There have been some exciting new developments recently in our town which will broaden the choices for women and families. A long-standing desire by mothers and midwives is coming to fruition: a new birth center is in the works at the San Luis Business Center where Higuera meets Los Osos Valley Road. Dr. Tiffany Dietrich and Edana Hall are teaming up to provide what is essential to healthy birthing for mother and child with all the comforts and warmth of home.

We all dream of having loving, attached, and self-confident children. A child who has had their needs met on a consistent and loving basis has these traits. Attachment parents work to see this dream realized as they watch their children grow. Breastfeeding our babies, sleeping with or near them, carrying them on our bodies, meeting their needs as soon as they arise, and later using the principles of positive discipline are all crucial in the practice of attachment parenting.

Recycle, Reuse, Recharge, and Renew are the new buzz words these days all over the world. We need to teach our children to take care of their world and correct their parent’s mistakes! I found some fun, educational, colorful “green” books to share and enjoy for young and old alike. Start thinking green….

“My son doesn’t communicate with me,” stated a fellow hiker—as if she were the only mother who wants more attention from her adult child. My son doesn’t communicate with me as much as I like either, I told her, but when we are together, we have fun, and when we visit by phone, we have lively and long conversations. She wanted to know how old my son is.

Last summer I embarked on my maiden voyage into the turbulent waters of the democratic process. I had been contacted by the Mama Campaign, a grassroots organization trying to make history. They were lobbying for a woman’s right to birth either in a hospital, birth center, or at home and with a doctor, certified nurse midwife or a professional midwife. They were pushing to include equal payment for all of these options into the health care legislation. To accomplish their goal they had launched a national effort to have women contact their local representatives and speak to them about the importance of women having birth choices.

Here’s some news of note about mothers and working families:
1. Maternal deaths are down for the first time in decades. Researchers are reporting a significant drop worldwide in the number of women dying each year from pregnancy and childbirth, to about 342,900 in 2008 from 526,300 in 1980. The findings, published in the medical journal The Lancet, challenge the prevailing view of maternal mortality as an intractable problem that has defied every effort to solve it.
The study cited a number of reasons for the improvement: lower pregnancy rates in some …

What is the number one question new parents are always asked? “How is your baby sleeping?” It is for some reason what everyone wants to know. Do they ask out of curiosity? To sympathize over sleepless nights as they have done? Is it competition (“oh my baby slept through the night by 6 weeks”)? Is it to offer advice, “We always give a formula bottle before bed, keeps them full longer!”). Often I think it is all of the above. From the well intentioned best friend to the annoyances of your mother in law, everyone has something to say about sleep!

Recently, poems have been swirling around in my mind like confetti. It was no surprise then that my eyes latched onto a children’s book of poems by Jeff Foxworthy. Yes, that Jeff Foxworthy who is also one of the most successful and respected recorded comedians in the country. He has written more than twenty-two books, hosts a popular TV show, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader, and runs a syndicated weekly radio show, The Foxworthy Countdown. I don’t know how he found the time to write poems for children, but thankfully he did, and they capture the very essence of being a child. Here’s one example of the poems in his book, Dirt on My Shirt.

I am always delighted when one of my children comes to visit and just as delighted when he or she leaves. Even when they were still in college and hadn’t lived away from home long, I felt like this. I miss my children tremendously and I welcome them, but togetherness calls for compromises from us both. Make no mistake about it: Once your child has moved away, once your child is your adult child, he or she is a visitor.

By Gina Carmen Turley
I wanted you to taste my life like I tasted yours.
The thought of your vibration sent music to my steps.
You and me and all of the family that waited for you-inside you were already mine.
Inside you were only a spirit.
Inside me- connection to spirit.
Baby Baby, where did you go?
Why did the blood spell out the failure of my body?
Was it my past?
Was it the hormones trapped in chemicals, torn with age, mixed up with emotions?
Who made this decision?
Was it DNA?
Was it God?
Was it my unconscious or …