The first thing that I'd want to do...

Okay, just kidding. Today I learned of a product called "Liquid Trust." It is an oxytocin spray that is supposed to help people trust you. It is advertised to people looking for love or that job promotion. I watched intently, waiting for the woman to state that it is a hormone released during orgasms and breastfeeding, and that it is the hormone responsible for the contractions which bring babies forth, and then the initial feelings a mother has which bond her to her baby. She mentioned the contraction part and the bonding part, but not the breastfeeding or orgasm part.

There was a doctor/researcher there who was integral in studying oxytocin. He administered oxytocin to hundreds of people and recorded what happened. He said it does help people feel more comfortable and trusting, but he said they need about 2 teaspoons in the brain to get that feeling, and that this spray 1) Would not be able to provide the amount needed by the brain, and 2) This is a substance regulated by the FDA, and where is this company obtaining their oxytocin? This company should be investigated.

The woman doing the promoting said it was a synthetic of oxytocin, which in the birth world we know as pitocin, so naturally I wondered if that is actually what they are using? If so, maybe they are just getting ahold of the bags they use in the hospital all the time? Heck, I might be willing to swipe a bag, saturate my clothes, and see if I strike it rich in money or love!

Okay, technically I have to say (in disclaimer mode) I have already struck it rich in love. Ahem. But money, on the other hand -- the verdict is still out on that one.

I am an avid blood-donor -- when the Bloodmobile shows up, I am out there, ready to give away a pint of my blood for a $5 coupon to the movies. If this company is interested, I would be willing to offer my own oxytocin for sale -- why not!? As a nursing mother I should have plenty to spare. Perhaps I will contact them and see if they are interested. After all, I am a cheap date!

Additional fascinating facts about oxytocin:

-The Two Faces of Oxytocin
-Hug the Monkey
-Breastfeeding Trust Hormone Clue

It's always a good feeling when you get to save the day. Today my oldest was putting together a model of a Mini Cooper and he lost a main piece. He was upset already because his baby brother was trying to get in on the action of putting the car together, and naturally my oldest thought my youngest was to blame for the missing part.

Yelling, crying, a general freaking-out then ensued. I thought I would use some of my new skills picked up from a book called "Tongue Fu," and instead of telling my oldest he "should have" been sitting at the kitchen table instead of his bed, I asked him "Can you think of another place you could put that together, where the baby won't be in the way?" After a thoughtful moment he said, "The kitchen table." I glanced down under his bed and picked up a model piece -- the very one that was missing, and my son happily collected his car parts and relocated to the table.

Viola! If only it were always that easy!

I got a call Tuesday morning from a mother who had a baby Saturday. Her nipples were sore, she wasn't sure her baby was getting anything or nursing right, and she was sobbing into the phone that the pain was so bad she didn't know if she could continue. I learned she lived close to me, so I asked her if I could come over? "You would do that?" she asked. "Sure thing, it's a slow morning, my baby's still asleep, and my husband is here to hold down the fort."

I could hear her baby crying as I knocked on the door. Dad let me in and showed me back. We got the baby to suck on her finger so Mom and I could chat about the situation. He calmed, sucking away, and we talked about what she thought was going on.

Soon we got the baby latched, and -- surprise -- there was no pain! Her left breast was still pretty tender, so she was going to pump on that side for a while and try him later in the evening there. She held her drunk-with-milk-for-the-first-time baby, and was in awe over his relaxed stated. "I have never seen him like this!" She absolutely beamed. He seemed pretty beam-y, too :).

As I got ready to leave, she said, "You are amazing! Thank you so much for coming to help us. I was ready to quit." It would be lovely to take all of that and leave. It feels better for Mom, in the long-run though, to remind her I helped just a teensy bit with some logistics -- she and her baby did/have-done/will-continue-to-do all the work.

Ways to help save the day:

-When Your Friend has a Baby
-When Your Daughter has a Baby
-When Your Partner has a Baby

With three little boys, a husband, running out at wild hours to help women have babies, teaching childbirth classes once or twice weekly, leading a breastfeeding support group, and then doing all the normal stuff one needs to do at home, I sometimes feel like a spoke on the wheel of the bicycle of my family’s life. I see myself, spinning around and around and around, the playing card taped to the rim making an annoying ‘clack, clack, clack,’ sound like the Big Wheel on The Price is Right.

I am not complaining, I am happy. I can’t imagine things being any other way. I just feel...very busy. Blessed -- and very busy.

Topics you may come to view will probably center around my family, my birth adventures/insights, and the music I hear at the grocery store. Yes, a random assortment of various and sundry minutiae.

Three things that might help you get to know me:

-The Greatest Band that Ever Lived
-A Fun Place to Buy Things
-My Favorite Place to Hang