another day, another piece in the New York Times!

Photo by Josh Haner/The New York Times

Check out today's edition of The New York Times to see a piece in the Arts Section about Our Time! It focuses on Oscar-Winner David Seidler's involvement with the company, and highlights the success of last week's benefit gala. On newsstands now, or click here to read.

Our Time in the Sunday New York Times

Photographed by the legendary, incomparable Bill Cunningham!

By the way,

I'm dying to see this documentary about him -- have you seen it?

More details and photos of the Our Time Gala coming soon...

Have a wonderful Sunday!

XOXO,

Leigh

Engulfed

I went to the MoMA with my dad on Friday (my parents are in town visiting for the next week). Standing in front of Jackson Pollock's massive Number 1A, I meditated on the loss, chaos, and suffering in Japan. My heart goes out to everyone there. The event is beyond comprehension -- I can't conceive of words that could possibly fit the scope of the tragedy there. But when I looked at this wild, chaotic, and yet somehow inherently ordered painting I felt a resonance with the scary unpredictability and fierce beauty of the cosmos. I felt conscious of and very grateful for life.

That's all...I just wanted to share.

Have a safe weekend.

Exciting News + Awesome Giveaway

UPDATE: GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED.

I'll BE ANNOUNCING THE WINNERS SOON.

THANK YOU!!! 3/7/11

My Dear Readers,

There's something I've been looking forward to sharing with you: I recently joined the team at Sakura Bloom!

As a long-time fan of Sakura Bloom's gorgeous and functional baby slings, I could not be more thrilled to now work for the company. I have used Sakura Blooms with both of my kiddos and from infancy through toddlerdom I have come to rely on these ring slings as an essential way to get through the day comfortably and with a happy child -- hands free! Not only do they function as simple parenting tools that facilitate the bond between me and my babes, each beautifully made sling is also a fabulous addition to my wardrobe ;)

I am in the midst of working on an exciting project with Sakura Bloom that I can't wait to tell you about soon. Meanwhile, to celebrate the news of my new job, it is my pleasure to offer an exciting giveaway of not one but THREE Sakura Bloom slings from the limited edition Pixie Collection. You read that right, friends: I will randomly select three winners from the eligible entrants. Each winner can then select their favorite Pixie colorway! How fun is that?

Here's how to enter:

1. Leave a comment on this post stating why you would like to win.
2. Be sure to leave your email address (even if you think I know it already!)

The deadline to enter is 11:59 EST, Sunday, March 6th.

Good Luck!

P.S.: If you want to be kept up-to-date on all things Sakura Bloom and Marvelous Kiddo, be sure to "like" us here and here on Facebook.

P.P.S.: Do you have a blog? You might be interested in joining the Sakura Bloom Affiliate Program!

Texting While Birthing + Birth Story of the Week

Cartoon by Mick Stevens, originally published in The New Yorker Magazine, 03/15/2010

I was delighted to run across a piece in this week's issue of New York Magazine, exploring the growing phenomenon of parents using technology to document/communicate the birth of their children in real time. It's practically de rigueur these days to Tweet one's labor or blog one's birth story -- now it seems people are going so far as to text their next of kin even as they give birth via c-section! I find all of this fascinating, and I think you will too, so check out the article.

Fittingly, the piece was written by Tina Cassidy, author of Birth: The Surprising History of How We are Born, a book that came out in 2006 and that I devoured months ago and have been meaning to post about ever since. I loved this fantastically researched and imminently readable title and I know it would appeal to anyone who has even a passing interest in how we all arrive here on Planet Earth. As much as I've read and investigated books in the birth + pregnancy + labor genre, I had never gotten my hands on a straight-up scholarly analysis of the history of birth customs and practices. It was a very illuminating and often entertaining read that certainly put a lot of perspective on the current state of affairs and the culture of birth that we inhabit right now. I highly recommend it.

After I tore through the book I gave my copy to my friend Jen, who also enjoyed it and consequently discovered that Cassidy maintains a blog, on which she posted her own remarkable story of the birth of her second child ( a home VBAC that occurred in 2007). The amazing thing is that Cassidy wrote her birth story on her blog in serial form over the course of weeks, posting a series of 36 short posts that go into exciting, interesting, and just downright compelling detail about her pregnancy and birth journey so the whole thing reads like bit of a cliffhanger for birth junkies. It is brilliant. Compounding the awesomeness is the comment thread attached to the posts, which include juicy feedback from friends, fans, and most endearingly Cassidy's own mother, who, shall we say was not very keen on the whole idea of home birth throughout her daughter's pregnancy. Their back-and-forth is priceless, and actually very moving.

