by Tara Shafer posted in Parenting

I defy labels as a mother. I'm a crazy mix of the holistic and the not holistic. I nursed for a solid decade and I co-slept a fair bit. I never really loved nursing but my children did, and so yes, I suppose I did love it for that reason. And I loved sleeping with my children.
On the other hand, I have had pregnancies with the highest number of possible medical interventions. At no point, did I ever trust my body. Regular sonograms and non-stress tests were a part of my life for months. When the time came, I happily scheduled c-sections. While it is true that there were medical reasons for this vigilance in some of my pregnancies, the fundamental truth at the end of the day is that I liked the interventions. They made me feel better, both before and after medical reasons presented.
Moreover, there have been times in my life when I've skipped right over the herbal route for illness, without ever really looking back. Big pharma and mainstream medicine have saved my life during serious medical issues and for this I am immensely grateful. Serious illness is not an abstraction to me. This informs the way I treat my children. I almost never pause to try herbs before the antibiotics. Okay, I never do.
I have been in situations where people have seen me nursing a toddler. I may be wrong, but sometimes they have seemed surprised, after the fact, to learn that I am unapologetic and unequivocally happy about my scheduled c-sections.
I nursed my k...