I’m Leslie(DUH).

 

Born & raised in St.Louis, MO. Living in the City of Sin since November 1o’. I am the mommy of 3 beautiful daughters-Cahliah, Kaia & Kadynne. I’m currently expecting baby #4 who is due at the end of May. I met the love of my life June 2004 and we were married December 4, 2005.

I think I was born to be a mother. And not the work outside of the home kind. The 1950′s, Leave It to Beaver type. I had Cahliah when I was 17. Still in highschool. I was pregnant my whole junior year. I had her June 11, 1996. She has turned into this:

 
I was a kid when I had my kid but I did the best that I could. I breastfed only 2 months. Used disposable diapers. Vaccinated her. The stuff that was “normal.” As you can see, she turned out to be a beautiful teenager. Many, many moons later, I got pregnant with Kaia(2004). Usual OB pregnancy. Horrible first trimester with hyperemesis. Last 4 weeks of pregnancy with other issues. Decided to be induced at 39 weeks. I went in with the mindset that I was NOT getting an epidural. And I didn’t…until I was at 9cm feeling like I was going to die. With what seemed like 456 interventions later, I had Kaia on June 21, 2005.

 

I did a little better with her,lol. We breastfed a whopping 21 months. By then I was already pregnant with Kadynne. I was still vaccinating. Still using disposable diapers. I did co-sleep. It was accidental but I found it far easier to nurse her at night and just leave her in bed with me. She didn’t move out of the bed until she was 5:) We did baby-led weaning. I did want to tandem nurse but she decided enough was enough months before Kadynne made her debut. Pregnancy with Kadynne was much easier. Still with my same OB as I had with Kaia. By the end of the pregnancy I was spilling protein in my urine. Blood pressure was fine. I felt fine. However, I was forced into an induction at 39 weeks. Another lovely, pitocin induced labor. I got to the hospital around 9pm on August 20th. Only a whopping 3cm. Pit was started. I was informed that, for the doctors convenience, my water would not be broken until 6am the next morning. So I decided just to forgo the pain and get an epidural so I could be comfortable. At 6am, they came in and broke my water and checked me. I was 4cm(boy, could things move ANY slower)? I remember my best friend and my oldest daughter saying, about 5 minutes after they broke my water, that they were going to go get something to eat. I told them not to be long as I was feeling pressure. My mom swore they had SO much time. Well, I went from a 4 to a 10 in 20 minutes. Then there was no doctor so they had me just laying there waiting. FINALLY the doctor came(not my OB, one of her associates). Kadynne was born healthy on August 21, 2007. I had some weird reaction to the epidural called Horner’s Syndrome. Yeah, that was fun. But my girl was here and gorgeous.

My pain afterwards was horrible so I was taking pain meds every 4 hours and ended up with a reaction from that. So I had to take Benedryl. Did all the same things as I had with Kaia up until Kady was 13 months. She decided to wean herself. By her 15 month appointment she had lost weight. Her pediatrician insisted I get all these invasive tests done on her even though I was explaining the weight loss was due to her no longer breastfeeding. He told me I needed to come back in a month for a weight check. In the meantime, I told him I wasn’t getting any tests done. Needless to say, when I took her back, she had gained the weight back plus some. One night, I had an “aha” moment. That’s when I started wondering if the doctors really actually knew everything.

At that point, the thing I thought was so crazy(not vaccinating) became a thing of learning & questioning. In the end, I decided to no longer vaccinate my children. Neither of the younger 2 have seen a pediatrician for a “well baby visit” since Kadynne was a year old. Since then, I have turned into one of those crazy, crunchy moms,lol. I am planning a homebirth for this baby(something I once considered total insanity). I have totally been bitten by the cloth diaper bug(another thing I was very ‘no way’ about). I have turned into a whole new person in regards to parenting. I like to educate those that want to listen. I will discuss all things parenting(except circumcision. I refuse to discuss the matter in any sense). I don’t mind other parents that don’t parent the way I do. But I ask that we all keep an open mind about things.

I’d say I’m definitely a work in progress:)