Pregnant woman with doctor—Jerry Bunkers (Flickr.com)

Diana Stone posted that plea on Friday the 27th of April over twitter when she found out that there was a leak in the amniotic sac holding her twin boys.

They went to the hospital in El Paso Texas, The University Medical Center, only to be told that she needed to induce labor so that she did not get an infection. Diana Stone is only 18 weeks along and does not have an infection now. There is no way those babies would survive a birth that early.  Being the attached mother, that we all become once we get used to the idea of being pregnant, she wanted to wait and see what happened, not force anything.

No Way Diana Stone’s Babies Would Survive

At first, Diana agreed to go ahead with an induction as recommended by her doctors. The twins are not viable at 18 weeks, and there is a very significant chance of infection that could threaten Diana’s life.  At the same time, if the leak seals, infection is prevented, and she’s able to keep the babies in for at least another six weeks, they might live. After talking it over with her husband, she made a new plan.[here is the complete article]

That is when the intimidation and bullying started! More of the article excerpted here

The couple decided they wanted to give their boys a chance.

Since that time, the doctors at University Medical Center in El Paso, TX, have done everything in their power to let her know she is wrong and to provide her as little support as possible. They have continually tried to tell her she has made a bad decision, and have not provided things she needs to prolong the pregnancy.

Only after many tweeter posts, phone calls and emails to the hospital, did Diana see some change in the attitude of the medical staff.  As of today they are supporting her efforts to keep her twins alive and inside for as long as God allows.

This is another case of medical professionals overstepping the bounds of their calling. It just breaks my heart to see what pregnant women are subjected to at times when they need support not ultimatums. I highly recommend you read the entire article and the comments at the end. Other women have described awful care from medical professionals.

If you are pregnant, learn as much as you can before you go into labor. Knowledge is power in this case and the more of it you have the better equipped  you are to make decisions or process information given to you quickly so others don’t make decisions for you.

Thomas Beatie—Micke Kazarnowicz (Flickr.com)

Pregnant man, Thomas Beatie, has made quite the stir among the childbirth community.  As he started out a woman, his ability to conceive and bear children is “sort of” natural. There is another man, however, that was never a woman, who decided to take on the challenge of labor to decide whether men or women are the stronger sex.

Pregnant man – Can Men Really Endure The Pain Of Labor?

Andrew Rochford decides to go through simulated labor. He agrees to be hooked up to an electrical stimulation device that contrives “contractions” for increasingly longer periods of time with shorter and shorter breaks between the contractions.  Andrew is the father of twins and through this experiment comes to value his wife’s ability to birth them quit highly.  At about the 9:52 mark he makes a statement that I think most women enjoy hearing, especially those of us who have given birth.

Though this video is from back in 2009, it is still pertinent today. If nothing else it is a good video to show expectant fathers so that they will understand, a little of what their wives will be experiencing from a male point of view.

For a real understanding of labor and deliver join our email course by submitting your name and email in the form on the upper right hand of your screen, and don’t forget to share this with your pregnant friends!

Newborn baby, Baby Stella-2—rtopalovich (Flickr.com)

For those of you following the Scott and Jodi Ferrisordeal here is a quick update on what is happening…

Nick Malawskey from the Patriot News shares

A Williamstown couple has filed a civil lawsuit against Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center seeking unspecified damages for what they describe as a series of errors by the hospital’s staff after the birth of their child last year.

Among the claims by Jodi and Scott Ferris is that a social worker took custody of their child hours after she was born in an ambulance on hospital grounds.

The Ferrises said that after the social worker took custody, they were removed by security and police from the medical center and were forced to spend the night sleeping in their car at a nearby shopping plaza.

Their newborn was returned to the family the next day, they said, following a custody hearing.

“The Ferrises recently filed a lawsuit related to these events, and we intend to present the facts concerning what actually occurred as we defend this lawsuit,” said a statement issued by Scott Gilbert, a medical center spokesman.[get the whole story here]

Scott and Jodi Ferris are not the only parent who are on the taking end of a sometimes over zealous social services department. The Irish’s are filing a law suite also against a different hospital and social worker.

Here is part of there story here as reported by the dailyteaparty:

“My fiance didn’t even get any time to bond with the baby. They came in and stole our child!”

Setting a chilling precedent and in a manner befitting the most tyrannical of regimes, the government seized a newborn baby girl today because the father has associated with the lawful, pro-peace, pro-constitution, anti-violence Oath Keepers. What makes this particularly scary is exactly that, that the ‘Oath Keepers’ is a peaceful, pro-rule of law organization which supports serving military, veterans, peace officers, and firefighters and reminds them of their oath to the Constitution of the United States in a direct and open manner.

