Neg. Part 2

Well, I honestly think I'm back to being "depressed". It's been a good 10-12 years since I've been at this point. Luckily, I'm able to pin point it since I've been there before. However, I'm more stubborn in my old age and needed my husband to kick me in the ass. I just keep hoping it'll go away. But, it doesn't. I have so much to be happy about, and when I think about it, I am happy about everything that is happening in life right now. Things are going really well! But, I'm just always sad, irritable, anxious, or otherwise crabby! It seems to be a vicious cycle, as well. I was reading up on depression and the same feelings that are considered symptoms can also cause depression. So, if one is overly anxious, stressed, etc., their depression can be increased. I definitely have HUGE control issues and when I feel "out of control" I stress hardcore. No matter how much I tell myself to buck up, relax and smile, I can't. So, I'm trying some St. John's Wort first, before I go back on the meds. Hopefully I will be jumping like a crazy person on a couch soon, one way or another, either because I'm happy or clinically insane.

2 weeks...Do I have what it takes?

Oh man, come Monday, I will have exactly 2 weeks before 160 students are mine (well 3 times a week for an hour) for the semester! I have the distinct honor of serving as an adjunct instructor at UNI this Fall with a high probability of doing it again in the Spring. I have ALWAYS wanted to do this. I've always wanted to go back for my PhD, so I could be a professor, but no one wants to hire someone who gets all three degrees from the same college and let's face it, I'm not moving anywhere. So, I figured it was just a pipe dream. Well, Dr. Howard Barnes in the Family Studies Dept. contacted me this summer and asked if I'd be willing to do this. Almost as if I was doing him the favor!!???!!

I have the syllabus and the supplemental reading packet all done, and the speakers lined up! I'm ready to go. Very excited, but really nervous. Wish me luck. I'm sure I'll share my adventures once I get started.

Turn that frown upside down.

Oh Strawberry Shortcake, such words of wisdom you speak! Lately, I have been overcome with negativity. Clouds have been hanging over my head on a constant basis. I really can't pin point what it is. I do know I've been allowing others negativity to affect me which since I realize it, I need to work on continuing to put out what I need rather than reacting in a manner that does not benefit anyone. I feel like the ongoing negative cycle I have with one person overflows into the rest of my life so that I am putting forth negativity in my other relationships. Well, we all know what that gets me! More negativity. It's a viscous circle that I know all too well. Sometimes it is easier to get caught up in in it rather than battle against it. I need to start doing my daily affirmations again. As cheesy as it sounds, journaling about everything I am thankful for, even if it is just little things, really sets my mind on the right track for the day. So, I won't even go into what is bothering me because all that will do is invoke those bad things and I don't need that anymore! So, instead I'll redirect my energy to the good things.

I am thankful that I have been able to help several people this week at work. I am thankful that it is the weekend. the weather has been beautiful and I opened up the house last night to let nature back into our home! I love my dogs and my husband and they love me. I have a wonderful family that cares about me even when I act like a brat! I am thankful that I have my health and that I am able to exercise and play and be alive! I will celebrate life. I will start fresh and allow others to do the same. I will hold each individual up to be respected and treated with kindness. I will be curious rather than reactionary about others perspectives in hopes that they will do the same for me! All life should be celebrated! Life is a celebration! Celebrate with me friends!

The Business of Birthing

I am posting this because I believe it is info that needs to be out there, but even more so, I am posting it in honor of someone who I am praying was able to deliver in her own home free from intervention this week.

Although I have much to learn about the business of birthing, Danelle has opened my mind to a lot of things that I just took for granted to be true and right. As I understand it, there are many things to be considered including whether the pregnancy is a normal healthy pregnancy vs. high risk. But, I do continue to be amazed at some of the statistics regarding birthing practices in the U.S.

Once I decide to try this baby thing again, I will definitely be looking in to home birth, midwives, and what my options are here in Iowa. I need more education on my rights should I enter a hospital as far as having a choice about what is done to my body and my baby.

The "Business" of Birthing

Note: All of the information here represents fact, not opinion, of birthing within the United States. If you don't believe it, check the references listed at the end of the article. That being said, you may want to sit down before reading further...


FACT
Each year, the U.S. spends over $50 billion dollars on childbirth. This is more than any other nation in the world. (This number does not include babies in the NICU or readmissions during the first month.)


FACT
Birthing is the largest source of income for American hospitals.


FACT
The U.S. ranks 37th in the world for the quality of its health care.


FACT
Over HALF of all hospital admissions in America are for maternity.


FACT
Hospitals are NOT the safest place to have a baby. 25 infectious strains exist that are resistant to ALL known antibiotics. These are found primarily in hospitals.


