flakedoves

Oh my goodness Julia, this is so astonishingly bea...

2009-11-07T02:23:12.754-08:00

Oh my goodness Julia, this is so astonishingly beautiful, and also so helpful at the same time. Thank you for writing it and for dazzling me with your photos and insights.

I'm glad you're blogging again, Julia! You bring u...

2009-10-05T13:20:00.410-07:00

I'm glad you're blogging again, Julia! You bring up an interesting topic (ideals vs. reality), one I've examined and agonized over, ad nauseam, throughout the last eleven years. I think your description of frozen pizza with organic greens describes my current state of mind to a tee. My quest for balance in every area of my life requires much prayer, patience, and most importantly, resilience. An all or nothing approach to food, faith or parenting inevitably brings out my "uglys" (anxiety, arrogance, despair) and hampers my ability to love others unconditionally (without judgement). Not knowing all the answers (ugh! Life is so complex) keeps me humble and dependent on Christ for wisdom. This is an excellent and thought-provoking post! And I love the photo. I hope all is well with you and your family.

Julia, I did not know that you started blogging ag...

2009-10-04T08:36:27.509-07:00

Julia, I did not know that you started blogging again but I just checked your blog in hopes to find a new post. And there are three!
I am so glad you are finding the time to write again. All three posts were entertaining, insightful, beautiful, inspiring, honest and intersting to read.
It is almost like a part of you was hidden for months and is now coming out again.

Awesome, Julia. A really wonderful post. Thank you...

2009-09-26T00:39:55.404-07:00

Awesome, Julia. A really wonderful post. Thank you for this, one, too. I am so pleased that you are blogging again! Reading this somehow makes me feel...a little less frazzled.

Julia, This is a fantastic telling of something v...

2009-09-26T00:33:26.924-07:00

Julia,

This is a fantastic telling of something very few people articulate. Pyramid schemes also make me queasy. Your writing was so clear, so powerful. It was like I was with you. Thank you for the gift of this post. I wish we could talk it over in person, digest it together. Beautiful last, line, too. Iconic.

Thanks, Alishia. Enjoy your desert winter. I'm sur...

2009-09-23T11:11:28.782-07:00

Thanks, Alishia. Enjoy your desert winter. I'm sure you've earned it, just as we earn our summers here.

As someone who is just coming out of a weather-ind...

2009-09-22T20:41:05.464-07:00

As someone who is just coming out of a weather-induced indoor detention with three small ones under four I can only encourage you with the fact that you will survive. I enjoy the world of my own making as well--as crazy and frazzled as it seems to outsiders. It requires much planning and soul searching.

Thinking of, and missing, you, as I read your Bibl...

2009-07-18T18:10:40.426-07:00

Thinking of, and missing, you, as I read your Bible [we think it was yours, that you left at Mom's]: I "adopted" it while here, so that I could have happy Julia-thoughts while reading :-)

Julia, Reading this post I went through so many e...

2009-06-19T13:34:34.142-07:00

Julia,
Reading this post I went through so many emotions: anger and disappointment and helplessness and at the end I just cried.
I hate those "due dates" so so much!
According to my mom I am a little over 2 weeks late, but according to the doctors - I'm over a month late. Eventually my mother went into the labor and had me. (It's, of course, a different story about horrible Russian hospitals).
I get very mad at doctors and their unwillingness to treat each case personally but think that there are rules and standards.
Julia, my heart was breaking reading what a woman has to go through. I, also, think that you should send this article to somebody like Ricki Lake - who made the movie "Business of being born" or some magazine.

Julia, I am in tears reading this beautiful, powe...

2009-05-17T02:09:00.000-07:00

Julia,

I am in tears reading this beautiful, powerful post. That is also the place we parent from--we are always newborn, always seeing the ideal, struggling to get there, and often just letting it go in the exhausting circumstances we find ourselves in.

You expressed this so well. And wow, Elsa was born on Holy Saturday, and your labor began on Holy Friday. I am amazed by this...

And I miss you--I'll be in Chicago in June. I would love to see you and your girls, if possible.

Thank you so much, all of you, for your comments o...

2009-05-13T10:05:00.000-07:00

Thank you so much, all of you, for your comments on this.

Julia, Your description captures so much of life ...

2009-05-13T06:51:00.000-07:00

Julia,

Your description captures so much of life in this fallen world where facts and "reality" contradict the reality we cling to of hope, beauty and life. I am struck so often by how much joy is intertwined with mourning when it does not appear as we expected and how much mourning is intertwined with joy we could not have foreseen. How fitting that you experienced this paradox, that your Elsa sprung to life in an unexpected way, on the day we proclaim that life is preparing to spring from the grave.

Christ is Risen and the mother who was weeping gives thanks for her child who lives.

Love to you and your dear ones.

Rachel

Julia-- I'm one of the more or less anonymous peop...

