What's Got Me Thinking...

This summer, as I've been reading (which, by the way, I ended up reading hardly anything from my original reading list but that's another blog) and listening to talk radio, I found two quotes worth sharing.

• Nothing tastes as good as thin feels. (Dr. Laure Schlessinger)

Maybe you've listened to her daily help radio show (but let's not open that can of worms right now; again...another blog, perhaps). The day I heard her reference this idea, it smacked me in the face. For someone who LOVES sweets (I cannot overemphasize my sweet tooth), I finally heard a way of thinking that in seconds could dismantle every justification for each bite of brownie and icecream that I routinely put in my mouth. Because words have always held a lot of power in my life, this quote provides great motivation to make health(ier) choices. Maybe I'll start tomorrow...;)

• Natural childbirth also brings some surprising long-term benefits to couples, preparing them for the lifelong task of parenting. Guiding a child to maturity takes patience, perseverance, bravery, wisdom, acceptance of loss of control, humor, respect for your partner, and a lot of faith. And these exact qualities are what sustain and guide you through childbirth. So childbirth as nature intended it is a gift, teaching many of the skills parents will need through the challenges of the next twenty or thirty years. (Stacey Marie Kerr, Homebirth in the Hospital)

When we first learned I was pregnant, I didn't give childbirth much thought. Probably denial on my part. (I don't really have to birth a 7.5 lb baby, right?). If anyone asked if I was planning on using drugs (epidural, narcotics, etc), I shrugged and said, "Maybe, we'll see how it goes." I knew a couple of people who had birthed with no drugs and I'd dabbled in a little bit of research, but I was mostly turned off by the idea because a) it seemed crazy and b) I've always sensed a little bit of "we're better than you" attitude from that camp of people who have gone drug-free for their births.

Ben was actually the first of the two of us to advocate natural childbirth, and all I could think was, well, yeah, that's easy for him to say because he won't be the one in pain! But, after watching The Business of Being Born, I decided to at least have an open mind about the possibility. So I checked out three books from the library (the one cited previously, Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, and Gentle Birth Choices). The reading was incredibly helpful, and the quote I give above, helped solidify for me my decision to have a natural childbirth (if at all possible). It's almost as if I needed a philosophical underpinning for making the decision; I needed an idea to hold on to that will help me through what many describe as the most difficult physical pain of their lives. As I read those words, I realized that natural childbirth wasn't a good choice simply because other people said so or even because I'd be a "better" woman for making that choice (as if those are legitimate reasons anyway). Natural childbirth made sense to my mind, and because most women describe labor and delivery as a mental game, I'd found my needed token.