FACT
75 years of routine hospital birth have produced NO studies to show it is safer than having a baby at home with a skilled birth attendant.


FACT
Both homebirth and birth centers have been scientifically proven to be as safe or safer than hospitals with a skilled labor attendant (i.e. midwives, not doctors).

FACT
The more technology used in childbirth, the more dangerous it becomes.


FACT
The larger the hospital, the greater the risks to both mother and baby.


FACT
Of the 4.3 million babies born annually in the U.S., a mere 5% represent natural childbirth.


FACT
America has the 40th highest infant mortality rate in the entire world.


FACT
The U.S.A. has the 14th highest maternal mortality ratio among developed nations.


FACT
Over 90% of all infants in the U.S. are born with drugs (e.g. narcotics from epidurals, pitocin, acetaminophen, etc) in their systems. NONE of these drugs have been tested for safe use in infants.


FACT
A 24-hour hospital stay, uncomplicated delivery in the U.S.A. costs anywhere from $8,000-10,000. This cost DOUBLES for a c-section.


FACT
ALL families in the U.S. are charged newborn nursery charges, even if the baby NEVER leaves the mother's room. This "routine" charge amounts to about $1.3 billion dollars annually, for services that are NOT rendered. (I'm not quite sure why this doesn't constitute insurance fraud - billing for services not rendered.)


FACT
Every year, 1 million, or about 20%, full-term, healthy infants are sent to the NICU for "observation" for an average stay of 3 days, totaling a whopping $6,000.


FACT
For newborns suspected to have serious medical conditions, the same NICU stay totals $20,000.


FACT
1 in 3 American women has an episiotomy. Episiotomies are medically indicated for less than 10% of all women. Over 1 million unnecessary episiotomies are performed annually in the U.S.


FACT
1 in 5 births in the U.S.A. are induced. 44% of women surveyed in 2002 reported their doctor wanted to induce. Only 16% reported medically-indicated reasons.


FACT
American women who elect epidurals are FOUR times as likely to have cesarean sections.


FACT
31.1% of American babies (nearly 1 in 3) in 2006 were delivered by cesarean section. The World Health Organization recommends a c-section rate of less than 10-15% as acceptable.


FACT
U.S. hospital policies for routine tests, practices, policies and procedures are based on financial considerations, which include malpractice insurance costs. They are not based on evidence, research, or appropriateness of care.


I truly hope you found these statistics disturbing. If they don't speak to the medicalization of childbirth in this country, I don't know what does.


The true horror comes in the fact that these views are being exported across the world. As the U.S. is such a powerhouse of marketing, more impressionable regions are adapting to these customs, despite the overwhelming evidence that the U.S. approach to childbirth IS SERIOUSLY FLAWED!


American obstetricians are taught to view birth as "a disaster waiting to happen." The average delivery in the U.S. is neither natural nor healthy. We have embraced a cascading system of successively more intense, unneeded interventions termed "active management" or the "standard of care".


So what do we do? How can we change the system?



We as a country need to reach beyond our own boundaries to embrace an effective model of maternity care. We, as women, mothers, and families, must educate ourselves as to the true process of labor and childbirth.


We must regain our faith in our bodies' perfect ability to have a baby. We must look at what the research is already telling us - that nature has it right!


In short, we must take back our birthing!


And if you're still not convinced, check these out:

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr56/nvsr56_07.pdf

http://www.motherfriendly.org/Downloads/induct-fact-sheet.pdf

Deneux-Tharaux D, Berg C, Bouvier-Colle MH, Gissler M, Harper M, Nannini A, Alexander S, Wildman K, Breart G, Buekens P. Underreporting of Pregnancy-Related Mortality in the United States and Europe. Obstet Gynecol 2005;106:684-92.

http://www.who.int/whr/2005/en/

Hartmann K, Viswanathan M, Palmieri R, Gartlehner G, Thorp J, Lohr KN (2005). "Outcomes of routine episiotomy: a systematic review". JAMA 293 (17): 2141–8. doi:10.1001/jama.293.17.2141. PMID 15870418.

(2006) "ACOG Practice Bulletin. Episiotomy. Clinical Management Guidelines for Obstetrician-Gynecologists. Number 71, April 2006". Obstet Gynecol 107 (4): 957–62. PMID 16582142.

http://www.unicef.org/publications/index_18108.html

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/obgyn.htm

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/330/7505/1416?ehom

Macfarlane A, McCandlish R, Campbell R.
Choosing between home and hospital delivery. There is no evidence that hospital is the safest place to give birth.
British Medical Journal. 2000 Mar 18;320(7237):798.

