Well...I'm on baby #2! It's a girl this time YAYYY!!! I must say this pregnancy is a whole lot different from the first: I still haven't stopped spitting (and I've tried everything), and I had the most terrible morning/all-day sickness in my first trimester. But...my nose didn't get broad (as is supposedly typical with girl babies), my feet haven't swollen (yet, at least), and my skin is probably better than it was before I got pregnant. I am now at the end of my second trimester, one lap to go...
I am what you would call an OLD FASHION FUTURISTIC MAMA. The truth is, when it comes to birthing practices and prenatal care, "old fashion" and "futuristic" are one and the same. The new revolution in child-bearing and rearing is actually taking a few step back in time to the original ways. We have gotten so caught up in our scientific endeavors that we have become blind to the wisdom of nature and our bodies. There are hundreds of traditional remedies that have become "alternative" remedies because we are so trusting of a medical establishment created by men who are still building on their knowledge. Midwives and herbalists have been blacklisted as witches while an ignorant scientific elite has replaced time-tested therapies with lab-manipulated medications and surgeries full of side effects. Birthing women are fearful of their own bodies, minds, and intuitions from conception to delivery and beyond because of this fear-driven establishment.
A new dawn is on the horizon with a new generation of mothers and fathers. A generation that trusts in the mind-body-spirit connection, who believes in meditation and the power of the mind. A generation that trusts nature and respects the wisdom of Mother Earth. I am extremely happy to be a part of this generation! Thanks to all the people who kept "ancient" wisdom in high regard, that we may tap into these "libraries" and build upon what has been preserved and restored.
My first pregnancy was welcomed, since I was worried about being able to conceive. My concern about the state of my womb came from my irregular cycles that I had since I started my menses. At the age of about 20, I decided to take matters into my own hands and search for remedies that would help balance my hormones. On my quest I found herbs, teas, meditation, essential oils, and crystals to help me along my way. After only a few months, my cycle started to come regularly, every month, on time, for no longer than 4 days. I was thrilled that I could actually see the results. I was confident that I could now get pregnant, but I wanted to know for sure. Once I became pregnant, I was never worried about whether I would carry the baby to term. I trusted my body and I trusted the food and herbs that I consumed to do their duty. I could not keep down any prenatal vitamins, except one totally green multivitamin that I got from my kinesiologist/chiropractor. I was on it for the last month or so, and had taken it intermittently in the second trimester. Basically, I was not taking any regular prenatal vitamins. What I was taking regularly was RED RASPBERRY LEAF. I remember visiting one doctor in Jamaica who asked me what prenatal I was taking. When I told her red raspberry leaf, she looked at me crazy and said "why don't you take the traditional stuff?" I laughed to myself "I am."
I grew up in a 'green' family when people still laughed at soy milk and veggie burgers, so I was already used to natural living and eating. I was raised in a Rastafari culture where the only meat we ate was fish, and most of our diet was full of the stuff that makes organic eating a privilege in these times. Coconut, greens, root vegetables, herb teas, wheat germ, porridge, fruit and vegetable juices, and plenty of nuts and dry peas and beans filled our diet. Not to mention the occasional 'wash-out', which was bitters, laxative, worm medicine, or castor oil. Sometime after puberty (when we could go to the store on our own) we started to eat junk food regularly. Breakfast and dinner still saved us, thank goodness, but in-between it was a free-for-all of honey buns, cookies, fast food, ice cream , you name it. So I really had to pull up my boot straps when it came time to be concerned about my womb. Before, it was hoping I didn't get knocked up. It then became, hoping I can get pregnant, since I always dreamed of being a mother one day, and knew of women who couldn't conceive.
My diet during my first pregnancy was a mixture of good and bad, mostly good though. The bad would be the meat, milk, sugar, bread, and white rice. Technically some of it wasn't that bad after all, but from a vegetarian/vegan point of view it might be. Weeks of "curry goat with rice an' peas" that my growing baby had me craving, and chicken. In my last trimester I lived on hemp milk in all flavors. Overall, I had a pretty balanced diet.
I had decided in my last trimester, for sure, that I wanted a home birth. I always wanted to give birth outside of the hospital, but everyone I told, in Jamaica especially, looked at me crazy, and told me I better go to the hospital. Luckily I went back to Atlanta before that time came, and found a wonderful midwife that encouraged my decision. My mother was all for it too. My water birth began almost 3 weeks before my expected due date, and the baby came within 6 hours of labor. The midwife barely got there in time. I had already administered the whole labor, so although she came in the door while the head was crowning, she let me do the honors. It's a good thing I was reading Ina May Gaskin's Sacred Midwifery and the other great books my midwife recommended. I trusted my body and I was greatly rewarded. I gave birth to a healthy boy. I breastfed my son for almost a year and a half, give him garlic, coconut oil, apple cider vinegar, echinacea, or any of the many herbal remedies out there whenever he comes down with something, and after 3 years I am happy to say I've never had to take him to the ER.
I am a proud and confident Old Fashion Futuristic Mama working on my second baby, who I'm sure will grow to become one too!
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