Boho Fab: Backyard Gypsy Caravan Playhouse

I am swooning over this DIY project that was constructed using almost only materials that were recycled/found/given.  Heck, I can't believe it's a playhouse -- I would totally live there myself!  Check out the whole story here.

Also, while I'm on the topic of bloglove...

Heather Armstrong (self-described as "the woman who was all EPIDURAL ON THE ROCKS, PLEASE!") has me doing a happy dance this morning with her latest post on Dooce, wherein she describes how reading Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein's Your Best Birth revolutionized her perceptions about natural birth leading up to the recent birth of her daughter, Marlo:

And then, oh God, the worst thing happened. And I didn't even see it coming, but I'm sitting there reading that book, gritting my teeth, shaking my head when all of a sudden it started to make sense. I started to see just how medicalized labor and birth have become in America AND THERE GOES MY WORLD VIEW.

I'm not going to get into the specifics and the really convincing and at times jaw-dropping statistics of it here, there are so many other places and people who can write about it better than I can, but I will say this: if you are pregnant or are planning to become pregnant, GO READ THAT BOOK. From now on when someone asks me what is the one piece of advice I would give to a pregnant woman, it will be: GO BUY A COPY OF THAT BOOK. Listen, I am not affiliated with that book in any way, I do not know Ricki Lake, she and I do not vacation in St. Tropez together (although if she'd like to come ride four-wheelers at my Mom's cabin in Duchesne, Utah, THE OFFER STANDS), I do not owe that publisher any favors. But IT CHANGED MY LIFE. I'm not even kidding, I'll say it again: IT CHANGED MY LIFE.

Considering that only, like, 100 billion people read Dooce, it is really really exciting to see Heather evolving on this issue and speaking out about it so strongly.  I have loved her blog for years, but this really makes it dear to my heart.  I only read a few of the 505 comments on her latest post, but it is so moving and cool to see how many people have already been positively influenced to start educating themselves about their birthing options just from that one post.  And she hasn't even gotten to her actual birth story yet.  Go.

Photo via Dooce.

Three Blogs I'm Loving

Progressive Pioneer 

Wide Open Spaces

Urban Organica

Check 'em out, and let me know what you think!  Also, I would love to know what blogs you're fixated on at the moment...

Happy Monday, And An Experiment...

Happy Monday! After reading this post, I'm experimenting with making my photos appear larger in my blog posts.  I've always been annoyed by the fact that the maximum size option on blogger is so puny, so I'm hoping this new technique for posting photos will work.  The photo is of me in September, 2005 when Taro and I were vacationing in Cadaques, Spain.  You can see more of this trip on my Flickr!  XOXO.

UPDATE:  Well, phooey.  Now that I've published the post, I can clearly see that while the photo is bigger, it's now TOO BIG FOR MY LAYOUT AND THE PHOTO IS WEIRDLY CROPPED.  Wah.  I have no idea how to expand the width of the middle column, and I'm totally scared of screwing up my template if I start messing around with the HTML.  Does anyone have any suggestions?

Here, for your entertainment, is a corresponding photo (in the normal Blogger-friendly size) of my dear hubby.  How cute is he?

Saturday Jazz on the Great Hill

With Taro out of town for work until tomorrow, the Kiddo and I decided to spend our Saturday relaxing in the park.  A little before noon, we met Riki near one of our favorite spots, a tranquil little pond with ducks and willow trees a few blocks from our apartment.  We were soon joined by some friends and we all proceeded over to the Great Hill for this event:

The music was fantastic and the weather could not have been more pleasant, so we enjoyed laying out and picnicking for the rest of the afternoon.  During that time, the Kiddo befriended a couple of sweet siblings, Jack and Cecilia, and the three of them happily hung out, sketching, dancing, and playing catch.  (The next two photos by Riki):

The only thing marring our otherwise blissful afternoon was the absence of Taro :(  We can't wait to see him again tomorrow for the first time since Thursday!

I can't resist adding this shot I snapped of a gorgeous duo that I spotted at the concert.  The mom had great style (notice the cute hat!) and was wearing her adorable baby in a seriously fab wrap.  I was impressed, and also inspired...I'm thinking I should start a new blog feature, called Street Style: Babywearing Edition and start photographing all the cool babywearing mamas I see around town.  Food for thought...stay tuned!

Truly Distressing: The Phenomenon of "Pit to Distress"

I was truly horrified and upset to learn this week about a practice that is going on in the world of obstetrics that (until recently) has been little-known or talked about outside that world.

"Pit to Distress" is the term that is used in hospitals to describe the action of administering the highest possible dosage of Pitocin to a laboring woman, with the intention of deliberately distressing the fetus, so a C-section can be performed.

I first read about this phenomenon on Monday, via the wonderful blog, Keyboard Revolutionary.  That is when mama, birth activist, and blogger, Jill, broke the news about "Pit to Distress" to the masses.  Other blogs quickly picked up on the topic and it has since gone viral within the birth blogosphere.  

I have been reeling all week as I continued to read shocking insights about this disturbing practice on various blogs, and I wanted to share the information with my readers.  I encourage anyone who is considering a hospital birth, or who is concerned about the health and well-being of women and babies, to follow these eye-opening links:

Unnecesarean's super-informative follow-up to the original post at Keyboard Revolutionary.  Followed by Part 2.

On Nursing Birth, a Labor and Delivery Nurse testifies to the all-too-real phenomenon of "Pit to Distress," and supplies mind-blowing examples of when she has seen it happen in her own personal experience on the job.  Part 1 lays out the shocking facts of her experience, and part 2 supplies helpful information on how to protect yourself from such unnecessary and harmful interventions.

Over at Stand and Deliver, Rixa jumped in and offered a roundup of more insights on this issue.

I hope you take a few minutes to read over the information in these assorted posts.  Let me know what you think!

Inspire Me

I'm lacking a bit for bloggy inspiration today...

...so I'm turning to you, lovely readers!

Inspire me with your fantastic ideas, lovely links, marvelous musings...

...leave a comment on this post, won't you?

Thank you a million times over, in advance!

Noisy Alphabet via ffffound.