Finding Help During Pregnacy and Birth

I have never liked the word "birth". It is just a odd sounding utterance to me...

To get to the point of my post, finding help. And help can come in a variety of ways. After finding out I was pregnant I quickly started doing research. I Googled, read books, magazines, and research papers. I learned about everything from cloth diapers & carriers to thermometers & understanding babies have different kinds of cries. Of course everything can't be learned from text in a book that is why there is photos and videos. I love YouTube.com . See the video at bottom of this blog to learn how to ware a Mei Tai carrier.

I wish I knew about all the organizations and books before I had my baby. Here is a short list with a Buffalo, NY focus. But most cities have their own sister organizations.

Books:
The Vaccine Book
What To Expect When You Are Expecting
What To Expect The First Year
Raising Baby Green


Organizations:
Buffalo Birthing Network
La Leche League (Breastfeeding)
You can also start or find your local baby sitting co-op.

There is also the phone book which is where you'll find local businesses that have cloth diaper services and phone numbers to stores that you'll want to call ahead to make sure they carry the item you are looking for. For instance, I live in the middle of the city of Buffalo the Babies- R- Us store is in the suburbs. The dilemma was that the local grocery didn't carry glass baby bottles. I needed to make a trip to the BRU for the bottles and it was a good thing I called. There was a run on glass bottles and they were out of them for a month.

Some key words when searching on the internet: Birthing Network, Natural Birth, Consignment Store (insert your city name also) and Baby sitting co-op.

Also, Amazon.com has been my near and dear friend. Ordering in bulk on-line has saved us about $50 a month and that does not include the vehicle/bus and gas needed to go to the store. Or the fact that shipping is free and delivered to my door. If we had to own a car just because I now have a kid it would add an addition $400-$500 a month for a machine that only depreciates in value. Instead of having a vehicle on my balance sheet as a liability I put money in my kids college fund. $50 today appreciated over 18 years will pay for a couple books for school. And every penny counts.