Avivah Werner

Blog

  • A useful thing about cold weather

    Yesterday I went with my dd14 and ds15 for our big shopping stock up.  I usually say my monthly shopping, but since it’s been 7 weeks since I last went shopping, it wouldn’t be quite accurate to say that.  Since it was my son’s tenth birthday, he spent the day with his grandparents instead, and in the end, most of the other kids joined him there.  This was the first time I’ve ever gone with just older children, and it was very nice.  🙂

    It was nice to go with a budget for two months instead of one, since it allowed me to purchase a lot of bulk things at one time instead of breaking it into smaller amounts that better fit a monthly budget.  I got a bunch of bulk grains and frozen vegetables, among other things.  Whoa, did I get frozen vegetables.  $140 worth (and since none of them were more than $1 lb, and a lot were less, you can do the math….).  I kind of went overboard.  For the first time, I ordered them in advance by the case with the person in charge of the frozen food department, and since I wasn’t seeing how much I was ordering, it was very easy to overdo it.  I was like, ‘Two cases of that, two cases of that, four cases of that….’  It didn’t sound like so much!  When I got there and they wheeled out my order on an industrial sized cart, I was a little taken aback for a minute, wondering how in the world I would fit it into my freezer. Especially since at the store before, I blithely bought two cases of blueberries and two cases of strawberries.  But do you think I’d let a little consideration like that stop me?  🙂

    When we got home, we unloaded everything before picking up the other five kids (wouldn’t have had room for them to sit in the van before unloading), and came home to do the major work – finding space for everything.  Because the weather is so cold, I had my kids take five or six cases of frozen vegetables to the steps outside our house, covered by the storm door.  Then I had them put most of the milk there, too.  After filling our large freezer almost entirely with frozen veggies (fortunately it was much emptier than usual thanks to the long space between shopping trips), that worked out perfectly.

    I also had them take the bulk bags of grain to those same steps.  (Yes, this very small area is packed now.)  I like to freeze grains before putting them away in buckets, to make sure if there are any insects in it, they’re killed.  But that’s problematic when you buy things in fifty pound bags and there’s not more than an inch of available freezer space, so I often skip this step, as important as I know it is.  It occurred to me that with the weather being so cold outside, that keeping the bulk grains in that area would be the same as keeping them in the freezer.  I’ll leave them there a couple of days and then do the transferring – I’m kind of glad to have an excuse not to have to deal with unpacking them yet.  It’s always a big project – yesterday I got 150 lb. hard white wheat, 25 lb. millet, 25 lb. brown rice, and 100 lb oats (50 – rolled, 50 – quick) – it takes some muscle and spatial organization (I call on my oldest son to do the muscle stuff, ie, hoist the bags and pour them into containers; I do the organizational aspect).  This should hold us over until our next shopping trip.  Though I don’t enjoy cold winter weather, I’m so grateful for this beneficial aspect of it – I’d be canning up all those veggies for the next few days if I didn’t have the possibility of keeping them cold in nature’s freezer.  As it is, I made a 16 quart pot of veggie soup to use some of those vegetables right away and free up some freezer space, and will be starting to can that as soon as I finish here.

    On the way home from the shopping, my ds15 asked me why I buy so much food.  I told him, ‘Because we eat so much food!’.  I know it sounds obvious, but because I don’t shop weekly, the amounts are much more noticeable than they’d be otherwise when I do shop.  It is kind of amazing how much food a large family can go through, and even family members forget until they see (and have to unpack) all that we buy. 

    Avivah

  • The frugal pantry

    A well stocked pantry is crucial to keeping food costs under control, since instead of shopping for your menu plan, you shop to refill your pantry, and you can keep a stock of basic supplies on hand at all times (in whatever quantities appropriate for you).   Most of what I’ll share below doesn’t need refrigeration, but I what I call my pantry includes staples in my fridge or freezer.  Everyone will stock different things, depending on their tastes, but I said a while ago I’d post a list of what we like to keep our pantry stocked with, so here you go!

