Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Why do they always go straight for the co-sleeping.
Ugggggg I just read this article where a 19 day old baby died. She was found in her parents bed so of course who does the newspaper rip a new butthole? The parents. Autopsy has confirmed the baby died of SIDS and not smothering as was being suggested by the paper. Did the paper offer an apology? Nope. What asshats. We co-sleep. Rosalynn still co-sleeps. Well she has a bed of her own, but it is right against ours and she comes and goes as she pleases. A little over a year ago it saved her life. She had a UTI that I brought her to the doctor for twice and they told me it was a stomach bug and she was fine. Her fever was 103, and she was almost a year old. The doc told me not to worry until it hit 105. Well sometime in the middle of the night it spiked and she seized. I woke up to a baby with blue lips, fixed eyes, who was unresponsive. I woke because she was against my body, because I thought she was trying to nurse and when she wasn't latched on I knew something was wrong and turned on the lights. We called 911 and I sat there watching her, she was still breathing so I stripped her naked and just watched her, holding her. The base fire department gave her oxygen and 35 minutes later the paramedics finally showed up. By then the fever had broken (children often seize when high fevers break) and she was pinked up from the oxygen. I really don't want to think what could have happened if she was even in a crib on the other side of the room. Humans have the most vulnerable offspring of any species at birth. Babies are helpless. Why do we keep trying to justify putting them away in little cages at night? People don't understand. They equate the bed with sex and just can't think that sharing your bed with your children cannot be sinister. It is sad really.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Vacation Days
Once a year Josh, Rosalynn, and I take a vacation day. We never plan it but it always seems to happen in late February or March. We just book a local hotel room and go away for a night. We don't really have the money for a full family vacation and it is a pain to go away with a two year old anyway so this relieves tension. Last night we booked a room at the Wingate Inn, it had an indoor heated swimming pool. It felt so good to be able to take Rozzie swimming, and I didn't have any hip or leg pain in the pool. We had dinner from Subway and watched movies. All together it cost about $100, but it was so worth it. I highly recommend mini vacations to any family in our situation. We only packed one suitcase too. Then today it was beautiful and we took Rosalynn to go fly a kite for several hours at the park.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Why are we afraid to touch?
thecowgoddess.com has a cartoon with a mom "wearing" her newborn in one of those baby bucket carseats strapped to her body, the other mom is slinging her baby. For those of you don't know, Josh and I are slingers. At two years old Rosalynn is still worn in a wrap by both her father and myself. I don't understand why people feel the need to have their baby wrapped in plastic 24/7 from the time they are born. Put them in the bassinet, the carseat, the swing, the bouncer. All these replacements for the loving arms of a parent. Now I am not against carseats. I have a baby bucket that I plan on using with the new baby until it outgrows it (Rozzie was too big at 4 months). But I don't carry my kid around in it everywhere. For one, it is heavy beyond belief and an ergonomonic nightmare. For two, seeing them teetering on top of shopping carts always terrifies me. For three it is so easy to breastfeed in a sling. By the time Rozzie was two months old she could latch herself on. So today I will be sewing my new sling for the new baby. That way we have one for each kid. I just don't understand why so many people are afraid to touch their babies. Babies that you have carried in nourished inside your body for 10 months. It won't spoil them, it doesn't make them clingy or dependent. Trust me, or better yet watch Rozzie for a few hours and see for yourself.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Another Intact Baby Boy!!!!!!!!!!!
I am sooooooo happy. I am a moderator on a birth board and a couple that recently had a son were having trouble deciding whether or not to circumcise him, they have decided to leave him intact. Josh and I are vehemently against circumcision. We feel it is a violation of a child's right to bodily integrity and can be very sexually damaging. Also I don't say "uncircumcised" as I feel that this makes it sound like circumcised is the normal way and parents of intact children just have not got around to it yet. Anyway, if anyone who happens across this blog would like the info on circ, here it is.
