Page 37 - Blog
November 09, 2012
Have you ever noticed that it’s rare to find picture books with images of babies at the breast or cradled in a carrier? Stop by any bookstore and you’re bound to notice the omission. Though there certainly isn’t anything wrong with cribs and bottles, I’d also love to see more imagery of babywearing, cosleeping, and breastfeeding in children’s books…to help normalize these wonderful practices for little ones.
Illustrator Marla Frazee has done a particularly outstanding job in this category. Take, for example, “Everywhere Babies” – a book that features all of the amazing things that babies do – including being carried by their parents all around town. Written by Susan Meyers, the rhyming text is sure to immediately captivate young ones (and parents too).
Another splendid story is “The Seven Silly Eaters” by Mary Ann Hoberman. Parents will sympathize with Mrs. Peters desperate plight to please her very picky eaters and kids will roar with laughter at the sheer absurdity
November 07, 2012
I knew at age 19 that getting pregnant would not be an easy task. What should have been a routine appendectomy ended up costing me a fallopian tube. Not to mention the fact I had suffered from PCOS pretty much since the onset of puberty.
So when I married my high school sweetheart at 23, I didn’t want to waste much time before starting a family. I knew it wouldn’t come easy for us. We started seeing a reproductive endocrinologist for treatments shortly after our first anniversary. After 18 months of medications and procedures, all unsuccessful, we decided to take a break. During this break my husband and I discussed adoption. My sister had adopted twice from Korea and we couldn’t have loved those boys more. We looked into domestic and international adoption but realized we could not afford such a great expense. We went back to the fertility clinic after a short break and started our first IVF cycle. The medications involved made me very sick and the procedure did not work. We had
November 06, 2012
Early one January day, my husband Rusty, and I got THE call from our adoption agency. The call we had waited years to receive. The call that would change our lives forever. There was an eleven-month-old baby boy waiting for us in Taiwan. We rushed over to the adoption agency and got his referral packet with pictures, documents, and medical information about him. We pored through every page a dozen times and stared at his picture for hours -- a tiny guy with a disheveled fluff of black hair and mismatched pajamas. He was the most beautiful baby we had ever seen. We couldn't wait to hold him in our arms, rock him to sleep, and let him know that we will love him forever. But, of course, there was more paperwork and the adoption had to go through the court system in Taiwan.
Four months later, we got another call. The Taiwanese courts had issued the final decree and he was our baby. We would pick him up in Taiwan at the end of June. Because we didn't want to jinx the adoption, we hadn't done
November 05, 2012
My first pregnancy took 20 months. My second pregnancy was 26 months. That is a long time to wait to meet my sons. I couldn’t talk to them before we met. I couldn’t make plans for their future. I didn’t know if they would be boys or girls. I didn’t get to tell them how much I already loved them.
My husband and I did not plan to adopt. We married, established our career paths, bought a house and then said “time to have kids!” I wasn’t sure I’d like being pregnant but I knew I would love being a mom. I had been a babysitter, a teacher and a nanny for almost 20 years! It was my turn. But years went by. We endured tests, surgeries and procedures. We spent a lot of money. Eight years later we felt we were at the end of the road. I still felt I was meant to be a mother. My husband said to give him 6 months before bringing up adoption. One year into waiting for an adopted child, he asked “why did we wait so long?”
We met our son’s birth mom 6 weeks before he was born. She officially “picked us”
November 02, 2012
When I found out I was pregnant I was fairly certain that my plans on ever having a natural birth were out the door but nothing prepared me for the roller coaster ride my son birth turned out to be. I was born with a uterus what was split in two that required reconstructive surgery and even after the surgery I was told I would probably never have children because my FSH levels were too high. Six months after my surgery I was PREGNANT!!! I could not believe it. I was automatically considered high risk and I was fairly disappointed that I wouldn't be able to have a natural birth, and that I wouldn't get to feel labour. To add insult to injury my placenta was covering my cervix. At 20 weeks we scheduled a c section for June 20, my due date was June 30th and even the doctors were skeptical I would make it that far so I was put on bed rest. I was jealous of all of my friends having babies and home births but I was happy I was having my little miracle baby so I did what ever it took to keep him
November 01, 2012
My beautiful Marcella was born in the early morning hours on a Spring morning. This is her story.
