"Preaching to the choir" and what is in store for 2011

I have been online a lot more the past few days as my son has a fever, so I have spent a lot of time just holding him with my laptop open in front of me instead of cleaning or doing other things. I suspect the fever is a reaction to the Pneumococcal Vaccine (Pc, PCV, Prevnar) he received at his well-child visit on Dec. 30--it was his third time getting the Pc shot, and he didn't have a reaction the first two times, but reactions to Pc are very common, so I'm guessing it would be from that one and not the Hep B. He has been clingy and fussy the past few days, but no digestive or flu-like symptoms--kind of unusual. The fever is responding to acetaminophen, though.

But I see that taking more time away from the internet over the past month or so has been good for me in a lot of ways. I have been reminded of what Courtroom Mama wrote last summer in her call for submissions for the Crisis in the Crib blog carnival (which I participated in) about how time away from the internet can give you fresh perspectives.

I have been considering what the point is for writing this blog. I think, for the most part, blogs are read by same-thinking individuals, creating a "preaching to the choir" effect. What good am I doing if I find just the right words to express the way I feel if the only people who are reading it all feel exactly the same way, they just couldn't find the right words to say it? How much of what I say actually gets outside the circle of like-minded birth and parenting bloggers and onto the screens of women who actually need to read it? Who may actually consider options they hadn't considered before reading?

I would venture to say, not very much. This is why many of my posts in the past have focused not on proclaiming the message of the natural birth movement, but on turning our eyes on ourselves and discussing in what ways we are failing in our efforts to present our point of view effectively--tendencies towards things like name-calling, forgetting that others might see things from a different point of view, doctor-bashing, creating fear of medical interventions, and focusing too much on what choice is made rather than why it is made . I hope to have more posts like this in 2011. Because nobody is perfect the choir still needs preaching to, just a different message than what the congregation needs to hear.


Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Organ (Public Domain)

In 2011, I hope to write to the audience I have, rather than the one I'd really love to have, and perhaps I'll also try to find new ways to reach the people out there I'd love to reach. I also aim to write shorter posts, since they are more likely to be read, and to break up posts into multiple parts if they get too long.

(I was going to schedule this post for tomorrow, but I realized the date, and I wanted to post something on 1/11/11)

A New Year is kind of like a Birth

Think about it...the newness, the celebration, the hopes of great things to come...I'm suddenly reminded of a Gilmore Girls episode when for some reason they ended up using old New Years decorations for a baby shower "Happy New Baby!"

It's about time for my blog to join 2011! I realize I've been MIA in the blogosphere for the past month or so. The week of Christmas, we had a wonderful stay with my parents at their new house in Florida(they moved the same week my son was born--my dad moved without my mom because she got on the first plane she could get when my husband called her from the hospital after finding out I was at 8 cm) the week of Christmas. Being with family and all, and having my sweet husband not working, I didn't spend my usual (excessive) amount of time on the internet and I realized, I don't need the internet. Not only can I survive without checking everything I used to check daily (and often multiple times a day), I don't need to depend on it for my happiness. Since I've been back, I've been making an effort to enjoy other things in life, including my kids, mastering the art of maintaining a clean home (thanks in huge part to FlyLady, without her, I would have never even known where to start), and I've even had time to read some fiction novels (The Scorch Trials, sequel to The Maze Runner by James Dashner and Paranormalcy by Kiersten White), and I have always really enjoyed fiction.

The point is, I think for a while there, my vision became to narrowly focused on birth (as birth is the main focus of most of what I do on the internet). While I think birth will always be part of my life, I need to remember that birth is not the only thing in my life. In fact, birth is not even the most important thing in my life. Before I discovered doula work and childbirth education as potential careers, I always really wanted to be a stay-at-home-mom. Sure, I enjoyed stuyding Early Childhood Education, and liked working with young children in the classroom, but I never wanted it more than I wanted to have children of my own. I always figured balancing home and career wasn't going to be an issue for me, but then I found my career, and although I don't actually make money at it yet, that is what it is for me. I am blessed that my husband's salary makes it so I don't have to work, and I want my children to have me present for them and not just physically. When they are older, I can put more time into my career. I feel that it's important for the amount of time I devote to things should reflect what my highest priorities are. Don't worry, though, I'm still planning on continuing this blog and still planning on getting my doula and Hypnobabies certifications and teaching Hypnobabies.

I will write another post soon (hopefully) explaining the direction I want to take this blog in the New Year. I will end this post with my goals for 2011:

• Continue to keep my home in order using the routines I established with the FlyLady Beginner Babysteps.
• Play with, sing with, and read to my children daily.
• Devote time each day to developing myself spiritually.
• Find more ways to let my husband know how incredibly much I appreciate him.
• At least finish everything in the CBI doula course except for the two births (I'm very close to doing this! I will probably also get the births in, but if I don't, it's not a big deal)
• Do the hypnosis at-home course and the required reading before the Hypnobabies Instructor Training in July!

And just because I didn't do this yet, here is a list of the Top 10 Most Viewed Posts on Birth Unplugged in 2010:

1. Understanding "Painless" Childbirth
2. A Natural Third Stage?
3. Why Natural Childbirth is Not Important
4. Traditional Birth Secrets: The Rebozo
5. Progesterone: the pro-gestation hormone
6. Painless Childbirth, revisited
7. Hypno-anesthesiology 101, with Dr. Seuss
8. Physiological 3rd Stage, without the "as long as..."
9. Maslow's Hierarchy of (Birth) Needs
10. Will We Ever Reach Peace in the OB v. NCB war?