects of the global energy crisis on modern medicine and health care. She has recently published two excerpts from her new book, Depletion and Abundance, on her blog.

Public Health and Welfare Part I
Public Health And Welfare Part II

What are your thoughts?

Monday, May 26, 2008

FFS Giveaways!

We received an offer on our house over the weekend--which means we have less than a week to pack and move. Oh the insanity...

I am clearing out stuff and have a few free-for-shipping giveaways:

Giveaway #1
For you scholars out there, I have amassed a massive amount of primary and secondary research about the Mormon handcart treks. The stack of photocopies is about 4" tall. This was for a paper I wrote as a graduate student about "Health and Illness on the Mormon Handcart Treks." I really don't want to recycle all of that hard work, but neither do I want to keep carting it around. So if anyone is a history buff, I'll send you my months of research! Shipping: $10 Priority Mail

Giveaway #2:
Standard Process women's fertility supplements. This includes:

5 boxes (90 capsules each) For-Til B12 (#4435) plus one opened but unused box
1 200 ml bottle Black Cohosh 1:2 (opened but unused)
4 boxes (90 tablets each) Ovex (#6600) plus one opened but unused box

The "best used by" date was last July, but I imagine they're still okay to use. Shipping: $10 Priority Mail

If you'd like one of these, let me know in the comments section. I'll pick the lucky winners tomorrow night.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Pleated Ring Sling Tutorial

I make and sell sling rings. If you know how to sew, you can easily make a ring sling yourself. Here is how I make mine. Feel free to use the instructions for your own personal use, but be considerate and don't use my design--which I have developed over the past few years--if you want to make slings to sell.

Materials:

slightly over 2 yards of woven, non-stretchy fabric (2 yards 4" for most people, 2 1/3 yards if you're big-chested). I prefer linen-cotton blends. You will see the back side on the "tail" of the sling, so choose something that looks good on both front and back. Embroidered fabrics work very well.
2 aluminum sling rings. I use the largest size (3") for medium to heavy weight fabrics. For very thin, lightweight fabrics, I recommend the medium size (2.5").
thread
masking tape
disappearing fabric marker or dressmaker’s chalk

Instructions:

1. If desired, wash and dry fabric before sewing sling.

2. Cut a length of fabric 26-30” wide. Square off the ends.

3. Hem the two long ends and one short end. (I turn 1/4” and press, turn 3/8” and press, then stitch.)

4. Lay the fabric out right side up, with the raw edge on the right side. Make two parallel sets of marks—one at the raw edge, the other 9” from the raw edge--starting from the bottom hemmed edge. The first mark starts at 2”, and the rest are every 3” after that. (So 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20...)

5. Fold and press along each parallel line (pressing the wrong sides together).

6. Make the pleats: fold the first pressed edge down until it lines up with the edge of the fabric. Press.

7. Fold the next pressed edge down until it lines up with the underside of the pleat (you can feel it by running your fingers over the fabric). Press.

8. Continue until all of the pleats are pressed into place. The last pleat may need a bit of adjusting to make it line up just right with the finished edge. You can see me doing this in the photo.

9. Temporarily anchor the pleats with masking tape. Put one length about 5/8” from the raw edge, and another length of tape 8” from the raw edge. Flip over and tape on the back side.

10. Zig-zag stitch the raw edge. Trim if necessary.

11. Mark a line 4” from the raw edge with a disappearing fabric marker.

12. Using masking tape, fold the pleats close together so they overlap only ¼”. Tape on the front.

13. Flip over and tape the back of the pleats, arranging the pleats to make them look nice (if you're a perfectionist like me; you won't ever see them).

14. Stitch two parallel lines, 1/8” apart, to hold the pleats in place. This holds the pleats neatly in place when the sling is washed.

15. Remove the center masking tape. Put the two sling rings onto the pleated edge. Fold over and line up with the masking tape. (Be sure to that the "wrong" sides are folded together, not the "right" sides!) Stitch two parallel lines through all layers, 1/2” apart.

