THANK YOU, JAMIE LYNN GRUMET (Time magazine cover model)

Disclaimer…I’ve not even read the article yet. I refuse to buy into the sensationalism and purchase a copy. I will read it at my place of employment when it arrives…for free. However, I have read the online interview with the mom, Jamie Lynn Grumet. I was pleasantly surprised. Well said, Jamie. I think you put your thoughts out there quite nicely. If anyone is offended, it’s on them, not you.

On to the topic at hand.

At first when I saw this cover, I cringed, as in, “Good God. Here we go again. All us stereotyped hippie dippy wanna be’s from a bygone era, now currently dubbed ‘granola’ or ‘crunchy’, exposing how we raise our kids to the world at large. Great.” Then I got to thinking.

I got to thinking how I nursed my first-born until she was nearly five years old. And I told not a soul (okay, wait…I told my BFF and that’s it!). I was in the closet about how nursing my preschooler provided her comfort and security at a vulnerable time in her life. She had a new baby brother and her father and I were on the outs. (The way way way outs, the last hurrah, the final chapter, just to paint a picture).

Let me backup.

She had weaned while I was midway through my pregnancy with her brother. But upon his arrival, things changed. That sweet daughter of mine lost her shit, basically. She was no longer so sweet, loving, and kind but rather mean, bratty, and jealous. She was hurting.

Despite my best efforts, try as I may, nothing soothed her sad little soul until one day I thought to un-wean her around the age of three. I cringed at the idea then did it anyway. And a crazy thing happened. My sweet daughter began to reappear. She became more loving and accepting of her brother and our life improved. I was able to show her love, security, and comfort where my words had failed.

But I kept this in the closet.

I had been given enough grief in my motherhood path about lots of choices I made. I was on trial many a time for birthing at home, not vaccinating, and keeping my son’s penis as it was at birth. To open up the can of “I’m breastfeeding my three-year old again” worms was not a discussion I wanted to get into or validate. So I didn’t.

Outside of my teeny tiny homebirth circle of acquaintances (who all lived an hour away), I knew of no one who was breastfeeding their child beyond one year let alone into their child’s third birthday or beyond. How was I supposed to start that discussion and feel like everything would be hunky dory and everyone would sympathetically understand?

The answer? I wasn’t.

So I didn’t.

Until this week…when I saw the cover of Time magazine. There was me, five years ago, breastfeeding my three-year old (many are questioning the age of this child but for the sake of argument and because I just don’t want to go there, let’s just go with it…he’s three). Except there she was, Jamie, showing the whole of the globe that she breastfeeds her three-year old. I had told or showed no one, but rather holed up in my home in a suburb of Cleveland.

Huh.

If she can stand there and look like that (and not a damn person should fault her for looking great), I sure as shoot can officially come out of the “I nursed a child until she was nearly five years old” closet and be done with it.

So now hear this: I nursed my first-born until she was almost five years old. I nursed my second until he was three. I am currently nursing my two-year old and will continue to do so for as long as she pleases. Thank you.

So regardless of what the article is about, regardless if the headline is insulting or insinuating or continuing the mommy wars, I just want to say “Thank you” to Jamie.

Dear Jamie,

Thank you for having the guts to stand there and politely and tactfully show the world how you live your life. You have inspired me to no longer be afraid to let the world know that I too live my life like you. Thank you for giving me the guts to do so. I applaud you.

Your Bosom Buddy,

Kiki La Roo

Tags: breastfeeding, Jamie Grumet, Kiki La Roo, pregnancy, Time magazine

Mother Wit magazine is on sale! Save 25% on all issues

MOTHER WIT MAGAZINE IS ON SALE!

Save 25% on all issues of Mother Wit magazine!

Thank you for your kind support!! Xoxox

Tags: Childbirth, Homebirth, Mother Wit Magazine, pregnancy

Launch Party

Tomorrow I am hosting a launch party for the creation of Mother Wit Magazine, my passion project. I’ve never hosted a launch party. Maybe I should have had a blog launch party but somehow that doesn’t seem as exciting.

The idea for the party is to say “Thanks” to all who have helped me launch Mother Wit Magazine, (available at Magcloud), because quite frankly, without their contributions, photos, stories, poems, and support, I really wouldn’t have a magazine to launch. I’d have a bunch of stuff I wrote with a bunch of pictures I took and even I would be bored with myself (woe is me!).

Creating this magazine has been an idea in the ole noggin of mine for a couple of years now. With the loss of Compleat Mother (a magazine I loved and tried to obtaine, but did not, which is okay because everything happens for a reason…hello run-on sentence) and Mothering (I miss the print edition; what can I say?), there seemed to be a gap in printed material for the niche’s those publications filled.

While it is possible that the idea of a printed paper magazine may be going the way of the dinosaur, I still wanted to do it. I know there are tablet devices with amazing capabilities and I plan on being in on it. But I also plan on continuing to have an actual magazine that you can feel the glossy sheen, smell the hot off the presses scent, and see the colors live and bold, all while holed up in the bathroom while hiding from the world. I just think the world still wants that kind of product.

So where was I? Was I not talking about some party? Right.

So tomorrow consider yourself invited if you have helped contribute to the creation of the first three issues of Mother Wit Magazine or if you just want to stop on by and say “Howdy.” I’ll buy you a drink, give you a hug, and thank you from the bottom of my grateful heart.

Hoping to see you there!

PS–Give Mother Wit a “Like” on Facebook! We have arrived, if at a snail’s pace backwards.

