Organic Momma

I am in the running stretch, with 3 weeks to go till delivery! Meanwhile I am trying to finish up school with the kids and get everything in order for when I go into recovery after delivery. I have been blessed with being surrounded with family that will help but we start school so early that it is getting to that time when the kids are hard to contain inside with the nice weather. I can’t blame them! Either due to nesting mode or the scarce sunshine of CNY, I am thinking of all the things that I would love to be doing outside or around the house. But to my dismay, I am stuck barely able to keep up with school, house and work. What helps is if the kids are motivated to at least get there schooling done before the sun goes down!!

So I have had to resort to hands on schooling! Instead of science from a book, we are planting a garden and identifying the plants species. Instead of reading a history book, we will sit out in the sun and read history based fiction. I love to listen to my children read to me and know that I had a hand in teaching them that difficult task. Instead of doing math from a book, we will go grocery shopping and learn consumer math and spending. For art? I give them cameras and instruct them on how to get the best pictures with the current lighting and weather conditions. They have music instruments that they play but instead of the usual practice, I encourage them to put together a concert and play as a duet for us. This usually turns into a “Can you guess what song it is?” moment and it’s amazing the different ways that one song can be played. Finally, their english. That is a lesson that seems to always be in session around my house. With correcting grammar in speech or with the song writing going on, there is always an opportunity to teach them the proper way to write and speak.

Most importantly, their faith building! I have more than enough opportunity to show them the skills to survive but it is how they respond to those situations that is most important. I am given situations day in and day out that test my faith and my will. I hope to show them in action how to respond to those tests that reflect the scriptures that I believe to be true. I hope to see the good in everything and choose to pass this on to my children. I hope and pray that my husband and I leave behind the kind of legacy that leads our kids to see that they are here to worship their Creator through the choices they make. It’s not just about the do’s and dont’s but about the results of their choices that pay off in the end. Slow to speak and slow to wrath, love your neighbor as you love yourself, honor you father and mother and so much more. Above all!?! Love your God with all your heart, soul and mind and in doing this, you are keeping His standard and being blessed for doing so.

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a blessed day!!

Shaloam

Well I am 28 weeks along in my 5th and final pregnancy. So far so good. In fact many comment on how little I look for being that far along which suits me fine-even if I don’t feel that way! The next question asked is, “Do you know what you are having?” For which I have to respond “No” due in part to the hands off, unmedically managed approach of homebirth (our choice of delivery). We welcomed our 4th child at home, where I was surrounded by my family. In fact, I will always have ingrained in my head the sound of my father from the other room praying out loud during that last stage of my delivery. The prayers and praise that were filling the room were so sweet to my ears and encouraging to my soul. Once the baby was delivered, I wanted my family involved in the process of weighing, measuring and tending to my newborn. Dad measured the head circumference while my sisters wiped her down and weighed her (supervised of course). When we visited our family physician later that day, it was noticed that the head circumference was a little off. My older sister likes to think that it was my dad merely measuring our new little princess for her crown. These are memories I wouldn’t trade for anything. Memories that would have been different had I chosen a hospital birth.

While I had previously 3 fairly good experiences at the hospital and do not think that homebirth is for everyone, I could not consider going back as all goes smoothly. I appreciate having the fall back, in case of emergency, but look forward to laboring/birthing in water, surrounded by family and friends, and delivering my newest edition into my loving arms.

Everyone’s best for their children is different and I respect the right to choose what that best is. For me it is homebirth and for many others it is the hospital. I only wish to encourage others to consider all their options and hopefully enlighten many to an alternative that is very often villafied as dangerous. Hopefully people will take the time to do the research (as my husband and I did) and weigh all the options. Either way- I hope all goes well with you and yours but most of all, you are at peace with the outcome of your choice!!

Shaloam!