Actress and talk show host Ricki Lake recently released a documentary about home birth, titled The Business of Being Born. The film's website sums up the project this way: "Birth is a miracle, a rite of passage, a natural part of life. But birth is also big business. . . . The film interlaces intimate birth stories with surprising historical, political and scientific insights and shocking statistics about the current maternity care system." The film includes footage of Lake's home birth.
This week, members of the American Medical Association spoke out against the film, endorsing a resolution by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists that asserts that the safest place for a woman to give birth is in a "hospital, or a birthing center within a hospital." The resolution warns of various complications during a birth, including "maternal hemorrhage, shoulder dystocia, eclampsia or other obstetric emergencies" which would require immediate medical care not available during a home birth.
Lake is angry about the criticism, saying that "It feels like a personal attack." The point of her film, she says, was not to encourage women to have home births but to provide them with a full range of information about birthing options. "I can't imagine they are scared everyone will have a home birth because I did."
Kids love a good walk through the woods to get away from the hot summer sun. If you go off-trail, though, be sure to keep a look out for poison ivy. Some studies suggest that global warming is contributing to the growth of poison ivy and its ability to produce its itch-causing oils.
Whether or not that's true, it is a fact that you want to stay far away from the stuff. Poison ivy grows in open fields, on roadsides, at the beach, even in your backyard. The general rule is, "Leaves of three, let it be." But there are a lot of three-leaved plants around, so it's a good idea to know what poison ivy looks like.
Poison-Ivy.org is an excellent resource for learning how to identify poison ivy. Start with their quiz, then work your way up to their FAQ. If you think you're already a poison ivy expert, check out their advanced page to see how creative poison ivy can be. If you really need motivation to learn more, check out their skin rash hall fame (but not if you're squeamish, it's pretty ugly!)
I'm sure by now you've heard of Gordon Ramsay. He's the British head chef and star of television's reality show "Hell's Kitchen." He's also something of a world-class chef, from what I understood. From what I understand now, he's also a father.
And this father has some unusual suggestions regarding getting his children--his daughter, to be exact--to eat vegetables. According to Chef Ramsay, he gets his daughter to eat her leafy greens by telling her they'll make her boobs get bigger! Ramsay admits he tells his ten-year-old daughter, Megan, this story, and that she believes him. His proof? He claims she eats whole heads of lettuce and says, "Dad, look!"
Before I know it, I will have a daughter on my hands. Eventually, she will be old enough to wonder such things as what might make her breasts bigger. I'm more inclined to leave such things to the schoolyard than try this trick. I'm not sure what freaks me out more--Gordon talking to his daughter about her boobs (which shouldn't really be such a big deal), his assistance in helping her think they need to be bigger, or the fact that he refers to them as 'boobies!' Ah, to each their own I suppose.
I don't know about in this country, but in Italy apparently they are. Of all the fears I have for my son, perhaps the one that gets to me the most is that I will turn my son into a mama's boy. Is there anything I want more than to keep my son around me for the rest of my life, to have him as a constant companion I can love and protect? Uhm, yeah--but that would be h-e-double-hockey-sticks for his social life.
According to a recent article in Psychology Today, Italian men between the ages of 30-34 are twice as likely to stay at home with mom than other men that age. In October 2007, Italy's economic minister, who was apparently fed up with all these sons still living with their mothers, made a bold move to try to "get those big babies out of the house." The response from Italians? Outrage!
Italians cite the economic difficulties in Italy (and probably everywhere) for grown men staying at home. As one person put it, at least the sons have shelter. Mention is also made of the long cultural history Italians have of close family ties. Detractors might say this keeps a son from ever truly growing up. Others say it is perfectly normal for an unmarried--and especially unemployed--son to remain at home until either of those factors change.
So what do you think? Do the Italians have it right, or are they living in the past (and, if so, is that such a bad thing)?
