My Resolution

I’m pretty slow to start the new year with my resolutions for change. It seems that each year, I am completely burnt out after the growing/harvest/preserving season then jumping right into the holiday season that by the time the new year begins, I only desire to sit and do nothing (ok, I want to chat on Twitter or take naps). And cook yummy food from all that I’ve put up!

I’ve been reading about what several others have been saying their resolutions are and for me, the only major things I need to change in my life this year is to get more exercise and more sleep! I have no problems eating what’s in my pantry as one big challenge I’ve seen people participate in. In fact, I try to live this way year round and am nervous we are going through our canned tomato and sauce supply way faster than I thought we would and I am trying to make the home-canned supply last til next summer! I’m sure it won’t at this rate.

I don’t need to challenge myself to do a 3 week jumpstart your diet challenge which is another big one I’ve seen written about to detox your body on a plant based diet. I eat a plant based diet and occasionally the very nutritious eggs from my own backyard chickens so this is a way of life for me, too. I also like to wait until springtime to do a liver cleanse, it’s too cold for me in the winter to do cleanses like that.

No, what I need to do (and began doing this past week) is something I saw written up on the Huffington Post called “Sleep Challenge 2010 – Women, It’s Time To Sleep Your Way To The Top, Literally.”  Once I read that article, I knew I had to do it. I was resistant at first, I like going to bed between 12-1 am and sleeping in a bit in the morning but with an almost 6 year old boy as my daily alarm clock, I rarely get to sleep past 7 or 7:30 and that’s late for him. So I was getting around 6 or 6.5 hours of sleep each night. I have been dragging and some days, I’ve only gotten about 5.5 hours at night and that puts me over the cranky edge so I can’t function the way I want and need to.

I realize I have to get a minimum of 7 hours of solid sleep at night and preferably 8 hours of sleep every night to feel well. My son sleeps through the night for the past few years and even in his own room now. The only time he wakes us up at night is if he’s sick or had a bad dream. After suffering through several years of extreme sleep deprivation because of him, I should want to go to bed early and get 8+ hours of sleep every night! Why my resistance I wondered? I realized it’s because it’s “me time” for several hours in the evening. After we eat a family dinner, my husband does the bedtime routine with our son then has his guitar playing hour (or more) every night and I clean up and have things I catch up on, books I am reading or tv shows on Tivo to watch! I wind up waiting for my husband to watch certain shows with me and we seem to go to bed too late because of this. He always says he does better on 6 or 6.5 hours of sleep and if he sleeps longer than that, he’s dragging. I’m the other way around so I don’t believe him! Who can function well on 6 or 6.5 hours of sleep every night? Not me!

He is sort of doing this sleep challenge with me because consistent, solid sleep is so beneficial for your body in so many ways and he’s recovering from several weeks of some funky virus invading his body and doing strange things to him. Solid sleep also helps to prevent getting run-down and sick in the first place. Your immune system works better, you have more energy, you look younger and your mental state is in a much better place, too. There’s also evidence that not getting enough sleep makes you gain or retain weight and sufficient sleep helps you lose it!  There really is not one downside to getting your “beauty sleep.” It is quite a challenge for me to get up to the 8 hour mark. I’m working on cutting back on my evening activities and getting more things done during the day.

This past week I’ve been aiming for 7-7.5 hours of sleep each night (by counting backwards from my 7 a.m. wake up time) and I feel good but still tired and dragging at some point in my day. Clearly a sign I need more sleep! Who knew? This week, I (and possibly Michael) will be trying for 8 whole, glorious hours of uninterrupted sleep each and every night. If I can do this, I will feel like superwoman and will be able to really increase my workouts and pretty much revolutionize my world! I like the info in this update from Arianna Huffington about what happened to her after finally getting those 8 hours of sleep each night.

I encourage anyone reading this to give this sleep challenge a try. Lawd knows we all need it!

