2008 Iowa Mama's Thread! - Page 9

[Sheekara]

Originally Posted by Crystal_R

I keep hearing all these horror stories (even on here!) about hospital birth. I'm due in 10 weeks and plan on having my baby at St. Luke's in CR. Can someone who had a birth there please tell me what to expect and possibly some positive things? The nurses there seemed incredible when we toured, but I have no idea if they're that nice when you refuse IVs and want a natural birth.

I had a home birth so I can't say anything about the nurses. But beware the Lactation Consultants!!! They are negative, uninformed and pushy. I strongly suggest getting in touch with Marjorie or Dawn the leaders of the local La Leche League. They will bend over backwards to help you.

Marjorie - 319-447-1499 [e-mail]
Dawn- 319-330-2539

I also strongly suggest having a doula with you during labor and delivery. Tammy at Baby Matters is absolutely wonderful, skilled, and very familiar with St Lukes and the nurses.
319-364-1144

Good Luck!

[Honey693]

What are the LC's pushy about? I plan on contacting the LLL here before Smudge makes an appearance and actually took a bf-ing class from Tammy so I hope I'll do ok.

[HybridVigor]

Tammy is great! I love her. I'm teaching her BWing classes now, and I'm super excited about it. I heard from her that there are some L/D nurses who are VERY supportive of natural birth at Luke's (two who are studying to be doulas or midwives), so hopefully you get one of them.

-Leslie

[Seeking Refuge]

ICHEN

(Iowa City Homeschool Education Network)

is hosting a

Not Back to School Potluck Picnic
Morrison Park in Coralville on Monday September 1st.

We will be at the Fireside Shelter from approximately noon to six. We will be eating at 1 p.m. There will be grill going and some drinks. Every family should bring something to throw on the grill or another main dish and a side dish or a desert as well as their own tableware, including glasses.

For anyone interested: ICHEN has a yahoo group in which we organize this and other activities throughout the year including a weekly gym day at Mercer/Scanlon in Iowa City.

Parents of preschool age children who are planning on homeschooling or thinking of doing so are welcome to attend. There will be other preschool age children to play with.

[Honey693]

Does anyone know anywhere within 30 minutes of CR to go apple picking? My friend and her 2 year old are coming out for a day soon and they really want to do this. I know Allen's in Marion, but I wanted to see if there was anywhere else.

[Dmitrizmom]

Wilson's Orchard. http://www.pickyourown.org/IA.htm

We were out this afternoon. we got some very tasty apples. kids had a blast.

[tzuru]

Holistic Mom's Network?

Hello. Does anyone have an update on the status of the Iowa City Holistic Mom's Network? Last I heard they were meeting at the Coralridge Mall for playdates (not sure when). many thanks. jnm

[hipmamatosunlight]

another perspective on UIHC CNM

I've actually moved from the Iowa City area, but delivered both of my children with the CNM--specifically Lynne. Each of the midwives has a very different presence and I know of quite a few people are put off by Lynne's sarcastic and rough demeanor. However, during labor and delivery she was amazing. She was a true advocate for my VBAC attempt and I believe that it was her toughness that served me well as she advocated for me go home after regular but non progressing contractions during an overnight stay (UIHC wanted me on monitors as soon as labor started). I then spent the next day laboring at home with my doula and mother in law--resting, walking, going out for ice cream, and getting a pressure point massage to move things along. Although I ended up delivering my son C/S after another day laboring at the hospital, Lynne made sure that my doula was allowed into the delivery room along with my spouse. Between the birth of my daughter and the birth of my son, I suffered a missed miscarriage and underwent a D&E--although Lynne was not on call and the OB staff was performing the procedure, Lynne stayed with me throughout and made sure that I was supported and had my questions answered.

[iris777888]

I just took over as chapter leader of the HMN and am trying to get things going again. We had a meeting earlier this month and a playdate at the Coralville ST Morrison park this past weekend. If anybody wants more details about the group or wants to be invited to events, PM me. Otherwise, once we have additional activities scheduled I'll try and make sure to post them on here.

On a separate note, what's up with the UIHC midwife group? I just got their letter in the mail about their "unanticipated" changes, but I'm wondering what led to it and is really going on.

[Bellasmom]

Originally Posted by iris777888

On a separate note, what's up with the UIHC midwife group? I just got their letter in the mail about their "unanticipated" changes, but I'm wondering what led to it and is really going on.