    Flours – whole wheat, rye (I use this for sourdough starter), white, coarse cornmeal, fine cornmeal, teff (currently trying it out, but don’t know if I’ll replace it when we finish it), tapioca flour; nut flours – almond, walnut, hazelnut, pecan

    Sweeteners – sucanat, honey, agave nectar, white sugar/brown sugar and powdered sugar (for baking for others)

    Fats – coconut oil, palm oil, olive oil, cold pressed vegetable oils, butter

    Nuts – peanuts, cashews, walnuts, sunflower seeds, whatever else is on sale when I shop; dried fruit – usually raisins

    Misc. -yeast, arrowroot flour, cornstarch, potato starch, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla, vinegars – Bragg’s apple cider vingear (acv), regular acv, white vinegar, wine vinegar, dried unsweetened coconut

    Spices – salt (regular, sea salt, celtic coarse, Real salt, kosher, and canning), Bragg’s amino acids, tamari/soy sauce, large variety of other spices – important to adding variety to food, especially ‘boring’ foods like beans and grains, miso

    Grains:

    • rolled oats, steel cut oats, quick oats, whole oats (for grinding into oat flour)
    • hard white wheat (for grinding into whole wheat flour)
    • popcorn, yellow corn (which I hardly use and has been around a while – won’t get this again)
    • buckwheat
    • millet
    • brown rice (white rice stays for storage purposes a lot longer but nutritionally it’s valueless so I don’t bother with it)
    • quinoa and amaranth (not always, but when I can)
    • barley
    • flax seeds
    • sesame seeds

    Beans:

    • kidney, red, pinto, black, large and baby limas, Northern, navy, black-eyed peas, pink, chickpeas, misc.
    • brown lentils, green split peas, yellow split peas

    Canned goods:

    • tomatoes (diced, sauce, paste, whole)
    • peas
    • corn
    • green beans
    • pumpkin
    • tuna, sardines, gefilte fish, salmon
    • fruit – pineapple, mandarin oranges, cranberry sauce; home dehydrated fruit
    • evaporated milk
    • home canned foods – chili, meat sauce, beef stew, beef chunks, turkey, broth, fruits, beans

    Eggs, cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, hard cheese

    Peanut butter, jelly, jams (homemade), pectin

    Tea bags – mostly herbal, small amount of regular black – very low right now, bulk herbs for tea mixes

    Miso, mustard, mayonnaise

    As far as fruits and veggies that aren’t preserved, I’ve written before about keeping those items in a cool area of the house: potatoes, yams, onions, garlic, ginger, carrots, beets, parsnips, turnips, rutabagas, cabbage.  We try to have at least the first few on that list on hand all the time, the others get added in when I do vegetable shopping and last until they run out.  I don’t rush to restock those.  Frozen vegetables usually include peas, corn, limas, green beans, and carrots.  As far as fruit, we get whatever is on sale and seasonal at that time: what keeps well out of the fridge are apples, pears, and citrus (oranges, grapefruits).  We also usually get a lot of bananas when they’re cheap.

    What I have on hand will change depending on what the sales are, but these are the basics off the top of my head (yes, I could get up and look but then I’d end up cleaning my kitchen instead of coming back here to finish this post!).  I shop according to price, so if potatoes suddenly became very pricey, I’d get a lot less of that and a lot more of something else.

    Avivah

  • Almond Power Bars

    Tomorrow my son will be turning ten, and we spontaneously decided to make tonight his birthday dinner night.  It worked out well, since I had scheduled baked salmon for dinner, which I usually save for light holiday meals or other special occasions.  With it, we had hush puppies (everyone in the South knows what these are, but for the rest of you, they’re fried cornmeal dumplings), sauteed yellow summer squash, and then two special desserts.  (We don’t usually have desserts for dinner.)

    One of the desserts was cinnamon rolls, which I’ve shared the recipe for in the past (check the recipes link on the right if you want to see it).  My kids were going to make brownies also, but I wanted something that even the child who doesn’t eat sugar could enjoy – it’s not fun watching everyone else eat delicious treats and not being able to have any.  So I thought it would be a good time to try a new recipe, almond power bars.  These were a big hit, they’re very healthy, easy to make, and they’re gluten free to boot!  Believe it or not, we actually have all of the ingredients in our house all the time, so we didn’t need to run out for specialty ingredients to make this.

    Almond Power Bars

    • 2 c. almonds
    • 1/2 c. flax seeds
    • 1/2 c. shredded unsweetened coconut
    • 1/2 c. unsalted almond butter (we used peanut butter)
    • 1/2 t. sea salt
    • 1/2 c. coconut oil
    • 1 T. honey
    • 1 T. vanilla

    Process the first five ingredients together in a food processor for about ten seconds.  We used almond flour (already ground), and had plain flax seeds (which should be ground before being mixed into the other ingredients, otherwise they won’t grind finely), and used the same measurements called for above.  In a small pot, melt the coconut oil, and add in the remaining ingredients.  Add the oil mixture to the mixure in the food processor, and pulse until mixture forms a coarse paste.  Press the mixture down in a 8 x 8 pan, and chill.  These are very rich and candy-like.

