Guilt Free Clothing

I recently sent an e-mail to the organizer of the INDIEana Handicraft Exchange to make sure it was alright to add a few items to what I plan to sell at the show. She suggested that if it would be clothing, to make sure the clothing I am altering was not made in a sweatshop. So, I found that the brand that the cute little shirts I got are Carter’s. I searched through the internet for a bit to see if I could find this company on any list of ‘offenders’ for having their products made in a sweatshop and/or by children. I couldn’t find anything, so I went straight to the source. I sent Carter’s an e-mail asking where their clothing is made, and could they assure me that the clothes aren’t made in sweatshops. Their response:

Dear Katie,

Thank you for emailing us. Carter’s has an active social compliance function that regularly audits the factories we contract with. We do not own any of these factories, but we do review the audit results of all factories we contract with. We also ask that these factories comply with the legal requirements set by their governments.

Thank you,

Mary

Consumer Affairs

Carter’s / Oshkosh B’Gosh

Nice. Not only did they avoid telling me where the clothes are made, the only regulations they have for the production of these clothes are made by these mystery countries. Sounds a little fishy to me. And if a company did have clothing made fairly, I think they would take pride in this and give a much less vague response.

I’m in labor

I’ve been in labor all day, and now it’s starting to pick up on intensity, and it sucks..

Homeopathy

I am amazed! I just started my introductory class to Homeopathy, and I am in love with it! I’m only 10 pages into the book, Everybody’s Guide to Homeopathic Medicines, and already I feel like I’ve learned a lot.

The basic principle of Homeopathy is based on the Law of Similars. This means that any symptoms that the body is showing is an indication of what kind of treatment the body needs to utilize its immune defense to heal. So, the body is telling us exactly what it needs. If you have fever and chills, you need a medicine that would have those affects on the body.

This might be a very simple idea to most, but I am totally amazed. I love finding all these little clues that we can use to stay happy healthy people. Just another point that we really should listen to ourselves.

Centering Your Pregnancy

Throughout my pregnancy I have been listening to a podcast called Pregtastic. It’s a podcast out of San Diego, California with a panel of pregnant women sharing their journey through pregnancy and motherhood. Also, each week has a topic related to either pregnancy or parenting. The guest speakers range from doctors, nurses, midwives, doulas, lactation consultants, birth educators, yoga instructors, and many more. It has been a wonderful source for information for me. I would have never come across this information had it not been for this podcast.

This point leads to one show in particular I was very intrigued by. The topic was ‘Centering Your Pregnancy‘. Dr. Peter Bernstein, Associate Professor of Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology and Women’s Health was the guest speaker. Centering Pregnancy is a new model of prenatal care that was developed by a midwife. The model of care is rapidly becoming popular among midwives as well as OBs. The way it works is a provider, whether it be a doctor or midwife, forms a group out of the clients he or she has that are about the same length into their pregnancy. So, after your second individual prenatal visit, you would meet with your provider and the rest of the group for your monthly visits. Each visit will have a different topic–breastfeeding, nutrition, etc. And each topic is catered to the stage in pregnancy that the group is at. The meetings are also slightly free form. If a few women have something they are concerned about, they can bring up that topic for discussion. So, in a way the group leads the class. In this way topics that one mother may have never thought about get introduced. Another plus is the advice is not only given from the provider, but from other experienced mothers in the group.

This has got to be better than your typical visit to your OB. I know from experience that I never learned a thing from my doctor. My midwife, on the other hand is wonderful. Our visits are longer than 5 minutes, and we actually talk and I learn things.

So, check out this podcast!!

Fabulous News!!

We has an ultrasound today and baby was head down to begin with, but then he moved into a transverse position. I am thrilled! Being transverse isn’t great, but he is most definitely on his way to being head down. I feel so relieved!

breech

So, my baby is breech…or at least he was a few days ago when my Midwife checked. So, tonight we have our first home visit with her, and she will check me once more. If he is still head up, then we look into the External Cephalic Version option. It seems like something worth trying. I’ve also been doing lots of crazy stand-on-your-head stuff at home to coax my little one to turn. Basically, you want your pelvis elevated above your head to use gravity to your advantage. So, I either lay in bed with 3 pillows under my toosh, or when I’m feeling super hard-core, I lay on an ironing board that is propped up on the couch. It’s lovely. Actually, it takes your breath away, and it’s not comfortable at all. But, if all this means we can birth at home, so be it. I’ve also tried moxibustion and a Homeopathic remedy, Pulsatilla. So, at some point ONE of these things should convince him to turn. Or not…whatever. At this point I am just ready to hold him. So however he arrives into this wonderful world, it’s cool with me.

And here is a picture of enormous me at almost 36 weeks!

My Shop

I just got items up in my shop over the break. Check them out! All handmade, all natural, wonderful for everyone in the family!!

oops

and right after my previous post was up, I noticed the lovely shot of me in the background sleeping. totally unintentional, and totally awesome

staying home

Well, it’s official. As of January 16th I will be a stay-at-home mom. I submitted my 2 week notice at work today, and notified the daycare that J would be leaving soon. I can’t believe how things are finally happening. I’m FINALLY leaving the job I have stressed about for the past two years. And most importantly, I am now only 5 weeks away from the due date of our next baby! It seemed like this time would never get here, and now it’s here.

So now, I wait. I wait for the new babe. And after he’s here, I have to get together a game plan. I want to make lesson plans for J and somehow balance the time so the new babe is getting all that he needs as well. And then there’s me. I’ve got school and our business to focus on when I have time. It sounds a little overwhelming, but knocking this 8 hours a day at the job thing out of the way has got to make room for me have time to be productive.

On to a new things!

Herbs

I finally finished my Introduction to Herbology course!! I started it at the beginning of the summer, took a long break to focus on working at the farmer’s market, and just now sent in my final exam and project. Yay! I am studying Natural Health at Clayton College of Natural Health. I started 2 years ago, and I have been moving pretty slowly through each class. With the new change in my life from full-time employee to stay at home mom, I plan to give more focus to my studies than I have in the past.

I learned quite a bit from this class about herbs and ways to use them. There is so much to remember and learn about each individual herb, I am glad I have these two wonderful books to reference in time of need. The books for the course are The Way of the Herbs and New Age Herbalist.

I just ordered my books and study guide for my next class, Introduction to Homeopathy. I have a vague idea of what homeopathy is, so this class should be pretty interesting.

Not sure what I will do with this degree when I finish, but I will at least learn how to keep my family naturally healthy. Hopefully I will gain enough knowledge to teach others.