16. Add a third line of decorative stitching between the first two lines. Here are some photos of the stitching from various slings I've made.

Remove all masking tape and enjoy!

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Rowan Pelling writes about her HBAC

I saw this on another blog (sorry, can't remember which one) and wanted to share: journalist and writer Rowan Pelling wrote a short article in the Daily Mail about her home birth with an independent midwife.

Pelling mentions the trauma of her first birth--an emergency cesarean due to Pitocin-induced fetal distress--the difficulty bonding, and the recurrent panic attacks and nightmares of dead babies. Fortunately, women's experiences of trauma at birth are receiving more attention. One resource is Sheila Kitzinger's recent book Birth Crisis, which examines women who are dealing with PTSD after childbirth.

Edited to add:
I just saw on Lisa Barrett's blog that Pelling first wrote about her decision to have a home birth in the Telegraph. This article focuses much more on her decision-making process.

Reading

One of the lovely things about visiting my parents was that I had lots of time to just sit and read, while Zari played with her grandparents and cousins. My mom is a voracious reader, so I went downstairs to the bookshelves and browsed through the new titles. My first read was Perfect Madness: Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety, which I disagreed with in many respects. However, I found some of her observations very fascinating, including the lack of social support for mothering (and parenting in general) in our country.

I also read Boys Adrift which, among other things, reinforced my longstanding opposition to allowing video games in our house. The author is an MD/PhD who studies gender and child development. He identified five factors that explain why we have an epidemic of underachieving and unmotivated young men in our culture: changes in educational approaches that push math and reading too early; video games; over-diagnosis and over-medicalization of ADHD; a lack of strong, positive role models for boys in our culture; and endocrine disruptions caused by certain chemicals.

Now that I'm back home and trying to get focused on my dissertation again, I started reading Bearing Meaning: The Language of Birth. It's heavy on feminist and sociological theory, but definitely worth the effort. I am almost 100 pages into the book so far. She includes her first-hand experiences giving birth and mothering, which I find quite delightful.

After that heavy academic prose, I am yearning for something a bit lighter. My first purchase would be If These Boobs Could Talk: A Little Humor to Pump Up the Breastfeeding Mom. It's a scream, and I've only seen a few pages of it so far.

Another book on my must-read list is Louise Erdrich's The Blue Jay's Dance: A Birth Year. Here's an excerpt to tease and delight (and hopefully entice you to buy this book, which starts for one penny on Amazon):

I'm an instinctive mother, not a book-read one, and my feeling is that a baby must be weaned slowly from its other body--mine. So I keep her close, sleep with her curled tight, tie her onto me with padded contraptions. My days here have become sensuous, suffused with the particular, which is not to say that they aren't difficult, or that I get much done. With each birth I have been thrown into a joy of the physical emotions, a religious and fixated delight that seizes me so thoroughly the life of the imagination sometimes seems a spare place. The grounded pleasures--nursing, touching the exquisite fontanel of our baby, a yellow-pink fragrance of sun-heated cotton & tepid cream, gazing eternally into her mystery eyes--are only tempered by sleep deprivation.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

What to do about VBAC bans

Birthfriend reposted a list of 11 suggestions of how to protest a VBAC denial, originally published in Midwifery Today. It's a good starting place for what to do if your local hospital tells you you "have" to have a repeat cesarean because of a prior surgical birth, rather than leaving the choice up to you.

I have a few other suggestions:

Opt out entirely! Give birth at home with a midwife, give birth at home unassisted, or give birth in a freestanding birth center. Of course this does nothing to change the situation for women who don't feel comfortable abandoning a hospital environment, but you'll probably have a fantastic birth.
Fight the Man (a highly courageous but also highly risky undertaking): Flat out refuse a repeat cesarean and inform everyone of your intent to give birth vaginally no matter what the hospital's policy is. Call in the media crews, call in your lawyer, make a big stink. Very dramatic. Somewhat likely to induce stress and coercion. Slight risk that your hospital will seek a court-ordered cesarean.