    Yield: 20 bars

    Enjoy watching your children eat them, knowing that every bite contributes to their health!

    Avivah

  • Weekly menu plan

    I was feeling so uninspired today when I was planning my menu for the week.  I  usually enjoy planning it a lot more but was so tired my brain just wasn’t working.  So my menu plan is a reflection of that, and as a result, it’s likely I’ll adapt it some tomorrow.  But for now, this is what I have:

    Sunday – lunch – nuts, fruit, popcorn (as per Daddy Fun Day), dinner – indoor campout – hot dogs, hamburgers with all the fixings

    Monday – b – oatmeal, milk, fruit; l – (was supposed to be leftover hamburgers but my 2.5 yr old and 16 month old managed to raid the plate in the fridge throughout the day without me noticing except for once and finished them all off!) – leftover kasha and lentils heated up with meat broth; d – red beans with sauteed veg (onion, garlic, green pepper, celery), 3 grain pilaf (2.5 c.  brown rice, 1 c. millet, 1 c. kasha cooked with meat broth), steamed cauliflower and carrots

    Tuesday – b – polenta; l – creamy cauliflower soup (doubled for Thursday’s lunch), baked potatoes, cottage cheese; d – baked salmon, hush puppies, sauteed yellow squash

    Wednesday – b – oatmeal; l – will be out food shopping, so I usually buy the kids something like wraps/crackers and cheese/yogurt on these days, with baby carrots and fruit and they have a mini picnic in the grass near a field by one of the stores; d – sloppy joes

    Thursday – b – cottage cheese pancakes; l – creamy cauliflower soup, savory buckwheat muffins; d – CORN (clean out refrigerator night :))

    I made beef stew for Shabbos that was delish, and made a large pot of broth with the bones that I cut off to use separately (I used ribs for the stew so there were lots of bones).  I used all of the broth today for cooking the pilaf for dinner and earlier in the day to add to the leftovers (adds a great rich flavor, plus great nutritional value), and still have a decent bit of meat that fell off the bones once they were cooked. That will be added to the meat sauce that I’ll use for sloppy joes on Wednesday night, for a very quick and tasty meal.

    Avivah

  • Perfect Pancakes

    I have a number of pancake recipes that we like, but this is the staple one that everyone has enjoyed for a long time.  They always turn out great, and a number of my kids friends have also enjoyed them on Sunday mornings with us when they’ve slept over.  This doesn’t soak the flour in advance which is preferable nutritionally; when I do that, I use a different recipe, though this would probably work fine soaked, too.

    Perfect Pancakes

    • 2 c. flour (we use freshly ground whole wheat)
    • 2 T. sugar (I use sucanat)
    • 2 T. baking powder
    • 1/2 t. salt
    • 1 large egg, beaten
    • milk to make pourable batter (you can also use water if you don’t want to make it dairy)

     Combine all of the dry ingredients.  Stir in the egg and milk, and stir lightly.  Use enough milk so that the batter is pourable – if you use less, the batter will be heavy and the pancakes won’t cook through.  If you make it too thin, the pancakes will be flat and not very substantial.  Cook on a lightly greased griddle (my mom was generous enough to buy me one a couple of years ago when she saw how long it took me in a standard skillet because of the number of pancakes I make!).  You can also use a regular frying pan or skillet.  When the top is bubbly with air bubbles, that’s the sign that they’re ready to be turned.  Flip them over, and cook a little longer until done.

    We like to eat these fresh from the griddle with butter, plain yogurt, agave nectar, and some sliced fruit like strawberries if we have them.  If you have any leftovers, they are great as rollups for a snack or a quick lunch the next day – spread them with peanut butter and banana or shredded carrot, and then roll them.   

    Avivah

  • Daddy fun day

    My husband usually works on Sunday, and this week took a rare day off for no reason but to spend time together as a family.  I didn’t have enough advance notice to plan any nice Sunday outings, which I was disappointed I couldn’t do.  But last night, my 12 and almost 10 year olds sat down with my dh and together they planned the schedule for today.  Since it’s my husband’s day off, it seemed appropriate for him to decide how he wanted to spend it, since the rest of us get to make this choice every day.

