{"id":384,"date":"2010-10-08T14:30:00","date_gmt":"2010-10-08T14:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/2010\/10\/7-quick-takes-friday-eating-crow-edition\/"},"modified":"2015-01-11T17:23:34","modified_gmt":"2015-01-11T22:23:34","slug":"7-quick-takes-friday-eating-crow-edition-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/2010\/10\/7-quick-takes-friday-eating-crow-edition-2.html","title":{"rendered":"7 Quick Takes Friday: Eating Crow Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

I\u2019m a brat. If you asked me, off the cuff, if I am a nice, open-minded, non-judgmental person, I would say yes. But when you get right down to it, I\u2019m the opposite. How do I know this? Because recently there have been a slew of things in my life that have changed rather dramatically (see this post<\/a> that, in fact, started this whole blog), and suddenly I find myself eagerly taking part in things that\u2026well, things that I used to look down my nose at other people for doing. So for Quick Takes this week, I\u2019m going to look at all those things I used to think only crazy hippies\/crazy homeschoolers did. That I now do as well, even though I\u2019m not as cool as hippies and I\u2019m not as organized as homeschoolers.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
#7
\nNatural Childbirth\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
When my husband suggested I go natural for our first child, it made me think that he secretly hated me. I could not fathom why in the name of all that is holy someone who had easy access to beautiful painkillers would voluntarily choose pain.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
And then, well, for some reason I chose the pain with our third child. I really just felt cheated by both my epidural births; when people talked about the triumph of birth and the strength of a mother giving birth, I didn\u2019t understand what that meant because, for me, there was no work. It was easy, painless, and I was quite disconnected from the whole process. But I didn\u2019t want to be; I wanted to experience it fully so that when people said \u201coh, women have been doing this for thousands of years\u201d I could be one of them, one of the ones who did it the way God intended. That may seem like a pretty flimsy reason, and really it is, but it was enough for me. And I loved my natural childbirth and would never, ever again choose medication.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
#6<\/div>\n
Essential Oils<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
Okay, so some of my experiments have been better than others. I\u2019m not really eating crow on this one; I always thought that people who took out bottles of peppermint or ylang-ylang and sniffed at them during times of stress were\u2026well\u2026probably not that stressed. And when I developed pretty serious migraines during pregnancy, I tried essential oil of peppermint. Things it did do: smell wonderful and help me relax a bit. Things it did not do: affect my headache one iota. So, yes for slight stress relief; no for headache relief.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
#5<\/div>\n
Kombucha<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
<\/div>\n
I had never even heard of kombucha before we met our dear friends out here (and I\u2019m not sure they want their names in my blog so I\u2019m just going to call them\u2026Yen and Pisa). Pisa\u2019s mother does this totally freaky and bizarre thing called Nourishing Traditions, which includes making kombucha, a lacto-fermented beverage (I\u2019m not sure what that means either but it sounds intelligent). The first time Yen explained it to us I was disgusted. It\u2019s like a big mushroom that grows into some water or something and ferments it. So we all made fun of Pisa, who likes the stuff, for a long time. And then Pisa made her own kombucha and on a whim I tried it.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
That stuff is good. It\u2019s super delicious and really good for you. And, since we\u2019re jumping on the Nourishing Traditions crazy train, Pisa has now agreed to make kombucha for us so I don\u2019t have to look at the disgusting mushroom.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
You can\u2019t ask for a better friend than that.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
#4<\/div>\n

Co-Sleeping<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
Co-sleeping is one of those things that I thought was a ridiculous and terrible theory. First of all, wouldn\u2019t you roll on the baby and like, crush them? Second, shouldn\u2019t the kid just learn to go to sleep on his\/her own? And third, if you co-slept, wouldn\u2019t that be the end of any plans for future babies?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
My mind was changed pretty quickly when I realized that the only way I was going to sleep was if the baby slept too, and the only way the baby was going to sleep was if I was holding her or she was snuggled up against me. Period. Oh, we tried to let her cry it out and you know what happened? She just cried. She never cried it out, she just kept on crying. So I hauled her into our bed and she\u2019s pretty much been there ever since.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
No, not really. It turns out that kids will let you know when they\u2019re ready for their own bed. With Sienna, it was about at age 2 that she finally stopped crawling into our bed in the middle of the night. Charlotte, however, absolutely refused to sleep in our bed as soon as she was nine months old. She won\u2019t sleep anywhere but her own crib now. And Liam sleeps with Mommy, who protects him from Daddy\u2019s flailing elbows. It turns out that I sleep very lightly with a baby next to me, and some weird intuition actually wakes me up when the baby is about to get pummeled by heavy-sleeping Daddy. Additionally, I can hear the little guy breathing, which keeps me from anxiously getting out of bed and checking on him every ten minutes. It may not be the greatest quality sleep, but it\u2019s sleep. As to the third objection, well, sometimes the baby sleeps in the swing. And everyone is happy.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
#3<\/div>\n
Homebirth<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
On this issue, I\u2019m eating lots and lots of crow. I really used to look down on homebirth. I thought it was just crazy-crazy!-to subject your baby and yourself to possible death from lack of doctors. But, as it turns out, doctors actually don\u2019t\u2026always\u2026prevent\u2026.death. Shocker!<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
What doctors do is invaluable, I\u2019m not going to argue with that. The fact that we have the technology of C-sections has saved many lives. That is indisputable. However, I also tend to believe that it has created lots of unnecessary complications as well, because see, we can always do an emergency C-section!<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I\u2019m not going to go into the politics of it, I\u2019m just going to say that I now believe that homebirth for women with no risk factors, overseen by a competent midwife, is perfectly safe provided they are within a reasonable distance of a hospital should something go wrong. Personally, I really enjoyed being at home when I gave birth and not having to constantly tell a nurse that I was sure I didn\u2019t want pain meds. Were I to do it again I would probably seek out a natural birth-friendly hospital or birthing center, but if none were available I would not hesitate to have another baby at home.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
#2<\/div>\n
Raw Milk<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