Recently, we had a week where, for various reasons, we were unable to get my son's anxiety medication refilled. He was fine, but MY anxiety level was way up. A friend joking suggested that what we needed was a placebo -- you know, some pretend medication, just to keep him thinking he was taking his meds. "It might make YOU feel better," she said knowingly.
Studies show that in some patients, placebos can indeed reduce symptoms, particularly for things like depression, pain, and high blood pressure. Parents also know that kids are sometimes prone to complaining about illness when really they are just fine, thanks, they just don't feel like mowing the lawn or going to Aunt Edwina's for Sunday dinner. And some kids are just hypochondriacs, convinced that they really ARE ill with no real cause.
According to an article in today's New York Times, Jennifer Buettner's niece was one of those kids, and her complaints got Buettner thinking. What if she could give the niece a placebo and convincer her that she had taken medicine? Trouble was there were no available placebo pills for kids, so Buettner created Obecalp (placebo spelled backwards), which is essentially a sugar pill. Kid complaining about a headache? Obecalp to the rescue! Problem solved.
I was snickering (with you! WITH you!) at some of your comments on my last entry, particularly the poster whose screaming son scared everyone enough to take him to the ER where he eventually ripped an enormous fart -- the apparent source of all his discomfort -- before immediately calming down and falling asleep. Ha ha ha! I mean, I hope it's funny now, because I'm sure it was a fairly horrible experience at the time.
Speaking of being able to laugh at past unpleasant experiences, I'm reminded of the time our first boy was a newborn and he hadn't pooped for a couple days. I had been obsessively detailing every single molecule that went in or came out of his body in an Excel spreadsheet (a crazymaking and frankly stupid practice we thankfully never considered for one hot second when our second son was born) and as I realized I hadn't documented anything in the appropriately-colored "POOP" column for more than 24 hours, I started to freak OUT.
With some barely-remembered set of instructions in my mind that had to do with -- I am not even making this up -- relieving constipation in pet rats, I did some Googling and verified that a well-lubricated Q-tip could do the same trick on babies. I stationed my husband nearby with the phone, ready to dial -- well, I don't know: 911? The National Guard? Oprah? -- and ever so carefully . . . I, um, "swirled" a vaseline-coated Q-tip in my baby's butt.
An eleven-year-old Canadian boy battling Leukemia has decided he doesn't want to undergo any more chemotherapy. His family doesn't want him to suffer anymore chemo either. The Children's Aid Society, however, has taken the boy into custody and is forcing him to undergo therapy. He was diagnosed at age seven with acute lymphoblastic leukemia which is curable eighty percent of the time.
After being cancer-free for a year following a previous round of chemotherapy, the disease came back and he started treatment again. Now, however, he wants to switch to alternative treatment including chelation therapy, oregano and green tea. "He told us that he didn't want to undergo any more treatment because he felt that it wasn't going to give him quality of life, that he felt that it would probably take away his life," said the boy's father.
A judge had earlier ruled that the boy was not capable of understanding what it meant to refuse chemotherapy. According to his father, the boy has fetal alcohol syndrome and is somewhat intellectually delayed.
Actress and talk show host Ricki Lake recently released a documentary about home birth, titled The Business of Being Born. The film's website sums up the project this way: "Birth is a miracle, a rite of passage, a natural part of life. But birth is also big business. . . . The film interlaces intimate birth stories with surprising historical, political and scientific insights and shocking statistics about the current maternity care system." The film includes footage of Lake's home birth.
I'm sure by now you've heard of 
Recently, we had a week where, for various reasons, we were unable to get my son's anxiety medication refilled. He was fine, but MY anxiety level was way up. A friend joking suggested that what we needed was a placebo -- you know, some pretend medication, just to keep him thinking he was taking his meds. "It might make YOU feel better," she said knowingly.
An eleven-year-old Canadian boy battling Leukemia has decided he doesn't want to undergo any more chemotherapy. His family doesn't want him to suffer anymore chemo either. The Children's Aid Society, however, has taken the boy into custody and is 
