Today is my adorable, silly, sweet son’s first birthday. As anyone who has children, or has even babysat a child for more than an hour knows, time with children is warped. Read more
Emily Pike: Ellie’s Birth Story
Why No One Told You the Gory Details of Pregnancy, Birth and Having a Newborn
Imagine this: You are a capable adult human being who has recently found out that you will be ushering another human being into the world sometime within the next nine months. It’s amazing, and extraordinary, and now is the time to figure out everything that you will experience during the process.
Whether you’re super excited, or intellectually fascinated, or you just want to be prepared, when you start looking at all of the things that you may have to deal with (or definitely will have to deal with), it can be a bit disconcerting – to say the least. Read more
From the “Bitter” Mom. Pregnancy Happens.
I have a tendency to be direct and brash according to those close to me, and my mama writing may often come across as a scary mom who should not be a mom if she hates it so much, but it is part of my way of coping, and I was a bartender for 14 years so a blunt potty mouth runs through my veins. Here is how becoming a mom happened for me in the form of a timeline. Read more
How to Survive as an Introverted Stay-at-Home Parent
So, after 9 months of blissful pregnancy, or hellish pregnancy, or something in-between, you find yourself with a perfect little baby. The baby is lovely and wonderful and … with you all the time. At first, it isn’t too bad. The baby is small enough that you can watch TV or read or listen to podcasts while you’re holding their adorable little sleeping form. But then they get bigger, and they need your attention … all the time. And if that wasn’t enough, you’re now trapped in your house with a baby that needs your attention all the time. Suddenly you find yourself in need of both alone time and time with other (adult) people and it’s almost impossible to determine which one you need more. So what do you do? Read more
Emily Pike: Timothy’s Birth Story
It all started at 7:20 p.m. when my water broke (conveniently just as I was finishing up going to the bathroom!). I shouted down the basement stairs at Rob, who was in his office, that my water just broke. He came running up, saying, “Really?!?” I looked up the clinic number and called the answering service to notify them that we were heading in. Read more
5 Reasons to Get Behind Equal Paternity Leave
Maternity leave is in such a dire state in this country, it’s practically safe to bring up at dinner parties. Everyone seems to agree that when an employed woman gives birth, she ought to have the right to some serious time off to recover and bond. But as we progress toward equality in the workplace and equality in the household, paternity leave is rarely even suggested as a way to push us forward. Let’s talk about some reasons to get behind Equal Paternity Leave (yeah, I’m capitalizing it). Read more
Birth Story: Colleen Somerville
On September 18, 2014, the day after my due date, my doula and dear friend Anne and I went to Minnehaha Falls, a beautiful waterfall park in Minneapolis. I’d heard that climbing stairs could get labor going, and it was the perfect early fall day to stroll along the river and climb the stairs that lead to the water. We walked, we lunged, we hugged trees. We saw a blue heron and an egret in a dead tree together and remarked how strange it was to see the two birds together and in a tree as opposed to on water. We decided that they were my two sisters, there to encourage my baby to come out. It worked. Read more
Review: Evenflo Exersaucer Jumper
The Evenflo Exersaucer Jumper, shown here in “Safari” or “Safari Friends,” is one of my daughter’s favorite places to be. Read more
I Love You 90 Percent of the Time
Being a mother is the most toppling experience in the world. Watching a child grow and nurturing this little thing that started as a parasite in your body is mind altering to say the least. Yes, I said parasite. Read more