"When my friend Ricki Lake approached me about making this film, I admitted to her that I was afraid to even witness a woman giving birth, let alone film one." -quote from the Director of The Business of Being Born Abby Epstein 2007

-Birth is a miracle, a rite of passage, a natural part of life. But birth is also big business. Compelled to explore the subject after the delivery of her first child, actress Ricki Lake recruits filmmaker Abby Epstein to question the way American women have babies. -synopsis of The Business of Being Born movie

My Husband and I recently watched the movie on Netflix and were really floored to learn that many women and men have never seen an actual normal birth or have never even heard of a midwife. Much like the director of the film and other voices from the film share, there seems to be a big taboo about talking about birth and definitely a serious push to keep women from asking questions.

After giving birth to our third child at home this summer I felt compelled to share about the art of Natural childbirth and our own home birth experience. My natural childbirths came about from the first hand experience of being with my mom, Gerri Plummer, as she gave birth at home, and definitely the overwhelming frustration from a hospital birth with our first. Her midwife was Brenda Buffington TLM who actually delivered me as a baby and mentored me through my first pregnancy, eventually also delivering my son at home in 2005. By this June 2009, Jackie Griggs RN, CNM, IBCLC brought our little daughter into the world.

The reason I chose home birth is I wanted to be in control over my own body. I also wanted to experience a calm and relaxed atmosphere that would help me to stay focused on my own timing, my own breathing. I didn’t want to sit under a loud ticking clock and be harassed into speeding up my labour which actually transpired with our first. I had back labor the first time and it went for 36 hours, they wouldn’t allow me to get in the hot tub, they wouldn’t allow me to have any ice or heat for the back pain, every time I had a contraction they had to watch me which caused more discomfort. Almost everything we had talked to our doctor about and didn’t want done was done to me to speed up labor.

For the second birth with my son in 2005 I chose to use an exercise ball for early labor, a warm bath, and the Side Lying position for birth.

First Home Birth

Midwife Brenda Buffington

With my daughter’s birth this June we had labor through the night so to relax I brushed my hair which actually was very soothing, laid on my side during contractions and to my surprise the most comfortable feeling for my back was the Hands and Knees Position.

Second Home Birth

Getting Footprints!

After watching the film I wondered why another mom I know had chosen to have a natural birth. So I asked her "What was the main factor you chose to have a natural birth? "

"I could write a book! Natural is a choice! A great choice for the mom and baby. A mom told me that man came up with drugs to take away the most amazing experience a woman could feel, the power, the intensity, the joy, she got me soooo curious I did tons of research. I did it for the baby not for me. If I was getting my leg cut off I would choose drugs as it affects no one but me, but with birth, event thought they say drugs safe, always a chance, always a chance that thing stuck in your back could hurt you, turn and hurt you and that could prevent you caring for baby properly. Too many women I talked to loved the epidural but still had some pain at sight years later, not every day but occassionally. Not worth it.

Sure it hurts but its empowering. You get to feel your baby, you get to make those pushes work. You get to know when baby is coming. You get to get up and move around. Your up the next day with no cords. I loved it! I did have births at hospital but NO medication. PLUS if its your 2/3^rd birth you can get permission to not have all those ivs/hookups. I got the permission for my 3^rd but unfortunately We had some complications so it was important to monitor him. But I still had freedom to do what I wanted.

Get those birthplans made and make copies of it, take it to hospital. Interview Hospitals/Drs to make sure they will support your birth decision. I LOVED my 2^nd Dr soooo much. He told me I will tell ya once if you need it ask but wont ask again due to what we talked about (good southern man)." -Alisa Copeland

I was also curious to find out why the midwives I have known had chosen their profession. So I asked them "What was the main reason you became a midwife?"

Supplies

I was inspired after seeing an online tutorial How to make Pink Pipe Cleaners to see if I could simplify the process and vary the tinsel used to turn pink! So I got out some vintage tinsel, I guess it is a type of acetate, and some silver pipe cleaners to dye pink. I used the Bordeaux Ancient Page Archival ink to ink the tinsel well by just rubbing the ink pad over the tinsel until it was about 80 – 90 percent covered. I let it sit for a few minutes and then gently rubbed the excess ink off with 2 paper towels. It set out over night and was ready to use. Voila! Pink tinsel and pink pipe cleaners. This is just my own simple version and I’m sure there are other techniques but if you have the time to play around with it I’m sure you will have some fun, just make sure to wash hands thoroughly after inking or wear gloves!

ink, tinsel, & pipe cleaners

Rubbing off the excess ink

Finished tinsel and pipe cleaners

The month of October is national Breast Cancer awareness month, celebrating 25 years of awareness, Education and Empowerment, so I thought I would share some cute things I found on the internet to Shop for a cure! First one of the easiest and sweetest things you can do is buy the new Yoplait Chocolate mousse Yogurt with the pink cap, as part of their Save lids to Save Lives campaign. Eat the rich yogurt and then mail in the Pink Caps by Dec 31, 2009 and Yoplait will donate 10 cents a cap. Avon is also very active in their own Breast Cancer Crusade, this month offering a Cute Red Tote for $10, with all of the profits going towards the crusade. You can also register to walk in Avon’s Walk for Breast Cancer walks around the country, Houston Texas walk is scheduled for April 10-11, 2010. Reese Witherspoon models the Avon Walk Pink Boat Neck Tee, so chic! the Susan G. Komen shop also offers apparel and jewelry for the cure. I love the new Wrap Bracelets and the Soar for the cure pink tee! Our kids are the inspiration to Hope for a cure before they grow up!

Wanting to have a fun and affordable Hello Kitty Hawaiian party for my daughter’s birthday I scoured the web for some ideas and found some great sites that offer free coloring pages, bookmarks and more. The sites I loved were Family Shopping Bag, coloring pages at Hello Kitty Fun Stuff, along with a Hello kitty mermaid I used for my invites.

We made the bookmarks as favors as well as made cupcakes and bought a pinata ( the pinata would not break!) to round out the kitty theme.

The centerpiece is a Barbie mermaidia set with a little hello kitty we already had. For the Craft we beaded pink, yellow and blue flip-flops with plastic beads and 24 gauge wire that I have had for years! I’m so glad we got to use them and have fun.

"Lost my Heart in Galveston" page

While going through some old albums to find some meaningful and deep pages to photograph for a friend I decided to share them here on Pinkdilla as well. I’m a firm believer in sharing family photos and stories with the next generation, kids should know who their grandparents and great-grandparents are. From just displaying photos in the house to actually talking about the memories with our kids I’m fortifying the grounds of romance that have gone down through the generations and that is how any of us are here to begin with! 2 People, somewhere, fell in love, got married and had you! Maybe you don’t have kids yet or maybe you are waiting for kids, scrapbook a memory page of you or your parents as babies or kids! I was missing my grandma like everyday and decided to keep on scrapbooking pages of her and also my grandpa. Seeing them young and in love makes them real and makes them close by to me. I also feel a strong connection to Galveston Island the place were several generations of my family started!

"Beach Babies" 5 generations of women on Galveston Island

In 2003 I really struggled as an artist and then I came up with this page penning the quote "Read Me with a Gentle Hand" it was Published in the Art Journal Calendar 2004

"I can’t Live without My Sister" Breast Cancer awareness page Published in Legacy 2004