23 Weeks and the Bradley Method

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 13                                                        Week 23

From day to day it doesn’t seem like much changes but boy what a difference 10 weeks can make!  Including a massive farmer’s tan

This week we are starting our preparation for birth and beginning our Bradley Method course.

According to the bradleybirth.com website,

By taking classes in The Bradley Method® of natural childbirth, you will learn about:

• Prenatal nutrition & exercise
• Relaxation for an easier birth
• Husbands as coaches
• Birth plans and more!

There are really only three types of birthing classes in our area.  These include hospital birth classes, Bradley classes and hypnobirthing.  I definitely think each of these has a place for particular types of people, but for us Bradley seems to make the most sense.  We’re planning a home birth so taking a hospital based course seemed kind of out of line, like studying English to take a Spanish test.  While I’ve read rave reviews regarding hypnobirthing, I’m not sure that I buy into it enough to be effective.  Considering my husband will play the biggest role as my supporter I think taking a course designed to teach us how to make that support most effective will be the most useful.

I’m excited to begin the course and hope it will also be an opportunity to meet more homebirthers in our area. 

Do you have any experience with a specific birth course?  What were your thoughts on the course you took?

Getting to know our supper

This guy here is our supper for the next year or so.  We sent him for slaughter on 4/30.  His hanging weight was 675lbs.  We spent approximately $1,000 on feed for him since December when we brought him home from my grandmother’s farm.  Our price per pound averages $1.48, but this does not account for his food costs during his first 1.5 years of life.  Although $1.48 is a bargain price for us, when you average out the total cost and the labor entailed (I wish I had the figures to do that ), raising your own meat is NOT cheaper than shopping the grocery store sales. The added benefit that can’t be accounted for in dollars is knowing the fact that this guy lived a good life.  He ran on pasture for his first 1.5 years and he’s been in our corral since December (side note- our pasture is almost fenced in now!)  After he finished his supper each night he’d kick up his heels and play with our other steer and our Momma cow.  He was the king of the barn yard and called the shots and he was always first to tear into the round bale.  Oh and if you brought him bread, WATCH OUT.  His tongue was a mile long trying to grab the bread bag! 

Some people might not want to know this much about their dinner, but I know that I really appreciate it. We treated him well and in return he’s blessed us with hundreds of good meals!  Plus the farthest this guy has been from my house is 15 miles, the distance to the slaughter house.  His feed was also grown ~15 miles from us.  You really can’t get much more local than that!

 

I requested that mile long tongue as part of the cuts I wanted.  I’ve had tongue as a kid but really don’t remember it.  Does anyone have any good recipes???

Pregnancy Details

So here’s an update on some of the details!

• My pregnancy started out rough but not impossible.  Until about 16 weeks I had constant nausea and some nasty headaches along with a few puking spells.  I lost 6 pounds and am just starting to gain weight above my pre-pregnancy weight.  I was completely exhausted and basically useless hence the major lack of posting!
• I’m due September 17^th officially but I come from a long line of very late babies.  I’m fully expecting to be pregnant well after my estimated due date and think an October 1^st anniversary baby is more likely!
• I’m currently 21 weeks along and we are NOT planning to find out what we’re having. 
• We see a midwife for our maternity care and assuming all is well throughout the pregnancy  and delivery we plan to have an un-medicated homebirth.
• We plan to do things as natural as possible and hope to breastfeed, cloth diaper, and make our own baby food.  This really just falls in line with the way we live our lives now.
• This year’s garden is being planned with that whole baby food thing in mind.  If our baby starts eating solids next spring we’ll have to have this stuff ready to go as it will be too early for the garden.
• We are beyond thrilled and totally excited to start growing our family!  We can’t wait to see what the future has in store!

 Please feel free to ask any questions in the comments below!