Pointing Out Discrimination In America

Well this really will show you the level of racism and discrimination still alive and well in the USA. When you see it written out like this, it really makes you wonder why anyone would back a not too bright and low integrity person to be elected as the next leader of the free world. I want an Ivy league intelligent person (and being the editor of the Harvard law review doesn’t hurt, either) to be my next president not someone who graduated at the bottom of his class, thanks.  (And just to clarify – I mean ivy league intelligent as in really earned it, took out student loans to pay for it not get in on daddy’s connections and money and still be dumb like Bush did).

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From Letters to the Editors @ Fort Worth Star-Telegram 9.17.08

What if John McCain were a former president of the Harvard Law Review?
What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?
What if McCain were still married to the first woman he said ‘I do’ to? What
if Obama were the candidate who left his first wife after she no longer
measured up to his standards?

What if Michelle Obama were a wife who not only became addicted to pain
killers, but acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?
What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard? What if Obama were a member of
the ‘Keating 5′? What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?

If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election
numbers would be as close as they are?

This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive
qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when
there is a color difference.

- Kelvin LaFond, Fort Worth

Eve Ensler on Sarah Palin

I must admit, I’ve been having issues with blogging this week because every time I sit down to write a post about anything, all that I really feel like doing is ripping into Sarah Palin and John McCain.  So, I’ve decided to not post until I could get over it.  My friend Jyoti sent me this piece written by Eve Ensler for the Huffington Post and it really got at how I felt and being that she’s a playwright and a feminist – she summed it up better than I ever could.

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I am having Sarah Palin nightmares. I dreamt last night that she was a member of a club where they rode snowmobiles and wore the claws of drowned and starved polar bears around their necks. I have a particular thing for Polar Bears. Maybe it’s their snowy whiteness or their bigness or the fact that they live in the arctic or that I have never seen one in person or touched one. Maybe it is the fact that they live so comfortably on ice. Whatever it is, I need the polar bears.

I don’t like raging at women. I am a Feminist and have spent my life trying to build community, help empower women and stop violence against them. It is hard to write about Sarah Palin. This is why the Sarah Palin choice was all the more insidious and cynical. The people who made this choice count on the goodness and solidarity of Feminists.

But everything Sarah Palin believes in and practices is antithetical to Feminism which for me is part of one story — connected to saving the earth, ending racism, empowering women, giving young girls options, opening our minds, deepening tolerance, and ending violence and war.

I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous choices of my lifetime, and should this country chose those candidates the fall-out may be so great, the destruction so vast in so many areas that America may never recover. But what is equally disturbing is the impact that duo would have on the rest of the world. Unfortunately, this is not a joke. In my lifetime I have seen the clownish, the inept, the bizarre be elected to the presidency with regularity.

Sarah Palin does not believe in evolution. I take this as a metaphor. In her world and the world of Fundamentalists nothing changes or gets better or evolves. She does not believe in global warming. The melting of the arctic, the storms that are destroying our cities, the pollution and rise of cancers, are all part of God’s plan. She is fighting to take the polar bears off the endangered species list. The earth, in Palin’s view, is here to be taken and plundered. The wolves and the bears are here to be shot and plundered. The oil is here to be taken and plundered. Iraq is here to be taken and plundered. As she said herself of the Iraqi war, “It was a task from God.”

Sarah Palin does not believe in abortion. She does not believe women who are raped and incested and ripped open against their will should have a right to determine whether they have their rapist’s baby or not.

She obviously does not believe in sex education or birth control. I imagine her daughter was practicing abstinence and we know how many babies that makes.

Sarah Palin does not much believe in thinking. From what I gather she has tried to ban books from the library, has a tendency to dispense with people who think independently. She cannot tolerate an environment of ambiguity and difference. This is a woman who could and might very well be the next president of the United States. She would govern one of the most diverse populations on the earth.

Sarah believes in guns. She has her own custom Austrian hunting rifle. She has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip. She has shot hundreds of wolves from the air.

Sarah believes in God. That is of course her right, her private right. But when God and Guns come together in the public sector, when war is declared in God’s name, when the rights of women are denied in his name, that is the end of separation of church and state and the undoing of everything America has ever tried to be.

