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Wednesday, May 27, 2009

*Your Best Birth* Book Giveaway

*GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED*
The winners have all been notified by email

No, I'm not making any announcements. No more babies for me (I am going to have to be hit over the head by an angel or something in order for me to go down that road again....). I loved having babies, but with my sciatica problems, my heart condition, my varicose veins.....my body has had enough. There are a few things I will miss about not having any more babies. I miss nursing them. I miss snuggling teeny babies and smelling their skin. And I regret the fact that I didn't learn about baby wearing (and wraps specifically) until my fifth. I'd love to go back and re-do a few things, and baby wearing is one of them.

I'd also like to re-do a few aspects of my birth experiences. Before KitKat was born in 1996, I was a very recent college grad with little money. I figured that I quick Saturday seminar would be plenty of preparation for the experience. KitKatcame right on her due date. My water broke around 3:00 the morning of Christmas Eve. 6 hours and one epidural later, she was born. I hated everything about the epidural. I felt like it ruined my birth experience (and, yes, it was an epidural-gone-bad....but that's another story).

Two and a half years later, I thought I was prepared. I had been through this before! Again, my water broke in the middle of the night. We headed to the hospital, determined not to have an epidural. The birth experience this time around was beautiful, but a little longer than the 1st. Everything went very well, even though I still needed pitocin to kick things up a pace.

I could keep going through all 5 birth stories, but I won't bore you with the details. All you need to know is that every time I went in to labor, I thought that THIS time would be teim that I would get to chose how it went. I would be in control. No longer would I have to wait around--I was going to get that pitocin as soon as I walked in. But there were always set-backs, and each labor was longer and harder than the last. I never did have an epidural again, but I wonder if I'd consider it if I were ever to get pregnant again.

I wish I had had a book like Your Best Birth (by Ricki Lake and Abby Epstien) in the beginning. Or even in the middle....There are so many birthing options, and one thing that really resonated with me in the book was the fact that we need to have a good attitude no matter what direction the experience takes. Knowledge and preparation can make such a huge difference in the perspective. This book is all about inspiring women to take back the birth experience, with practical advice, personal experiences, and crucial information.

Are you expecting....or do you know someone who is pregnant? Do you hope to be pregnant someday? This book is a must-read! And guess what? I have 5 copies to give away!

All you have to do to enter this giveaway is to comment about who this book would be for.


If you'd like extra entries, do any of the following:
*Follow me
*Tweet about this
*Blog about this
*Email your pregnant friends and send them here (cc me at lollislife at gmail)
*Tell me your birth stories (let's make it fun!)

This giveaway will end on Wednesday, June 3 at 11:00 pm EST. I will pick 5 winners, email them, and announce their names on this post. Please make sure you leave me an email if it is not accesible through your blog profile. Thanks!

14 comments:

  1. i would give this book o a friend who is pregnant and who would absolutely love to read it....razzberry_girl@hotmail.com

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  2. when my daughter was born i has contractions for three days...the doctor told me she could not send me to the hospital until my contractons were at least 3 minutes apart...my mom flew in from mexico so she could be there for when my baby was born...at the time of the birth my husband had no idea he would be holding my leg while the doctor sais push...he actually threw up and fainted when he saw pur daughter be born...he recovered quickly because a nurse gave him something to wake up...so that is my story...

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  3. I'm due at the end of July, so this would be for me. :)

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  4. I follow you. (Thanks for following me, too!)

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  5. I tweeted. (That really does sound funny, doesn't it?)

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  6. Don't feel bad about not learning about babywearing sooner. I only just discovered it with my fifth, too!

    Birth stories...well, I don't think you want all five (unless each one will count as another entry? :wink:) so I'll tell you a little about baby #4, my only son so far, and my first homebirth.

    I decided early on in the pregnancy that I was going to have my baby at home with a midwife. I'd been very unhappy with my previous delivery experiences, mostly because the doctor insisted on inducing instead of letting the baby come naturally. I really don't like hospitals, either.

    To make a long story short, I went into labor about two weeks after a doctor would've considered me due. My first contraction was around 4pm, my husband got home from work at 10pm, we called the midwife at 10:30 and had the baby by 12:30am. I gave birth in my own bed, with oil lamps and soft piano music creating a peaceful atmosphere, my husband by my side and two of my three daughters watching. (My middle girl is squeamish about blood, but came in as soon as it was all over.) It was the most beautiful birth experience I could've ever hoped for.

    Child #5 didn't go nearly so smoothly, but that's a different story. ;)

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  7. This book would be for me! Even though this is my eighth pregnancy they have all been different.

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  8. This would be for a good friend who is due in July.

    Thanks for the giveaway!
    kimspam66(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  9. I would love to have this book! I am getting married this summer and we are planning on getting pregnant next spring/summer.

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  10. I'd love to give this book to my supervisor!

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  11. This would be for my cousin. She's going to give birth at the end of Augsut this year.

    aikychien@yahoo.com

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  12. I'm three months pregnant, and I would love to read this book!

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  13. I like your blog, and I have become a follower.

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  14. I could really use this book, so I'll share my birth story for one more entry. :)

    I went into labor at midnight, and hadn't gone to sleep yet, so I was up all night. :( At 3am I decided I better wake my husband so that we could start the drive to the hospital. It was snowing, and we were almost an hour away from the hospital. It was a good thing we didn't wait any longer because as it was we were pushing snow with our bumper!

    We arrived at the hospital around 5am. Once I was checking in, blah, blah, blah, I finally got my own room and we could be left alone for a while. We watched tv, played cards, and had a great time. The nurse wouldn't let me have any real food.

    Good thing I had snuck in my own food. :) I wasn't about to go all day without eating! Come 4pm I was absolutely exhausted and desperately in need of sleep. I requested an epidural, which was quite an ordeal. It took an hour for them to get an IV in me. They eventually had to bring in a skilled ER nurse for the task. The IV was the worst part of the whole thing.

    I was given pitocin because my uterus wasn't contracting well, and then the epidural was started. Ah, sweet relief. I slept for 45 minutes and was then woken up by the nurse who said she needed to put in a catheter. I said, "No, I don't want a catheter!" She went out to get the midwife because I was being difficult. The midwife came in, started to explain to me why a catheter was necessary, and then she looked at the monitor, and said, "Nope, we're going to have a baby."

    Then I got to have my baby. No catheter necessary! I pushed for over an hour and completely wore myself out, but I did it. We had a happy, healthy, perfect baby. He's three years old now, and we have another one on the way. :)

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