    They started off with davening, learning, and breakfast.  They decided they’d like to include saying a chapter of tehillim (Psalms) at each meal for the soldiers in Israel, so one child said it several words at a time, and everyone repeated after them.  They also are doing some additional learning for the soldiers at each meal, as a war needs spiritual as well as physical support.  Then the kids said they wanted to make the house spotless so they’d feel relaxed!  That was just fine with me!  Then, they planned to watch a video from the library.  We usually watch a family video about once a month, but usually do it when my husband isn’t home.  Because he has so little time with everyone, he doesn’t like to spend it watching a video, so today was unusual in that he had the time to relax with everyone and was willing to use some of his time for a video with the kids.

    After that they scheduled a break, and three kids took a fifteen minute jog with him.  They then planned to have lunch, and decided they wanted to have fruit, nuts, and popcorn for lunch.  And then another video in the afternoon, while they ate lunch.  (I never allowed anyone to eat in that area of the house before, but my dh didn’t realize that – I wouldn’t have allowed it if it was up to me, but I wasn’t going to rain on their parade after their plans were made, either.)  I didn’t really want to watch two videos in a day and would have preferred to take everyone to an art museum that has special activities on Sundays for kids (which I can never do since dh takes our only vehicle to work), but this was the schedule they made and they were all happy with it.  🙂 

    Then a special ‘camping out’ dinner and nighttime together – this included a camping menu of hot dogs and hamburgers with buns for dinner, something we don’t usually eat except for when we go camping.  We ate dinner by the light of an oil lamp, and then for dessert the kids roasted marshmallows over the gas flame of the stove.  About three years ago, we had a indoor camp out with the kids that they loved, and we set up our eight person tent inside the living room for everyone to sleep in that night.  They wanted to partially recreate that tonight.  We felt the tent would be a too tight to comfortably fit in where we’re living now, so instead everyone is camping out on the living room floor together – a few of the kids brought their mattresses down, and now the floor is solidly covered with bodies.  🙂

    After dinner I went out, and they planned another activity together.  The kids still aren’t asleep, and it’s after 10:30, so it’s fair to say that they didn’t wind down as they usually did!  But they all had a lot of fun.  All in all, it was a relaxing day for everyone to spend together, and everyone enjoyed having their daddy home all day with them! 

    My  husband said that something he’s very aware of is enjoying our children right now, at the stage they’re at.  Too many fathers get caught up in the busyness of making a living, and it’s not until they have grandchildren that they enjoy the fun of young children.  Childhood is so short, and you’re building relationships and making memories all the time, so make them good ones!

    Avivah

  • Keeping cabinets closed from prying hands

    My baby is so cute – at 16 months, he’s on the go all the time.  And one of the things he love most to do is open any kitchen cabinet he can, and pull out everything in it. Then he moves on to the next one.  Then to the coat closet, then the end table, then the next surface he can reach.  All day long.

    Now you can imagine that this doesn’t make it easy to keep things neat.  Usually, he’s busy pulling things out in the kitchen while I’m carefully walking over and around those things while I prepare dinner- I definitely have to watch my feet.  And while it doesn’t bother me since it’s just a stage and will pass, it does make for a lot more work and clutter.  So when my husband thought of a quick and cheap way to secure the doors (I didn’t want to install special latches – we already have magnets on each cabinet door), I was thrilled.

    Here’s what he did – he took some thick rubber bands, the  kind the broccoli comes wrapped with that he’s put aside, and simply fastened the door handles to one another.  If I want to open a cabinet, it takes me just a second to unwrap it, and another second to put it back on.  Very cheap, fast, and low tech. 

    The baby’s been a little frustrated that he can pull the doors but they only open a little bit (because of the give in the rubber bands), but I figure a little frustration isn’t a bad thing to experience while you’re young. 🙂

    Avivah 

  • The search for real sucanat

    I was planning to order a 50 pound bag of sucanat today, so that I’d have plenty in stock to tide me over for a while.  I called the supermarket that was going to order it for me, and they gave me a choice of two kinds of sucanat.  Because I didn’t want to order the wrong one – I only want the true unprocessed sugar cane juice in granular form – I called the bulk supplier for the supermarket to ask about it.  The representative was very helpful and read me the ingredients on the packaging of each, which let me know that what was being sold as ‘natural sucanat’ is basically sugar with molasses added in, and it’s the organic sucanat that I’ve been buying in smaller amounts all this time (from Wholesome Sweeteners).

