Updates

Alora, our little sunshine, is soooooooo close to crawling! Mobile is her new favorite thing to be! She loves to roll around and get into the crawling position and rock back and forth. She can push herself backward and forward and pivot and roll like a pro! She is just the cutest thing ever! We had a little photo shoot with my friend Shanna for her Etsy shop and it was so much fun! Our wittle Lolos is so photogenic and such a HAM! She loves having her pictures taken! If you want to check out Shanna's Etsy Shop go here. 

In other recent news, we purchased some asparagus from Bountiful Baskets. 15lbs of asparagus to be exact. It's way yummy but the only down side is that Sterling and I have had asparagus pee for the last 2 weeks. Totally worth it though, because I LOVE asparagus! :) My mommy and Grandma are here! Currently enjoying playing with Alora and loving seeing her beautiful smiles all day long. She already skipped out on her morning nap to play with Great Grandma Sharon :) On the 4th, they're dropping us off at the airport on their way home to Cali and we will be off to MISSOURI! So excited to see Grandma and Grandpa Green and all the rest of the Green clan! 

So now it's time for some braggin'. Since this is "The Brag Blog" and all. Sterling's birthday was on March 25th and he came home from work to a beautiful surprise from his wife and baby. We managed to scrounge up the money for a GRILL. Now just to demonstrate how much this means to him, every night since we've been married he has mentioned to me in some way shape or form: "Oh honey, If we had a grill this ___(whatever I'm cooking at the moment)___ would be soooo good." Well ladies, if you want your husband to cook more, just buy him a grill! We've had grilled everything you could think of since we got it. Anyway, this grill I've been speaking of is not just any grill. This grill is any Montana boy's dream, as demonstrated by the picture below:

The whole day he couldn't stop thanking me :) I think I did a good job!

I've also been pretty spoiled lately. My wonderful hubby bought me a Nikon D3000 DSLR Camera! I am soooooooo excited to take awesome pictures of our babies and other people's babies too! In fact, I have a newborn shoot this Friday :) I am so excited! 

My life is so blessed. I have a beautiful husband, a beautiful daughter, amazing mommies and daddies and grandmas and grandpas and a beautiful house and a cool camera and wonderful puppies that make me happy and just everything I could ever ask for! AHHH I just love my life! Soooo BLESSED!

PS My daughter is cuter

Love you!

-Arielle

Birthing in America

I am so dumbfounded right now. Here's why:
I have always wanted to have a "water birth," but was unable to with Lolo because the hospital wouldn't let me. I was in the tub for most of my labor but was not allowed to actually have her in the water. After watching a really moving and inspiring documentary about birth in America, I wanted to find out why water births weren't allowed in my particular hospital. I called up the maternity ward and the woman I called informed me that the insurance carrier for the hospital wouldn't allow water births. We talked for a bit longer and she mentioned that the insurance carrier they used to have actually didn't even allow vaginal births. I had to have her repeat herself after that statement... They didn't cover or allow vaginal births...???? That's like saying "We aren't going to allow our patients to poop out of their butt hole."
The more I research the medical intricacies of the society I live in, the more grateful I am that I have the desire and understanding to do research before I go blindly into something and trust people that don't necessarily always have my best interest at heart.
We recently had a friend whose doctor induced her 2 weeks before her due date because he said her baby was "getting to big and was ready to come out." Their baby was 6lbs. Did you know that 50% of inductions end in a C-Section? Did you know that the World Health Organization suggests that the C-Section rate of a society stays below 15%? Did you know that in America, 1 in 3 women have a C-Section? That's 33%, double what the WHO suggests... Have you ever asked yourself why?
I am so excited to have found my calling in life. I am meant to educate women on Childbirth, and specifically, natural childbirth. I am so thankful to have the opportunity to become a Doula and be a support and advocate for women! I love it already!