I had a scheduled caesarean section. After attending prenatal classes and reading an entire shelf of childbirth books, I felt emotionally ready for a vaginal birth, but physically my body was not having any of that. On top of that, two ultrasounds revealed that my son was large; either 10 or 11 pounds, and he was not descending.
My OBGYN sat me down and gave me the option of trying to deliver naturally or choosing to have a C-section.
“Honestly, do you think I’ll end up having an emergency C-section?” I asked my doctor. He replied, “He’s not coming out that way,” as he pointed to my nether region. Read more...
This is just one example of something Megan does in a given day.
This is a question most stay-at-home moms or moms on maternity leave hear at least once. Sure, to someone that isn’t a parent it’s probably hard to imagine that a tiny little blob of a baby could take so much time and effort. Perhaps baby-less folk envision a life of loafing on the couch eating bon-bons while watching Maury Povich as Junior coos softly in the crib. Let me tell you what I did today.
At 7 a.m., Monkey Man got up as usual. To lots of parents, sleeping in until 7 is a luxury, and I know how lucky I have it. But 7 a.m. came fast when I stayed up replying to a few emails that had “Happy Halloween” in the subject line. Babies don’t care what time you went to bed at, they’ll still get up early. They don’t even care what time they went to bed at, so it’s no use keeping them up thinking you’ll sneak in extra shut-eye. Read more...
“You have to get a Bumbo!” my husband and I heard from several different parents before Junior was born. At almost $70, the brightly-coloured foam seat didn’t seem worth it. Add it to the long list of must-haves (vibrating chair, automated swing that plays music, et cetera), and this baby thing was quite the expense. Then I discovered Kijiji.
For those of you that don’t know, Kijiji is an online classifieds site where people can buy and sell items, among other things. Being the eBay addict I am, this website was right up my alley. It has all the savings and none of the shipping fees.
I typed in “Bumbo,” and dozens of local ads popped up, all wanting less than half the retail price. I was hooked. In a nesting-stage frenzy, I went from house to house and picked up all the must-haves plus more. Read more...
We first heard tell of Megan Pettit when we convinced her husband George (of the band Alexisonfire) to write a Mother’s Day love letter for us. George penned a beautiful ode to his ol’ ball-and-chain that made us all swoon and weep. We soon discovered that Megan wasn’t just an awesome mom and wife but a kickass writer and very funny lady as well. And now we’re happy to announce that Megan will be sharing her personal-style posts, called “Mama Megan,” twice a month. Which means two-thirds of the Pettit family are Bunchland contributors. Baby Owen hasn’t written for us…yet.
What are judgmental people supposed to do when they want you to know they think you’re doing a bad job at parenting, but don’t want to say it directly to you? Why, that’s easy: they just have to say it to your baby in a baby voice. Read more...
