So here you are, 42 weeks pregnant, with no sign of labor. Your doctor keeps talking about pitocin, but the thought of an induction sends you into a panic. You want your body to be in control of this birth! You want this birth to be natural from start to finish! You don’t want to deal with the powerful camelback contractions that an induction can kick off! A quick google search reveals dozens of old wives’ tales on how to get labor started.
Tuesday, December 6, 2016
Monday, October 10, 2016
Inspiration at the Lake

Monday, February 1, 2016
Mind Conquers Fear: Insights from (Nearly) the Top of Camelback Mountain

Saturday, November 14, 2015
Read, read, read!
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"..don't worry about the bits you can't understand. Sit back and let the words wash around you, like music." - Mrs Phelps in Roald Dahl's Mathilda |
The best advice the pediatrician gave us when our first child was born was to read to him every day. In addition to being a great way to spend time together, reading builds language and listening skills, teaches facts, and feeds the imagination. Being new parents with zero parenting experience, we latched onto this simple and doable piece of advice from the start. My husband would sit and read New Scientist articles to infant James while I cooked dinner. I would read James textbook accounts of Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration as I prepared for lectures. James would drift off to sleep each night to tales of Thomas the Train, Winnie the Pooh, or Curious George. Then, when James was old enough to sit up and paw through board books, we moved onto those. We read The Gruffalo and Go, Dog. Go! so many times that we eventually knew them by heart! We were thrilled when James was able to follow chapter books, as there were so many wonderful stories from our own childhoods that we wanted to share with him. We started with Enid Blyton, and before we knew it, James was hooked on just about any series we introduced him to -- from Harry Potter to Lemony Snicket. We also used this opportunity to read classics that we'd missed as children, like The Secret Garden and The Indian in the Cupboard.
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Moms Need Summer Fun Too!
I just attended my first ballet class in TWENTY-THREE YEARS! We pliéd; we tendued; we waved our arms around in wide graceful arcs; and I chasséd right into one of the other dancers. I loved every minute of it! Afterwards, my mom-friend and I had a drink at Lucia’s and agreed that ballet was very slow, but that slow was good and that we’d have beautiful postures by the end of the eight-week course. And now as I sit here with my peppermint tea, toes aching, I feel so happy and alive. Thanks, Anna, for dragging me off to the dance studio tonight and for showing me that moms need to spend time on themselves too. I was completely overwhelmed – summers are such a difficult work/mom juggling act. But now I feel energized and calm, and ready to pirouette through the next challenging week of sweaty madness!
Friday, June 26, 2015
The Importance of Being Motile

Walking has always been my exercise of choice; in addition to being good for the body, it’s great for the mind. When I was a teenager, my mom and I spent many memorable hours walking briskly along the beach in my seaside hometown of Strand, enjoying the view of Table Mountain across the bay and peroxide-blond surfers close to shore.
By the time I was pregnant with my second child, I was living half-way around the globe, in Seattle, a short distance from a beautiful glacial lake looped by a 3-mile path. As soon as my energy returned after a washed-out first trimester, I grabbed every opportunity to loop the lake. When my due date came and went, I started walking around the lake multiple times. One drizzly Saturday afternoon I galloped around the lake three times, kicking up fall leaves and willing labor to finally start! It didn’t do the trick, but it did feel wonderful to move my pregnant body.
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