Warranty of Vaccine Safety

What, did I just read "warranty of vaccine safety?" Yes, I did. Have you seen this form yet? I just stumbled upon it yesterday, via Mothering. Mothering linked to SafeMinds, which seems like a great place for vaccine information and politics. But I can't tell where the "warranty" form came from. I also found it here, here and here.

In my opinion, this is meant to be cheeky. I would ever take this form in to a doctor. First of all, if I have any sort of relationship with my doctor, he already knows how I feel about vaccines and everything else! And if I don't have that sort of relationship yet (which I hope you are all striving for with your health care providers), conversation and chit-chat will hopefully get my opinions and health care desires across better than this intimidating and sarcastic form!

But, I have to admit, this form makes a great starting point for personal research. Once you become familiar with half the items listed in that form, you'll be better informed than most doctors, I'm betting. And a well-informed parent, who can confidently discuss particulars about an issue will probably earn the respect of her health care provider, not to mention the well-being of her child.

~s~

First Moon Rising, The Making of A Menarche Ritual

Is it ever too early to begin studying about how to help our own precious daughters transition into womanhood with more ease and with joy? This is an article that was in Mothering Magazine some years back about one way of doing that. Enjoy!

http://www.mothering.com/community_tools/teen_voices/first-moon.html

J

Do you like British humor?

I do. Blunt, sarcastic, and still manages to make you laugh out loud. I ran across this blog post about the homebirth decision and the actual homebirth that I hope you enjoy!

snippet:
"In some way, planning for a home birth is like planning the nursery - it's all very, very abstract.
You shop for lovely things, you buy them, you put them away, you go for antenatal appointments, you get your toenails done...
Having a baby? Me? La la la I can't hear you!
You look for birth pools, you make a mixed CD of relaxing music, you cover yourself in bio-oil and then ... then the midwives bring the Box Under the Stairs."

Read the whole thing here!

Hey, so what do you think of our newly jazzed-up site? We'd like to thank our creative designer Doreen Woffinden for making our site even more fun! Yay Doreen, you've done a beautiful job!

Clamping The Cord

For a long time we have known that early cord clamping does the baby a disservice. But early clamping of the cord is a routine practices that like many of the others, are designed to speed up the caregiver's time at a birth getting him/her in and out of the birthing room as quickly as possible. Much of this has to do with the time demands that Insurance Companies put on hospital caregivers today.

Why is it important for the cord to finish pulsing (about 5 minutes)? First, so that the baby continues to receive necessary blood and oxygen form the placenta! This continued supply of oxygen is even more important for a baby who is having difficulty at first to draw in oxygen on their own at first, otherwise the baby must use his lungs immediately, ready or not. Systemic pressure was found to be higher in babies whose cords are clamped later. Babies whose cords were cut earlier were also reported to have significant iron deprivation. (De Marsh et al.) There can also be an increase in heart murmers. (Buckle et al.)

In fact if a baby is born in a Surprise Birth, say on the way to the hospital, the cord does not need to be cut right away. Wrap the baby in a warm blanket and wait for the placenta to deliver. Then with her placenta still attached by the cord, go ahead and continue transport to the hospital where they will clamp and cut the cord. (Of course this is just a partial list and it is good to study that situation in more depth in case it were to happen. This is to illustrate the non-necessity of clamping the cord yourself.)

In some cultures the cord is not cut at all, and this known as a Lotus Birth. But that is a whole different post!

Below is an interesting site on the subject and how premature cord clamping might even be a cause of autism and more....


-Buckel, Arcilla, Burnard, and James. J Peds. 67 (1965):239.

-De Marsh, Q. B., et al. “The Effect of Depriving the Infant of its Placental Blood.”
Journal. American Medical Association (7 June 1941).

J

http://www.cordclamp.com/