I write to my sisters. I write because I believe we hold this election in our hands. This vote is a vote that will determine the future not just of the U.S., but of the planet. It will determine whether we create policies to save the earth or make it forever uninhabitable for humans. It will determine whether we move towards dialogue and diplomacy in the world or whether we escalate violence through invasion, undermining and attack. It will determine whether we go for oil, strip mining, coal burning or invest our money in alternatives that will free us from dependency and destruction. It will determine if money gets spent on education and healthcare or whether we build more and more methods of killing. It will determine whether America is a free open tolerant society or a closed place of fear, fundamentalism and aggression.

If the Polar Bears don’t move you to go and do everything in your power to get Obama elected then consider the chant that filled the hall after Palin spoke at the RNC, “Drill Drill Drill.” I think of teeth when I think of drills. I think of rape. I think of destruction. I think of domination. I think of military exercises that force mindless repetition, emptying the brain of analysis, doubt, ambiguity or dissent. I think of pain.

Do we want a future of drilling? More holes in the ozone, in the floor of the sea, more holes in our thinking, in the trust between nations and peoples, more holes in the fabric of this precious thing we call life?

Eve Ensler
September 5, 2008

We Have The Power To Help Change Our World

This has been quite the whirlwind past week. Living outside of Denver where all the hoopla for the greenest and largest! Democratic National Convention that ever took place, we avoided going near the city until my local blogging friends – Amy from Crunchy Domestic Goddess, Heather from A Mama’s Blog and Julie from ChezArtz – and I ventured out to “The Rocky Mountain Blogger Bash” held in a wine bar in downtown Denver the night Obama gave his rock star speech. Needless to say, we all had a great time meeting other bloggers and were buzzing all night off all of the good energy of the city and the convention and all of us have real hope for ourselves and our children’s future.

I think you can tell from my blog that I’m a pretty liberal person. I feel in America we all should be equal and have equal rights. All this oppressive crap that the extreme right wants to inflict on everyone is really tiring and quite boring and childish to me. Some of my oldest and very best friends in the world are gay and all of them have known it (known they were different and felt differently than their friends) since they were around 5 years old. They have huge hearts and do good things for others in the world. Should they not have the same legal rights as I do just because I prefer to be with men? Should I ostracize them and not be their friend because the bible infers being gay is wrong? It’s actually been proven to be passed on in families genetically – should we blame their mothers then? It’s just illogical and stupid to me, frankly to deny them the same legal rights that I get to have as an American. Honestly, the ONLY difference between them and me is who we prefer our life partners to be.

How about the issue about a women’s right to choose what is best for her body? If you dislike it, that is YOUR CHOICE, don’t do it. Pro-choice people feel that birth control and education are the best defenses against an unwanted pregnancy. If we stop funding organizations that provide such services and make them illegal, we will have massive amounts of unwanted pregnancies that could have been avoided and not by abortion, but by educating women to learn about their bodies and when they are fertile and ovulating, birth control options, as well as other programs that also educate the men, too.

The “Morning After Pill” after a rape or incest against women also prevents an abortion as well as an unwanted child conceived from an act of violence. Some women have life threatening medical reasons to have an abortion, too. So, to get government involved in having control over a woman’s right to choose what is best for her unique body and situation, well that is so wrong on so many levels to me I can’t even begin.

The foster care system in our country is so overburdened with unwanted or abused and neglected children that desperately need homes already, how is taking away our only chance of helping more women at least educate themselves on how to prevent an unwanted and unplanned for child from coming in and disrupting their lives going to turn that situation around? I think every person that is anti-choice should be required to adopt at least one child from the foster care system to put their money where their vote mouth is. Talk is cheap and action is needed right now.