Yum. I love crow. I used to think, again, that drinking raw milk is just asking to die a horrible, painful death from some dirty stomach disease with a scary name. And I still believe that getting a disease from raw milk is a (small) possibility. But I also think it\u2019s worth the risk. Pasteurization and homogenization destroy good things in the milk, things that aid in digestion. Additionally, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a coincidence that since cows have been pumped full of hormones, little girls have been getting their periods earlier and earlier (I think there are other contributing factors as well). I\u2019m currently on the hunt for raw milk, not easy to obtain here in the desert, and am looking forward to having a healthier family for it.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
#1<\/div>\n
Placenta Benefits<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
No picture or statement here. I wrote all about this already, so at the risk of being repetitive, here\u2019s a link<\/a>. Let me just say this: the idea is gross. If I think about it too long, it still makes me faintly nauseous. But I was one happy post-partum mommy, for which my husband and children have my placenta to thank.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
(Go see Jen <\/a>for more Quick Takes. She doesn\u2019t write about freaky things like placentas and raw milk.)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m a brat. If you asked me, off the cuff, if I am a nice, open-minded, non-judgmental person, I would say yes. But when you get right down to it, I\u2019m the opposite. How do I know this? Because recently there have been a slew of things in my life that have changed rather dramatically […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1110,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[9],"class_list":["post-384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-quick-takes"],"yoast_head":"\n7 Quick Takes Friday: Eating Crow Edition<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I'm a brat. If you asked me, off the cuff, if I am a nice, open-minded, non-judgmental person, I would say yes. But when you get right down to it, I'm the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/2010\/10\/7-quick-takes-friday-eating-crow-edition-2.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"7 Quick Takes Friday: Eating Crow Edition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I'm a brat. If you asked me, off the cuff, if I am a nice, open-minded, non-judgmental person, I would say yes. But when you get right down to it, I'm the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/2010\/10\/7-quick-takes-friday-eating-crow-edition-2.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Barefoot and Pregnant\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-10-08T14:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-01-11T22:23:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.conversiondiary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/7_quick_takes_sm1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Calah Alexander\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Calah Alexander\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/2010\/10\/7-quick-takes-friday-eating-crow-edition-2.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/2010\/10\/7-quick-takes-friday-eating-crow-edition-2.html\",\"name\":\"7 Quick Takes Friday: Eating Crow Edition\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-10-08T14:30:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-01-11T22:23:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/#\/schema\/person\/cbd5af11d9f73881b801bf2e07eb8757\"},\"description\":\"I'm a brat. If you asked me, off the cuff, if I am a nice, open-minded, non-judgmental person, I would say yes. But when you get right down to it, I'm the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/2010\/10\/7-quick-takes-friday-eating-crow-edition-2.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/2010\/10\/7-quick-takes-friday-eating-crow-edition-2.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/2010\/10\/7-quick-takes-friday-eating-crow-edition-2.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"7 Quick Takes Friday: Eating Crow Edition\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/\",\"name\":\"Barefoot and Pregnant\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/#\/schema\/person\/cbd5af11d9f73881b801bf2e07eb8757\",\"name\":\"Calah Alexander\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cf23055e0549e8c78beb5077e949befd?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cf23055e0549e8c78beb5077e949befd?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Calah Alexander\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/author\/calahalexander\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"7 Quick Takes Friday: Eating Crow Edition","description":"I'm a brat. If you asked me, off the cuff, if I am a nice, open-minded, non-judgmental person, I would say yes. But when you get right down to it, I'm the","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/2010\/10\/7-quick-takes-friday-eating-crow-edition-2.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"7 Quick Takes Friday: Eating Crow Edition","og_description":"I'm a brat. If you asked me, off the cuff, if I am a nice, open-minded, non-judgmental person, I would say yes. But when you get right down to it, I'm the","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/2010\/10\/7-quick-takes-friday-eating-crow-edition-2.html","og_site_name":"Barefoot and Pregnant","article_published_time":"2010-10-08T14:30:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-01-11T22:23:34+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.conversiondiary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/7_quick_takes_sm1.jpg"}],"author":"Calah Alexander","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Calah Alexander","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/2010\/10\/7-quick-takes-friday-eating-crow-edition-2.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/2010\/10\/7-quick-takes-friday-eating-crow-edition-2.html","name":"7 Quick Takes Friday: Eating Crow Edition","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-10-08T14:30:00+00:00","dateModified":"2015-01-11T22:23:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/#\/schema\/person\/cbd5af11d9f73881b801bf2e07eb8757"},"description":"I'm a brat. If you asked me, off the cuff, if I am a nice, open-minded, non-judgmental person, I would say yes. But when you get right down to it, I'm the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/2010\/10\/7-quick-takes-friday-eating-crow-edition-2.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/2010\/10\/7-quick-takes-friday-eating-crow-edition-2.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/2010\/10\/7-quick-takes-friday-eating-crow-edition-2.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"7 Quick Takes Friday: Eating Crow Edition"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/","name":"Barefoot and Pregnant","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/#\/schema\/person\/cbd5af11d9f73881b801bf2e07eb8757","name":"Calah Alexander","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cf23055e0549e8c78beb5077e949befd?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cf23055e0549e8c78beb5077e949befd?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Calah Alexander"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/author\/calahalexander"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1110"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barefootandpregnant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}