Home versus hospital birth.
Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2000;(2)

The cost-effectiveness of home birth.
Journal of Nurse-Midwifery. 44(1):30-5, 1999 Jan-Feb.

http://www.kff.org/womenshealth/upload/whp061207othd.pdf

http://www.childbirthconnection.org/article.asp?ck=10401

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/318/7189/995

Peck P. Preinduction cervical ripening significantly increases risk of cesarean. Medscape Medical News, 2003

Goer H. The Thinking Woman’s Guide to a Better Birth. New York: Perigee Books, 1999, p 228-9.

Fullerton JT and Severino R. In-hospital care for low-risk childbirth: comparison with results from the NationalBirth Center Study. J Nurse Midwifery 1992;37(5):331-340.


Return from Birthing Statistics to Giving Birth Naturally Home

Take these magic beans....

Miracle supplement? I think so! After having this stupid IUD put in, I started suffering from yeast infections and cystic acne. Annoying. The ease of the birth control was great, but was it worth it? Desperate, I went to Greenfields ( a natural foods and herb store), and begged for help with the yeast infections. I ended up purchasing what has become my saving grace pictured above! I realized the other day that not only was I free from yeast since I've taken it, I've been free from the annoying painful acne I was getting! I then googled it to see if there was a link between acidopholus and acne treatment. In fact, there is! What a great little find!

My Wall

Well here it is. The wall has been designed and I love it!!!!! So does Josh. I'm very pleased with how it turned out. I was getting kind of nervous as the top print took forever to get here. But that being said, I would still recommend artistrising.com to anyone.

something's rotten, but it ain't the tommy-toes.

The FDA's Wheel of Salmonella (comic)

Comments by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
(NaturalNews) Watching the FDA trip over its own clumsy self while groping for answers on Salmonella is a sad affair. Following the FDA-encouraged destruction of tens of millions of dollars of perfectly good tomatoes, this confused, bewildered agency admits that tomatoes may not have been the problem after all, and it has now set its sights on destroying the peppers industry. Is there no vegetable safe from the destruction of the FDA?

Tomatoes don't harbor salmonella, by the way. Neither do peppers, onions, cilantro or spinach. Salmonella only festers in factory-farmed animals, folks, and that means the real source of contamination is no doubt some animal factory upstream from the vegetable processing centers. So why isn't the FDA going after the animal factories that likely caused this whole fiasco? Because making Americans scared of their vegetables is a great way to advance the FDA's food irradiation agenda which would destroy virtually all the medicinal phytonutrients in plants.

As intelligent, informed consumers are now discovering to their own dismay, the FDA appears to be purposely dragging its feet on this food safety crisis, milking the fear for political gain just like President Bush after 9/11. Fear is a powerful tactic for pushing an agenda that the People would otherwise refuse to accept, and since most Americans are strongly opposed to food irradiation, the FDA is more than happy to drag out this salmonella issue as a way to make American consumers increasingly afraid of fresh vegetables.

This accomplishes three things the FDA supports:

1) It advances the FDA's pro-irradiation agenda where ALL fresh produce might someday be irradiated without your knowledge.

2) It makes consumers buy more processed, dead foods, which produces profits for the very same junk food companies that have strong influence at the FDA.

3) If food irradiation is put in place, it will destroy the medicinal properties of fresh produce, thereby blocking the prevention of diseases like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, etc. This, in turn, has the effect of creating a windfall of sick people that will fill the coffers of drug companies (who are, of course, the FDA's clients).

But would the FDA play politics with the safety of American lives? Sure it would...
Wait a sec. Am I saying the FDA would purposely put American lives at risk in order to play politics with food safety?

Well, gee, if you haven't noticed, the FDA has been putting American lives at risk for well over a decade, pushing dangerous pharmaceuticals that were recalled by other nations, colluding with drug companies to bury negative information about the drugs, outlawing safe, natural alternatives to dangerous pharmaceuticals and even going so far as to threaten its own top scientists who attempt to speak out against dangerous drugs.

Want to know the truth about the FDA? Read the shocking facts, if you dare, at www.NaturalNews.com/the_FDA.html

This salmonella scare, you see, isn't about tomatoes, peppers or cilantro. It's about creating a state of fear in the minds of consumers -- a state that can be invoked to further the FDA's pro-irradiation agenda.

These scare stories, in other words, are a lot like false flag operations in the military, where conflicts are staged against one's own nation in order to blame the enemy and declare war. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_flag

So as it turns out, the FDA isn't fumbling around so much after all. It only acts like it's clueless about these salmonella outbreaks in order to prolong the problem, generate more fearful press coverage, and then appear as the hero when it calls for widespread food irradiation.

Don't be afraid of fresh food, folks. Be outraged at the FDA's use of fear as a manipulation tactic to invoke a backlash against fresh food.

Vegetables are not the problem, and food irradiation would make them LESS safe for consumers, not more.