First and foremost I feel that all children have the right to bodily integrity. Therefor I believe that it is not within my rights as a parent to permanently remove a portion of my childs body. A very good basic place to start is www.cirp.org/pages/parents/. It will go into the structure and function of the male foreskin (did you know that since it is a double walled membrane that "lil snip" at birth ends up removing an area of skin, muscle, and nerves the size of a 3x5 index card? I had no clue) The reasons why people choose to circ, the most common being UTI, but only 1% of the male population ever gets them. Many many more females get them (including my daughter) and they are quite easily treated. Most of those pages are by the AAP and NOCIRC. Did you know that not one single medical organization in the world currently recommends circumcision? That's pretty telling to me. It is considered a purely cosmetic procedure, and 12 states now refuse to pay for it under Medicaid. I will go through some common questions about circ and post resources
1. Looks like daddy
http://www.mothersagainstcirc.org/Like-Son.htm
http://www.cirp.org/library/complications/vanhowe/ (also goes into prevalence of complications circ'd vs intact)
2. UTI
http://www.infocirc.org/uti2.htm
http://www.cirp.org/library/disease/UTI/
3. Won't it just have to be done later?
http://www.cirp.org/library/normal/ (most circ's that have to be done, don't really have to be done. Many docs are unaware of the normal changes the intact penis goes through)
http://www.mothering.com/articles/new_baby/circumcision/protect-uncircson.html
4. How do I take care of an intact son?
http://www.nocirc.org/publish/4pam.pdf
5. Impact on Breastfeeding
http://www.cirp.org/library/birth/
http://www.nocirc.org/statements/breastfeeding.php
6. Cancer
http://www.cirp.org/library/disease/cancer/
7. Sexual Side Effects
http://www.norm.org/lost.html
http://www.boystoo.com/medical/conversion.htm
http://www.circumstitions.com/Restric/Botched1sb.html (Warning this post contains pics of adult male penises that are suffering some common side effects of circ)
8. Men who are restoring
http://www.norm.org/ Lots of men now realize what was taken from them and are fighting to try to regrow some of what was lost. It will never be the same as the prepuce sphincter is permanently gone, but these men go through a lot trying to achieve regrowth.
9. Video of an infant Circ (graphic)
http://www.circumcisionquotes.com/video.html
10. Won't he be teased?
http://www.cirp.org/library/statistics/USA/ (circ rates to 2003. depending on the region you live in only 31-78% of boys are circ'd, so he's probably not going to be the only intact kid in the locker room)
11. But I have read it reduces AIDS.
All I can say to this is that the US had the highest rate of circ of any industrialized nation. We also have the highest rate of AIDS infection, obvious this isn't working.
http://www.cirp.org/library/disease/HIV/
http://www.circumstitions.com/HIV.html
Oh and the "scientific study" of Kenyan men in Africa where the 50% reduction rate comes from, was performed on a bunch of truckers who were having casual sex with multiple partners. I really don't think those results can be seen as accurate. Heck unless they were all having sex with the same woman, infected with the same HIV strand, the risk cannot really be determined.
Many circs that are done are done because the boy does not retract by a certain age and that is unnecessary. As long as he can pee freely it does not matter if he retracts at age 2 or 12(or even older, it is not really a factor until they begin sexual exploration). Also if your son has phimosis (a narrow opening) it can usually be treated with a steroid cream and stretching exercises, however many docs recommend circ because they are not aware of what to do with intact men. It may comfort you to know that in Europe, where the majority of men are intact, it is very rare for an intact man to "need" a circ. Also from personal experience working with intact men in nursing homes and hospitals, I have known of 2 men to need a circ, both were due to medical negligence on behalf of the nursing staff. In the first case, the nurse retracted the foreskin all the way back to insert a catheter, and left his foreskin pulled back for days. This caused a strangulation of the tissues, and gangrene eventually set in. The second case was also of a man being retracted and left back coupled with an aid using shaving cream on his genitals (trick to pull dried poo out of pubic hair). The man was allergic to the shaving foam, he developed nasty hives that became infected. Long story short here, these men were being cared for by MORONS who had no right to be in medicine. As the prevalence of intact men becomes greater the medical community is going to have to learn how to care for them. Also I don't believe a possible future bad nurse is a reason to circ.
Since I broke my toe yesterday, (real fun when your waddling around this pregnant to begin with) this has really made my day.