I haven't gotten the letter yet, but at my 34 wk appt. Laura Dellos told me that Paula is not currently taking call for "personal reasons". As a result they have two midwives trying to do all the deliveries, and obstetrics is helping out when they are really busy. I know that they are having the interns assist them with deliveries so that they have some idea of what a midwife birth is like - low lighting, seeing positions other than lithotomy, etc.
I saw Paula for my 36 week appt. last Thursday, and she didn't mention anything. I am a bit disappointed, my biggest problem with my first birth at Mercy was having a physician that I had only met once. My second birth was with the midwives (Lynne - who was fantastic at delivery, somewhat to my surprise!) and I would love to have a repeat of that experience with babe #3. I am really hoping that I do not get an obstetric intern that I have never met before. However, I am also almost 37 weeks, so my options are a bit limited at this point!
Angela

[tzuru]

Angela, have you thought about working with a doula? There are a number of us in the Iowa City area. PM me if you need help finding an available one on such short notice. Having a doula would guarantee you to have somebody there with you that you are familiar with and that will help you stay on plan. I had one birth where I met with the couple for the first time three days before the actual birth. So don't worry about time. In any case sending smooth birth vibes. :>

[cranberry99]

re" natural foods in marion

Hi,
I have gone to this new natural foods place...it is in Marion off of 11th St across from Mr Beans and in a strip mall next to a tae kwon do place and a house of worship. I kept going there right when they first opened- their produce and bulk items hadn't come in yet. They focus a lot on supplements from what I could tell. I should go back because they probably have a fuller selection now than when they first opened.
By the way I think they are called Whole Natural Foods.
Hope this helps.

Originally Posted by Sheekara

We are driving into CR for our bi-weekly shopping trip tomorrow (Sat.).

I heard rumor last week that there is a new Whole Foods opened in Marion. I can find nothing about it online. Can anyone confirm or deny this?

[Dmitrizmom]

Someone posted a question about breech birthing in Iowa... here's the link: http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=972731

Hope someone here can help her.

[Dmitrizmom]

If anyone else is interested.. I'm still doing a Friday morning Craft -n- Coffee at my house from ~9am to noon. You can craft and drink coffee/tea and chat or just have coffee/tea and chat.

I'll probably be making a pumpkin roll for tomorrow. :

[Seeking Refuge]

We had a very nice time this morning. Thanks so much for the yummy pumpkin roll and for having a little craft project for the kids.

I did a little research on the "knit stitch" dilemma: I found at least a dozen different videos...all of which show the thread clearly being wrapped around the back of the needle. I thought I would link to a few so that we felt better. So Pynki, either the knitter you talked to at that store is on crack or she totally misunderstood what you were trying to do.

All of these videos show the English method. I can't pull off Continental

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYGqXAN8R-4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xho-iQdGNE

http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/knit-stitch

[Seeking Refuge]

ICHEN ( Iowa City Homeschool Education Network) is going on a field trip to Wilson's Orchard on Monday, September 29th at 4 p.m. We will be having a guided tour, riding on the tractor wagon and of course picking apples. There should be pumpkins available by now as well. It will be loads of fun. As always there are no age restrictions on these events. Anyone homeschoolers with preschool age children are welcome and encouraged to attend. We started going to ICHEN events when our seven year old was only two.

[LionessMom]

Does anybody here now of a ND in the Lisbon, Mount Vernon area? I have been trying to find one but am having no luck.

[Dmitrizmom]

Hey! For anyone who is interested...

Pampered Chef Party
Saturday, October 11, 2008
2pm - 4pm
Jennifer's house (PM for directions/RSVP)
kids and husbands welcome.

[Seeking Refuge]

Originally Posted by LionessMom

Does anybody here now of a ND in the Lisbon, Mount Vernon area? I have been trying to find one but am having no luck.

Naturopathy is not legal in Iowa, the only practicing naturopaths in Iowa tend to be chiropractors as well. The last I knew there were only 5 or 6 ND's in the entire state of Iowa.

I used to live in Mount Vernon and to my knowledge there are none although I have heard good things about Dr. Kluver. In Iowa City, Jason Bradley is a practicing chiropractor/ND and I believe that there is one at Eastwind.

One thing to keep in mind, about this is that generally insurance companies limit the number of chiropractor's visits you can have in a year.

[aliall]

Homeschoolers in CR IC area

Hi all. Can some one fill me in on the homeschool groups in the CR/IC area. We are thinking about hsing the kids--they are in ps now although we did hs dd7 for kindergarten. We live in between IC and CR and probably wouldn't do any kind of HSAP (our district doesn't have one and don't want to open enroll somewhere else.) We would be looking for a secular type group with field trips and park days and such.

Thanks!

ali