Playing the odds!

I have been thinking a lot about "odds" for the past 24 hours. How I tend to defy them, either good or bad...

I had to have emergency surgery yesterday...for something that has the odds of happening to me 1:1000. It wasn't super serious, honestly it was just really annoying that it happened at all and I am doing fine, a little sore but overall well.

1:1000 women who have this initial procedure have this complication...that is pretty darn long odds if you ask me!

So it got me thinking...what are the long odds I have defied...let us examine...

Yarrow's birth complication: 1:699 births

Chance your homebirth will transfer to the hospital: 8%

Chance of a csection because of this transfer: >1% (yep, had this)

60% of second marriages fail within five years...our 6th anniversary is this May.

Chance of getting pregnant the first month you try: 25% (we did this twice!!)

Failure rate of using Fertility Awareness and withdraw for birth control 1:300 (say hello to Linus)

3% of teen moms obtain a college degree...I have a BA and a MA and I start a PhD this fall.


So at this point I'm thinking I really should be playing the lottery every week! How long do you think it would take for me to win??? A year?

I'll keep you posted...

Ori is five! When did that happen?

You know that old saying:

"The older you get, the faster times goes by."


I am really feeling it today! It hardly seems possible that my first boy is already five. I remember Laurelle turning five and it felt like those first five years stretched out f-o-r-e-v-e-r!

Not with Ori...it seems like he was just a little bitty thing last week! I am really loving the small person he is becoming and lots of wonderful years we have ahead to share!

Happy birthday Mr. Man!

A couple pics...one recent and one on the day he was born!

Autism speaks to me...

A couple days ago, I was lucky enough to go to a presentation by Dr Temple Grandin about how to support children with autism through to adulthood. Dr. Grandin is herself a person with autism and as many things I have read by or about her, nothing compared to hearing her speak about herself and her experiences. I feel like I learned more very simple things to do for young children with autism in the 60 minutes I heard her speak than I have alearned in seven years of teaching and three years of graduate school! I am so glad I got to go!

Want to know more?

http://www.templegrandin.com/templehome.html

We made it to hell and back...Irish Dancing Hell that is!

Every year my daughter Laurelle, does about a kazillian Irish Dancing performances. Most of them take place at nursing home and other eldercare type places. Every year she and I get very burnt out on it. This year was the same thing. I guess that is the occupational hazard of being the mom to an Irish Dancer.

Anyway, this year it was even less fun because Laurelle wasn't put with the other "fun moms" kids...she was put with the easily stressed out, stage-ish moms kids. I guess I have been spoiled in the past by being with the moms who have done this a million times and will just ask for help if they need it (not that I would have been much help this year with my newborn in a sling). There was lots of passive-aggressive stuff going on and at one performance they even chose not to put down the stage...so of course two girls slipped an fell, one of which was Laurelle.

Um...while it might seem that the our stage is there to protect the flooring of the place were dancing, in actuality is it there also to keep our dancers safe from anything slippery that might be unseen on the floor! This isn't rocket science people! This was combined with the fact that the stage hauler was late...I mean REALLY late to every performance...like 15-20 minutes late. I might not always be on time...but 20 minutes? really?

Okay Rant over! Laurelle only turned her ankle once this year...which is really good! She also did a great job...she has some major weight in her feet for her hard shoe solos. Think she really had fun until that last day...

Laurelle is the one in the light blue dress....yes those are wigs ;-)

Is there a 12 step?

For anyone who knows me, even a little bit, you know I am addicted to "The Deal." I buy stuff in coops, I RUN coops, I stalk mamabargains.com and woot.com.

I buy used, I buy in bulk, I stock up. For example, I have 15 boxes of organic mac and cheese in my pantry right now. Why? Because it was 55Cents a box that's why!

Does all this save me any money?

I was wondering this today when an item I don't need, didn't want until I saw it and can't afford popped up on mamasbargains.com. A mini purse set that matches my diaper bag that I purchased at mamabargins a few weeks ago. Now the way the web site works is they offer one deal at a time and when it is gone it is gone! My knee-jerk reaction...buy it!
Here is an approximation of what went through my head:

It matches the diaper bag! Must. Have. It.

I don't need it. (but I could use it as a wet bag!!)

I have two wet bags that is plenty! (but I have a new baby, I might need more space)

My two wet bags hold 12 dirty diapers between them!!! (Laurelle would love to have one!)

She has more purses than you do! (its only 22 bucks!)

That you don't have to spend on just anything!

In the end, I talked myself out of buying it! Brice and I are working very hard to get ourselves out of the small amount of debt we have from buying a new fridge last year and fixing up the outside of the house. So, we are being a frugal as possible!

Now if I can just get my yarn and fabric addictions under control...but that is for another day!

Linus's birth story...

For those who don't know, my daughter Yarrow was a home birth transfer to the hospital and a crash c-section for a prolapsed umbilical cord. This is a very rare and completly random complication where the rush of fluid when your water breaks brings the cord forward to be pinned in front of the baby's head. It was very traumatic and hard for me to recover from both physically and emotionally. When I found out I was pregnant with Linus, it was never a question in my mind that we would be doing a home birth again, with the same midwife. I did not want a repeat c-section. Having had two children already, I knew I could push a baby out and I didn't want everything I wanted to be a fight, as it would have been in a hospital setting!

We made the right choice by far! It was a wonderful experience for me, Brice, and Linus.
Here is the story:

Linus Ashford 8lbs 6 oz!!

Contrax started about 10:30pm Sunday night, thought maybe it was it and I was really glad! I was 10 hours away from being forced to tranfer care to the hospital because of the Colorado laws regarding homebirth...since I was 42 weeks.

Called my midwife, Janelle, around 12:30am told her it was moving along, called Ambeur to warn her that baby would be here tonight so don't go anywhere. I was thinking I have another few hours left just based on Yarrow's labor. Well, I was so wrong! Janelle got there about 10 minutes before Linus did...my best friend, Ambeur missed it...it all happened so fast!

One second I was just laying in the water the next his head was out! Brice woke Laurelle up just in time and he also caught the baby coming out! He was born in the caul! He didn't cry forever but did get pink pretty quickly.

I am so happy I was able to have him at home and that I didn't even once think about my scar. I had heard that many VBAC moms forget all about in labor and I certainly did! I am actually feeling pretty good...for such a quick birth, I didn't tear or anything. I also didn't have a hemorrhage like I did with both Laurelle and Ori. It was the perfect homebirth!

I still can't believe he is a boy though...I have always thought of Ori as my little man, this will be quite a shift for me! It is all good though!

Be healed! Stand back up ye blog who was once dead and live again!

I guess you could say that I lost interest in keeping this up to date. Well, since I now have the new baby bird and the other small birds...I thought I would bring it back...I;m going to post Linus' birth story when I have two free hands!