Any others--serious or tongue-in-cheek?

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

(Another) new house!

So, the house that we thought we'd be moving into turned into a major disaster which we were very happy to walk away from. The home inspection revealed a multitude of issues that we didn't know about before (and some we did). Major structural issues, settling so bad the floors felt like a fun house, termite damage and dry rot on some of the joists and beams of the main floor, carpet that was used as a litterbox for the previous owner's cat, major problems with the electrical system (as in, half the house didn't work, and there were lots of random wires coming out of the walls), windows were painted shut with so many layers of paint that they would be almost impossible to open even with a lot of work, layers and layers of wallpaper covered by layers of paint on EVERY wall and ceiling surface in the entire house, warped and rotted deck boards...oh, and there's lots more. It really scared us--and that's saying a lot. If you know us, you know that we have done just about anything to houses. We happily got out of the purchase agreement and started looking for another house.

The same day we walked away from the Disastrous House, we found the Perfect House. It was on the exact street we wanted, even on the exact part of the street we wanted. It was a meticulously maintained Italianate style home built in 1893. The price made our jaws drop--it was so low. I can't even begin to explain how perfect it was in just about every way. So I won't even try. It was a FSBO, so we made an offer that day with no contingencies: no inspection, cash sale. Our offer was higher than the other one the owner had received, and we left thinking she'd take it. We also emphasized that we'd meet and exceed any other offers she might receive.

She called us back two days later, sounding apologetic, and said that she just couldn't accept our offer. From what I gather, the other people had assumed that they were buying her house (even though they hadn't signed anything) and there was quite a bit of tension. We upped our offer again. And once more, the next day, to a few thousand above her asking price. She still would not accept it.

After finding the Perfect House, and then losing it, we were very depressed. All of April, actually, has been a bad month for us. Our dog died, our car broke down, I paid almost $1,000 to have it fixed, then it died again 3 days later with the exact same symptoms. And the first two houses we tried to buy didn't work out. So we went on more house-hunting trips. Our realtor was probably tearing her hair out because we just couldn't find anything that was right for us.

We kept coming back to an old brick home a few houses down from the Perfect House. It has been totally renovated, has a double lot with a wrought iron fence, and a 3-car garage, which we have absolutely no need for, so it's almost a liability, but oh well... With our touches (landscaping, adding a half bath on the main floor and making the kitchen into a total yuppie paradise) the house will be amazing.

We put in an offer yesterday, and after much negotiating, we finally settled on $130k, down from the asking price of $145k. No inspection, no contingencies, cash sale. The house has been on the market for a full year, which I think helped us negotiate a lower price. And we're closing next week!

Some info on the house:

Built in 1883
3 bedrooms, 2 full baths
2 large living rooms, so plenty of room for the grand piano that we're taking care of until my older sister has enough space for it.
Very high ceilings: at least 10 feet
There's an attic playroom off the upstairs bedroom that has a little window. It's just big enough to stand up in in the very center.
1,877 square feet, plus a large unfinished basement with 9 foot ceilings.
Plumbing, electrical, furnace, water heater, and A/C are all completely new.
New roof & all new windows (we are sad about the new windows, since we prefer having the originals...but it's too late for that now)
Has all of the original trim, wood work, doors, and wood floors.
Wood floors were all refinished recently.
Lots of room (and sun) in the yard for gardens
Perfect location: 2 blocks from campus, 4 blocks from downtown, 1 block from a neighborhood grocery store, a few blocks from a Mexican food store.

So while it isn't the Perfect House, it will be a Very Good House for us. Since there's very little work to do on it, we can actually live in the house and enjoy it, rather than spend all of our time renovating and repairing. Yay! The only thing we'll do right away is paint the rooms the colors we want. After my dissertation is done, I'll turn my energy to planning a beautiful kitchen and gardens.

