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By Alyssa, July 3, 2010 11:15 pm

Take a break from the BBQ and fireworks to check out this site by veterans, for veterans!

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By Alyssa, June 13, 2010 5:32 pm

You’d think I’d be used to this by now. With two deployments and numerous Army training separations, I feel mentally prepared to spend some time away from my family. Emotionally? Well, try not to ask me right after I’ve called home.

I’m trying to stay positive. South Carolina isn’t as far as my trip to South Korea this past March and the boys are in great hands with loving grandparents. Haus is loaded up with work and has our dog to keep him company while he plays Xbox, I mean, ahem… completes projects around the house.

The kids have yet to complain about their vacation to Grandpa and Grandma’s farm. At this very second, they are roasting hot dogs and marshmallows. Grandma set up a theme for every day of the two weeks we’ll be apart. Today was camping day. When asked if he wanted to talk to me again (o.k., so I’ve called them three times today), 4 and 1/2 year old Bubba replied, “No, thanks” and “Oh Grandma, think we can buy those irrigation boots?”.

Perhaps I will take a good friend’s advice and enjoy this solitude as much as I can. Soon enough I’ll be back to tantrums and dirty diapers.  Amazing that even a day without my little ones the dreaded disciplining and diapers don’t seem so bad.  So here’s hoping the next two weeks fly by.  One thing I have learned over the years is homesickness has a way of vanishing the instant I see outstretched arms accompanied by an exuberant “MOMMY!”

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By Alyssa, September 28, 2009 11:56 am

I’m beyond excited.  After almost four years of wanting to become a Bradley instructor, I finally finished the certification this weekend!  I know, most of you are thinking, what’s a Bradley instructor?  The Bradley method started with Dr. Robert Bradley, a Denver doctor that wrote the book, “Husband-Coached Childbirth.” He began researching in the ’40s and became convinced that moms with husband coaches could birth babies without interventions.  I’ll admit, in the beginning I was skeptical.  Everything on T.V. when I was pregnant shouted epidural and I was certain, with the size of my football-playing husband, I would need one too.  I finally read the book and we decided to attend the classes.

After twelve weeks of Bradley classes, Ben and I went from preggo ignorance to educated bliss.  The classes hit aspects of pregnancy, nutrition, birth, and everything in between. We realized that God made my body to birth babies and that pregnancy and birth weren’t illnesses to be diagnosed, but natural processes. The best part of taking the classes was Ben’s transformation.  He went from a sideline participant to my full-time coach.  It was with his training and diligence that we successfully birthed a beautiful 9 pounder without any interventions or drugs in 2005 and later repeated the process for 8 pound 12 ounce baby boy number two in 2007.  Both births were amazing and indescribable, something I’ve found common when asking my friends about their drug-free births.

Think I’m crazy yet?  What’s crazy is the truth about epidurals.  Many of my friends that used this narcotic were disappointed by the side effects, nausea, headaches, still painful contractions, and numbness to name a few.  I also have friends that believe their epidural directly led to an unnecessary c-section.  Am I completely against epidurals?  No.  I am against the routine use of epidurals.  I think the routine use of any intervention in pregnancy is nonsense and leads to bigger problems, like unneeded surgery.  Did you know the c-section rate, not including elective c-sections, in the United States is over 30%?  That means if you go into a hospital to have a vaginal birth, you have one in three chances of leaving with a major abdominal surgery.  Yikes!

I toured a birth center in Denver as part of my certification and was astounded by their statistics.  All of the births at the center are unmedicated and only 4% of their births require a transfer to the hospital due to complications.  Wow… a less than 4% c-section rate compared to over 30% at the nearby hospital.  I have my opinions on the difference, but I think the only way this rate will decline is if families are educated.  I was so passionate about this in the military that I talked to all my soldiers about birth.  In 2006, I even served as a birth coach for one soldier and watched her and her husband beautifully welcome their baby girl into the world without drugs or interventions.

Regardless of pregnancy or birth decisions, I believe we should all be educated.  That’s why I became a Bradley instructor… to help families make informed decisions for their pregnancy and childbirth process.  Now I can’t wait to meet those future bellies, I mean students, and their babies!

***** UPDATE- I’m now an independent childbirth instructor.  Contact me to find out about my next class! *****

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By Alyssa, September 14, 2009 2:24 pm

When I first considered leaving active duty to raise the boys, I received some surprising comments.  I was told full time motherhood wouldn’t fit my personality or that I would be so bored that I would regret the decision.  I’ve compiled this list over the last year in response to those opinions. These are reasons why toddlers can be harder than soldiers.

-Uniforms just make everything easier.  My soldiers never whined in the morning about how they HAD to wear their Spongebob shoes today or demanded a race car costume be worn over shorts and a t-shirt.  I have to also note that I have boys.  My friends with girls have ten times the stories and struggles.

-Physical training in the Army was one hour in the morning, one hour.  Bubba seems to think that physical training starts at 7:00 am and ends… well, I don’t think he would ever like it to end.  My current circuit training consists of forty toddler lifts (moving forty pound Bubba and twenty pound Zeke in and out of car seats) and at least two dozen sprints (Whoah! That is amazing that you can lift your little brother over your head).  I’m not even going into piggy back, airplane, “Mom, let’s see how long I can drag holding onto your leg” rides.

- How I long for Army powerpoint presentations. Throw a few slides together, hit the highlights during your brief, and maybe even add a laser pointer for style.  Easy.  It’s not so easy, however, trying to read an entire book in Grover’s voice.  Or how about getting called out by your three-year-old for skipping parts of a sixty-four page Dr. Suess book that he’s memorized?  Not easy.

- I remember how I complained about the random fire drills at Army schools in the middle of the night.  Had to get up once and then got to go back to bed.  After two babies and seasons of every hour nightly feedings, I scoff at fire drills.  Seriously, what was so hard about Army sleep deprivation?  They’ve got nothing on a newborn.

-Finally, I think the hardest part of being a mom with toddlers compared to my Army days is that if my soldiers ever told me no, which I can’t remember anyone doing, I could take their pay, sentence them to extra duties, even send them to jail.  My 3-year-old on the other hand, that little guy looks me square in the eye, arms crossed, perma-scowl, and demands he be heard.  Not no, but NO!  He could care less that I can shoot expert with my M16 rifle, knock out fifty push-ups, or program a PATRIOT missile.  He’s pretty sure if he says it just right, he’s in charge.

So am I bored?  BORED?  I’m sorry but I still have to laugh at that comment.  I wonder now if that person ever spent more than 20 minutes with a toddler.  I guess the bottom line is raising toddlers is tough.  Kudos to all moms that do.