I totally respect and understand that every woman's experience and body and needs are different.

Physiologically full time breastfeeding is designed to delay fertility.  However this mechanism is frequently overrided (in western society, at least) by behaviours such as sexual activity/desire; stress; social/cultural practises; feeding & mothering techniques; subconscious patterning and probably many other things!   

If a woman is well experienced with the sympto-thermal method she should be able to detect the return of ovulation, whether it is 1month or 2 years post-birth.  Otherwise it can be tricky as ovulation generally occurs before menstruation.

For me, fertility (ie ovulation) returned after 18 months after my first child's birth, and about 14 months after my second.  It coincided with definite big changes in my life/routine/emotional state.  I used no other contraception asides from abstinence during my lunar-ovulation days.  I also fell pregnant 2x while b/f, but it was after the return of ovulation.  Tracey I didn't mean to negate your experience, only to provide some explanation as to why that happens.

I have met a couple of women who (successfully) used as contraception using only mental/spiritual intention (both partners).  I am in awe of that, and would love to experiment if i had the chance but i think i'd end up with a large tribe of bubs very quickly     i was born in the year of the rabbit & fall pregnant very easily (not all have worked out).  I LOVE pregnancy and birth and i think my mental programming desires conception & would be tricky to override. 

ascorbic acid - vit c powder/dissolvable tablets  is a spermicide.  there have been successful studies, the key is ensuring it gets in everywhere, especially around cervix. 

what i have not found out yet, is whether it affects the latex of diaphragms - if not, this would be a perfect combination.  (it's fine with condoms as these are single use, but over time some products may affect diaphragm (can be re-used for 3 years).

some women successfully use small, squeezed lemon halves, over cervix - if u can

i used sympto-thermal-lunar-rhythm, for 8yrs - successfully at times - but also with 3 pregnancies   it gets trickier when you have young children as the thermal method requires regular sleep patterns, and periods of uninterrupted sleep (ROFL) 

frequent, on demand breastfeeding works, but can be overrided by increase in sexual desire/activity (the hormones involved with each work against each other)

hi georgia

my 2nd child was birthed unassisted.  i too wanted to be completely alone, yet wanted dp to be part of the experience.  it worked perfectly.  i'd arranged support of 2 midwives willing to come, if required, at a phone call, or to advise over phone, & one had offered to sit in her car outside until/unless invited in. wasn't necessary, but i'm glad i did this, only because it gave dp total peace of mind that SOMEONE could help if he felt unable to deal with an emergency. and his peace of mind left him free to support me 100% with out fear/worry

he was in the shed working for 2 hours of labour, then came in & took care of heating, bath, & held me when i stopped to rest. essentially i had the solitutude i'd craved + the silent support i needed.  he mostly sat quietly in a corner till i yelped to quick come & catch baby (i was in an awkward position). 

i found awesome support at purebirth-australia.com and bornfree.com.  + there's some great books on the topic.

hi fbi

you can chew grass all day if u like, great 4 teeth/minerals & good jaw workout 

i like to juice it, if u have a good juicer.  take a little at first & increase daily.

or can blend in a powerful blender & strain in nutmilk bag.

be careful with mature grass as it may strain your machine.  fresh young juicy grass is fine.  i always juice a basketful each day in early spring, but stop when it starts to go 2 seed, else my juicer complains.  by then the nettles are out anyway    then wild fennel greens ....

erthmum i share your excitement!
I've had a sunbeam cafe series for about a year now and it is awesome.  i use it most days, and we frequently create new amazing recipes in it.  mostly nutmilks, green smoothies, soups. The only disaster we've had was my 1yr old tossing the clear bit of the lid out the car window (never found it) but was easily replaced.

violet

Osianna I'm not near the beach (there's a nice lake for swimming) or public transport, but if you need a place to stay at all in the hills you're welcome and i can pick up from nearest bus stop.  There are some nice walks in the area. Saying that, we are away for 2 of those weeks, but you never know.

enjoy your stay,

Violet xx

i recently purchased A Field Guide to the Fungi of Australia by AM Young.  Very informative, nice book but it doesn't go into edible/poisonous info, so i would recommend buying the other one/s for foraging purposes.

I also have Grown Your Own Bushfoods by Keith and Irene Smith, I like this book, simply written yet informative.  We are feeling very inspired to bring more native food plants into our garden....when we have some extra water!

Bush Food by Jennifer Isaacs  is about Aboriginal foods & medicines.  Has very interesting info about known aboriginal food foraging & preparation but is not an identification book.  It includes info on aboriginal animal foods, cooking techniques, medicines, and info is sorted according to food type eg fruits, nuts, roots, nectars, animals etc.

