The girls and I left Portland this morning to begin our long trek back to Las Vegas. We made it all the way through the state, just over 300 miles, and are in Ashland, OR tonight (10.4). My aunt has a house here where she has graciously offered to let us spend a couple of nights. I am excited to have a meeting tomorrow afternoon with a group of local apprentice midwives who want to hear more about the research and purpose behind placenta encapsulation. Then we’ll head out again Saturday morning. I managed to pack all of my gear into my little Saturn Ion, which was no small feat. I think I felt it bottom out a few times when I went over a bump. ha!
Speaking of staying with my aunt, the whole Expo was a total family affair. My mom flew in from Minnesota a couple weeks before we left, then she drove with the girls and I up to Portland. My brother and his family still live in the Portland area, so we were able to let our girls (his two daughters are 10 and 12) play and bond together a bit. I was able to spend time with them this week, after the Expo, and it was really great reconnecting with them. We are close, but as close as you can be when you live 1200 miles apart. Face time is huge, especially for the kids. Now I’m here in Ashland, visiting my aunt, who I haven’t seen since Spring 2006. This Expo has been a wonderful blessing in so many ways.
When I was packing up my booth to leave Sunday night, the awesome ladies in the booth next to me were also packing their things. Their booth had slings from 3 different mama-run, home-based sling sewing businesses, each with their own designs. Heidi and Cozette, from Silly Goose Baby, were so much fun to talk to (when they weren’t slammed with parents checking out their fabulous carriers). As we were finishing taking down our booths, we had a chance to talk a bit more, and Heidi mentioned that I was “very brave” to stand up at an event like that and talk about something as foreign and misunderstood as placenta ingestion. I suppose it does take some measure of guts, but I don’t see myself as brave at all.
I know that there is a simple natural remedy that can help women have an incredible postpartum experience, and really feel great after having a baby. Motherhood is so important, and the anticipation of the birth of a baby is huge – it is all a woman thinks about from the moment she discovers she is pregnant, and sometimes long before then. To have an amazing birth experience, only to feel exhausted, run down, overwhelmed, doubtful of her own abilities as a mother, and weeping at television commercials (and sometimes not even able to leave the house for days)… it is just sad to me. The fact that we have come to accept this as part of the birth and mothering experience is a total disservice to women. I know it does not have to be that way. I know women are meant to feel happy, upbeat, confident, energetic, and recover quickly from the pregnancy and the birth. How can I know that and not share it?
