Author: Reedu

40 Weeks Prego…

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Here I am on my official due date, August 8th, at 40 weeks pregnant. I was awakened by early labor contractions at 3:15 this morning. They started out eight to ten minutes apart and have gradually increased in length. I was in Northport when they began but am at home now in Brooklyn with my husband and mom who are taking turns timing my contractions. My midwife has a hunch this could go into tomorrow so I’ll continue to labor at home and call her if my water breaks or if the contractions become super close.

40weeks (WinCE)

My belly on my due date, 8/8/10

I feel very fortunate and excited that this process is unfolding organically, as it should. I could very well have a baby in my arms by tomorrow! More to come…

labor

A Letter for My Baby

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On Sunday I will be 40 weeks, or full-term, and while I feel like I have been pregnant forever, it also feels like yesterday when we first found out you existed. The word that comes to mind the most in describing this journey is, well, magical.

But it wasn’t always easy. As we waited to debut the news of you back in January, we were balancing the demands of Lucy, a tough foster dog, alongside Ella who was battling an infection that could have taken her life, as well as the loss of my job. Thankfully though, January eventually passed. The dreaded three-month mark finally came, Lucy found a forever home and with a ton of hard work Ella’s infection cleared up.

I did so many wonderful things with you in utero. I watched my brother tie the knot. I took up prenatal yoga and bonded with other pregnant women. Perhaps most amazing, of the 280 days you spent growing inside me, we went running on more than 90 of them!

I think about you daily and about what kind of parents we are going to be. I am anxious for this next phase of our life to begin and yet I am terrified about only being “mom” in your eyes despite my 32 years of life that preceded you.

Here you are at 27 weeks

I look forward to sharing my vision of kindness with you, and hope that one day you will thank me for raising you vegetarian. And I vow, with all my love, to shine a steady light on your path and inspire you to one day shine your own bright light.

A ticking time bomb. That’s pretty much what I feel like now as my impending due date approaches. I was always nervous about going early but now I am starting to wonder if I will go on time, go late or even go at all! So with that said, bambino, you can come now. For we cannot wait to meet you…

Maternity Photo Shoot With Michele Anthony

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While we were in Montauk on our second and final babymoon, my husband and I did a maternity photo shoot with the wonderful Michele Anthony. I was more than 35 weeks along during the shoot, which we chose to do at one of our favorite beaches on Long Island, Ditch Plains.

This pic is all about the dog.

I guess it is true what they say about there being so much novelty and newness that goes into the “first-born.” Being a second born myself, I will have to be cognizant of that and be sure to make the journey just as special as it was with our first…

What a special memory to have.

 

 

 

 

NYC Summer Night Series With a Cause

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CityMommy, Elahi Yoga and ReziClass are hosting four spectacular events in New York City this summer for moms and moms-to-be. Not only will a portion of the proceeds be donated to YAI Network, but they won’t cost anything to attend! They’re FREE!

Each event will have excellent speakers, mocktails and munchies. There will also be shopping at boutique trunk shows that are selling relevant products, as well as many chances to win great raffles and giveaways!

The four-series event kicks off with “Ladies’ Night” on Thursday, July 21st and will feature Diva Mom Lyss Stern. Ms. Stern, co-author of If You Give A Mom A Martini, will share valuable tips from her new book. To register, CLICK HERE.

Think you’ve got yourself a gifted tyke? Then you’ll want to come out for the “SmartCityKids Special Event” on Thursday, July 29th. SmartCityKids will give a valuable introduction to NYC’s Public Schools for pre-k and up, including their Gifted & Talented Programs. To register, CLICK HERE.

Expecting a baby? Then put down your dated copy of What To Expect When You’re Expecting and attend the “Sweet Pea Baby Planners Special Event” on Wednesday, August 11th. Sweet Pea Baby Planners will share expert advice on the best baby gear for you and talk all-things baby registry! To register, CLICK HERE.

And, finally, the four-part series event will end with “Mommy & Me 101,” on Wednesday, August 18th. At this special event ReziClass will tell you all about valuable classes that are especially geared for babies – such as massage, music and yoga – and of course there will be shopping, too! To register, CLICK HERE.

All four events begin at 6:30pm and end at 9:30pm and will be held at Elahi Yoga which is at 130 E. 65th St. between Park and Lexington.

