I’m guest posting today at The Feminist Breeder. You can check it out here.
filed in birth, c-section, guest post, natural birth

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I’ve written about Riley’s birth in bits and pieces but never really told the whole story from beginning to end. And as this is my 300th post, it seemed like I good idea.

I was overdue. I hadn’t had any contractions or braxton hicks contractions for that matter, or so I thought. I felt as big as a house. Every now and then I’d have mind-numbing shooting pains run down my leg and my knees would buckle with it. I couldn’t sleep because I was that huge and my hips were …

This is a joint post with Amber at Unlikely Mama. You can follow her on twitter here. We thought it would be fun to look back on what our expectations were before we had our babies and how they’ve changed a year on (for Amber) and two years on (for me).
Having Children
Amber: Let me start from the beginning.  I never “expected” to have a baby.  As my online moniker hints at…it was highly unlikely that I would become a mother.  Not because I couldn’t, but because I NEVER wanted to.  Not until …

Welcome to the February Carnival of Natural Parenting: Love and partners!
This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month we’re writing about how a co-parent has or has not supported us in our dedication to natural parenting. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.
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Love and partners: How has a co-parent supported your dedication to natural parenting — or not?
When Riley was born, my relationship with my husband …

I read Best Blog Posts of 2009 at Scary Mommy and thought it was a pretty cool idea – if I have only got 6 months to choose from. I started this blog in July, thinking that it would be fun to do every now and then, but it quickly became more addictive than I’d imagined it could be.
July: Things I Learnt In My First Year (Part 1)
Breastfeeding: not as natural as you’d think
August: Things I Learnt In My First Year (Part II)
Sleep: apparently it’s optional
September: Crying It Out to …

For a while now I’ve wanted to write a letter to the Googy – and after reading other letters here, here and here, was finally inspired to do exactly that.

All letters like this begin exactly the same way. I can’t believe you’re 18 months old. Little people make time speed up. It’s true and not just something that old people say.
When you were born you were 10 days late, or fully cooked as I prefer to think of it. It seems that you’ve been trying to make up for it ever …

I admit it – I am a reformed perfectionist. The first time I wrote a prologue I re-wrote it hundreds of times until it was ‘perfect’. That is not an exaggeration by the way, literally hundreds of times – on a manual typewriter no less! I had flirted with the idea of ditching my perfectionism – after all if the prologue was anything to go by it would have probably taken me 50 years to get anything substantial on paper. And deep down I knew that perfectionists are always disappointed …

I was never very good at keeping my mouth shut about anything, although post-baby this is a skill that I am apparently honing. When I was pregnant it amazed me how many people believed that they were entitled to have a say in what I should/should not do/eat/drink etc. and if anything that gets much more intense once the little bundle is born.
Exhibit A:
In response to myself mentioning to a work colleague that I was breastfeeding (Riley was 10 months at the time): “oh no, you have to get them …