Monday, September 10, 2007

Whoa Baby!


We are venturing into another home birth! I have ordered all my birth supplies from Birth & Beyond, and that reminds me...I need to program both Ben and my cell phones with our midwife's phone number...that would be a good thing NOT to forget. :) I'll be right back...

Hats off to my dear cousin, Krista and her husband Delchi who just recently experienced their first successful home birth! Congratulations to them on the birth of their darling baby girl, Sabria Joy! Visit their blog to see pictures of their new blessing.

My friend, Rebekah Knapp, is a midwife from Karlstad, MN, and she was recently mentioned in the Grand Forks Herald in an article entitled, "Whoa Baby!" Here are a few interesting facts I read in this informative article:

The percentage of Minnesota women who have midwives attend their birth nearly has doubled since 1990 but still remains a small percentage of total births (8.5 percent in 2006), according to a preliminary state vital statistics report.

In 2006, certified nurse-midwives delivered 347 babies in North Dakota and 6,174 babies in Minnesota [Elianna was one of them!].

Nationally, the rate of Cesarean-sections has climbed to an all-time high, with 1.25 million C-sections performed in 2005, accounting for 30.2 percent of all births that year, according to the most recent report produced by the National Center for Health Statistics.

Minnesota residents had a stable C-section rate from 1990 to 1998, averaging 17.7 percent of total births each year. Beginning in 1999, there has been a gradual but steady increase to a little more than 25 percent of all births in 2006. North Dakota vital statistics show that of the 9,792 total birth events in 2006, nearly 27 percent arrived by C-section.

Two-thirds of C-sections are pre-planned rather than chosen after labor begins.


Ok, is it just me, or is this cartoon hilarious?! I laughed so hard sitting here all by myself - either because it really is that funny or it's almost midnight and I'm really tired...

Ben's gone tonight painting at our new house, so I'm waiting for him to get home...he won't let me help him paint. Which leads me to posting this next cartoon...

Ha Ha Ha Ha! Ahem, sorry, I'll go to bed now...good night.

10 comments:

♥ Craig & Jessica ♥ said...

Ah Mindy! Your comic strips are funny!!!! What a nice way to start a morning!!!

I am glad that you don't have too much longer to go until we meet our newest little cousin...I am sure it's a combined excitement...Yeah to finally meet him/her, and yet ugh..the birth!

How is the painting coming along? It will sure feel new when he is done! Can't wait to see it!!

Melanie said...

Those are hilarious Mindy! By the way...I think you look absolutely incredible pregnant! You are so beautiful!

Love you

Chris, Tasha, Dawson & Lainey said...

Oh Mindy, you are way too funny! I love the comics as well! They are great!! And, you are a beautiful pregnant woman! Radiantly glowing!

I can completely identify with the last comment on asking how many babies etc. I will never forget about 4 1/2 weeks before I was due I went shopping for fabric for a bumper pad...every store I went to, people kept saying "you are HUGE" in so many words...talk about killing the self esteem level! Do people not think?!

Have a great day!!

Our Home to Yours said...

Oh, Mindy! I LOVED your blog today! What a great way to laugh! :) The comics were awesome... I can totally identify with Tasha's view on that.. people DO NOT think sometimes! O-well.
I'm so excited for you and your upcoming birth! The article was great about home births.. part of me has always wanted to try one, but we fell into the 30% of couple who had emergency c-sections. It's almost better this way now, because we can go in and just get it done! Kind of nice.. a blessing in disguise I guess! God knows best. Will be praying for you and your painting! It will look nice I know!

Amy said...

Thanks for stopping by.

Ugg, the statistic of c-sections haunts me. I did everything I knew what to do to give us the best possible chance of having a natural delivery and it just didn't happen. I am so jealous that you were able to have such a successful home birth and are planning another one. I'm not sure why the Lord had it in store, but I'm going to have to take it in stride.

Congrats on your little one to come. I will be sure to stop by to see how things are going.

LS said...

Those were hysterical cartoons! I must have walked a hundred miles in those last weeks of my 2nd pregnancy trying to spur on labor with Jer! I'll have to try the Pogo Stick next time! The second cartoon was soooo true too! I don't mind if people say I'm huge when preggo (it's kind of a compliment to me--the bigger, the better!) but when they give unwanted advice or make you worry, that's awful. The cartoon forgot the one where all my friends and cousins tell me their worst and most horrendous labor stories and things that went wrong the week or two before I'm due! My friend with twins got asked "Fertility drugs or natural?" constantly as if it was everybody in the whole world's business!
I am very excited for you to be doing another homebirth. Home waterbirth with Becky Rosburg was undescribably soooo much better than the hospital birth I had with Jer (since there were no homebirth options here in this state) and about $9,000 cheaper. I would like to have homebirths only in the future with future children if possible. I interviewed Rebecca Knapp back when I was preggo with my first and she seemed SO SWEET but was 3 hours away so we ended up choosing Becky instead.
Thanks for the interesting article. I find it WONDERFUL that more and more young women are choosing homebirth to have their babies in low risk situations.
May God be with you and give you a short and easier labor and a healthy baby and safe delivery!

Theresa C said...

Hi Mindy,

I haven't stopped by your blog for a couple days. Just had a great laugh!! :-). Ditto to Melanie. You are adorable pregnant. Ben whispers it behind your back a lot!

Love, Mom Caron

Abbi said...

Fun Post! That is a higher percentage than I figured for home births in MN. I will be praying that all will go well for yours.

~Justin&Meg~ said...

Hi Mindy,

I check your blog occasionally and had fun looking at all the new pictures and posts. Yea, almost to the end for you! Having two babies is so fun...and super busy! Hope all goes well with the birth. I recently heard of that article with the climbing c-section rates! My first baby was c-section (b/c of breech--tried everything to turn him too!) and the baby I just had, was VBAC. I'd choose natural over c-section any day!!! Be so thankful that you're able to have your babies naturally. Lord bless you and your family!

Kristin said...

Hi Mindy. I don't think we've met, but I came across your blog via another person's blog. Anyway, I just wanted to say that I loved the comic strips you posted! They really made me laugh. I am 7 months pregnant and am so sick of all the "you look like you're going to pop!" comments, so I can totally relate. All the best to you on the remainder of your pregnancy!