Thoughts on Motherhood Realized

Taralyn — Sun, 06 Apr 2014 03:20:33 +0000

Curling up with a book I can’t put down is one of my guilty pleasures. This month I am reading Motherhood Realized: An Inspiring Anthology for the Hardest Job You’ll Ever Love. The book is written by ladies from an organization I just can’t get enough of – Power of Moms. I first attended a Power of Moms Retreat back in 2011 and I’ve been hooked ever since. Like-minded, deliberate mothers coming together to share helpful (and often hilarious) experiences – sign me up!

The first chapter is written by Catherine Arveseth of the blog Wild and Precious. I enjoyed hearing this lovely lady speak at the Motherhood Realized book launch event as I’ve been reading her blog for years. She has two sets of twins and her insights are invaluable. Here are a few of my favorite posts from her delightful blog.

1. This blog post convinced me that I need to make a fairy home in our backyard for our daughter! Just do a search for “fairies” on Catherine’s site and you will see so many magical ideas!

2. I adore Catherine’s recap of her children’s favorite books each year. I love gleaning suggestions from fellow literature-loving families.

3. And though I treasure book suggestions and memory-making fairy ideas, what I love most about Catherine’s site is the realness and her gentle reminders to live in the moment. This post captures a glimpse into a positively gleeful rainy day and I love it! There are many more sweet moments like this on Catherine’s blog!

Now back to Motherhood Realized! Catherine’s chapter, “Watching You,” speaks to those moments when we glean inspiration from other mamas. She gives several examples of mothers she has observed and closes with this inspiring quote,

That is an affirmation all mamas should say in the mirror every morning, “I am exactly who my children need.” I need to tape that to my mirror!

One of my favorite parts of the book Motherhood Realized is that each chapter closes with a question and a challenge. Inspiration AND a call to action – that’s what I need!

The question for this chapter is, “What have you learned from other mothers you have watched?”

This past year I’ve been overwhelmed with examples of quiet, but brilliant motherhood.

So many of my sweet friends have struggled with getting their babies earthside this past year. I’ve watched as they’ve placed careers and life as they knew it on hold as they’ve clung to the opportunity of being the vessel of life for their child. I’ve prayed and cheered with them as week by week they have soldiered on through their pregnancies and weeks, even months of bed rest and hospital stays. Mothers are patient. Mothers give their all.

I’ve watched from across the country as a dear friend became a mama of multiples – triplet baby boys + a two year old boy. As those babies have grown into toddlers, I’ve admired her ability to capture the moment and get in the picture with her brood of busy boys. Mothers see the bigger picture beyond diapers and dishes.

I’ve discovered that mothers need mothers and mothers need other mothers, too. I still call my mom and I am delighted at the relationship my daughter has with her “mom mom.” I’ve laughed and cried with friends in the thick of early motherhood years like myself and gleaned from the wisdom of mothers who have been there and gracefully passed through that.

What an insightful exercise it has been this week to think of the mothers that I watch in my life! I am grateful for the many examples I have. This post has been just a peek into one of the chapters in Motherhood Realized: An Inspiring Anthology for the Hardest Job You’ll Ever Love. I am excited to dive into the next chapter and share more of the quotes and insights with you. Treat yourself and the moms in your life to this lovely anthology – you’ll love it as much as I do!

What have you learned from your mom?
Who are the mom examples in your life?

I am a volunteer Power of Moms ambassador. This post contains Amazon.com affiliate links – thank you for supporting my site!

The post Thoughts on Motherhood Realized appeared first on KeepMovingForwardWithMe.

Kyler’s Birth Story Part 1 – Why I decided to go natural

Taralyn — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 16:54:00 +0000

When I started writing Kyler’s birth story, I realized that a lot of the emotions I felt were tied into my other pregnancies as well so I wrote everything down. The complete story is so that I have a record of my journey toward choosing a natural birth. If you just want Kyler’s birth story skip to Part 3. I benefited from reading other’s natural birth stories online so I thought that I would share mine as well.

Let me preface this by saying that I am DEEPLY GRATEFUL for each one of my children, no matter how they got here. I know that I am so lucky to be their mother and that they are worth every second of pregnancy and labor/delivery. I have learned positive things from each of my pregnancies. I am grateful for technology, doctors, nurses, and doulas for their help in my journey!

I’ve been pondering the idea of a natural birth for a few years. At my very first pregnancy’s prenatal appointment, I picked up hypnobirthing literature and was intrigued. My husband and I were devastated when our first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage at 11 weeks. After a night of contractions and hemorrhaging I ended up in the Emergency Room where my then doctor performed an emergency D&C with me still awake and propped up on a bed pan. The experience left me fearful of the pain and what could happen during a pregnancy.

We were thrilled to quickly get pregnant with our daughter Lily soon after and had a fairly easy pregnancy until about 35 weeks. I went into the hospital several times with contractions or thinking my water had broken. After several of these visits, at 37 weeks my blood pressure began creeping up and by 38 weeks I was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia. My new doctor induced me at 38.5 weeks and while I was happy to walk away healthy and with a healthy sweet babe, the labor was less than ideal.

I was admitted to the hospital in the afternoon, but the induction didn’t start until midnight. The nurses tried repeatedly to place an IV and failed until finally they had the anesthesiologist come and place it. By the next morning I hadn’t gotten much sleep and I was exhausted. I drifted off briefly after I got the epidural, but woke up when the nurse said the baby’s heart rate wasn’t doing what they wanted it to do and I might need an emergency c-section. Luckily, the baby’s heart rate returned to normal and it was soon time to push.

At this point my epidural had worn off almost completely. I felt intense pain and felt the need to push, but the nurse said that I needed to wait 45 minutes for the doctor who was in a c-section. When the doctor arrived, I pushed for almost two hours ineffectively with the nurse telling me I was doing it wrong. My sweet Lily finally came after I agreed to let the doctor use forceps and I ended up with a tear up to my uterus.

When she was born I felt utterly defeated. It hurt more after than it did before. I was exhausted and begged for more pain medication. Because of the magnesium, Lily had some breathing problems and had to spend two hours in the nursery before I could spend much time with her. All in all, it wasn’t the experience I had hoped for, but I was deeply grateful for my sweet baby girl.

When we got pregnant with Cortland, I knew that I wanted a different birth. It was my goal to be better prepared should my epidural not work again. I borrowed Hypnobirthing CDs and books from my sister and booked prenatal massages for myself. I met Rebecca Overson, owner of Salt Lake Prenatal Massage, and was encouraged by her natural birthing perspective. At my last prenatal massage, she sent me home with massage tips for my husband to use during labor.

My blood pressure rose again at 38 weeks and I was induced with Cortland a few days later. The doctor gave me a choice of doing NSTs and monitoring my blood pressure or being induced before it developed into pre-eclampsia. Worried about having a repeat birth experience, I choose to be induced. All of our family was out of town so it was just Johnny and I during my labor and delivery. I listened to my hypnobirthing tracks and labored as long as I could on my own. I got the epidural after I dilated to a 6 and Cortland was born just a few hours later with no complications. I was elated that I didn’t have to be on magnesium and that I didn’t tear, but I still felt like something was missing.

The post Kyler’s Birth Story Part 1 – Why I decided to go natural appeared first on KeepMovingForwardWithMe.

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Thoughts on Motherhood Realized

Kyler’s Birth Story Part 1 – Why I decided to go natural