My course requires that I blog about my experience giving birth, something I seldom discuss.
I will begin by saying my pregnancy was atypical, and I spent most of it – over three months in the hospital on bed rest. From the very beginning, long before even the at home bed rest, I received the very best prenatal medical care. Yes, my pregnancy was definitely high-risk. I had both a pessary ring inserted and a cerclage to support my weak cervix. Being in the hospital took a great deal of the usual joy of pregnancy away from me. I was still excited and reading What to Expect When You’re Expecting, but my family was in another state, so other than my husband who came daily and a cousin and best friend that came once or twice a week, I did not have many visitors. I did get to know the hospital staff and had a large private room, which made it more bearable.

Anyway, my obstetrician and I were focused on one day at a time, the magic number being 28 weeks. I made it to 28 weeks and as if on cue the twins decided they needed to make their entrance that very evening. Of course, I was having a Cesarean birth, which involved an anesthesiologist and an epidural. Due to the high-risk nature of the pregnancy and the very preterm delivery the operating room was full of nurses and neonatologist. They arrived right around dinner time, weighing in around the average weight for a 28 week fetus. They both measured the exact same length and there was only a half ounce difference in weight. There was no crying as they were whisked away in their incubators. Yet, it was the greatest, happiest moment of our lives for my husband and me. Our lives would be forever changed from that moment. The most thrilling moment was the first time I held each of them. The twins received lots of kangaroo care. “Kangaroo care is when the mother of a low-birthweight infant spends at least an hour a day holding her newborn between her breasts, skin to skin, allowing the tiny baby to hear her heart beat and feel her body heat. Fathers also can cradle newborns next to their chests” (Berger, 2009, p. 123).

I believe this blog will be a priceless tool for me, and provide a wealth of knowledge and insight from numerous cultures, philosophies and perspectives. Sometimes, I feel that I have so much more to learn about child development and education, even while I am thinking there cannot possibly be much that I do not already know. I listen to my classmates, most of whom have considerable experience in the education field, and I know that I will get there too someday - but I am counting on this blog to help me. After all what good is theory without practice? Is it not similar to faith without works? How can you value and prove your passion without advocacy?
I would love to hear your thoughts on my thoughts.

It is only the second day of class and I am already learning so many new and wondrous things about development. I have looked at development in terms of domains i.e. cognitive, social-emotional, and biological, and understood the impact of genetics (nature) and environment (nurture) on development. However, I never really stopped to think about the fact that development is multidirectional, multidisciplinary, multicontextual, multicultural, and plastic. We think of all the things that go into making each of us a unique being, but I realize now those things are so infinite that we cannot begin to sum them up. What's even more amazing is how nurture can effect nature and vice verse.

We talk about the effects of parenting styles on children, but we do we consider that the parenting style is affected by the child's temperament. "Nature in fact can elicit a certain kind of nurture. This is most evident when a temperamentally difficult child is quick to cry in anger. That response may cause the parents to be more punishing" (Berger, 2009).