Here is the statement from Oath Keepers:

We are doing all we can to confirm and document this.  But if is IS accurate, and a newborn child was ripped from her mother’s arms because the parents were “associated” with Oath Keepers by simply being members of our online ning  discussion forum, then this is a grave crossing of a very serious line, and is utterly intolerable.  It cannot be done.  It cannot be allowed to stand.

If it is true, then I will do all in my power to stop it.   We will pull out all the stops, every lawful means of seeing that this child is returned to her parents and that all persons responsible are held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.   There can be no freedom of speech, no freedom of association, no freedom to even open your mouth and “speak truth to power,” no freedom AT ALL, if your children can be black bagged and stolen from you because of your political speech and associations — because you simply dare to express your love of country, and dare to express your solidarity and fellowship with other citizens and with active duty and retired  military and police who simply pledge to honor their oath and obey the Constitution.  It was to prevent just such outrageous content based persecution of political dissidents that our First Amendment was written.

If true, then this is as bad, and in fact worse, than any of the violations of liberty that our Declaration of Independence lists as the reasons for our forefathers taking up arms in our Revolution and for separating from England.  We no longer have freedom at all if this is allowed to be done.   And we will not let it stand.

Stewart Rhodes
Founder of Oath Keepers [the story  may be read in its entirety here:]

What do you think? Is this getting a little out of hand with social workers seizing newborns from their moms in a place that is supposed to be provided to protect mother’s and babies? Isn’t the first oath in the medical oath about first doing no harm…how can ripping an infant from its mom just after being born not be harmful? Agh, this just drives me crazy..how about you? Let me know your thoughts below.

Yes, you have the equipment, but that doesn’t always translate to effective delivery of the product.

The most important things to keep in mind about breastfeeding for new moms are:

• Learn how to get your baby latched on properly from the beginning
• Learn how to disengage your baby if the latch is not correct – don’t let them nurse incorrectly
• Resolve before the baby comes to nursing as your primary function in life for the first month of babies life
• Resolve to drink water by the quart all day long while you are nursing and especially in the beginning
• Allow yourself to do other things while  you nurse, like read or watch TV. Yes, I know, you see all of those pictures of mom’s just gazing at their babies. You will gaze at your baby too, but there is only so long that you can do that without becoming resentful that you are spending all of your time nursing.
• Buy and use a sling
• Don’t introduce a bottle or pacifier for the first month, let your baby get your milk established first
• Resolve to co sleep or at least have a bumper bed attached to your bed so you can nurse, in bed, at night.

All About Breastfeeding…This is a wonder encouraging video for women considering breastfeeding

It also goes over the different positions to hold the baby, the types of milk, and how to get baby to latch on correctly.

Know that breastfeeding is the way women have been feeding their infants since Eve gave birth to her first son. While we have “evolved” into bottle feeding our young chemicals, primarily, this is not the way that God (or nature) intended us to nurture and feed our babies.  Once you get your milk established by spending that first month dedicated to it, and by dedicated I mean, let your baby nurse when and for how long they want. Always start the nursing session on opposite sides so  baby gets the “hind” milk which is richer in cream, let them nurse until they are full. Switch sides for starting the next nursing.

You will find that your baby doesn’t seem to be getting anything after a while, but if you will let them continue to use you as a pacifier it will increase the milk production.  At about three month you will find that you are spending a great deal of time nursing again as this is generally when baby goes through a big growth spurt.  For almost the first month you will find that the nursing session ends just as the next one is beginning as the traditional rate for nursing is to start nursing every two hours! This will spread out towards the end of the first month to starting a nursing session once every three to four hours and not last so long.

There is a learning curve to breastfeeding, knowing this upfront may help you to be successful. Ask for help. Be sure to join our email list by entering your name and email in the form in the upper right hand corner to receive more helpful information about breastfeeding and pregnancy.

“People have been feeding their kids that way for thousands of years. It’s a weaning process. It’s just a thing that has been going on for thousands of years and I didn’t think I was inventing anything.

“I wasn’t saying this was anything somebody should do. I wasn’t trying to be independent or cause such a ruckus. I’m very glad that I did it.

In response to being asked about mouth feeding her son Bear Blu.

Alicia Silverston Premastication Video

Wikipedia has this to say about premasitcation which looks a lot like french kissing:

Premastication or pre-chewing is the act of chewing food for the purpose of physically breaking it down in order to feed another that is incapable of masticating the food by themselves. This is often done by the mother or relatives of a baby to produce baby food capable of being consumed by the child through the weaning process. The chewed food in the form of a bolus is transferred from the mouth of one individual to another, either directly mouth-to-mouth, via utensils, hands, or further cooked or processed prior to feeding. ^[1][2] Many modern societies have strong aversions toward premastication, which has been compared to the aversion towards breastfeeding in the same societies during previous generations.[the rest can be found here]

As suggested above this is not too abnormal, before the days of electric everything, moms had to have some way of feeding their young.  Perhaps Alicia Silverstone premastication techniques will start a trend.  Do you think that you would consider feeding your young child this way as a means of transition from breastfeeding? Maybe she will write a book – “The Alicia Silverstone Premastication Techniques – Seven Things You Should Know Before You Mouth Feed Your Baby”. Maybe I should investigate this and write it myself? Let me know your thoughts in the comments area below.

