Provacateur’ing and a-riling
Category Archives: Thoughts
Tracking Life
For the past year and a half, I have kept a life log that has, over time, revealed patterns in my life that now completely informs how I live. It all started as a method of birth control called FAM, but soon turned into my own little accountability reference aid that has connected me to my body, and my body to the moon. Basically, I take my temperature with a digital thermometer in the morning before getting out of bed. There is a discernible spike in temperature the day after ovulation, so after a while, you know exactly when you’re most fertile.
What are Fertility Awareness Methods?
Fertility awareness methods (FAMs) are ways to track your ovulation so you can prevent pregnancy. FAMs are also called “natural family planning” and “the rhythm method.” – plannedparenthood.org
Other patterns start to emerge too. For example, now that I know when I’m most likely to have depressed feelings, I will control for it. Perhaps hosting that dinner party would be better suited to this other week, when I know I feel particularly motivated and on top of things. I track all my big headaches, my weight fluctuation, exercise, fasting, pimples, moods, and…other things. It’s a clear way of seeing how this stuff relates to where I am in my cycle, and where my cycle is with the phase of the moon. Just by keeping this log, I feel accountable to this document, and thus, am more likely to keep my goals.
I made a custom chart that I’m giving away for free. It’s in Celsius (Canada, eh?) and includes a weight section with spaces between 130-160 lbs, but you can easily convert it. It’s mostly blank and customizable, so you can write in whatever you want to track! Pick up a digital thermometer (with preferably two decimal places for better accuracy), and get charting for a more informed connection to your body!
I printed it out and made a booklet. It looks like this…
Pregnancy and Childbirth Survey
Haven’t done one of these in a looong time! Hello 2008!
-What do you remember about finding out you were pregnant? With F, being shocked at how soon after we’d “pulled the goalie” that I got pregnant (3 weeks), and saying “oh my gawwdd” back and forth to one another in amazement. With J, being shocked to find out that I was pregnant with the surviving twin of a miscarriage! I was halfway done the pregnancy by then.
– Who was the most excited to hear you were expecting? Pat’s mom!
– Did you find out the sex in utero? didn’t find out either
– Gender reveal party? no.
– Did you feel nauseous? Very early during each pregnancy. With F, we had a sailboat and took it out quite often. With prego nausea, it was almost unbearable. With J, I was working at a Greek restaurant, and the smell of the roasted lamb turned my stomach like nothing else in life.
– Any notable cravings? F, scrambled eggs and ketchup, J,bread and butter
– Heartburn? only once in a while with each.
– Swelling? Noticed in my face, mostly toward the end.
– Mood swings? Probably since my husband could tell when I was pregnant before I did on both occasions, I reckon my demeanor was a tad off. Throughout (with each) I cried easily. I remember trying to watch The Revenant and had to turn it off after 20 minutes because of my uncontrollable sobbing.
– Did you read any books or take any classes? No classes, but I read books.Lots of birth stories from Ina May Gaskin’s books. I read Ingrid Bauer’s Diaper Free: The Gentle Wisdom of Natural Infant Hygiene two times during pregnancy with F, and one more time during pregnancy with J. There was also a period where I obsessively watched YouTube videos of women giving birth unassisted. This counts as study?
– What were you doing when your water broke? Eating the best cheesecake I’ve ever made.
– Born how close to due date? F, 2 days early. J, 1 week early
– Midwife or doctor? Midwife Rhonda was front and center both times!
– Epidural? F, no. J, no
– Cesarean? F, no. J, no
– Strategy for coping with labour? Amanda Bee gave me advice about controlling my breath by counting, which totally worked. The wisdom of the people who wrote their stories in Ina May Gaskin’s books helped me a lot too. “Make your monkey do it”, and “Sphincter Law” come to mind. Knowing that my body was strong enough to cope if my mind was strong. Keeping the mindset that nothing is wrong, Im not injured, I can do it, I can open. Relaxing and opening was a major concept. I was literally lolling my tongue out of my mouth saying “oooopen, oooopen” in the final moments before J came out. Every uterus-haver should know that they have the power to consciously control their cervix during child labour.
– Hours in labour: F, 8. J, less than 1
– How long was transition (pushing)? F,15 minutes? J, 5 minutes?
– Induced? F, no. J, castor oil smoothie
– Weight: each were close to 8lbs
– Sex of baby: F, boy. J, girl
– Place of birth: F, home. J, maternity ward
– What do you remember about the first time you saw your baby? F. Let’s get that cord unwrapped from around your neck! J, I can’t believe it’s over already
– Something that was never the same afterwards: We hardly ever watch any violent entertainment. The baby can feel it!!
– How old is your baby now? F, 6 years. J, 22 months
Copy and paste to tell your story!
My take on the bullying of Venezuela
Seasonal Reminder
Low-cost, cheap, poorly-made junk is made from fossil fuel products. Mostly, the manufacturing process includes the use of slavery.
Workers around the world aren’t paid fair wages, and their quality of life is dismal. If these global free-trade agreements were not allowed in the first place, more local jobs would be available closer to home.
Never forget that free-trade = slave labour
Wal-Mart’s profit last year was around 120 BILLION dollars. That money did not go towards improving any situation for the suffering it cost. It went into the pockets of families who are already so disgustingly wealthy, keeping them in the lives they’re accustomed to (unfathomably celebrated in mainstream culture).
Please keep these things in mind when you’re making choices on what to spend your money on this gift-giving season. Every dollar you spend is a vote for the practices, products, and reality of how that thing came into existence.
Voting for the destructive, harmful, and unhealthy situations for our sisters and brothers on the other side of our home (Earth) means we’re helping to perpetuate bad energy that always come back to us eventually.
Please don’t vote for slavery, plastics, and green house emissions. Try as hard and diligently as you can to find locally-made products and avoid purchasing anything that is ultimately not needed.
Is it for looks? Conversation? Novelty? Convenience? Is it “such a great deal” that you simply can’t resist? You/they probably don’t need it. DON’T BUY IT!
Not enough people know about what a “good deal” really means. It may be a “good deal” for the amount of dollars you’re voting with, but be assured it’s a disgusting and horrible deal for every link in between. And it is coming back to bite us all in the ass eventually.