Congratulations!

I really wanted to avoid the hospital, and especially wanted a home birth. I also was dead set against being induced. Unfortunately, all of this didn’t end up being an option for me, and I was very concerned (ok, honestly, I was scared) about what hospital birth and induction was going to be like. The cascade of interventions and all the negative consequences was top of mind for me.

I actually ended up with an amazing team of people, between my doula (who is also a labor and delivery nurse at a different hospital), obgyn on rotation, and several nurses at the hospital, who understood my perspective and desires and worked with me extremely well. Their knowledge and patience may not have kept me from going on Pitocin, but did ultimately keep me from having a C-section where many other hospitals would have left that as the only option. This is not what I expected from a hospital birth, and I didn’t even need to fight tooth and nail for it. I do believe this would vary by hospital, though, so it’s good to look into your options there.

My whole pregnancy, I worked to balance my distrust of many incentives and practices of the medical industry and what I’ve heard about better outcomes with alternative practices against my understanding that those working in the industry really do have valuable knowledge I am just not going to be able to gather online, and the recognition that I’m not a professional and that really does mean something. It’s the same struggle faced every day between humility and self confidence, between respecting and questioning experts, and between seeking help and carrying your own burdens. There’s need to find a balance of both.

In light of what my situation was, I’m satisfied with how things went, and in just a few hours my healthy, growing, amazing daughter who is snoozing adorably next to me will be six days old. That’s the most important thing!

I wish you the best and I’m so excited for you 😁

Congratulations! I'm a new mom too and it's been a RIDE! If you're planning on a natural birth (recommended, as recovery is much faster than c section), I'd recommend reading "Nurture" by Erica Chidi Cohen. But I'd say try and read more books about child development rather than the birth — it seemed scary to me so I spent most of the pregnancy reading about a dozen books on the birth but honestly it's usually over pretty quickly, and then you have a helpless little human on your hands, and it'll make you feel a bit helpless too! I would have liked to be armed with more info beforehand.

If breastfeeding (also recommended - I see ppl have mentioned it above already), watch out for when your milk "comes in" (day 3-5 ish postpartum). It comes in FAST and you'll do well to be prepared in order to avoid a lot of discomfort or even worse, mastitis. For me, warm compresses and two Haakaas to help drain the milk was essential, as well as constant firm (but gentle) massage of the general chest area. Breastmilk is also great applied to baby's skin for just about any skin issue they have, so save every bit you can!

The early days are brutal, as your hormones change dramatically. Give yourself plenty of grace, have a "team" in place to support you emotionally and physically (food, hydration, extra hands for baby and anything else) and remember always to put on your own oxygen mask before helping others, and yes, that includes your child! Good luck, excited for you!

Good morning

Just bringing you the Belgian weatherforecast this morning.

Today we’ll be having cloudy weather, with a 100% chance of rainfall 🌧️

#gm #pleb #plebchain #grownostr

The unfortunate reality of shitcoins is that a select few might actually outlive USD. As fundamentally flawed as they are as money, they are cockroaches and will never die as long as fiat exists.

Today my 3yo did the laundry! She noticed her doll had gotten her pants dirty so she said she would wash them. From far I hear her ask around if anybody else has dirty laundry to wash. Next I heard her at the washing machine alone. By the time I got there, she already had put the detergent into the correct compartment. I watched her close the drawer and close the door. She wasn't very decisive about which program to put the machine on, so I helped her with that. She pressed the start button as if she had done laundry a million times before 😄

Didn’t really have much time to hit the gym lately.(when you know, you know)

But today I finally did it! I saw the inside of my local gym once again. I swear to god, I’m gonna be so sore the next few days 🥲

#gym #gymstr #sweatstr #sports #plebchain #pleb #grownostr

Hey y’all, just wanted to drop in and say I hope you’re having a wonderful day.

Congratulations. Being a mother is wonderful.

Breast feeding is healthiest for you and your baby and is more convenient (if you are home with the baby). It also saves in an emergency. I flew once with my first son and we missed the connecting flight home. Since I was breast feeding, I had all the milk he needed. If I'd been feeding him with a bottle I'd have been dragging a baby in a cab to stores near midnight trying to get formula.

Teaching your baby to sleep without your help and even if there are noises will help life get back to normal and serve your child well. I recommend the book "Baby Wise" for more details. The basics are feed on a schedule. Feed your baby when you wake him up and not to get him to sleep. We were replacing the driveway and front porch of our house that had sunk when I brought home my first. We had ground compactors pounding for the first couple of days, and he learned to sleep through all of it.

Remember that babies and young kids are tougher than you can imagine. I've had mine dive off the couch onto their face and try to roll off a changing table and they were all fine. Be careful, but don't worry.