As a mom-to-be (I’ll be less than three weeks from my expected due date), I’ll be at the first event so be sure to come check it out, too. After all, it’s free!!

Firing Our OB/GYN

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Almost immediately after we watched The Business of Being Born, a documentary by Ricki Lake about how giving birth has become big business in America, we decided we wanted to switch from an OB/GYN to a midwife. (I write about this decision in an earlier post.)

We severed our relationship with Dr. Scott Postell at Long Island College Hospital when I was 20 weeks pregnant, despite the fact that we had not yet found a midwife, which we learned was no easy feat.

I told Jason that I was nervous about severing our relationship with Dr. Postell. Not because I wasn’t sure of the decision, but because I liked the man and did not want to hurt his feelings. My husband Jason was shocked by this. Not that I didn’t want to hurt his feelings but that I was too timid to tell him it was over. So after I was examined and I was hesitating, Jason interjected and told Dr. Postell that we were going to continue our prenatal care with a midwife.

Well, wouldn’t you know it, but the doctor was a bit perturbed. (At which point I wanted to crawl and hide under a table.) But then he began to say things to us that I found troubling. For starters he asked if we thought I’d have a less chance having a c-section with a midwife. We told him yes. That in fact we could NOT have a c-section with a midwife since she was not licensed to perform such a surgery. He then said he could tell what neighborhood we lived in based on our decision to use a midwife.

Despite the fact that he just stereotyped us, I tried to save face by telling him if by chance something did go wrong during my birth, I hoped he would be the doctor on call that day. Kind of dumb, right? Here I am firing the guy because I was scared he would give me an unnecessary c-section while at the same time saying that if I did need one, I’d hope he’d do it. Ugh!

However since we’ve found a midwife – by the near-skin of our teeth – I’ve wavered some about our decision to fire Dr. Postell. Especially when Beverly recently told me she’d heard that Dr. Postell had a patient who delivered using a squat bar! I am a month away from my due date now and only time will tell if we made the right decision.

35 Weeks Prego…

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Here I am at 35 weeks pregnant. Running is officially unpleasant, especially on hot days. For a couple of weeks now, we have been combining running with walking. Run three miles, walk half a mile and so forth. We are headed out to Montauk for the week… our last vacay pre-you. I am hoping to get in a run or two while out there, and then I will call it quits until you are here and I am allowed to start up again. It will be the longest I have ever gone without running, but I must say, I cannot WAIT to run alone again!

Animals Lose Advocate and Friend in Senator Robert Byrd

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Sen. Byrd with his wife, Erma, and dog, Trouble

On Monday, the animals lost one of their most powerful and ardent voices, Senator Robert Byrd. A member of the Democratic Party, Byrd served as a Senator from 1959 to 2010 and was the longest-serving senator and the longest-serving member in the history of the United States Congress. Byrd was 92 years old and still in office when he died.

Read the rest of the article on Examiner.com…

Rescuing Fledglings

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My good friend Jen Panton from United Action for Animals was walking her dogs on 5th Avenue close to Central Park early on Friday morning when she discovered a small bird on a window sill flailing its wings, seemingly unable to fly.

On the way back from her walk the bird was still in the same spot so Jen captured it and took it to her bird friend who confirmed that the bird was indeed a fledgling that could not yet fly. Her friend encouraged Jen to bring it back to the same spot she found it since there was a good chance her mother was nearby. Jen was torn. She knew if the bird stood any chance of survival it was with its mother, but she would be returning it to a busy street.

So Jen obliged her friend and returned the bird to the same window sill where she had found it and within seconds her mother swooped down and greeted the bird, speaking to it frenetically. A minute later, the mother bird flapped its wings to cross the street and the baby bird slowly followed. But because she could not open her wings to clear the street in time, she met her fate from a car that was headed in her direction.

Both Jen and the mother bird went to the fledgling who lay dead in the middle of the street. Jen said the mother bird stood over her young and paced back and forth grieving. Jen, also extremely upset, sobbed as she contemplated the lesson in all of it.

Last year I had my first experience with a fledgling and its mother who was trying to teach its young to find its wings. It’s an uneasy feeling, watching the baby bird get caught in places the mother bird cannot rescue it from. So you intervene where you can, torn about taking it from its mother or allowing nature to take its course…