I awoke Saturday morning at 4am, March 21, 2009 to a trickle of water. My husband, Josh, wanted to call the midwife but I assured him labor had not begun.
We went back to sleep and woke up around 8am and called the midwife. Per her instructions, we headed over to the birth center a couple hours later.
The midwife gave me a strip to check the fluid and it was indeed amniotic fluid. We left to do some walking around and get some lunch since labor had not started yet.
Around 2 pm the midwife recommended we go home and get some rest since I was still not in labor. After a couple stops (one for Red Raspberry leaf tea), we went home and did just that.
Around 7pm, I went and laid down. Contractions had begun. I had remembered from my Bradley Childbirth classes that if the contractions fade out after a bath, it isn't real labor yet. So my mom got the tub ready for me. The water felt wonderful. My mom
October 24, 2012
Throughout my life, there have been moments I've imprinted on my brain and heart forever. During each of those moments, I've closed my eyes tight to take a mental picture. I store those memories in a special place I access when the first colors of fall fill my eyes, during the quiet moments I spend alone, and in the middle of the night when I cuddle my children back to sleep.
It's there that I hold the last hug I shared with my father before he died, the 10 shades of green on the first hill I laid eyes on in Ireland during a trip with my parents, the moment I realized I was in love with Ash, the first time I locked eyes with Noah, and the car ride to the hospital minutes before meeting Maya where all I could think about was how beautiful life is.
Over the weekend, our family took a tour of the White House, and I stood in front of the Oval Office with each of my children. Looking in at the President's desk, I squeezed my eyes extra tight thinking about how much I love Ash, Noah
October 22, 2012
Christy Turlington Burns is a pretty incredible example of just how much one mom can do: International supermodel, check. Designer, check. Mother of two, check. And in 2010, Christy founded the organization Every Mother Counts (EMC), which helps fund programs that allow mothers around the world to get prenatal care and medical support to safely give birth. This month, Every Mother Counts and Ergobaby are launching the Ergobaby Guest Designer Series. A portion of the Series’ proceeds will benefit EMC; Christy is the first guest designer. Here, she shares a little more about motherhood, managing it all, and what makes her so passionate about this project.
The Ergobaby Designer Series will be benefitting the organization you founded, Every Mother Counts. Do you think western women are aware of how dire the statistics are on maternal mortality?
I know that not enough people are aware that hundreds of thousands of women are still dying each year despite the fact that most of these deaths
October 17, 2012
Our Ergobaby customer service team frequently receives questions regarding the body types/sizes that our Carriers fit. Because of the wide range of body types and styles, we are trying to determine what body size ranges fit our various Collections. By answering the questions below, we should be able to gather data that will help us outline the answer and adapt our carriers to fit a wide arrange of body types. Thank you for helping us with the measurement exercise today. Please fill out the form below by Monday November 5, 2012 and you will be entered to win an Ergobaby Carrier of your choice! You will need a tape measure in inches, a helper, your baby and your Ergobaby Carrier to complete the following form:Open to US residents only. All entries must be received by midnight PST 11/5/2012. To be considered for the giveaway, you must fill out the form above with a valid email address. Winner will be selected randomly and notified via email. Winner will have 5
October 11, 2012
While we don't normally post International blogs, we wanted to share this post with you as the photography is stunning and the story is sweet. This family in Australia speaks about their travels and the Ergobaby...we especially love her term "boundless parenting," as that seems to capture what Ergobaby is all about...happy parents with their children, knowing no bounds. Be sure to click through to the full post to see the rest of the lovely photos. From: Documenting Delight, The Freedom of Babywearing//Boundless Parenting "Today though I wanted to talk to you about the freedom of babywearing – boundless parenting as I like to think of it. This was particularly highlighted to me as we traveled in the Philippines earlier this year. As we were trekking down a steep staircase to a secluded waterfall I called out to Errol “We couldn’t have done this without the Ergo” and he almost scoffed as he called back “We couldn’t have done parenting without the Ergo." Of course he was