"A person's a person no matter how small"-Dr. Seuss

Poverty My childhood and adolescent years were not very predictable financially.   My mother had substance issues that haunted her throughout my developing years.   When she was clean, which could be a couple years or a couple of days at a time, we were stable and predictable.   At her worst times, we experienced poverty, unpredictable living conditions, and high levels of stress.   I have memories of grocery shopping at the dollar store and helping my mother clean out repossessed manufactured homes as a teenager to get by.   At times, I was highly impacted, unable to focus in school and maintain social relationships.   Often, I lost myself in fantasy literature and began to distance myself from my home as I got older.   I rarely invited friends to my house, with fear of what state my house or mother was in.   I learned how to develop a life that existed outside of the physical home and state I was in. I was fortunate enough to have famil...

         The topic of breastfeeding is personal.   I nursed both of my children past their first year of life.   It was always interesting to me, how people felt the need to tell me their opinion on whether I should be feeding my baby from my breast or not throughout their infancy into toddlerhood.   The culture of breastfeeding has evolved over time.   Throughout history, babies have been fed from the breast.   In the mid-twentieth century, formula became preferred by mothers and were even led to believe it was better for the baby.   Recently, breastfeeding is beginning to make a comeback and mothers are being encouraged to nurse their babies to at least the first birthday or longer.   However, in the United States, only 25 percent are still breastfeeding at one year old (Berger, 2016).   According to Berger, worldwide statistics show “about half of all two-year olds are still nursing, usually at night...

         When thinking about childbirth, I immediately go back to the day I gave birth to my daughter.   My husband and I were quite surprised by the news we were expecting our first child, we were not actively trying to get pregnant at the time.   Soon as we found out, my mother came to live with us for the duration of my pregnancy and the first few months afterwards.   I had a healthy textbook pregnancy with family and friends to give support.   I had gone two days over my due date, finally my water broke, and we were on our way to the hospital.               We had attended birthing classes and I was currently an infant teacher at my school.   So, we felt prepared for what was to come.   I had a birth plan in place to go without medication and to use deep breathing/meditation throughout labor.   My husband was not comfortable with this plan tho...