Basically for me as an American Woman and Mother, it’s seems very logical for what kind of country I want to live in. I want to live in a country that values all of it’s inhabitants equally and that includes paying women equally, too. A country that provides quality and very affordable (or free!) care for our health and the health of our families, leaves the decision making of what to do with my own body up to me and me alone, good schools and teachers (that are paid well for performing such an important job), affordable college to make our workforce competitive with the rest of the world, keep the nasty chemicals away from our food, water, bodycare and cosmetic products, safe toys and products for my child, respect for the Earth and the animals that live here, working towards reversing global warming, building towards implementing renewable energies instead of only using dirty fossil fuels, creating more jobs here so people can easily pay their bills every month and a government that is not gun and war happy like a bully but one that values diplomacy and maturity until that doesn’t work anymore then logical action to be taken only when necessary.

Is that really asking too much? Is it more important to you to take away the rights of other law abiding, tax paying Americans who live differently than what you value? Is that fair? Maybe you can just not pay attention to the Americans that are in relationships with the same sex or those who have been raped and need the morning after pill.

Remember one of the main energetic laws of the Universe – “What goes around, comes around.” Maybe we can all focus on implementing the policies that will be beneficial for us all instead of nitpicking over what you feel another law abiding person is doing is right or wrong. Because really, it’s none of your business. Pay attention to what can be better for all of us in terms of the bigger picture already.

Focusing on what is for “The highest and best good for ALL concerned” is really the way we should be thinking and living all the time. It brings about peace and abundance for all. Don’t you want that?

Which candidate do you think is trying to do just that??

Photo: Youth Radio

A Free CoSleeping Webinar & A Giveaway

Cosleeping is a very natural thing for humans to do since well, forever. It is very instinctual in us because if you left a baby or small child alone at night in the wild, they would be eaten. It is safer to sleep with your children and be able to easily take care and protect them. All cultures all over the world outside of modern day western society safely cosleep with their children. It also helps children and parents reconnect and bond – especially if the parents have been away at work all day, it’s nice to reconnect even if you are sleeping. Cosleeping helps to allay children’s fears at night, it’s easy to nurse or bottle feed them, and everyone I know that cosleeps gets to sleep more because they don’t have to get up and walk over to the kid’s bedrooms to feed or comfort their children – they are right there and are able to respond right away to their children’s cries (this is also called “nighttime parenting“). And we all know that a well-rested mama is a happy and nicer mama to her whole family.

Also, some children still want to sleep near their parents as they get a bit older. There is so much change happening in their world with rapid growth into toddlerhood, then becoming a preschooler and all that they are experiencing everyday it sometimes is a lot for them to take in and being near their parents is safe and comforting for them. This is the case with our son, who is an only child. Sometimes siblings like to cosleep with each other, too.

We added a twin bed to our bedroom and Leif sleeps in that. Everyone has space and sleeps well and Leif feels safe and secure. We don’t feel the need to force him out when he’s not ready because he truly is afraid whenever we have talked about it and we don’t mind, we love the bonding experience we still get to have with him. One day soon, he’ll want to move out of our room then only want to play with his friends and not us, etc. Early childhood is a very special time and it goes by entirely too fast!

I hope you will join in the webinar and learn more about the truth regarding safe cosleeping practices from the experts. See below for the details about this free webinar:

Join Mothering, James McKenna, Dr. Paul Fleiss and the founders of Attachment Parenting International for an exclusive webinar on cosleeping sponsored by Arms Reach (www.armsreach.com) on Friday, August 22, at 11am Pacific. Registration is free at https://www2.gotomeeting.com/island/webinar/registration.tmpl?id=721965936.

James McKenna is among the country’s leading experts in cosleeping safety. He is a researcher and the director of the Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Lab at the University of Notre Dame. Dr. Paul Fleiss is a pediatrician and the author of Sweet Dreams: A Pediatrician’s Secrets for Baby’s Good Night Sleep, as well as numerous scientific articles published in leading national and international medical journals. Barbara Nicholson and Lysa Parker, Attachment Parenting International cofounders, will share their attachment parenting expertise.

Learn why cosleeping is both a natural and an effective way to foster a safe, nurturing environment for babies. Leading experts in the field will present their latest research and host a question and answer session.