    BUT – she told me they haven’t had received any shipments of it for months!  And they have no idea why they haven’t been getting it, or when they will get it.  This is a massive food bulk food distributor that supplies most of the health food stores within a several state radius, and I was quite dismayed to hear this.  Sucanat is the main sweetener that I like to use for baking, and I don’t know what I’ll use if I can’t find this that nutritionally will be as good, and I have less than ten pounds left.

    So off I went on a search at my local health food store for sucanat.  No luck.  the people working there had never even heard of it!  I did find turbinado sugar, but wanted to research it before buying it, since most of the so called healthy sweeteners are heavily processed.  Many people say that rapadura, sucanat, turbinado, and demerara are interchangeable, but nutritionally there are significant differences.  So I went home and did some research to clarify this for myself, since it’s been a while since I looked into it all and the details are fuzzy.

    As expected, raw sugar and turbinado are basically the same thing, and I don’t want to use either of them.  Even looking for sucanat can be misleading (as I personally learned this morning) since some things are labeled as sucanat but are basically glorified brown sugar.  The easiest way to tell if you’re getting the good stuff is to just look at it – if it’s grainy granules, then it’s rapadura or sucanat, and if it’s crystalline, then it’s  what I want to avoid.

    So tomorrow I’m going to make some more calls and find out what local stores have rapadura, as well as if it’s possible to buy it in bulk.

    Avivah

  • Reading out loud to kids

    I so much enjoy reading to my kids.  There’s a wonderful feeling of connection and closeness, it’s an effective way to learn things together in a natural and fun way, and it’s something you can do with kids of all ages!

    Here’s what my reading schedule for the day is like:

    In the mid morning, when my older kids are busy with their academic work, I read a couple of books that my 2.5 year old chooses with him. Then my 6 yo comes along and I read a book, or a chapter of a book, also of his choice, to him (we just finished a Thornton Burgess chapter book).  This isn’t intended to be academic; it’s just a nice way to spend some time with them. 

    A little later, my 8 and 9 year olds finish what they’re working on, and I read to them from a chapter book.  We started the Little House on the Prairie series in the summer, and are halfway through.  We generally read a couple of chapters each day, but it depends on the length of the chapters and how much time I have.  Yesterday we finished the fourth book, and we have five books to go.  Sometimes the morning gets busy and there’s not time for our reading before lunch, so we do it after lunch.  Sometimes we skip a day, but not usually.  They look forward to this so much, and my 6 year old also joins our snuggling on the couch for this.  I read this series aloud about seven years ago when my oldest three were all about this age, and I’m enjoying reading it together with my middle three.  (I do this reading when the baby is sleeping, but the toddler usually is awake, often sitting on my lap for it.)

    Then after dinner, we have our family read aloud.  This is something I’ve done for years (last year we had a break because my ds15 was in school and wasn’t home in time, so we were more sporadic to accomodate him and didn’t read as regularly as we usually have), and I’ve found it very valuable.  The hardest part of this is finding a book that will interest everyone, since the 6 yo should be able to understand it, but the 15 year old doesn’t want to listen to a little kids book.  We read The Hobbit last year, which was an excellent book, but my then 5 year old didn’t know what was happening at all (at that point I wasn’t trying to find something suitable for him – he had a nighttime read aloud right before this one geared towards him), and my oldest didn’t care for fantasy (I didn’t know that until after we were reading it, or I would have looked for something else) and had a hard time following all the details.  I’m so grateful to have found our current choice – my kids all agree it’s a real winner.  If I’m feeling tired or not in the mood to read that night, their eagerness motivates me to sit down anyway.  Then when I finish, they all beg me to read more.  I’m particularly glad to have found a book that my oldest son enjoys; his tastes are more specific than the others. 

    The book we’re reading is called Watership Down.  Apparently it’s commonly read in high school English courses, and most of the negative reviews I saw on Amazon were from high school students who were forced to read it and were bored by it.  I try to choose books that are good quality literature, with complex sentence structure, good use of grammar, and ideas to think about.  But I also want books that are fun and engaging, not something the kids are listening to but bewildered half the time as to the meaning.  This book fits all my criteria, though when I saw the book and leafed through it, there wasn’t anything to encourage me.  The cover is beyond boring looking, and the story didn’t initially grab me.  I was concerned the kids wouldn’t have the patience to wait for the story to pick up, but surprisingly, they were engaged by the first night.  My husband was also surprised, since his initial reaction was similar to mine.  But there’s a quality to the story I can’t describe that really got the kids hooked.