Okay, here are some pictures:

Wedding

We've enjoyed a fantastic week at my parents' house. We came up for my youngest sister's wedding, and now we're recuperating from all of the preparation and festivities.

True to the way my family works, we did practically everything ourselves. My sister designed and sewed her own wedding outfit (except for the jacket), as well as the bridesmaid's skirts, which were made from saris she ordered from India. My mom planned and cooked a huge informal family dinner the night before the wedding, a formal lunch the day of the wedding, and the reception food. My older sister made the wedding cake, including the sugar gum paste flowers that took an insane number of hours. My other younger sister did the flower arrangements. We also decorated the historic house we rented for the wedding lunch and reception. My BIL took the pictures. A true do-it-yourself wedding!

My little brother was not able to attend, since he is serving a two-year mission in Russia. Right now he's on Sakhalin Island, off the east coast of Russia. Basically he's about as far away as possible from where we are on the globe. Recent adventures include being mugged by a drunk Russian man.

Luncheon Menu
Greek Salad with feta cheese, olives, red onions, and bell peppers
~
Tomato and Basil Soup
Hungarian Mushroom Soup
Coconut Lime Thai Soup
~
Curried Chicken Salad
Asparagus spears in Hollandaise Sauce

Fruit kebabs
~
Tropical Lime Torte with Mango Compote
~
Raspberry Lemonade

Reception
Gorgonzola Tarts
Stuffed Mushrooms
Spinach and Artichoke Dip
Hummus with Pita Chips
Fresh Pineapple, Cantaloupe, Strawberries & Watermelon
Cheese platter: Brie, Gouda, & Boursin
Chocolate Velvet Cake
Chocolate Turtle Cheesecake
Citrus Cheesecake
Vanilla Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce
Sparkling Fruit Punch

Now some pictures!

First, Zari and I in our sari skirts.

My little sister has a very vibrant personality, and these pictures reflect that quite well.

The dress she designed, and sewed, herself. The skirt is made of white silk dupioni and lined with blue silk. She had a brief moment of misgiving because she didn't have a Cinderella dress. But then she said to herself, "I'm not 19 years old. I don't need to look like a princess."

The cake.

The groom and his four brothers. He also has one sister.

My sister and her husband love to joke about their rings--whose was cheaper, in particular. Hers is a cushion cut yellow tourmaline. His is made of tungsten. He especially likes that his ring is scratch proof and virtually indestructible.

In front of the St. Paul Temple, where they were married.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

My next project

We've been busy visiting my parents and going to my youngest sister's wedding, but I found a new project that I must do once we move: a tumbling composter. I found this link for one DIY tumbling composter, then found another variation that I like better from The Urban Homesteaders. It spins vertically, rather than on its side, for better mixing and aeration.

You can get plastic 55-gallon barrels for free from car wash places, then spray paint them black with special paint designed for plastics. Even if you buy all the other materials new, it wouldn't cost very much at all. I have visions of a line of these spinning composters along the edge of our (future) garden...

I admit that I have never before composted, because it seemed too intimidating, with all of the talk of mixing and aeration and proper carbon balance. But I've decided to stop making excuses.

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

"Straight out of a horror movie"??

Judit's post about two births in the headlines illustrates the value of a little knowledge and preparation when it comes to giving birth, no matter where you are planning to have the baby. It also shows how perception and expectation can color an experience entirely differently. Thanks Judit!

Twins and Triplets!

A montage of vaginally born twins and triplets, some at home and some in hospitals.

Thursday, May 01, 2008

18 months

Somewhere between yesterday and today Zari turned 18 months. I remember how old that seemed when she was a newborn. I remember thinking that she would be so different when she reached 18 months. But somehow the newborn Zari now seems different and strange, and this running, talking creature is the normal Zari that I am used to.

Here are some pictures from the past month:

Feeding the goats at the organic farm along our bike path. In the first picture she's saying "aa aa aa," trying to make a goat sound.