Birth & Beginnings: childbirth conversations

Hello mothers and mothers-to-be! This blog focuses on pregnancy, childbirth, children, and parenting. Along with providing helpful information and resources, it is also a place to discuss choices and trends in these areas. The blog will inform and encourage mothers as we share and learn from each other. It is not a place to say that one opinion is better than another; instead it is a forum for camaraderie and for sharing personal experiences. So feel free to read, respond, and absorb information on a daily basis as together we traverse this world of motherhood.


Laura Tolman, CCE, LSP

Laura Tolman is a local certified childbirth educator and labor support professional. She also works as a postpartum doula. She and her husband are long time Alaskans and are the parents and forming relationships with families while learning about other cultures. In her free time Laura enjoys writing freelance articles, poetry, and the performing arts. Her favorite pastime is being with family and coaxing uproarious laughter out of her young son.

cafemom.com

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American Academy of Pediatrics

For information on the optimal physical, mental and social health of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.

kellymom.com

Parenting and breastfeeding information

Baby Center

Information and updates on each stage of baby and family life.

Childbirth Connection

Practical information for women and families

The First step is Resignation - 10/12/2009 11:06 pm

Take the Risk! - 7/16/2009 8:02 pm

So you’re Pregnant, Now What? - 6/27/2009 12:49 am

Kid Event - 6/1/2009 10:56 pm

Traveling - 5/30/2009 10:21 pm

mommy blog - 5/18/2009 12:37 am

Events - 5/2/2009 10:28 am

Your labor was how long? - 4/2/2009 11:34 pm

Teething Hurts - 3/17/2009 11:41 pm

Recovery after Birth - 3/7/2009 9:33 pm

How Will Labor Begin? - 2/22/2009 11:48 pm

Children and Change - 2/9/2009 10:07 pm

Finding the Right Pediatrician - 1/23/2009 10:30 pm

Pushing out a Baby - 1/16/2009 8:37 pm

New Year - 1/9/2009 1:11 pm

Maternity reports - 12/30/2008 2:28 pm

Christmas Chaos and Joy - 12/25/2008 12:17 am

Contraction Counting - 12/21/2008 8:35 pm

To Ultrasound or Not - 12/15/2008 10:14 pm

Comfort Measures for Labor and Birth - 12/2/2008 7:57 pm

Baby Showers - 11/30/2008 10:51 pm

The Baby Voodoo of Calming a Crying Infant - 11/21/2008 10:16 pm

New Year

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It’s a new year mothers and mothers-to-be! If you are pregnant and due in 2009, you are surely happy to enter into the year of your baby’s birth. My husband and I joke that we’re having babies on the even years, so perhaps 2010 will bless us with a new little one. Yes, that’s right…we are thinking about another baby. I can’t believe it. No sooner am I through my pregnancy and postpartum, than it starts to sound like a great idea to me to have another child. However, I know a lot of Alaskans who are happy to have one child for life and that seems to work well for their families.

Immediately after going from one child to two, you start to think “what were we doing?!” and then slowly life seems to get easier. A few months down the line, all is as it should be and your family has adjusted to its sudden growth. I am thrilled that our toddler welcomed his sister with open arms and loves her immensely. Was he really that lonely without a sibling or is it just his nature? I’m not sure. I do know that he absolutely refuses to let me use a bulb suction device on his sister’s nose, even though she has a cold. I’m positive that he thinks I’m sucking her brains right out, so he puts a stop to it every time and expresses his concern for “Tahl” (he can’t quite say Tahlia yet).

Speaking of my dear toddler boy, I woke up yesterday morning to find him covered head to toe in a slimly combination of Vaseline, toothpaste, and vapor rub. It appears that his arm reach has lengthened and he can now stretch from his crib to the top of the dressing table. Yikes! I wondered how the radio had been turned on the other day, and it was him all along. So I extracted him from the gooey blankets, put him in the tub, assessed the empty containers and called poison control. As luck would have it, no real harm will come from eating the Vaseline or toothpaste; however the vapor rub does have an ingredient that could cause a seizure. Scary thought, but it never happened. I guess he didn’t like the taste of that one and choose to spread it all over his body, rather than ingest it.

This is a year that will certainly have mile markers along the way. Babies being born, sleepless nights, first foods, injuries, and unfortunately if you have toddlers it may even hold calls to the poison control center. Enjoy the ride of whatever this New Year will bring and please share your stories with us all.


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