I thought you would enjoy it so much that I decided to link to Cassidy's epic birth chronicle as Birth Story of the Week. The format is a little unconventional, but you will thank me if you read it :)

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12

Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18

Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part 22, Part 23, Part 24

Part 25, Part 26, Part 27, Part 28, Part 29, Part 30

Part 31, Part 32, Part 33, Part 34, Part 35, Part 36

Parisian Time Capsule

This story stopped me in my tracks and gave me chills. A gorgeous Parisian flat was recently discovered that had been untouched for 70 years! And it contained an important painting worth millions, as well as a juicy cache of love letters. You have to read the entire, jaw-dropping story, here. Via Jezebel.

Time Magazine

There is a story about home birth in this week's issue of Time Magazine, and it features photos of me and J, taken by Liz Rubincam during J's birth in 2007!

We are still vacationing in the mountains of North Carolina, so I have not yet read the article, but I thought I would let you know while the issue is currently on newsstands. If you've already read the piece, I would love it if you would leave a comment and let me know what you thought.

Thanks!

About What Gisele Said...

Photo by Cedric Buchet from the September 2010 issue of Harper's Baazar UK,

via TheFashionSpot

If you've been anywhere near a computer this week, you've probably already heard about the comments made in the current issue of Harper's Bazaar UK by supermodel Gisele Bundchen. The fashion icon -- who has been speaking out for months now about her pain-free, home water birth, her strong belief in the importance of breastfeeding, and even her practice of natural infant hygiene -- did not mince words in the Harper's article:

"Some people here [in the US] think they don't have to breastfeed, and I think 'Are you going to give chemical food to your child when they are so little?' I think there should be a worldwide law, in my opinion, that mothers should breastfeed their babies for six months."

And...cue the uproar! It seems that with that one short soundbite Gisele managed to incite the rage of all womankind. When I first read about her statement, on Celebrity Baby Blog, I was shocked by the tenor of the reader's comments, which ranged from eye-popping rage to over-the-top hostility. Here is a small sampling of the negativity spewing from that one blog (countless other sites I've looked at since have comment treads running in a similar vein):

"CHILL OUT GISELE, YOU JUDGEMENTAL B!@$#"

"Never in my life have I posted on something like this before…but boy did she compel me to do so. All I can say is I do not like her or her comments. She really needs to THINK before she makes stupid remarks."

"So let me get this straight. She gave birth at home and it was pain free. She was modelling 6 weeks later and now she tells us that we should breast feed “by law” for 6 months. How full of shit is she."

"Cracks me up when women who have one infant think they are parenting experts and know just how every other mother should parent their children."

"I hope for her sake that she doesn’t have to experience what it’s like to not be able to have a natural birth or not be able to breastfeed in the future, but if she does have to go through it then maybe she’ll gain a bit more compassion for the rest of us. Until then maybe she should keep her unenlightened comments to herself."

"Gisele has had one baby for a few months and she is no expert. I find her to be very know it all and she needs to quit doing interviews."

"Why stop at six months, Gisele? Make it 12 months, at least. And put some force behind your law. Let’s take these babies from their moms. And lock the moms up. I don’t know why I read this stuff. Gisele sounds really impressed with herself and incredibly insufferable and ignorant. Breastfeeding is great, why not just leave it at that? Or find ways to support women who are able to breastfeed? Here is a better idea. How about a law against stupid celebrities."

"She’s just a pretty face that needs to keep her big fat mouth shut.... She should stick to modeling and stop giving parenting advice. It’s not like she knows what it’s like in the real world anyway!!!"

"This woman is ignorant and arrogant. New mothers around the world experience enough guilt, shame and pressure without having this nitwit preach on about something she clearly doesn’t understand well enough. Stop making it worse for new mothers!"

Then they lit into her on The View:

Meanwhile, on her personal blog, Gisele responded to the furor:

"My intention in making a comment about the importance of breastfeeding has nothing to do with the law. It comes from my passion and beliefs about children. Becoming a new mom has brought a lot of questions, I feel like I am in a constant search for answers on what might be the best for my child. It’s unfortunate that in an interview sometimes things can seem so black and white. I am sure if I would just be sitting talking about my experiences with other mothers, we would just be sharing opinions. I understand that everyone has their own experience and opinions and I am not here to judge. I believe that bringing a life into this world is the single most important thing a person can undertake and it can also be the most challenging. I think as mothers we are all just trying our best."