There are 2 theories on keeping a baby well. One is to protect the baby from all germs. The other is to expose their immune system to lots of germs and pets to train their immune system to recognize pathogens and self. Studies have shown that being around pets (and therefore germs) reduces the incidence of allergies & asthma. I went with the latter and my son's only fever in his first 5 years was caused by a vaccine.

I researched vaccines on conventional sites, but with a holistic view. I decided on my first son to only give him the dTap vaccine and not till 1 years old. He only got 2 instead of the normal 5/6 . I did that one because I was afraid of tetanus which can be deadly, but I've since learned that tetanus is anaerobic and if you get a puncture wound to bleed and get peroxide into the wound, it isn't much of a risk. His only illness in his first 5 years were due to the vaccine. If I had it to do over again, I'd not give him any. I'd argue that zero vaccines is best, but at minimum, skip the vaccines at 2 & 4 months when the babies immune system isn't developed enough to respond well and when the dose/weight is higher. If you do your research, the danger of the vaccines is higher than the danger of the illness.

I had the educated guess that the adjuvants in vaccines were causing the huge increase in allergies and autoimmune diseases. I later read an article and the same form of aluminum used in vaccines is used in animal studies to cause autoimmunity for autoimmunity studies.

Once your child gets older, I believe nothing is better for your child than homeschooling. Before kids I though I'd homeschool in elementary and maybe middle school and send them to high school to transition to the real world. I've since changed my mind. Both of my kids were in public school for part or all of elementary school (but I live in a very conservative area with less indoctrination and there is less in the early years to begin with). I pulled my eldest out in 3rd grade and homeschooled him through highschool. He is now in college in the honors program with tuition paid based on his 35/36 ACT score. I pulled my younger son, who has Down Syndrome, later because he was harder to school and because he was taught by people I knew and trusted. He is making better progress now that I am homeschooling him.

Babies don't understand things like falling off a height. Find opportunities for your kid to fail and fall where the consequences are minor, so they can learn without severe consequences. So often people protect a baby from any place they can fall even 6 inches and they don't learn to be careful around heights. This same principle exists when they get older with real life lessons such as being honest, being a good friend, being responsible, etc.

Congrats 🥳

Congrats!

Suggest reading ‘Herbal for the Childbearing Year’ by Susun Weed (yes, that’s her name :)

Also, the Continuum Concept by Jean Liedloff

Sleep with baby in your bed the first year.. babies are programmed to relax when near

your body and heartbeat.

Nurse until they wean themselves, breast milk being the all time absolute best food/medicine

Enjoy every second, even when deliriously exhausted, it really really flies by!!

Congratulations!

You will feel as though you are doing everything wrong or have no idea what you're doing. This is not true. You will make mistakes for sure, this isn't a failure, learn from it. Do what works for the baby and yourself and ignore the "perfect parent" influencers.

It's a hard slog, but probably the best thing you'll ever do, so enjoy it, be present in the moments, because they'll be a teenager before you know it.

Few personal positions :

- no one can decide better than you as a parent, no matter what other say

- children teaches us as much if not more than we teach them. Infancy was a school of life. Parenting is another one.

- when having hard times with the little meat bag ( e.g : sick and doesn't sleep ), keep in mind that hhose moments will be gone soon enough to not appreciate it, even the hard ones

- you will make mistakes, and that's Ok, it will be fine.

- no screen as long as possible, play with him instead. It is time consuming but it is quality time that will have a strong impact on his development

- congrats ! 🎉

Congratulations on the bambino 🎉🎊

Nostor continues to grow and develop. Its been fun ☺️

Congrats!

Parenting is a job you can't do perfect.

Congrats! Some lessons from having 4 kids (some more subjective than others of course):

- Home birth is awesome if you can find a good midwife. It was way easier and more pleasant for my wife than the hospital birth.

- Breastfeeding is awesome, but make sure the baby is getting enough to eat by pumping/measuring periodically. If s/he isn't, goat milk is a good alternative (goat milk formula if you're worried about bacteria, goat milk quality varies)

- Get copious amounts of rest in the first few weeks post partum. Mastitis can happen quickly, and you don't want it. Avoid stress!

- post partum depression is common, don't get discouraged, and don't be afraid to talk about it.

- Medical advice on front/back sleeping changes all the time. Don't worry about it, and don't be afraid to co-sleep. IMHO SIDS is probably more related to vaccines. Your baby doesn't need them all right away, a delayed schedule and skipping some is perfectly reasonable. DYOR on vaccines.

I hope it all goes smoothly! Enjoy that baby.

My boy is 2.5 years old. Best time of my life. First couple of months it’s all about tummy aches. You will carry him a lot. learn a few songs to calm him down. This will help sleep.