First and foremost I feel that all children have the right to bodily integrity. Therefor I believe that it is not within my rights as a parent to permanently remove a portion of my childs body. A very good basic place to start is www.cirp.org/pages/parents/. It will go into the structure and function of the male foreskin (did you know that since it is a double walled membrane that "lil snip" at birth ends up removing an area of skin, muscle, and nerves the size of a 3x5 index card? I had no clue) The reasons why people choose to circ, the most common being UTI, but only 1% of the male population ever gets them. Many many more females get them (including my daughter) and they are quite easily treated. Most of those pages are by the AAP and NOCIRC. Did you know that not one single medical organization in the world currently recommends circumcision? That's pretty telling to me. It is considered a purely cosmetic procedure, and 12 states now refuse to pay for it under Medicaid. I will go through some common questions about circ and post resources
1. Looks like daddy
http://www.mothersagainstcirc.org/Like-Son.htm
http://www.cirp.org/library/complications/vanhowe/ (also goes into prevalence of complications circ'd vs intact)
2. UTI
http://www.infocirc.org/uti2.htm
http://www.cirp.org/library/disease/UTI/
3. Won't it just have to be done later?
http://www.cirp.org/library/normal/ (most circ's that have to be done, don't really have to be done. Many docs are unaware of the normal changes the intact penis goes through)
http://www.mothering.com/articles/new_baby/circumcision/protect-uncircson.html
4. How do I take care of an intact son?
http://www.nocirc.org/publish/4pam.pdf
5. Impact on Breastfeeding
http://www.cirp.org/library/birth/
http://www.nocirc.org/statements/breastfeeding.php
6. Cancer
http://www.cirp.org/library/disease/cancer/
7. Sexual Side Effects
http://www.norm.org/lost.html
http://www.boystoo.com/medical/conversion.htm
http://www.circumstitions.com/Restric/Botched1sb.html (Warning this post contains pics of adult male penises that are suffering some common side effects of circ)
8. Men who are restoring
http://www.norm.org/ Lots of men now realize what was taken from them and are fighting to try to regrow some of what was lost. It will never be the same as the prepuce sphincter is permanently gone, but these men go through a lot trying to achieve regrowth.
9. Video of an infant Circ (graphic)
http://www.circumcisionquotes.com/video.html
10. Won't he be teased?
http://www.cirp.org/library/statistics/USA/ (circ rates to 2003. depending on the region you live in only 31-78% of boys are circ'd, so he's probably not going to be the only intact kid in the locker room)
11. But I have read it reduces AIDS.
All I can say to this is that the US had the highest rate of circ of any industrialized nation. We also have the highest rate of AIDS infection, obvious this isn't working.
http://www.cirp.org/library/disease/HIV/
http://www.circumstitions.com/HIV.html
Oh and the "scientific study" of Kenyan men in Africa where the 50% reduction rate comes from, was performed on a bunch of truckers who were having casual sex with multiple partners. I really don't think those results can be seen as accurate. Heck unless they were all having sex with the same woman, infected with the same HIV strand, the risk cannot really be determined.
Many circs that are done are done because the boy does not retract by a certain age and that is unnecessary. As long as he can pee freely it does not matter if he retracts at age 2 or 12(or even older, it is not really a factor until they begin sexual exploration). Also if your son has phimosis (a narrow opening) it can usually be treated with a steroid cream and stretching exercises, however many docs recommend circ because they are not aware of what to do with intact men. It may comfort you to know that in Europe, where the majority of men are intact, it is very rare for an intact man to "need" a circ. Also from personal experience working with intact men in nursing homes and hospitals, I have known of 2 men to need a circ, both were due to medical negligence on behalf of the nursing staff. In the first case, the nurse retracted the foreskin all the way back to insert a catheter, and left his foreskin pulled back for days. This caused a strangulation of the tissues, and gangrene eventually set in. The second case was also of a man being retracted and left back coupled with an aid using shaving cream on his genitals (trick to pull dried poo out of pubic hair). The man was allergic to the shaving foam, he developed nasty hives that became infected. Long story short here, these men were being cared for by MORONS who had no right to be in medicine. As the prevalence of intact men becomes greater the medical community is going to have to learn how to care for them. Also I don't believe a possible future bad nurse is a reason to circ.
Since I broke my toe yesterday, (real fun when your waddling around this pregnant to begin with) this has really made my day.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Welcome to our blog
Since we live so far away from friends and family I thought this would be a good way for everyone to know what is going on. We are expecting our second baby sometime in late April or early May. Josh got promoted to Senior Airmen in January and is currently in college for electrical engineering and studying for his sergeants exam. Rosalynn has potty-trained herself and is currently loving her Kindermusik classes. She saw ballet on TV the other night and wants to dance but we have to wait until she is three to get her into classes. So she prances around the living room naked except a tutu on most nights. Oh and since everyone seems to want to see, here is the 31 week belly. No new stretchies, I have had these since Rozzie.
Take Care,
Shauna
Take Care,
Shauna
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