Melissa Whitworth, who wrote the article in Harper's Bazaar UK, got into the mix as well with a defense of Gisele that was published in The Telegraph:

"Gisele has always been extremely passionate about a variety of issues – environmental preservation, mental and physical health and motherhood. And now it seems we can add breastfeeding to that list.

The bit that outraged the mummy brigade was where she said it should be “a law” for mothers to breastfeed for at least six months. “How dare someone so beautiful and rich make us feel bad about ourselves?”, they shrieked.

I can understand why. Gisele has bounced back to her pre-motherhood weight, but that surely is just a freak of genetics. She finds breastfeeding to be easy. But we all know mothers who don’t, despite their best efforts, and thus have to rely on formula. In America, where maternity leave lasts all of five minutes and employers think they are being incredibly kind to provide office “lactation rooms”, six months is an impossible length of time. Which is exactly what Gisele is trying to highlight. Gisele knows only too well that not every mother can enjoy the freedoms she does. And she is not a politician. So hold on a sec: the Gisele Breastfeeding Rule is not waiting to be signed into law. She is just a passionate new mother with an opinion.

I found her to be warm, maternal, energetic, nurturing and passionate – quite the opposite to the steely glamour queen we see swaggering down the runway and gracing the world’s press today…

The resulting outcry shows just how passionately women feel about the issues Gisele has raised. So let’s celebrate the fact that she’s made us talk about the pros and cons of breastfeeding, and not hang the supermodel out to dry."

Whew. It was all enough to make one's head spin (I love the fact that the bruhaha was coincidentally occurring during World Breastfeeding Week)!

One of the things that really struck me about this whole controversy is how it highlighted the fact that it is so rare for a big celebrity to speak so passionately and candidly about the issues of breastfeeding and home birth. Certainly Gisele and her husband, Tom Brady, occupy a much higher echelon of mainstream fame than anyone else I can think of who speaks out about these topics. And as you can see from the backlash to her comments, Gisele's fame is actually a blessing and a curse -- although they reach a huge audience, her views are being discounted by many as the airheaded musings of a spoiled rich girl. I hope she continues to speak out, because as frustrating as it is to hear the words of the Gisele-haters, I am also sure that she is inspiring and educating multitudes of people to think about these issues for the first time. If she continues to be vocal about her passions while advocating for the rights of women and babies and raising her children on a natural, gentle path, her views will become impossible to discount.

I, for one, look forward to hearing what she has to say next.

Victory!

Photos from the Free Our Midwives Photo Project.

I am beyond excited to share the news that the Midwifery Modernization Act passed in the State Assembly and Senate this week, making home birth legal in New York again! Read more about this exciting news, as well as more information about the amazing grass-roots campaign that resulted in this exciting triumph for birth rights, at FreeOurMidwives.org.

Midwifery Modernization Act

Friends, I have been remiss in posting timely updates on the situation regarding the legality of home birth in New York. I just received an email from my homebirthing friend, Nancy, alerting me that a very important piece of legislation is actually coming up for vote today at 11:30 am! The Midwifery Modernization Act, if passed, will eliminate the need for midwives to have Written Practice Agreements with MD's, therefore enabling them to freely attend to their clients without having to bow to their competitors. I am sorry to be posting this at the last minute, but if you can take a moment to call one or more of the following lawmakers to express your support of the MMA, that would be a huge help!

Thank you for supporting a woman's right to give birth where she chooses, with the care provider she prefers!

Homebirth Illegal in NYC!

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer speaks at the press conference yesterday.

Photo via Parenting Poppy.

Home birthing mama, Jo Greep, attended a press conference yesterday concerning the home birth situation in New York City, and she has an excellent (if depressing) update that I recommend reading. In short, as of today, home birth is illegal in New York City (!!!) as parties continue to work towards a resolution on the issue of Written Practice Agreements.

Meanwhile, hundreds of expectant mothers in New York who were planning home births are suddenly left in the lurch, forced to find OB's willing to take them or show up at an ER to birth in an alien environment surrounded by strangers.

What a shame and an outrage.

URGENT: Help Save Home Birth Midwifery in New York!