On another note, don’t forget to check out Heather from A Mama’s Blog giveaway for 2 BPA-free Camelback water bottles!

photo © Nature Deva

The “Anti-Woman” Health Amendment

When I was a senior in college in the late 80’s, a group of my college and high school friends got in our cars and caravaned down to Washington DC from our assorted schools in upstate NY just so we could take part in an historic march on Washington for women’s rights. It was about not overturning Roe v. Wade, keeping abortion legal, keep the power of the right to choose in the hands of each and every woman, keeping government out of a woman’s body.

Now, however you feel on the topic of abortion, that is your right to feel that way and your opinion. But your feelings do not necessarily reflect the feelings of millions of other women who each have different circumstances to deal with in their lives to make them decide differently than you. Keeping a woman’s health, well-being, prevention education and access to services first and foremost is what is our legal right in this country and it should stay that way. One size does not fit all.

Here in my state of Colorado, there is some legislation – Amendment 48 -”Anti Women’s Health Amendment” that managed to pass to be allowed on our voting ballot in November.

From NARAL Colorado:

“For the first time in US history, Colorado voters will decide the issue of personhood in November’s general election. Proposed amendment 48, “Definition of a Person,” qualified for the ballot last Thursday. This dangerous amendment stands to ban not only all abortions but everyday forms of birth control. We know that when Coloradans get the facts, they will SAY NO to Amendment 48.

We are up against powerful, anti-women conservatives who want Roe v. Wade overturned and access to birth control compromised. They will spare no expense to see the job finished.”

All I can say to this is, “WTF? Twenty years later and we still have to fight for our rights”? “Bite me” is what I’d really like to tell the “anti-women conservatives” who want to take away my right to choose what is best for me as a woman.

The Denver Post has a great article on this topic and they too are very against this ridiculous proposed amendment.

From the article:

“Amendment 48 specifies that the egg be considered a “person” in the eyes of the law even before it is implanted in the uterus. That means, effectively, that those forms of birth control that prevent such implantation would be classified as homicide under the proposal.

Even without the use of drugs, many eggs just naturally fail to implant in the uterus. Likewise, many eggs are implanted only to result in a miscarriage in the early days or weeks of pregnancy — often before the woman is even aware she is pregnant. Should a woman who suffers a miscarriage be charged with negligent homicide because she failed to protect a fertilized egg she may not have even known she carried? Should a man who fertilized an egg be entitled to file a civil lawsuit against a woman who miscarries, charging her with the wrongful death of his week-old fertilized egg”?

This proposed amendment, in my opinion, is f*cking stupid – period. As a woman who has suffered 2 miscarriages, I can tell you that it’s no picnic and there is thought that goes into what is lost, what has changed in your life, etc. Should my husband sue me now for unintentionally killing our embryos? Even if a woman needed an abortion for health reasons, she would feel the loss, there is recovery time, etc. It doesn’t go unnoticed. Should we punish that woman even more?

With so much going on in the world around us, food prices soaring, tons of unwanted kids in foster care and orphanages – malnourished and sickly and no one to love them – should we keep adding to that? Just some food for thought.

I hope my fellow Coloradans who read this join me in voting NO this coming November and spread this message to your networks. Really, who wants to approve the “Anti-Woman” Health Amendment? Doesn’t that title itself say it all?

Mother Gaia

It seems to me that we are all on some level yearning deeply for that true connection with the Earth that we once had all the time – for some of us it is way back in our ancestral memory and for others, not that long ago. In many different religions, there are ceremonies tied to the cycle of life, of birth and death, planting and harvesting throughout the calendar year. We humans still yearn (consciously or unconsciously) for the tribal community, of gathering and preparing, sharing the bounty of our hard labor and amazing at the splendor of the vast beauty that surrounds us all over this planet. This desire is innate in us as humans, has been a part of our way of life for millennia.

Throughout it all, all the choices we humans have made both good and bad, our Mother Gaia has been there for us, caring for us as her children, always providing for us if we could just open our eyes and truly see. Perhaps then we would not be making such harsh, greedy, worthless and destructive choices so often that are disrespectful and hurtful to her and in turn, ourselves.

