Organic Baby Atlanta
You don't have to be a hippie mom to raise your baby green
flat diapers
My diaper stash drives my husband crazy. I find it amusing that for the past three years I've been teaching people how to use cloth diapers and he's been forgetting how to use them. But it's not so much that he's been forgetting how as that I have far too many...
tricks that soothe newborns that I didn’t know the first time
One nice thing about having a second baby is that you get to use all your tricks from the beginning. This is particularly useful since a lot of these tricks work best in the newborn stage. It's kind of nice starting with a full quiver from the get-go, so to speak,...
having a second child
I heard a friend say recently that second babies are born to make fools of Mama. I wouldn't say that Teddy is making a fool of me--Anastasia pretty much has that covered--but he certainly is showing me how different babies can be. If I hadn't birthed both of them, I'd...
yeast and breastfeeding and gentian violet, oh my!
It's the end of the world in the Baker household: my baby's diaper rash came back. And it's ugly. I'm still not sure if it's really yeast, but I have a feeling it is. There are these bright red spots that just seem like something more than contact rash. Especially...
tandem nursing is better than it’s cracked up to be
You may remember back during World Breastfeeding Week I wrote a post about how I used to think breastfeeding was gross. Which is hilarious if you know me, because now I talk about all the time and do it everywhere without a cover or any real attempt at discretion,...
diaper rash? with cloth diapers and elimination communication? WHAT?!
Teddy is two weeks old today, and he has a diaper rash. And I don't mean to sound like a high-maintenance over-worried first-time mom or anything, but to me, this is a disaster of massive proportions. There are several reasons. One, Anastasia never had a diaper rash....
home birth story: our Christmas baby!
Let me start with a disclaimer. If you spend your entire pregnancy telling everyone that you love labor, that it's your favorite part of having a baby, and that you can't wait to do it again, well--you're setting yourself up. And if it's true that your first labor was...
10 things home birth attendants can do
When I was pregnant with my daughter, I felt very private about the labor. Actually, I was private about everything. And by "private" what I really mean is "a really nasty person who will bite your head off if you try to talk to her." Seriously. I ignored phone calls,...
sleeping through the night–or not
My daughter has always had trouble sleeping. As a baby, she never slept anywhere but on my breast--if I tried to unlatch her, no matter how deeply asleep she was, she would immediately wake up. And then cry for an hour or more, unable to get...
what to do in early labor: stay home, do a project
Two nights ago, I finally had contractions that kept me from sleeping. That was the sign I'd been waiting for; I decided several weeks ago that when contractions kept me awake, they were officially labor. Yesterday morning they were still strong and consistent (and...
midwives and medical procedures
Recently my mother started worrying about my blood pressure. I suppose it's her job to worry when I'm pregnant. She asked my husband whether my midwife takes my blood pressure at prenatal visits. My husband, who hasn't come to any prenatal visits this pregnancy,...
what to do on your due date
A generation ago, women didn't have due dates. They had due months. As in, "your baby will arrive sometime in December or January." This is a much more accurate way of thinking about births, since a "due date" is really a month-long window during which the baby is...
a less commercial christmas
I've been a fan for a long time of Buy Nothing Christmas. Not because I'm lazy (ok, maybe it's a little bit because I'm lazy), or because I don't like to spend money on my relatives (ok, maybe it's a little of that too), but mostly because I really do hate the...
when should labor be induced?
I've been thinking a lot about inductions lately. I've been reading occasionally in the December due date club on a mom forum (I won't tell you which one, but let's just say it's not one of the crunchy granola forums where I usually hang out), and a whole lot of the...
10 things not to say to me when I’m pregnant
Warning: This post contains pregnancy hormones, irritability, sarcasm, and general rudeness. Don't like it? Don't read it. In fact, if you're not pregnant and have never been pregnant, maybe you shouldn't read this. This is another hormonal pregnant post. So if it...
cloth diapers: nighttime, small apartments, and recurring yeast
I had several articles published as guest posts on cloth diaper sites last week that I wanted to share with you. I'm going to be guest blogging regularly for a few sites, so I'll be posting links as articles are published. Two of my guest blogs this week were...
on being a lazy mom
Time for a confession. Before I was a parent, I used to feel very critical--judgmental, even--of the concept of "quality time" as opposed to quantity of time. Mind you, I still think it can be used as an excuse for not spending time with your kids, because we all know...
what causes prodromal labor
Activities that cause prodromal labor contractions: 1. Sitting down. 2. Standing up. 3. Lying down. 4. Sitting on the toilet. 5. Cleaning. 6. Cooking. 7. Walking. 8. Sitting on the couch trying to write articles. 9. Doing artwork with my daughter. 10. Reading books to...