Tags: Birth Junkie, Childbirth, Homebirth, Mother Wit Magazine, pregnancy

MOTHER WIT MAGAZINE ISSUE THREE IS HERE!

Mother Wit Magazine Issue 3

By Jenna Hull in Mother Wit

24 pages, published 4 MAR 2012

Mother Wit Magazine aims to shed some much needed light on the joys of pregnancy and childbirth as well as the use of one’s common sense in this arena as it seems to have left the building in many instances. Mother Wit promotes and supports homebirth, breastfeeding, and the use of mother’s intuition. We want to hear from you. Don’t be shy (we don’t bite). Send in your story, photograhps, and artwork (from children, too) and help us be the venue o…

Tags: Childbirth, Homebirth, Kiki La Roo, Mother Wit Magazine, pregnancy, VBAC

Would My Dog Birth That Way?

I received an email today from a friend with an agitated message. She was annoyed about a Facebook update of a friend that read something along the lines, “Going to get induced tomorrow and meet baby Tucker.”

First off, Tucker is not the real name. Thank. God.

Second, I love how I rub off on my friends. (Perhaps I should have said that I love how I influence my friends. Brain wash?)

Third, what’s going on? Where is this common sense in this Facebook update? I mean, hello? It’s the fricking Leap Year Day thing and you’re being induced so you child can have this amazing cutesy birthday, right? Am I right or am I right? And wonder if your child is born distressed or not ready to breathe or latch on? Do you think lil ole Tucker will give one iota about his birth day? Or would he prefer to be able to survive on the outside. You tell me.

And why are we still inducing? Better yet, why are we still agreeing to be induced?

Emergencies aside, what is the point of induction? Convenience? Impatience? Selfishness? Lack of common sense?

I vote for lack of common sense. I vote for this time and time again in many birthing scenarios.

It simply does not make sense to induce your body and baby into labor.

What are we risking? Induction is a fairly newish thing. A generation ago, it was unheard of. My mom wasn’t induced, nor were her sisters or friends (and hey, while we’re talking about the good old days, my cousin was born vaginal breech, butt first…golf clap please).

Which makes me wonder, what are the effects of induction on the human being that was induced and born before its time?

Is induction correlated to autism? Is it correlated to asthma? Allergies? ADD? I don’t know, but something is. These things are just not appearing without cause. It doesn’t work that way.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’m sure there is someone out there with one of the above “A’s” who birthed in a hospital sans induction. But as a rule, when do these things mostly appear? Why are we so afraid to generalize?

Better yet, why are we so afraid of birth? Why are we so untrusting of the process? Why are we so hell bent on having it all figured out and planned and orchestrated and coordinated?

I think the answer lies in the fact that we don’t have any idea of what a normal pregnancy and childbirth looks like. I don’t think there is a clear picture of what birth is about. And I’m not even talking about all the emotionally triumphant empowering gobbley gook. Forget that stuff for a moment.

I’m talking about birth. The sights. The sounds. The reality.

Did you know that when I tell my birth stories, one of the most surprising things people ask me about is the fact that I birthed upright. I was in a standing squat position for all three births. Time and time again, people double back and ask me to repeat the part where I was pushing upright, legs wide, and body bearing down.

The visual they get changes everything.

The visual most people have is of women birthing on their backs, knees to chest, chin tucked, and face purple and strained. It’s dreadful and undignified.

But that’s the picture of birth that we have.

Parallel this to the idea of letting baby decide when it wants to be born; I.e. Not inducing.

It’s like a, “Wait…what?” moment. As if you have to ask permission to decline induction. As if you are not the one in charge of your birth. As if your baby doesn’t know when to get labor started.

I like to ask a few questions I picked up along the way when considering things regarding birth. In no particular order: 1) Does this make sense? 2) Who is this benefiting? 3) Who is this potentially harming? 4) Would my dog (or insert animal of choice) do it this way?

Number four is clearly my favorite, as you may guess. We are not so far removed from the fact that we do belong to the animal kingdom and thus can look to our other animal kingdom compadres for guidance. But, we are removed from animals in general (most of us have spayed or neutered pets and don’t live on farms anymore). And as such, we are removed from what they do in the norm of their lives. Ergo, we are removed from processing the idea that humans can do many of the same things in a pretty matter of fact way.

Side note: A lady I know with two Chihuahuas had her pregnant female get a C-section for the birth of the dog’s two puppies because the vet said that there was no way this dog could birth her puppies vaginally. She was just too small and she would die. In my estimation, she looked like a regular ole Chihuahua to me, but what do I know? I’m not a veterinarian after all. But I digress.

Does this make sense? Who did this benefit? Who did this hurt? Would that dog have chosen this route?

Would my dog birth that way?

Sigh….

Tags: Birth Junkie, Childbirth, Homebirth, Mother Wit Magazine, pregnancy

MOTHER WIT MAGAZINE….Issue 2…very late fall

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Mother Wit: MOTHER WIT

Mother Wit Magazine seeks to shed some much needed light on the positive side of pregnancy and birth, as well as parenthood in general. Mother Wit supports home birth, breastfeeding, baby wearing, birthing without drugs and all kinds of old fashioned stuff like that. We seek to empower women in thei…

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Tags: Birth Junkie, Childbirth, home birth, Kiki La Roo, Mother Wit Magazine, pregnancy

MOTHER WIT MAGAZINE issue two is here!

MOTHER WIT MAGAZINE
Mother Wit Magazine

Tags: Birth Junkie, home birth, Kiki La Roo, Mother Wit Magazine, pregnancy