Photo taken shortly after J's birth by Liz Rubincam

I just received an alarming email from Choices in Childbirth, alerting me to the fact that home birth is under immediate threat right here in New York. I wanted to share the information with you in the hope that you will join me in taking action. Please take a moment to let our lawmakers know how important it is to keep home birth a legal and accessible option. As a woman who has had two home births and hopes to have more, this matter is of utmost concern to me. I hope you will help in getting the word out about this! Thank you so much.

Here is the info, as stated by Choices in Childbirth:

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

At midnight tomorrow, April 30th, the majority of New York City’s home birth midwives will no longer be able to practice legally. Unless immediate action is taken by the Governor and the NYS Department of Health the women that these midwives serve will be denied access to a home birth with their chosen provider and these providers will no longer be able to practice legally in NYS.

YOU MUST ACT NOW to save the home birth option for New York Women:

Call:

• 311 (if outside NYC, call
• Wendy Saunders, Executive Deputy Commissioner for the NY State Department of Health, appointed by Governor Paterson. 518-474-8390
• Larry Mokhiber, he Secretary of the Board of Midwifery (518-474-3817, extension 130)

And say….

With the closing of St. Vincent’s Hospital, half of the licensed, highly trained home birth midwives serving NYC have lost their Written Practice Agreement (WPA). St Vincent’s was the only hospital in the city supportive of a woman’s right to choose a home birth and willing to sign a WPA. In the weeks since it’s announced closure, these midwives have reached out to hospitals and obstetricians all across the city looking for support, with no success. Please help us to save the homebirth option in New York.

People can also email the Governor at http://www.state.ny.us/governor/contact/GovernorContactForm.php.

We are in our final hours!

Please forward this post and help us flood 311 and the Governor’s office with calls supporting home birth.

And while you’re at it, please sign our petition supporting the Midwifery Modernization Act which will remove the WPA from the midwifery law effectively removing this barrier to accessing midwifery care.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/midwifery

See NYSALM’s fact sheet about what the Midwifery Modernization Act Means for You.

Love This

Photo by Eliot Caroom

Rozelle Park, New Jersey Councilwoman, Larissa Chen-Hoerning, proudly babywears and breastfeeds her baby at City Council meetings. I love all the positive messages she's sending with her actions, not the least of them that working moms can also be attached moms! Via NJ.com.

Gisele: Home Birth Mama

People Magazine is reporting that when Supermodel Gisele Bündchen gave birth to her son on December 8, it was at home in a bathtub! Via Celebrity Baby Blog.

The First Family

The Obamas' first official family portrait. Photographed by Annie Leibovitz on September 1, 2009. Via The Official White House Photostream.

Sounds Like Rape to Me, too!

I just read this outrageous article about a very pregnant Arizona mom who is embroiled in a conflict with her hospital over its forcing her to have an unnecessary c-section! Read the whole story for yourself, and then protest this violation of her rights by emailing the hospital's CEO, Sandy Haryasz: sandy.haryasz@bannerhealth.com

Via The Unnecesarean's Facebook.

Exciting Press!

Photo, Associated Press

The New York Times, NPR, and other media outlets across the country are running in-depth stories about Camp Our Time today, including multimedia elements like slideshows and video!!! Click here, here, and here to see some of the highlights of the coverage!

UPDATE: Now CBS, MSNBC, and Forbes have picked up on the story! So exciting!

Tessa's here!

All year I've been keeping up religiously with Cole's pregnancy as it unfolds over on her husband's brilliant blog, Pacing the Panic Room.  Well, Ryan Marshall's latest post in the series announces the home water birth of baby Tessa!  I'm so excited I just had to share :)  Congratulations, Ryan and Cole!  Check out the entire sequence of belly shots, here.

R.I.P. Michael

"Lights, Camera, Contraction"

Click here to read a terrific piece in the New York Times that examines the growing phenomenon of people posting their birth videos on YouTube.  The article focuses on people who had home births or are planning them, and talked about the ways in which the medium of video on the internet is helping to reframe the way women in general educate themselves about childbirth.  

The story also contains a link to a series nine of YouTube videos posted by Sarah Griffith of Atlanta, showing the home water birth of her son.  The videos have been viewed more than three million times.

I found this story and the accompanying comment thread to be really interesting and encouraging, in that it seems to illustrate a growing interest in seeking out information on what birth is really like, instead of relying on negative assumptions created by hollywood cliches.  

What do you think?