Answering Your Questions

I've heard from lots of you since Blake was born. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your kind thoughts and wishes! We've really felt loved during this exciting time for our family!!

That being said, I know that we haven't been as good at responding to all of you! Between having a baby who loves to be held and the sheer exhaustion of learning how to balance two children, our emailing has sat waiting. Hopefully this post will answer most of the questions you've asked....so without further ado, might I present the answers to your most Frequently Asked Questions.

1. How are you? We're all doing well. My recovery has been swift and we've had lots of help (with special thanks to my mom, Joe's mom, and many close friends nearby). With the possible exception of forcing my husband to break the Sabbath by making an emergency run to Stop & Shop to get me some Lansinoh, we've really been well-prepared and well-stocked on everything we've needed. (And I'm 99.9% sure that the Lansinoh run was what pulled my ox out of the mire.)

2. Are you tired? Yes. Very. I'm not gonna lie. But I'm no different, I'm sure, than the other millions of women who birth babies and--in turn--must then feed said babies around the clock. It's a rite of passage. I just wish it was more a rite of passage for my husband. =) (No, really, Joe DOES make a significant nighttime contribution. He tells me what time it is after I poke his shoulder for five minutes to wake him. Nooooooo.... he does more than that. He also changes all nighttime diapers. Which is an actual big deal. Telling me what time it is is also a big deal... but the whole making-it-so-I-don't-have-to-actually-leave-my-bed thing is an even bigger deal.)

3. How is Ian? I'm pretty sure that Ian is doing exponentially better than my post-partum guilt would indicate. He's had lots of time to play with grandmothers, friends, and Joe. He's happy, he's sleeping well, he isn't acting out or regressing in his behavior or potty training....really, he's still the kind, gentle, wonderful child that he's always been. And he LOVES being a big brother.

4. Wow! You homebirthed! Isn't that really dangerous? This might be one of the questions we're getting the most. First, let me preface this by saying that home birth is extremely safe for low-risk pregnancies. If, for some reason, you have a high-risk pregnancy, I realize that there is a reason we have hospitals and OB's--and for that, I'm grateful. Joseph and I both have family members who needed hospitals for their births, and we are so thankful for modern obstetric care. But when I speak of the safety of home birth, remember that I'm speaking within the confines of low-risk pregnancy. (I'll add here that I would also consider home birth for some situations which *could* be classified as adding increased risk: presenting breech, twins, and VBAC to be specific.)

There is clear evidence of the safety of home birth. In some studies of low-risk births, it's even been published that home birth offers increased safety. You can find links to several published studies in this post over at Birth Faith (her post on home birth is better than anything I could write). You might also enjoy this post regarding the same subject.

We chose a midwife with more than 30 years of experience....and in that 30 years she has never had a maternal death. (Can your OB say that?) In the last year, she has had only 2 hospital transfers, and one of those was for an epidural, not for medical necessity.

It didn't take us long to feel comfortable with the safety aspect of home birth. The evidence was clear and indisputable. Choosing home birth for us was then more an issue of choosing the kind of birth we wanted. And at 37 weeks gestation, we realized that what we really wanted was to be at home.

5. How's Blake? OhMyGoodness, this child is wonderful. He's cute and cuddly and amazing. It also appears that I have produced a blue-eyed child, which boggles my mind to no end. Oh, and also? He was spared my feet. I look at them often and tell him to be grateful for his father's wonderful feet. And he's tall. Still trying to wrap our minds around that one.

6. Is Blake sleeping well? I think so. Ask me again at 3am. =)

Life is pretty grand, I'd say. We stole away to the Cape this weekend to visit my grandparents... Tomorrow marks 3 years to the day that we moved to Massachusetts....and we're feeling pretty great about how far we've come in those 3 years. Also, it's the longest we've ever lived in one house. =) Three years without moving is pretty stellar, too. Ha!

More pictures to come soon.