Maybe this year, we can all try and take some time to tune in to Gaia and try to talk to her and hear what she has to say. Sit quietly on the Earth somewhere you like and offer her your thanks and ask a question or two. She is there, alive and present in every moment and would love to talk to you. Even if you hear nothing back, talk to her and keep trying – one day you will. Honor her in your daily life by planting something: flowers, houseplants, vegetable garden. Be kind to our fellow creatures who are her children, too.

Whatever happens in the future for us here on Earth, the cycle of life will continue. She is not going anywhere and will welcome us back again and again. Her love is unconditional. Our greatest wish for Gaia and for ourselves should be Peace On Earth. If we all could keep that thought in our consciousness and say it out loud or to ourselves everyday, it will happen. Our thoughts do create our worlds and if enough people think Peace everyday, it will happen. Healing can and will occur.

Photo from Mythic Images

Skin Deep

I’ve been using this website called Skin Deep which lets you check products you apply to your skin such as makeup, lotions, sunscreens, hair care products, etc.  It’s a great resource and important to know what we are slathering all over ourselves and what the chemicals in this unregulated industry are really capable of doing in our bodies.

From their website:

Skin Deep pairs ingredients in more than 25,000 products against 50 definitive toxicity and regulatory databases, making it the largest integrated data resource of its kind. Why did a small nonprofit take on such a big project? Because the FDA doesn’t require companies to test their own products for safety.

I’ve gotten rid of any random beauty products this past year that are ranked high on their list and the majority of our products we use are ranked low to zero anyway, thankfully.  I’ve only ever used Dr. Bronner’s Pure Castille Soap on my son since he was a baby for both hair and body.  It is extremely safe and does a good job at cleaning and can also be used to clean many different things, not just our bodies.  My husband and I use that soap as well for ourselves but I do use different shampoo.

I got a bit obsessed a few years ago in trying to find the best shampoo and styling products that would help my hair stay thicker and curlier in my dry climate and I tried many different hair care products from botanical and very expensive to the cheap stuff and I found out from this website that some were ranked pretty badly.  Off those went to the trash.  I really don’t need to add more toxicity to my body and even though it was only on my hair, it’s still absorbable through the scalp.

Because this industry is unregulated and not checked for safety, manufacturers can put motor oil or any other garbage in your mascara and foundation or whatever else we wear on our skin if they want to.  We are exposed to chemicals that get absorbed right into our bodies through our skin and these chemicals cause diseases by hormone disruption and toxic buildup in our bodies.

A study by Professor Andreas Kortenkamp, the head of toxicology at the University of London’s School of Pharmacy, states:

“We will not be able to reduce the risk of breast cancer without addressing preventable causes, particularly exposure to chemicals.”

Elizabeth Salter Green, the director of Chem Trust said:

“There is a misconception that breast cancer is an inherited disease and therefore inevitable. This is quite simply a myth: most cases of breast cancer are acquired over a woman’s lifetime, and so most are preventable.”

Many physical health conditions are preventable if we are aware, conscious and vigilant in educating ourselves as to what we are exposing ourselves and our families to on a daily basis.  We think we are protected in the U.S. but the sad truth is, we really are not.  So our unconscious choices of purchasing whatever off the store shelf have to stop now if we want to do what’s best for our health and the health of our children.

Check the database, you’ll be amazed.  They have a separate database, just for children’s products called the Parent’s Buying Guide which lists all different children’s products including sunscreen.  Amazing to see what ranks as the worst and know that lots of mommies use these products on their precious children everyday.

We have choices, options in choosing products that use only non-toxic ingredients in their products and as I have found in my quest for good hair products, they are out there and don’t have to kill us in the process of using it everyday.  Read labels, use this Skin Deep database, request the non-toxic products to be carried at your favorite stores, shop at the better stores or online to buy the products that are non-toxic and vote with your dollars.  The message will get across to manufacturers that we are not just dumb “sheeple”, we are smart, educated consumers and we won’t buy their toxic crap anymore.

