Search Results for: blog family stories babies and births

Family Stories – Babies and Births

Some of the most interesting stories that families pass on from generation to generation involve the circumstances surrounding the arrival of new family members. Babies bring great joy to families, and apparently so does telling stories about things that happened in relation to their births. Some of these stories involve where the births took place. Many families have family members that live at least a few hours away, if not much farther than that. This results in new family members being born in new and different places than the generations that were born before them. For example, when my son … Continue reading →

Celebrity Births

I love hearing labor and delivery stories. Whether I’m talking to friends, relatives, or watching TLC’s “A Baby Story,” I can’t get enough of the different experiences women have. Some go all natural, some get an epidural the second they arrive at the hospital, and many fall in between. Some births are scheduled C-sections, some are induced, and some begin all on their own. Many women give birth in the hospital, while others opt to give birth at a birthing center, or even at home. I often find myself wondering, “What type of labors and deliveries do celebrities have?” There … Continue reading →

Attaching with Extended Family

Some adopted young adults say that although they felt a part of their immediate families, they never felt quite like “one of the clan” with their extended relatives. One adoptive mother theorizes that for relatives who live far apart, reunions tended to focus on genes and history, since relatives who had spent many years at a distance had few shared experiences to build a relationship on. Relatives commented on who had grown up to look like who, remembered family births, and told baby stories comparing new parents and their babies. This mother reported that her kids were likely to hear, … Continue reading →

Naming Your Baby

You may not think of genealogy as something that is affected by trends. However, there are some trends that your descendants will be talking about long after the trends have come and gone. Why? Because trends for baby naming become part of the information that is recorded as part of your family’s history. Naming a baby is no small task. Each set of parents must decide what kinds of things are important to them when selecting their children’s names. For example, is there a favorite relative whom you would like to honor by choosing their name as a child’s first … Continue reading →

911 Abuse

As a former television reporter, every once and a while I had the rare opportunity to cover the elusive positive news story. The glitter hearts/puppies/rainbows/unicorn pieces typically manifested themselves in side of the highway births that yielded healthy babies, multi-million dollar lottery winners and EMT saves dog trying to save owner trying to save cat from rushing flood waters. However, the positive stories that had the greatest impact on me as a single, yet dating, TV reporter were the ones that involved kids whose calls to 911 actually helped save the lives of their loved ones. I’ll never forget the … Continue reading →

Bonding is an Ongoing Process

I remember when I was a new mother with babies and young toddlers; there was a great deal of talk and advice about “bonding.” As I absorbed it then, bonding was something that happened with parents and babies and if you didn’t get it right in those early weeks and months, things were never going to be right between parent and child. What I have actually learned, however, in the passing years and developmental changes, is that bonding is an ongoing process and there are unending opportunities to bond, connect, and get to know each other for a parent and … Continue reading →

Dealing with Difficult Hospital Staff

I’ve heard some horror stories recently about negative hospital staff in the labor and delivery room. I’ve also experienced some down right nasty nurses during the four times I’ve delivered babies. I was much more affected by attitude with my first baby than with my fourth. When a woman is in labor, she is vulnerable to negative or nasty nurses. A roll of the eyes or unkind statement can really affect the confidence the woman feels in labor or as a new mother. A family friend was told by a nurse that she was being “too loud” during labor. She … Continue reading →

Should I Take My Child to a Sibling Class?

Sibling classes are offered at hospitals around the country. Your hospital may offer a class to help prepare older brothers and sisters for the arrival of their new siblings. You may be wondering if you should sign your child up for one of these classes. I took my oldest child to a sibling class when I was pregnant with my second daughter. Since she was only 21 months old at the time, I don’t know how much she got out of the experience. She did have a lot of fun at the time, so I guess it was worth it. … Continue reading →