2009-05-12T15:07:00.000-07:00

Julia--
I'm one of the more or less anonymous people who don't know you personally, but happen to love your blog and really wish they *did* know you personally. :) My son just celebrated his first birthday last week, so the memories of those last weeks of pregnancy and the first days of motherhood have been on my mind a lot lately. I found your story so moving--and it did not seem at all to me that a comfortable, relaxed, supportive environment for you to give VBAC a shot was too much for you to ask for. On the one hand, I know what you mean about ideals...childbirth NEVER seems to happen the way we think or plan or want it to, and maybe that is life's way of preparing us for the fact that our CHILDREN often are not quite like we thought and planned they would be...but maybe those in the medical profession like the belligerent lady doctor need to realize and accept that a certain measure of what is outside their wills/ideals occurs, as well. My son came into the world 13 days (!) past his due date, with nothing very unusual about his birth except that, (perhaps realizing how late it was,) he arrived in about 6 hours. (Don't feel jealous; three of them were pushing.) That said, I hope you see yourself as heroic, too. You weren't just a passive passenger along those calm, tree-lined stretches of the boulevard--you were the one who took care of yourself and your growing baby, just like you're doing now. Birth is only one day; and while hearing your story makes me want to go smack the disgruntled policeman, I know you're past that now. You did everything you could, and you have a beautiful, precious, healthy little daughter. Congratulations, dear! You two did great.

Also, I was particular moved by the description of...

2009-05-11T19:01:00.000-07:00

Also, I was particular moved by the description of Jeff's "heroic" stand-up to the doctor . . . I can imagine it, in a happy way of knowing the he is a good husband, worthy of my sweet friend :-) I am also, incidentally, glad that you ended up going the route you did. It seems that this was most likely the more difficult choice, in the way that it went against 9 months of thought . . . but it was also likely a wise one. Medically, I don't know much, mind you . . . but I love you!

Julia, this is so beautifully written. I knew a lo...

2009-05-11T18:17:00.000-07:00

Julia, this is so beautifully written. I knew a lot about how much you fought for a VBAC. But reading this made me realize how hard it really was. So much of what you describe in here is so true. The way that pregnant women and other patients become victims of the medical system with all its rules and regulations is horrific.
This is a very touching post and I will have to dry my face now from all the tears.
Congratulations on fighting so hard. You gave everything and could have not done more.
Fortunately what really matters now is that you and Elsa are both healthy and recovering well from the "medical" trauma.
Please, please, please don't hesitate at all to ask me for help, food or anything at all while you are still recovering.

A message to Elsa: You are blessed to have such a beautiful, strong and loving mother.

Oh glorious! . . . I've been lurking, awaiting thi...

2009-05-11T18:01:00.000-07:00

Oh glorious! . . . I've been lurking, awaiting this post. Thank you for the literary and photgraphic beauties. Stunning.

Congratulations! I've been waiting for this post....

2009-05-11T02:58:00.000-07:00

Congratulations! I've been waiting for this post. You do a wonderful job of explaining your feelings and the whole situation. When Luke was born (posterior) with forceps in the hospital, it took me a long, long time to process the whole thing. Elsa is beautiful!

I noticed the date on this post is over a month ol...

2009-04-30T17:29:00.000-07:00

I noticed the date on this post is over a month old! Update please! :) Our prayers are with you and the newborn babe!

Glory to God! We don't know what we're doing. Wh...

2009-03-25T13:30:00.000-07:00

Glory to God! We don't know what we're doing. Which way is up, or which way is down. But God does. Lisa

Julia, beautiful post.Please keep us posted!

2009-03-25T02:04:00.000-07:00

Julia, beautiful post.

Please keep us posted!

Thanks, Anna.

2009-03-20T07:50:00.000-07:00

Thanks, Anna.

Dear Julia,Thank you. I am teary-eyed, thinking o...

2009-03-19T19:30:00.000-07:00

Dear Julia,
Thank you. I am teary-eyed, thinking of you an Esme there outside the library . . . grateful for the gift of a turned child, as precarious as it may be, so far as blessings go.
with love,
anna

Spectacular, Julia. I believe many women would fin...

2009-03-13T10:44:00.000-07:00

Spectacular, Julia. I believe many women would find a great deal of comfort in your own brave/honest and beautiful approach to the uncertainties that pregnancy and childbirth and motherhood bring with them. May God quiet your late night worries (I'm assuming, here, I'm not the only one who battles nocturnal doubts) with His peace.

Oh Julia,Beautiful, beautiful post. A sweet ending...

2009-03-13T01:04:00.000-07:00

Oh Julia,

Beautiful, beautiful post. A sweet ending to my day. "Some tummies specialize in producing breech babies." Ha! Oh I wish I could laugh with you in person, and also marvel at the mystery together, and how fragile we all are in the face of it.

Prayers for you as labor draws close. Can't wait to see photos of this one! I hope to come to Chicago this summer. Let's try to connect!

Julia-Dear,I have been hungry for word of your pre...

2009-03-12T18:40:00.000-07:00

Julia-Dear,
I have been hungry for word of your pregnant tummy . . . so thank you for posting, and forgive my word choice :-)
In fact, just earlier this evening, as we chopped veggies in her kitchen, I was telling a friend here about you.
with love and prayers,
anna
p.s. the word verification for your blog tonight is "mothers," oddly enough . . .