Zatera Ul

I still really like being pregnant (its the hot, humid weather that I hate), and I feel pretty good, aside from sore feet.

This sad story has been weighing on my mind: a healthy mother who died hours after giving birth, possibly from bacteria introduced into her spinal fluid when she had an epidural. I’m glad we’re planning a home birth, and that I’ll be getting one-on-one care from my midwife.

Two Talent Living has become A Gracious Home, and has earned a place on my super-exclusive blogroll. Sallie is also expecting her first child in October, though I think she’s a week or so ahead of me. It’s interesting to see what she’s doing differently than I am (ultrasounds, nursery, etc.).

At bookstores last weekend, I leafed through A Thinking Woman’s Guide to a Better Birth, by Henci Goer. A good look at the risks and benefits of various procedures and interventions done in pregnancy and childbirth, with an extremely thorough examination of the scientific literature to back it up.

Also, I skimmed some of Babywise II, by Gary Ezzo. Through TulipGirl and others, I’ve been thoroughly warned of the unsoundness of Ezzo’s parenting philosophy and practices, and reading the book just confirmed that they’re right. Mitch Berg recently wrote this about elementary school vs. education:

Speaking when told to speak; working when told to work; stopping and changing subjects when told to stop and change subjects; going to the bathroom when told to go to the bathroom; having every single decision, every single day, being made by other people, except for the minimal, rudimentary decisions one makes to either comply or not - tell me, how can one find a worse system for teaching responsibility? Indeed, what separates the system I just described from prison - a system which intentionally strips away responsibility?

Ezzo’s stuff is kind of like that, except he applies it all the way down to babies: getting them to eat on (his) schedule and sleep on (his) schedule and be held or not be held on (his) schedule–I think something’s wrong when more selflessness is demanded of the baby than of the parents.

The other day I went back and re-read some of School At Home’s parenting posts. They practice more of an Attachment Parenting philosophy, which I am tending toward (and which Gary Ezzo completely mischaracterizes in his books; yet another reason I don’t like him) to balance my somewhat overly-detached personality and upbringing.