Pregnancy, Parenthood & Playtime

Maintaining the planet for our children is a very important task. We do not take the time to realize that our actions will be directly impacting our children, our grand children, and even our great grand children.
Even though we may not share the planet with them once we are gone (depending on your belief of death that is) we should still keep the planet as clean and safe as we can for future generations. We love our children dearly, why would we pollute their living space?

After putting much thought into this, I have found several different easy, and simple ways that we as parents, grandparents, and even just concerned citizens can all do our part to help the planet.

• When going grocery shopping, re-use your bags, purchase the canvas bags that the majority of stores sell, and avoid using plastic bags. One plastic bag, takes between 10 and 20 years to break down.
• Cloth diapers!  Yes, those old fashioned cloth diapers that our parents used, and so did their parents. Did you know it takes over 75  years for one disposable diaper to break down?  Cloth diapers today are much more user friendly than they were in our parents era. They are also much cuter!
• Purchase eggs and milk in cardboard containers which can be easily recycled and re-used.
• Take showers instead of bathes to help save water and energy. If you have more than one child around the same age, bathe them all together at the same time, or jump in the tub with them yourself.
• Use a clothes line to dry your laundry! When a clothes line is routinely used during the acceptable seasons, it can greatly cut down your power bill as well as energy usage!
• Re-use aluminum foil or plastic sandwich bags when packing lunches.
• Only run your dishwasher when it is full, or turn off the water while you are washing dishes. Do not let the water continuously run. I know as a Mom, when I have a half full dish washer, sometimes I want to throw it on just to get it out of the way, but waiting for those couple dishes or plates really pays off. Not just in saving energy, but also on your bill’s!
• Buy in bulk to avoid over packaging.
• Plant a tree, or get involved with local tree planting efforts in your community.
• If your community already does not offer a curbside recycling program, contact your local town hall and find out how you can help start or urge the effort in your area.
• Start your own organic garden. You do not have to have a large yard, or even have a yard at all to start a small garden. Nothing is fresher than produce you have grown yourself!
• Don’t litter. I know many people are often tempted to throw a small wrapper or cup out the window while cruising down I-95, but by not throwing it, you are doing the planet a great service. Also, if you see trash thrown on the side of the road or on the ground, pick it up. It doesn’t hurt you, or take much time, and it makes a big difference!
• Call your local humane society or pet shelter to see if they could use your old newspapers or towels to use as bedding for the animals housed in the shelter. Also, consider adopting a pet from a shelter instead of a petstore. Give the pets already in need of a home a loving family. You will not regret it, often shelter pets are much more well behaved and loving.
• Take your own coffee cup to Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks instead of using their disposable cups.

All of these little steps are so simple, and do not have a large impact on your life or your convenience factor. Do your part, chip in and help make the planet a better place for all of us, especially the children!

As parents we often want what is best for our children. From school, to clothes and especially medical care. Which is what brings me to my piece about finding the right pediatrician.

Many people pick a random pediatrician that their insurance covers, and never look back. Others get recommendations from friends or family members, then there are those who sit down and research, interview and become educated in different choices that we are parents will have to make like vaccinations which seem to be the hot button issue these days.

Becoming educated to your rights as a parent and the rights to make informed and educated decisions regarding your child’s health care is always key, as well as agreeing with pediatric recommendations, and office standards.

I learned this all the hard way. When pregnant with my first child, I started to interview different pediatricians. None of which I liked. Then I got really discouraged and stopped. Before finding a pediatrician for my son. When he was born there was a sweet older lady that was on staff, and when we were discharged I made an appointment with her. When my sons 6 week well baby visit came, and I expressed the desire not to vaccinate my son, for religious reasons. I was met with a combative pediatrician and staff. From then on out, our experiences in the office were, less than comfortable would be putting it nicely. During that time I got recommendations from friends, and a provider I was seeing at the time. All highly recommended this male pediatrician, so I called to make an appointment with him for my little guy, and he had a 6 month waiting list for new patients!  “He must be good” I thought.
I met with him once the appointment time finally came, and he was phenomenal. Everything I had ever envisioned in a pediatrician for my son. But there was one small issue. The wait time. On average a trip to the pediatrician that would normally range a half an hour, turned into an hour and a half.  At first, not a big deal. I just had my one child, who is extremely well behaved (thank the Lord because #2 has proven to be the difficult one!) and he would hang out for the wait time.  Then when my little guy was a whole 8 months old, we learned that #2 was cookin’ in the oven.

