Rapunzel post partum

About a month ago I noticed my hair line was receding and I panicked. It seemed like it happened over night and as the days progressed I realized most of the hair along my temples was thinning and falling out.  When I went to my loctician (a hair dresser who specializes in natural hair, in my case "dread"locs) and was received warmly by a chorus of "it's normal!" I at last felt some ease. 

Someone indicated that because I was nursing all the nutrients were going from me to Winnie and therefore if I just started taking my prenatal vitamins again (which I should have been doing all along) to replace the nutrients my hair would start to grow back.  Alas, I looked into this further and found that it’s not breastfeeding that causes hair loss but rather the rejuvenation of your hair loss/grow cycle to its normal levels post-partum.  During pregnancy your normal hair loss slows and once you are in the post-partum period as your body begins to transition back your head sheds all the hair that it otherwise would have normally during the period you were pregnant. Hence the scare mare of clogged shower drains, creative hair styles and fake outs women are reduced to as they weather the momentary "lightness".

Kelly Mom provides a great explanation here regarding hair loss and its non-relation to breastfeeding.  Also Baby Center enlightens us as to why hair starts shedding at the 4-6 month mark post-partum.

Once I realized what was actually happening I was able to calm down, regain my confidence and embrace it as another marker on the path to that place of wonders, Motherhood. While not the extreme that some experience due to cancer, alopecia etc. it's an opportunity to reflect on the idea, my idea of beauty and the attachment to hair.  In one of my prior posts I briefly mentioned that I am continuing to build my defintion of what it means to be a woman and hair is another feature on the list of what are now archaic defining markers of female from male.  Our society does put a great value mark on hair, all the commercials for hair loss treatments, volumizing shampoos, hair coloring and more is just the tip of the iceberg.  Hair for many is a security blanket, without it, many of us at least, would consider that an extreme transition to contemplate.  I've not lost all my hair but I lost enough to feel shaken and I am trying to reflect, see if there might be something to learn from it all and then move on the better for it.

It's not easy of course, to see yourself holding all hopes that the brink is no further away than the present and regrowth is soon to come but I say this as much to myself as to anyone out there also experiencing the same...it will soon be over and we shall regain our full heads of hair (if you want) again!

Eco tip: earth friendly bath toys

Admittedly struggling to find non-plastic and/or eco friendly bath toys for my daughter who is entering the world of bath time as a joyous occassion.

Here's what I've come across so far:

Green Toys makes their toys from recycled milk jugs and has a tug boat and stacker set that I thought sure funmakers due especially to the strong color combos available for the tug boat.

Green Sprouts is another green friendly company and they have organic cotton splash toys and puppets for the bath which helps us take one more step away from more plastic. 

Rich Frog also has non-plastic tub options. The Tub Toss and Fishin' Game are both cute.

For more ideas see these and other links on the Resources page!

I'm someone's mommy...

I remember the 1st time I heard someone call my daughter's name and I realized, I'm someone's mommy...
We were sitting in the pediatrician's office 2 days after she was born and the nurse came out and said, "Winter?" and I stared at her unmoving. Hearing her name and feeling her sweet smelling limbs move about in my lap was like the tinkling of a bell in a meditation room signaling the start or end of contemplation.
Winter...
Grace...
It was only after the 2nd or 3rd time her name was called that the fog of awe around me cleared and I was able to propel myself up and out of the chair so that we could be led to an exam room.
I remember when she was born and in all the hullaballo I still didn't know what she was, he or she and I breathlessly asked the nurse,
"What it is?" and she said, "take a look!"
I remember reaching down to take hold of the tiny warm being that was clinging to me in the crook of my arm.  In her newborn state she was like a little piglet. I remember lifting her leg and near screaming as if I'd never seen one before, "it's a girl!" and another time, to and for myself in reference, "it's a girl".
It was as if an angel had fallen down out of the sky right into my lap and from then onwards I was forever changed.

Reproductive body parts and gendered norms

One of the doulas in a local volunteer group forwarded an article About Purportedly Gendered Body Parts by Dean Spade, founder of the Sylvia Rivera Law Project and Assistant Professor at Seattle University School of Law.  In the article he encourages the use of more sensitive and accurate language with regards to reproductive body parts in work within transgendered and non-traditional clients.

Here's a link to his site to learn more:

http://www.deanspade.net/

In my own work I look forward to working with mothers and parents of ALL backgrounds including the LGBT community. I've always had an interest in Women's Studies, specifically the definition of gender, and the experiences stories of women of color.

What is a woman? We know a woman is still a woman without breasts, without her uterus, without a husband, in a pant suit and without children. So what is a woman?

I do think it's an important concept to meditate on as women go through the cycle of life. I'm still grappling with my own answer to this question and one day I hope to write something I can stand by as my belief on this topic.