Me and my daughter Megan when she was about 1...
I was trained as a Bradley Method Childbirth Educator. (Here is a FAQ on Bradley) After teaching 3 years, I am proud of the 70% unmedicated birth rate among those couples I have taught who had vaginal births, and 16% cesarean rate! (The average of the hospitals in my area is around 24% cesareans...) If you include the cesareans in the medication rate, then it is 60% unmedicated births. I am no longer affiliated with this method. As of 2000 I have not been teaching classes at all, worked as a doula for a few years and then got pregnant with TWINS!
I have four kids, Megan (1993), Phelan (1995), Erinn, and Rowan (twins 2002) - they are the center of my life for now! In May 1998, I completed my Master's Degree in Public Health Education, and was working as a Health Educator, coordinating health classes, and teaching Early Pregnancy and Infant Care and Safety on the San Francisco Peninsula. Unfortunately, managed care being what it is, the company I worked for went bankrupt... I then managed the "Ask The Experts" bulletin boards at Blueprint for Health, the website for Blue Cross/Blue Shield of MN. The company I worked for for 5 years is Consumer Health Interactive.
My current goals include: getting a job now that the twins are starting kindergarten and helping my daughter get through high school, while hoping that my middle schooler/middle child doesn't get lost in the shuffle!
I am an ENFJ
My hobbies include Living History and music, so I am a member of the Merrie Pryanksters, an Elizabethan Dance troupe formerly of the Rennaissance Faire (where I play fiddle and do english country dance) and the Coventry Carolers of the Dickens Christmas Fair at which I sing and get dressed up in funny Victorian clothes. I also love to go to the Gaskill Victorian Ball and dance to live music, dressed in victorian ballgown. The dances include Viennese Waltz, Polka, Mazurka, etc.
The latest place I have been spending all my free time is Lyric Theater (Gilbert and Sullivan Society of San Jose)
My husband Mike and I live in Redwood City, CA, USA. I got my BA from UC Berkeley - my first love, since I grew up in radical Berkeley, CA! (Cal Alumni) We would like to have a dog, but due to allergies, we have fish and lizards. If you have any great links you think I should see, send 'em to me! swnymph@fensende.com
Want to know why I use "swnymph" as my login? Click Here
| Bradley Method | Pregnancy Nutrition | Birth Planning |
| Epidural Anesthesia | General Pregnancy Part 1 | General Pregnancy Part 2 |
I have recently developed a passion for tie-dying. We have discovered that it is fun to invite our friends over to reuse old t-shirts, or invent new patterns on new white clothing, etc. Heck, Mike and I even tie-dyed with 30 second graders, and we not only survived the experience, we actually had fun too! After much research, we believe that the very best dyes are by Procion - you can get these dyes and LOTS of great white stuff to play with at Dharma Trading Company, also known to us as "Tie-Dye Mecca".
I am also enjoying the silk painting kits I got from Dharma. If you go to visit them in San Rafael, CA, give yourself lots of time to get lost in all the craft supplies, fabrics, and clothes...
If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, check out the Hot Tubs at Watercourse Way!
If you drink too much coffee, you can relate to Too Much Coffee Man! Look Here or Here I admit that the reason I promote this comic is that I went to school with the author, Shannon Wheeler. Really, though, I think the comic is a great read - sometimes funny and sometimes so true to life...
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