Parenting Sites 411

It’s 2:00 a.m. and your three month old is crying…a lot. You’re a first time mother, and while you’ve got a ton of questions, you called your mom at 2:00 in the morning last night about that crazy looking diaper, so you’d really like to get through this one on your own.

Have you ever been induced?  Or have you always gone into labor naturally?  Or do you skip that all together and go for the c-section?  I can say I’ve done all three!  I saw this post on Parent Dish last week and it struck a chord with me.  I’ve only ever been induced once and that was the most bone shatteringly awful labor I’ve ever endured.  My next pregnancy, I went into labor naturally and I was so surprised by how “mild” the contractions were that I didn’t even believe I was truly in labor for half a day.  So obviously, from my experience, induction means horribly painful and constant contractions and natural labor means something much more tolerable.  Anyhow, this post asked the question, “Are induced labors always more painful?”  I honestly think it has a lot to do with the individual person.  Some people might not react to the pitocin as violently as I did.  Once that stuff took hold in my IV, I had strong and constant contractions with virtually no resting in between.  Five hours later, I was trying to push out a baby that was in some serious fetal distress.  I ended up needing an emergency c-section under general anesthesia.  So do I have warm happy feelings for induction?  Probably not.  But I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who have had completely normal labor and deliveries under pitocin.  If you’re one of those people, post and let us know.

What better way to kick off the new “Parenting Sites 411″ site than to happily announce a birth?  Cagey, who writes both her fabulously funny personal blog Rancid Raves as well as the Nursing Your Kids blog here at 451Press gave birth to her baby girl late last night!  Anjali entered the world at 10:27pm, weighing 8lbs 1oz and was a fabulous 20 inches long.  According to mom, “Sure, she looks like any other squashed up newborn, but I’ll kick anyone’s butt who actually SAYS that.”  I sure do hope that priceless pictures are soon to follow as I love me some newborn (squashed or not).  Congrats to the new mama (and papa!) and if you’d like to read the announcement yourself, head on over to her personal blog and have a look-see (and pen your congrats while you’re at it!).