Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

18th of may 2008. i've requested that my wife hold it in for an extra month.

what can you do?

if only i lived in france i could have someone come round and clean the house and do the shopping at no cost.

what ... they allowed two wives in France.........

ducks for cover....

if anyone has one of those french wives who clean, can they PM me?

Glad to hear that you can get $5K for adoptions too, then. My idiot-boss didn't want to give me my paid maternity leave after we brought our first daughter home. Since I didn't give birth, I obviously didn't need to recover. Fortunately, the pediatrician saw things my way and wrote a letter to idiot-boss saying that our daughter needed to be cared for, and specified her medical problems. So I got paid maternity leave to care for my -ill- child. There was no issue getting paid maternity leave for our second adoption.

janet, ever consider a move to france?

I'm done building the family. Two is all the more I can handle.

My wife had all three of our children naturally with a midwife -- unfortunately, only one was born at home -- midwives are in high demand sometimes. It is a wonderful experience but very emotional and tiring. The first one was hardest for me. The hardest part was that the midwife wanted me to coach. It was very hard for me to look into my wife's desperate eyes and tell her soothingly "You're going to be OK! You can do this.... Just keep breathing...." when I wasn't absolutely sure.

Finally the midwife told me to go in another room and rest for a few minutes. Later she said I looked like a sheet with two holes burned in it and she was afraid I would faint. But by the third kid, I was coaching like a pro.
With our country's fascination with "love" and sex (or at least Holywood) I think every teenager should be required to witness a live birth -- if on video, it should be unedited. It might encourage birth control if nothing else.

But the worst (and best) part of having kids wasn't the pregnancy or birth -- it was all the screaming at night. Our second would just scream for seemingly no reason. I fondly remember getting her out of her bed at 2:00 am and tucking her into the front of my big coat with me and walking outside in the snow with the moon and stars bright. ....and then tiptoeing back into the house when she settled down and laying down on the guest bed or the couch with her snuggled on my chest. Bonding time.

Congratulation BF and mrgrackletx.

Hope Everything goes to plan and you do manage to have a safe, uncomplicated ,comfortable birth at home. (They don't let you bring eskies into the hospital)
We planned for a drug free birth but the boy got stuck on "someones" twisted pelvis and had to be Surgically extracted after Jaymie wasted 2 days labouring, He has a pressure bruise on his forehead for the best part of a year where he got jammed! Baby 2 was also Ceaser but J didn't even go into labour wih her and she was about 10days overdue and didn't really want to leave!
Advice? Hmmmm get them indoctrinated early to say please and thankyou ( Ours are trained to say "please mummy/daddy I love you" before asking for anything, it is a great party trick )
Take heaps of photos cos they'll change so much in a short space of time.
Give them plenty of cuddles and make sure you aren't the one who finds "the Smell" (you find it , you change it!)
Oh yeah, Support your wife if she decides to Breastfeed!!!!
Have fun Axl

Congrats BF and mrgrackletx. What a wonderful time in your lives. Enjoy it. The best gift you can give your wife and child is love. We had one birth at home, but unfortunately we had the experience of the mid-wife being out of town when the time came. That is the one child that only lived 5 hours. The other 7 were born at the hospital, 2 caesareans then the last 2 natural. Learn all you can about natural birth. I am so glad you have a good friend to help you. I also am a birthing coach for the ministry. I have assisted in numerous births; the ones that did the best are the ones that walked a lot. Take nice walks with your wife, and when labor starts, start walking. Remember, gravity is your friend. Also discuss now about breast feeding and how you both feel about raising your child, dreams and concerns. Communication while is it still quiet at home.
I was with Kerri at a home birth for Danielle. It was a great experience as they had a wonderful mid-wife. She sat in a pool for the birth, and was so relaxed.
Best wishes.

A water birth? Wow, this is the right place for that! What would that do to the plants though?

A water birth? Wow, this is the right place for that! What would that do to the plants though?

just think of the nutrients!

i can believe i'm going to say this, but......................

no iron deficiencies in the plants!

haha - no need for time to recover.
your boss must have strange idea's about child birth. women don't need the time off to recover spitting the brats out, it's all the screaming and pooing that happens after that's the hard part.

hey all,

just wanted to share my joy that we are at the half way mark. so far so good. they are now "officially" a human being. for the pre-birth cycle they have been named Lotus, in honor of the Egyptian Sun God of life and creation. heres an excerpt from an ancient text.

" In the beginning were the waters of chaos ... Darkness covered the waters until ... the Primeval Water Lily rose from the abyss. Slowly the blue water lily opened its petals to reveal a young god sitting in its golden heart. A sweet perfume drifted across the waters and light streamed from the body of this Divine Child to banish universal darkness. This child was the Creator, the Sun God, the source of all life.

So the Primeval Water Lily closed its petals at the end of each day... Chaos reigned through the night until the god within the water lily returned....

... the Creator ... knew that he was alone. This solitude became unbearable and he longed for other beings to share the new world with him. The thoughts of the Creator became the gods and everything else which exists. When his thoughts had shaped them, his tongue gave them life by naming them. Thoughts and words were the power behind creation.

-- The Waters of Chaos, Ancient Society "

Lotus is already very active and a powerful kick. if this is an indication of good health its one healthy being. it appears that Lotus has my taste for spice as my wife has been craving spicy food.

just wanted to share my expirience with everyone as i feel blessed to have it.

not long now.