Nesting for baby

For some reason the expecting mother’s mind only extends to the impending birth of her child. Logically we know that life will continue on after the baby gets here, never the less we feel that everything must be perfect before labor can begin.  Even the most rational, organized women I know go through this totally irrational need to have everything in place before the baby comes.

Here are some things you can do to help alleviate the anxiety that often accompanies this nesting for baby syndrome we experience.

Make a list, in writing, of all of the things you want to accomplish before the baby arrives. Everything that might nag at you during your labor and delivery needs to be on this list, even if it is stuff like cleaning the bathroom or deep cleaning the refrigerator. Keep the “nesting for baby” list somewhere that you can add to it as you need to.

When your friends ask what they can do for you, or to help you, let them look at the list and pick something.  Talk to your friends, relatives and even husband about all of the items on the list, organize the help to get it accomplished.  Often women find that once they have completed their list they can relax and then the baby will come. If  you are normally a high strung person who gets stressed out easily, this is especially important for you.

Start your list early so that you aren’t scrambling at the end. Figure out what can be done way ahead of time and what needs to be done close to delivery. If you belong to a church, synagogue or mosque enlist the help of the other mom’s there. They will understand and often will arrange meals for your first week at home after the baby arrives.  Take help, be grateful, but accept it. There are people around whose gift it is to help and if you won’t let them help you, you are denying them the exercise of their gift. There is an art to accepting help, learn it.

For more tips on making your journey through nesting for baby pleasant, join our email list by entering your name and email in the form at the upper right hand corner of this post.

Snookie Fears After Realizing She Has Been Drinking and Pregnant

Snookie, the Jersey Shore celebrity, just found out she is pregnant – we say a hearty Congratulations to her! She is apparently worried however because of the dangers of drinking and pregnancy since she admits to partying a bit too much before she found out she was pregnant.

Drinking and Pregnancy Entertainmentwise has this to say about Nicole Polizzi

The 24 year-old reality TV star announced that she was three months pregnant a few weeks ago. According to Reality Weekly was “partying like crazy” over the Christmas holidays before she found out she was expecting.

A friend revealed: “Snooki was not expecting to get pregnant at all, and before she found out she was partying like crazy.”

“She’s admitted that she was drinking a lot at New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas, but the truth is it’s way worse than she’s letting on,” the friend explained. “She was on a total binge over the holidays — it was one party after another, so now she can’t help but panic a little.” [get the rest of the details here]

While drinking and pregnancy have been shown to cause some risk to fetal development there is some indication that including a diet high in zinc could minimize the dangers of drinking before  you found out you were pregnant.

Robin Elise Weiss, LCCE, in her contribution to About.com has written an encouraging piece addressing the dangers of drinking and pregnancy:

Sometimes it happens that you find out you’re pregnant and realize that you were drinking in early pregnancy without knowing it. We usually just have to say that we’ll wait and see what happens to the baby because of this incident. However, we do know that it’s amount timing and how often the pregnancy is exposed to alcohol. So I was surprised to see that some scientists have some preliminary data that may help women in this situation, zinc. They injected pregnant mice at the equivalent of a human’s week 3-8 gestation with alcohol. They fed them a normal diet or a zinc enhanced diet. The ones who had zinc had much better outcomes in terms of lowered birth defects. They don’t think this means women should drink and simply take zinc in pregnancy nor do they think you should have alcohol manufacturers having products with zinc.[Robin goes on to talk about her visions of beer ads here]

While it is best to quit drinking altogether before you try to become pregnant as we all know, if it does come about that you discover you are pregnant and you have been drinking before hand, beef up your zinc intake and stop drinking now.  As the old adage goes, the first rule in getting out of a hole (or bad situation) is to quit digging. There you have it, a tidy little look at drinking and pregnancy and some suggestions to mitigate the dangers thereof.

Be sure to join our email list. You will get an e-book on how to end morning sickness and from time to time we will send you information and good deals, that we feel might help you during your pregnancy as you prepare for labor and delivery.

Back in The Stirrups of Dread

The stirrups of dread - that moment we fear,

we strip down and sheet up awaiting our smear.

Goosebumps arise beneath sharp crackling paper,

Shapeless reminder of cold steel scraper!

