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Fertility Awareness Part 1 – The Beginning of Our Story
Several years ago, while an eager graduate student, I was tasked to write an in-depth article about something that I was passionate about. I chose to write about fertility awareness and birth control. I conducted interviews, put out an informal survey, and researched and wrote and revised until it resulted in a 6,000 word essay that I thought nobody would read. But the reality is, there’s still not much out there about Fertility Awareness or Natural Family Planning. After writing the piece, which was well-received by my professor and skeptical peers, I published it on my hobby blog. I only promoted it to the women who helped me by…
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Why I Couldn’t go Through with Sleep Training (and what Happened)
I remember the severity of his cry. It was lusty, desperate, and terrible. Hearing it made my insides writhe. I knew that he knew that I was right outside the door, and he was terrified as to why I wasn’t coming back in. Though I had been advised to let my baby cry alone, to self-soothe, I couldn’t do it. I flung the door open and we were reunited, tears streaming down both of our faces. I held his small body against mine and, while he calmed down quickly, it took a while for me to deescalate. This, of course, is not an affective way to sleep-train your child. I…
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A Beautiful Mess
The first major conflict between Kevin and I happened about a week before our wedding. For months, we had been collecting furniture and decor and packing up our belongings, and the time had finally come to bring it all together in our tiny new apartment. I had anticipated the day with giddiness. Long had I envisioned where every chair, picture frame, and lamp would go to make the 300 square foot space a home. I longed, too, for the romantic harmony of almost-lovers making their first home together. Here’s what happened: My vision didn’t come together. Furniture was larger than I had prepared for, walls to small, outlets in inconvenient…
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“let’s write a blog.”
I’ve heard it said recently that the inciting incident for every story is either the beginning of a journey or a stranger coming to town. In the case of parenting, I think it’s both. Our journey began about four years ago when my husband said to me, completely nonchalant and out of the blue, “Let’s have a baby.” My heart started pounding, and a list of excuses as to why we weren’t ready began pouring out of my mouth. He insisted that the time was right, and that if I always submitted to my fears, we would never have children. A huge argument and many tears ensued. Long story short,…