What A Woman Can Do

I keep meaning to mention this.  I met a woman at Michael’s xmas office party that was telling me a story about her grandmother.  The woman had 22 children, all normal births, I believe.  But, the really fascinating thing about that (like 22 pregnancies, labors and births is not fascinating enough), out of the 22 kids, there were TWO sets of triplets and THREE sets of twins!!!  Almost half of her children were multiples!!  No fertility drugs whatsoever, these multiples were all natural and vaginally birthed!

Now, I could not help but ask her, after her first set of triplets, wouldn’t you want to not have any more children? I mean, you would think it would be very taxing on your body to carry 3 people in there.  I guess that made having a  single baby a piece of cake!  I could not imagine taking care of 2 or three infants at one time and dealing with the older kids, too and being pregnant!  I asked if she had help and she said no, just when the older kids got old enough to help her raise the younger ones.  She was married to the same man for all the kids.  I swear, I would have asked him to get fixed or never have sex again.  I honestly can’t imagine that many pregnancies and births and dealing with infants and toddlers and all the stuff you have to deal with.  You would think she would have figured out her cycle to avoid pregnancy and wouldn’t she be so tired anyway from dealing with all of those kids to keep procreating??!!

How can they afford 22 children, anyway? Where would they all sleep??  How did anyone get enough (or any) attention from mom? I had so many questions for her, I didn’t want to ask too many at once but she could tell I was fascinated by the story!

I did ask if her belly and boobs were hanging down to the ground from being stretched out so many times and she said actually, she’s a pretty small person all over.  I think she said she was 4′11″!!!  That is truly amazing!  She told me she went to a family reunion recently and she has like 200 first cousins, some she just met for the first time!

I guess some women are cut out to do this in their lifetimes.  Clearly, I’m not one of them   It is truly amazing to me what the female body is capable of doing.

Belly Dancing and Birth

As some of you may have read in other posts of mine, I love to dance.  I especially love belly dancing and did it for many years before I became pregnant.  There is just something so ancient and primal and very feminine about the movements and skills you develop with your body in performing this dance.

I love when synchronicities happen because I came across this website, The Goddess Dancing, and it has a few articles about  belly dancing and birth and their similarities.  I find this fascinating because I have been specifically trying to do this dance again to help my pelvic bones shift so that I may get pregnant one more time and have a natural birth like I want.

From my first birth experience I was told by my OB (and it was confirmed by my massage therapist) that my pelvis is sort of “funnel-shaped” meaning that the bones are not far enough apart to push a baby out and my baby could not drop down at all during labor (i.e. – we would have died without a c-section).  I want to change that and belly dancing seems to be the only real way to do it.

This one article on that site, The Dance of Birth,  was written by Anita-Cristina Calcaterra in 1992 and the first line reads, “It is important for women to reclaim birth as a natural and powerful process”.   It says that a dancer named Morocco in 1965 compared childbirth classes taught at a NY hospital and the Natural Childbirth book by Dr.  Frederick W. Goodrich to her dance movements as she performed them.

Other birth instructors in the 70’s compared the similarities in the muscle isolation of this dance with Lamaze and other dancers showed how the movements of this dance help in “moving the baby down” the birth canal.

Wendy Buonaventura published a book in ‘83 called Belly Dancing, where she outlined the role of the dance throughout history in many cultures.  She showed that the dance has always been a part of the birth process.

Another great article on this subject, In the Belly of the Goddess: Belly Dance and Birth, written by Cathy Moore, a certified nurse-midwife  goes into more detail and comparisons on this subject.  It does mention that in middle eastern cultures even today, the laboring woman will have other women (and even men) doing belly dance moves around her to remind her to do these movements to help her labor and stop the pain and to move the baby down.  I would totally LOVE that!!  A group of friends and relatives dancing to drum music and helping me bring my baby into the world with that kind of rhythm and vibe going on around us.  How cool is that??

I think it really is a shame that we are so far away from that kind of primal, movement filled type of labor in present times.  We need to incorporate more of this into our modern birthing ways, even for home births and especially for the hospital births.

I feel the Goddess energy move through me when I belly dance and I especially felt it when I was pregnant.  It is so powerful.  How wise that women combined it since ancient times to assist them in a gentle, powerful birth.