Two prior appointments – both broken with reason,First oversleeping – then basketball season!So hard to prepare for – this sort of exam,

[read the rest of this intriguing poem here]

I love how Imkarn23 looks at life in an irreverent way. She takes things that we all just go along with and lays them out in an “almost polite” way.

This IS a serious topic. How many of us can relate to her humor though. Be honest how often do you “forget” the pap smear exam? How uncomfortable are you during the exam. Do you remember the funny posters some clever gynecologists put above the table?  How much to you love to hear “wait a minute I need to call in the student”? or even the nurse?

There is such a difference between the pap smear to make sure we don’t have cancer and “spreading our legs” for a baby to be born. Some how the birth, the surreal feeling we have during birth, makes it so it doesn’t matter what is exposed. All modesty goes out the window our only focus is on giving birth. But the pap smear, now that is a totally different story.

The pap smear speaks of the unwanted, the fear factor creeps up on us.  While we are uncomfortable having the “exam”, our most discomfort comes from the waiting period about whether there is that dreaded “positive” result that could mean the big C.

Kelley Barten, a community blogger up in Oregon, who is an avid runner and pregnant has this to share about

Exercising While Pregnant:

Many of you may have heard of Amber Miller- the woman who ran the Chicago Marathon during her 8th month of pregnancy and then promptly gave birth to a healthy 7 pound, 13 ounce baby girl later that day.

Well, if she can do it, I can do it.

Fortunately for me, the 2012 ORRC Vernonia Marathon falls on my due date – April 15th. And it’s a nice race – flat, well supported, and beautiful. So, what better way to welcome Baby Girl Barten to the world than during a marathon?

I mean, there are all these pros:

1. I can run on a great course, nice and flat with loads of support from volunteers

2. If I have the baby on course, she’ll definitely win her age group

3. I’ll get a jump on my post-pregnancy weight loss

4. I will get to use my super-sweet Mountain Buggy Terrain jogging stroller that I won [follow along with the rest of Kelley adventure here]

This is Dara sharing some actual exercises. The whole three part series is right here.

Part one is the lower body:

Part two by Dara focuses on Upper Body:

And Part three where Dara takes us through some core training exercises

There you have it exercising while pregnant is good! Go practice what Dara has shown us, be fit for your labor and delivery.

Feel free to share this great information with your pregnant friends and join our email list for a free e book on overcoming morning sickness as well as other tips and ideas to enhance your pregnancy journey.

Romeo and Juliet - The Problems of Underage Dating

Teenage pregnancy has been a problem through out history, more so in recent history as the availability of birth control and abortion has entered the picture. There was a time not so long ago that teenage pregnancy had a serious stigma attached to it. Girls that got pregnant outside of marriage were shunned and often faced a hard life. Now more than half of the children born in the US are born to unwed parents.

As this article from Newsleader.com by Megan Williams highlights,

Teenage Pregnancy Is A Problem In Waynesboro – Here is their solution

WAYNESBORO — City school officials want to add discussion about contraception to their family-life curriculum, braving potential controversy out of concern for the continuing rise in teen pregnancy.They propose introducing students to the definition of contraception in seventh grade. In the eighth, ninth and 10th grades, students would learn about the different forms of contraception and their pros and cons. They will be taught that abstaining from sex is the only method of birth control that is 100 percent effective. [the rest of the article may be read here]

Bryana Johnson  has a different take on the solution to teenage pregnancy as she lays out in her article on underage dating.

I have a bone to pick with young, socially conservative Americans, and I know it’s something that will get under your skin. Just sit tight, though, and hear me out, because the elephant in our tidy little room is starting to tear things up. It’s time we acknowledge his existence, and maybe even call in some animal movers to take him back to the zoo.

I currently live in a small community in the Bible-belt of the country and I have been given some opportunities to mentor young people from my area through different venues. I can count on one hand the kids I know from the local high school whose parents have never been divorced.  I’ve witnessed reactions of genuine surprise and envy from students who hear that my parents are still together. In any given conversation with groups of youth, I can expect to hear continual references to step-parents, step-siblings, and half-siblings. Divorce is a way of life down here – albeit one that has taken its toll in the lives of the young people that will make up the next generation.[the rest of the story]

I highly recommend you read the whole of these two articles and come to your own conclusions. May opinion is that by giving our kids constructive activities and support at home until they are of an age where they can support other beings brought into the world we may not only cut down on teenage pregnancy and the number of abortions performed in the country, but on the divorce rate as well.

That said, if you are an  unwed mother or a teen who is pregnant – choose life. There are so many places and resources to assist you that you should be able to carry and deliver your child. Whether you chose to raise that baby is up to you. There are many couple that want children, but are unable to conceive them themselves. Okay, stepping off my soapbox.