I knew he would be supportive of my birth choice for my baby, as well as our style of parenting, but I never stopped to consider how long the wait time would be bringing two children into the office at the same time. And when my little one was a week old, we ran into this road block.

Thankfully while I was still pregnant, a new pediatrician opened up locally. I met with her on a “business” level looking for a provider in the area that would be supportive of the cesarean support group I am heavily involved in and I was met with open arms. When I walked into her office, I almost heard a choir of angels singing in the background. It was bright, beautifully painted, and her staff was full of smiles. “Am I really in a Doctors office?” I questioned myself. And then I met her. She came around the corner with a huge smile, as energetic as they come, and I thought I was looking at myself in the mirror. After talking for a while, discussing parenting styles, hot button issues, and the involvement we both have in the community, I felt like I was talking to a friend I had known for years.

Fast Forward a month, Benjamin had joined us, and I made the choice, despite loving the pediatrician I was bringing my boys to, to switch them to her. It clicked. There was a Doctor/Parent chemistry. I finally had found the right provider for my boys.

Granted as they get older, they may not feel as comfortable with a woman doctor, but if that happens we will cross that bridge then. But I have no doubt in my mind they will love her as much as I do.

Moral of my story today, if there is not that click with the provider, it often may not be the right one for you and your children.
Interview, talk, research, educate, and discuss.

By doing that, it will save you a lot of time with transferring offices!

I am very excited to be on board with the Connecticut Media Group bloggers! I have been blogging since I gave birth to my first child, Camden who will be two this coming December, and it has become a very strong passion of mine.
I tend to keep my blogs to things like birth, pregnancy, parenting, and my family because these are the things that I know the most, and feel the strongest about.

So I thought I would throw together a little “about me” so everyone who does read can get to know who I am. I am a Connecticut native, born and raised on the shoreline in the small community of Lordship in Stratford. I have two amazing parents who helped to shape me as a person and the parent that I am today. My mother was, and is the picture of the perfect stay at home mother, and housewife. The impeccable home that looks like it belongs on the page of Better Homes and Gardens, and my father, a hardworking laborer who would never let my mother or myself go without. And for the upbringing I had, I thank them.

They have shaped me into the “type a” mother and person I am today. My first child came into the world in December of 2007 via a cesarean section, which sparked a movement in my life. I went from being the “good patient” that all Doctors wanted in their office to the educated consumer who dove head first into every birth, pregnancy, medical journal, and informative study I could find. Which is where I find myself today. It also spawned a mother-to-mother support group in the state called ICAN, or The International Cesarean Awareness Network of Connecticut. ICAN is an international organization that is worldwide. Through our group we provide support for mothers who have had cesareans (which is something I found I needed after the birth of my first child), and help to lower the cesarean section rate in Connecticut (34.6% in 2007) by providing education, and support for moms looking for vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC).

Enough about that though. I am also married to a wonderful, and hardworking man. Who often reminds me of my father, but isn’t that who all women end up marrying? Someone who in some way, shape, or form resembled their father?  He served in the United States Marine Corp from 2001 (right before 9/11) till 2006. He is now a brave volunteer firefighter in the town which we reside. Volunteers make the world go round, so next time you see your local fire department thank them, because the majority here in Connecticut are volunteers, with the exception of a couple towns!

I am really bad at actually writing about myself.
I could write about anything under the sun, but when it comes to myself, it is a whole different ballgame.
I am sure everyone will get to know me more, as time goes on, and with every blog that I write!