Us

I usually keep my blog posts craft or at least creativity related, but I thought since we just had pictures taken and the last blog post that pictures of my family made it into they were looking forelorn and a bit smug (the Etsy Widower post) I would post these as a more accurate portrail of where we're at these days.

And since I'm treading in personal territory anyway I thought I'd take a minute for something that's been on my mind lots lately. As I get closer to my due date I've been thinking more and more about the actual labor and delivery. I honestly couldn't have asked for a more wonderful birth experience than I had with Elle. It was amazing and I attribute a large part of that to having had a drug free, natural childbirth. There are so many reasons I chose natural childbirth, I could go on and on about all the advantages (and do any time someone is rude enough to make comments like "are you crazy" or "you know you don't get an award for that" when they find out that I purposefully didn't have an epidural) but lately I've been considering why more women don't know about the options that are available to them. So many women don't know what is happening in their bodies during and after labor and delivery, or what shots/tests/procedures they'll give the baby immediately following the delivery, or even what a midwife is and the choices they have with regard to all of that. I hope that some day more Doctors will at least have conversations with their expectant Moms about the body's natural processes during childbirth and how that's impacted by the medical intervention that's so common these days. I understand natural childbirth is not for every women, and I respect women's decision to have the birth that they choose, but I don't think every women even realizes she's making choices about the process they're about to go through, choices that will affect them and their infants beyond just how much of the contractions they'll feel. I've read some really great books on the subject, I'd be happy to refer them to anyone who's interested, just leave me a comment.

stepping down from my soapbox... for now ;)

Grow with you skirt (a.k.a. wrap skirt)

Since my pre-pregnancy clothes are getting pretty snug I decided this wrap skirt from the Sew What! book I got for Christmas would be the perfect project to work up for myself.

Clothing is not my favorite thing to sew. I don't love trying to get the fit just right and even though this is just a wrap skirt, it is supposed to be an a-line. The way the book instructs you to get the right pattern is to take your waist & your hip measurements, mark the waist measurement on the fabric and then mark your hip measurement the distance from you waist to your hip down from the waist measurement, then draw a line connecting the two and continue that angle to the hem line. The problem was that I didn't want to wear the skirt on my natural waist. My "where I want to wear the skirt" measurement and my hip measurement weren't that different, so it didn't create much of an a-line, it's pretty close to a straight skirt. I also changed the pattern a bit. In the book, it ties in the front with the overlap in the back, but I wanted the tie on the side and the overlap on the front side of the skirt, so I made one of the ties longer than the other and put a belt loop on the inside back of the skirt.

Over all I'm happy with how it turned out. I think I'll get some good use out of it during this pregnancy... now I just have to get a few more things done before we find out if we're having a boy or a girl and I start on my already a mile long "to make for the baby" list.