    I didn’t see this on any recommended lists of books, but someone on a discussion board somewhere mentioned reading it aloud to her kids (they went to school so she read to them when they got home).  Each day friends would come to play, but they told their friends they didn’t want to play because they were listening to this great story.  And the friends would join them.  By the time they finished the book, there were about twenty kids listening in!  So that seemed to me to be a pretty good recommendation, and after I researched it for the literary quality, I was ready to give it a shot.

    The only problem with this book is that it will end.  We’re about 240 pages in, and I guess we have over 150 pages left, but every night I wonder what book I’ll find next that will work so well for everyone!  I usually start researching the next book while we’re reading the current one, so that I have it checked out of the library in time to begin as soon as the last book ends.  I need to start looking for books soon, and if you have any recommendations, please share them with me!

    Another nice plus of reading before bed is that it makes the bedtime transition very smooth.  The kids naturally quiet down from the busyness of the day, and once we finish reading, the youngest three or four troop up to bed without any complaints.  I credit our family read aloud habit for our smooth and easy bedtimes over the years! 

    There are lots of other benefits, and books have been written about those benefits.  But some of the benefits, in addition to those I shared above – it’s great for vocabulary development, greatly improves listening and comprehension skills, and helps children develop their imaginations.  And it’s so fun!

    Avivah

  • First visit with midwife and fetoscopes

    Today I had my first visit with my midwife.  Usually I have the first visit at four months, but I wanted to tell the kids before she came, so we waited until now (I think I’m officially about 24 weeks).  Since she comes to our house, my kids seeing her walk in our door would have made the announcement for us! 

    I really love my midwife.  She’s a lay midwife, and very, very competent and experienced.  Her philosophy of birth fits mine perfectly – I’m a hands off, don’t mess with a natural process kind of person if it doesn’t need anything.  She has the knowledge and skill to recognize when intervention is necessary and when it’s not, something that has become very rare in the obstetrical community. 

    Something she did that I thought I’d share with you today is she listened to the baby’s heartbeat with a fetoscope, a skill that is almost non-existent in the US.  Did you ever wonder how caregivers monitored a baby before Dopplers and ultrasounds?  You probably thought that there was no way to monitor and that’s why unborn babies today are so much safer, right?  Hmm, I’ll leave the second part of that absurdity for now and just explain what a fetoscope is.

    Basically, it’s like a stethoscope but geared for listening to an unborn baby.  (Here’s a picture – http://www.allheart.com/om13fetal.html.)  The advantage is that it’s not invasive and 100% safe, while allowing the doctor or midwife to hear the baby’s heartbeat.  Which is something that the FDA still can’t say about ultrasounds and Dopplers.  (Did you know that?  Most women believe they’re harmless.)  One of my midwife’s current clients isn’t planning a homebirth, but she works for the FDA and was alarmed to learn that there’s still no approval for it, but she couldn’t find anyone else to agree to her prenatal care who wouldn’t use this technology for monitoring.  The down side is it takes a couple more minutes to locate the heartbeat with a fetoscope, which means more patience on the caregiver’s part.  And it requires more physical closeness (getting to about 1 – 2 feet from your abdominal area) – and the trend today is for more and more emotional and physical distance in many areas, not just obstetrics, and ultrasound technology fits in well with that sterility. 

    Today I asked my midwife how many of her clients she uses the fetoscope with.  She told me almost none, that it’s ‘a new generation’ and they don’t even think to question ultrasounds. And since homebirthing mothers tend to be far more educated than the average mom (they have to be, to get the information and statistics that make them comfortable with a birth outside of the hospital setting which is so frowned upon), it’s really a reflection of what is going on in the general world of obstetrics, where less and less is questioned and it’s just assumed that if a doctor is doing it, it must be the best thing.

    Anyway, usually when finding the heartbeat, my midwife would then put a regular stethoscope on that area, and let me listen.  But because the placenta is in front, it was too faint for me to hear it at this point.  (It’s amazing how much she’s able to learn just be listening – when she located the placenta, I asked her how she could tell – she said it has a whooshing sound.)  But that’s okay with me – I don’t have to hear there’s a heartbeat to know I’m pregnant. 🙂 And I should be able to hear it next month.

    Avivah