A couple of months ago we were at a festival and had a wild food walk along a creek.  Everyone brought a bowl, and we barely even walked anywhere - in a very small area we identified 14 edible weeds & plants, and made a delightful big salad for lunch.   these included : dandelion leaf & flowers, nasturtium leaf & flowers, wild pea leaf & flowers, fennel leaf, watercress, lemon verbena, mint, plantain, celery, wild mustard greens & flowers, ripe nightshade berries,  and many more.

Violet

have an awesome picnic tomorrow!  i'd come if i lived there :-)

i have written this in a separate post as well -

myself and 2 children (6 & 2) are coming to melbourne in january and needing a place to park our small van during the last 3 weekends in January. (not weekdays). we have beds, fridge & everything, but would appreciate the use of a bathroom!  And would love to get to know raw and rawish folk there.  Maybe it will be time for another picnic by then? :-)    

I am coming over to take part in some tribal dance workshops.

hi Melbourne raw people....

myself and my 2 children are going to be in Melbourne between 12th and 26th January.  we only need to be there on the weekends, and hope to look around outside melbourne during the weeks.  If anyone has a bit of space we could park our small van, and use of bathroom facilities, (weekends only) I'd love to hear from you!  we hope to meet lots of raw folk while we are there too.

send me a pm

violet/merridy

hi bb, oh i so want to come, but we have 4 big things on already this weekend!  Please have another one :-)   looking forward to meeting you soon,

violet / merridy

vi - i just wanted to clarify what i meant, i hadn't realised it had come out that way.  when i asked 'what went wrong' i had meant the next sentence to be the answer, eg you were treated really badly by the hospital, that is what went wrong. you were not at fault in anyway.  i wasn't implying that there was anything 'wrong' with your experience or actions.

i know that was ages ago but i only just got back to this thread & realised what i'd said!


 >>>you tried hard, you were fit, healthy, informed and committed.   what went wrong?   - "I was treated really badly by the hospital "


yes i agree vi, birthing women mostly need supportive midwives who understand the process of birth & how to facilitate its natural progression.  i cry when i hear women's stories, it is so unfair for women to not have the support they need.  i spent a couple of years volunteering for a birth support group, it was so very rewarding to be involved in some way.  it is also awesome when women like you bring up these topics for discussion, so that others who have not yet experienced it can have the gift of awareness of these issues.

yay paulina, thank you!  count me in! 

my babies chewed on dried tomato & dried kelp - i'd be ware of the saltiness on erupting teeth, but my babies loved them at all times!

also corn cobs (with our without the corn), flannel soaked in tea (try chamomile), dried mango, celery/silverbeet stalks.  my youngest loved to chew on spring onions before he got teeth, toward the greener end

if you're attached to the rusk idea, you could experiment with raw bread recipes.  sometimes my raw breads/crackers come out very hard/leathery/chewy - unintentionally so i can't recommend recipes!

(((vi)))

 you tried hard, you were fit, healthy, informed and committed.   what went wrong?   -

"I was treated really badly by the hospital "Doctors don't particularly give a damn about your feelings -"....

you were not betrayed by your own body.  your body did everything it could in the circumstances.  you were betrayed by the hospital/birthing system, by our culture.  our cultural values/beliefs and hospital system practises tend to inhibit the natural flow of birth.  yes, things will occasionally go wrong in a perfect natural birth, but this is so extremely rare - most problems with birth are iatrogenic, however subtly.  your body's needs went unrecognised & unmet by the hospital system - a very common occurence. it is not necessarily the fault of anyone in particular - birth attendents are trained in fixing problematic birth, but not usually in allowing/encouraging natural birth.

rather than see you as having failed, i personally view it as your sister being so incredibly lucky to have had such an outcome 'despite' our cultural ways of birthing.  that is totally unfair to you, and your feelings are totally valid.
awesome that you have aired them here, keep doing it if you need to.  i am so glad you have experienced vaginal birth though, i have a friend who had 4 caesarians simply because her dr did not believe in VBAC!

of course you are grateful your babies are alive!  it is perfectly natural to want the best for our babies experience and our own, and it is bitterly disappointing when we feel cheated of that.

also many women who have perfect easy births (i am one) have their hard times elsewhere....b/f problems, extreme pnd, parenting/relationship struggles etc. etc.  my 2nd childs birth was the most awesome, empowering evening of my life, quick easy birth, perfect , yet i feel incredibly resentful, hurt and cheated that i did not get to enjoy his babyhood as i struggled with both pnd and being left by my partner (ex) to care for a baby and a young child.    i don't mean to minimise your experience at all, just to add that those whom we feel jealous of probably have their own disappointments too, which can remind us to feel gratitude for what we DO have.  thank you for reminding me to feel grateful for my birthing, & less down about the rest!

in SA we have CARES support group (caesarean awareness, recovery & support).  they have regular gatherings to chat about any caesarean issues, and some women go years later to talk with sympathetic others about their pain & emotions around their experience.  you are definitely not alone.

blessings & hugs, merridy