Welcome to the Untraditionally Traditional Motherhood Blog! Thank you for visiting. I've never really blogged before, so please bear with me as I get started. This blog is about the experiences of our family as we try to navigate the waters of parenthood. I should have started doing this shortly after our daughter was born, but I'll do my best to recount as many of those stories as possible. But for today, let me just introduce my little family. As you read, please keep in mind that there is a happy light at the end of this intro. Most of it may be pretty depressing, but it's the beginning of our story.
Tim and I got married in August 2008 and had a baby on the way by the end of May 2009. I took some time off from college, and we did our best to prepare for our addition. Throughout the pregnancy I tried to educate myself to have normal delivery (with very limited resources in our area). I was trying to avoid following in the footsteps of my mother and sister who had cesareans. Late in my third trimester, I was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia. Shortly after Christmas I was induced. Two days of a failed induction later I was wheeled in for the cesarean I had prayed through my entire pregnancy wouldn't happen. I really took that hard, even before it actually started. I didn't see our daughter again for a few hours afterward.
When I finally did get to see her, we didn't bond instantly and breastfeeding got off to a horrible start. There wasn't a lactation consultant for miles, and the nurses couldn't even help me use a pump. I gave up within a few days, after already supplementing heavily. A week later I decided to try again and began re-lactating. Jana was really unhappy all the time. I explored every option imaginable. Colic? Allergies? Reaction to shots? When those all gave only minimal relief I really thought I was going to lose my mind. Finally at about 7.5 months old, she began to improve. Now, at 16.5 months, she is making slow, but sure progress.
So why is this Untraditionally Traditional Motherhood? I had planned to do things pretty old-school or "traditional" at the beginning (although these things are considered Greek to people in my area). We had planned a vaginal delivery: laboring at home for a while, holding off on pain medication for a while. So much for that. Then breastfeeding seemed like it would be a fail, but I fought for that one. She was fussy all the time, and she's still pretty high maintenance--gotta love a Diva. When Jana was between 4 and 6 months old, I decided to try my hand at cloth diapers. Whoa! Not the norm around here. That has been a major, chronic fail, too, but I've stuck it out. Thankfully Jana is really taking to early potty learning. I wanted to LOVE babywearing, but that is difficult with no hands-on support, too. I'll try again with a second baby in a year or two. Which brings us to the next Untraditional Choice. We are planning on going the VBAC route. It all boils down to our best efforts to parent semi-naturally and failing because those choices are so far from common practice in our area.
I do plan to recount many experiences from the last year and a half here while I post about what is going on now. But, I really would like for people to know that I truly believe this experience happened to our family for a reason. I believe that God did not cause all of these things to fail, but He allowed it because He has a purpose for this. I think part of that purpose was to teach me some lessons, but I know part of it was so I could share my story with others in pain. I needed someone who understood but found very few who did. God was and is in control, and He has blessed me with a great testimony of His strength.
I hope you'll stick around.
