Books: I read The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth, Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, and The Birth Partner (subtitled something about a guide for dads, doulas, and someone else). I LOVED The Birth Partner. To me it seemed to offer the most information without being scary. It gave a clear description of each stage of labor, what's happening at each point (cervix thinning, baby's head moving, etc) and suggested possibilities to try (for the woman but also for her support person) to help manage pain. It talked about pain medications, discussing side effects of each, how well they typically work, how long they last, etc. (That part might be more important for me than anyone else, since I'll be in a hospital). I found it to be a really realistic actual GUIDE. Personally, I really enjoyed Ina May's Guide, but I didn't think it fulfilled the role of a "guide" in the way that I wanted. I'm glad that I read it, but I'm glad it wasn't all that I read, or I would still feel unprepared. The Thinking Woman's Guide was useful in that it gave evidence about interventions. It talked about nearly every intervention, and any studies that have been done on their efficacy and necessity, and had a lot of useful information. That book is the reason that I KNOW I don't want an episiotomy - there is evidence that it INCREASES your chances of a higher-degree tear. (Shudder). BUT, that book had two downsides: It is fairly old (1998, I think?) so it doesn't have up-to-date information and studies, and quite frankly, it made me feel afraid. Which is the last thing someone needs when they're going into birth. I'm glad it has the information, but it made me fear my doctor. Since I don't have a choice, and I'm in a different medical system altogether than the book was written for, that wasn't helpful. Whew. I have strong opinions about books, don't I?
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I also liked Birthing From Within, although I haven't finished it. It's more about your emotional journey and the psychological side of birth. I think it's a good companion to a more physical, practical guide. What I like about it is that it asks questions and encourages you to explore the answers yourself.
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As for baby books, I just read The Happiest Baby on the Block, and it seemed like it had some good ideas. I don't know if they'll work or not, because I couldn't try them out yet, of course, but I've heard good things about it from others who did use its techniques on their babies. The tone of it was a little . . . I don't know how to put it. I didn't like the tone, it seemed falsely cheerful, I guess, but other than that I really liked the book.
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And then I read a baby signing book, based on American Sign Language (which I took a couple of classes in in college). I'm really excited about signing to Baby! My sister planned to do this, but then my niece started saying words at 8 months (she had two words in her first week! . . . ok, I'll stop bragging on my niece now). Anyway, I think it's an exciting idea, it gives the kid a chance to communicate before their little tongues and vocal cords are very coordinated, and it gives them a basis in ASL, which could come in handy later. Yay!
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Livingsky: Just to see what would happen, I left a part of my garden unweeded last year. I wanted to see if any garden plants were tough enough to still produce. All I got were radish seedpods. However, if you leave it long enough, some of the weeds WILL be tall enough to pull from a standing position. At our place it would be the lamb's quarters, the tansy mustard, and the stinging nettles (yes, which charmingly grow in my veggie garden). Get that hubby out there - it's dead easy to weed when they're big, if you've got anything other than a prego belly.Â
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Ramzubo: I might just leave the beans and zucchini tangled. Whenever I try to untangle beans, I end up breaking them into tiny little pieces. But you might be less clumsy than me! And I hope you can get that mildew issue figured out, that can't be pleasant/healthy for anyone!
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AFM: It finally stopped raining today. It's been raining every day since the hailstorm, and my neighbor's raingauge read 4.5 inches after the hailstorm - and he said the top was too small for most of the hail! That's MORE than 1/4 of our average annual precipitation, and it fell in no more than 45 minutes. Holy BLEEP! Then we got another inch since then. Anyway, today was clear, so I finally got out and replanted parts of the garden. It looks like the carrots might actually recover, and the hail thinned my parsnips for me, and more of the peas than I thought look like they'll make it. I did plant a bunch more peas in between, because I'm sure that a lot of them won't make it, but some will. I replanted snap beans, because they were all dead dead dead, and zucchini, although I left the previous plants because they *might* make it. I also planted out my winter squash and my herbs (the ones that lived through the lack of watering I put them through in my despondency after the hailstorm). And now I'm friggin' exhausted! Seriously. I am not even sure I'll walk my dog, I'm that tired (she has the run of the farm, so it's not that cruel). I do, however, have to come up with something for supper.
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Also, our water pump in the well wouldn't turn back on after the hailstorm. So we don't have running water at all. I'm hoping that the pump guy will come this evening. Fortunately, we drink town water anyway, so I had some bottles here already. I just have to use that water for everything now, cooking, washing up, etc. So the dishes have been getting neglected.
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Whew. I hope that the summer gets LESS interesting from here on out.
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Thanks for all the hugs and garden condolences, guys. You're nice. 
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 to Hykue.  I'm so sorry about you garden!
Glad your DP has a chance to meet the midwife you really click with.
So far mine is doing well except for the fact that I just can't manage to get on my hands and knees and weed the stupid thing. Have to convince DH to tackle it soon or else all the good plants are going to be overrun. That or maybe they'll be tall enough soon that I can weed the garden from a standing position 
