Breastfeeding a Baby with Cancer

The flip side, I guess, to being pregnant and having cancer, is Breastfeeding a Baby with Cancer, from the mother of a 13-month old girl who was diagnosed at 7 months. Very touching, and informative:

At the hospital, which is a Children's Hospital, I tried to find someone who could talk to me about it, specifically, were there certain things I could eat that would help, or certain things I should avoid? The sum total of advice I received can be summarized in this quote from one doctor:

"Sure, you can go ahead and breastfeed."

Found this link from BlogHer which linked to me.

Treating Pregnant Women With Cancer

The New York Times writes about New Notions on Pregnant Women With Cancer

Pleasure in Childbirth

From the UK Times Online, Delightful Deliveries:

More women, it seems, get turned on by birth than you’d think. When Ina May Gaskin, a US midwife, conducted a poll of 151 women, 32 reported having at least one orgasmic birth.

It almost sounds too good to be true: a touchy-feely labour followed by an earth-shattering orgasm at the moment of birth. Unfortunately, this is very far removed from most women’s description of childbirth.

One big hitch is that, as with any sexual activity, the amount of pleasure gained is closely related to the degree of relaxation, trust and safety that a woman feels. Most women anticipate with dread the “birth ordeal”, a state of mind that will make muscles contract and adrenalin levels rise before labour even begins. And then, most women can feel sexy only in intimate surroundings, in front of people they know well. Hospitals and doctors don’t really do the trick.

“Adrenalin inhibits sex drive and labour contractions,” Prescott says. “You become tense and are more prone to feeling pain. It’s why women can have trouble with labour and birth at hospital.” Part of the problem it seems is the way that sexuality in childbirth has been denied.

Breastfeeding Icon Contest

Mothering Magazine is sponsoring a contest to create an international symbol for breastfeeding.

(Hat Tip - Giving Birth With Confidence)

Whatever it ends up being, I'm sure LiveJournal won't like it.

Mom's Age At Birth

Key to long life may be mom's age at birth

The chances of living to the ripe old age of 100 -- and beyond -- nearly double for a child born to a woman before her 25th birthday, Drs. Leonid Gavrilov and Natalia Gavrilova reported. The father's age is less important to longevity, according to their research.

Five Months Old

What you see here is the first ever published photo of The Mommy Blawger. The wee boy is being worn in my new sling.

The big new thing is that Andrew has learned that rattles make noise when you shake them up and down. And hands and feet make noise when you bang them against a flat surface. So this last week has been all about shaking things.

Also grabbing things. I can't hold him in my lap when I blog, because he will pull papers off the desk with his vise-like grip and proceed to "taste" them (at this age, everything goes directly into the mouth, which is why I have established a moratorium on legos on the living room floor). At Friday's chiropractic appointment, my husband was holding the wee one in the waiting room when he reached out for a plant that was on top of the water cooler. The pot hit the ground, leaving Andrew holding the plant. Sitting him on your lap while eating is dangerous because he will reach for you plate. But not the food yet. Which brings me to...

Starting solids. A little bit of a dilemma. For a while, the AAP recommended starting solids between 4 and 6 months (not that I necessarily rely on their advice anyway) . But a year or two ago, the AAP and several other organizations began recommending that solids be delayed until six months, since studies have show it reduces the risk of developing allergies and allergy-related conditions such as eczema. Some even suggest exclusive breastfeeding for a year or more. However, the authors of a recent study say that not introducing wheat into the baby's diet before six months actually increases the risk of wheat allergies. I think the jury's still out on this one, and it may be years before we have the whole picture. I started both the older boys on rice cereal at 5 months; DS5 was ready for it then; DS3 was not, so we put it away for a while longer. I think that they will get interested in food when they are developmentally ready for it. We start foods very slowly, and with two, three, or more kids you don't have time to sit there for an hour and feed them cereal. You pretty much just wait until they can eat finger foods and let them feed themselves. So DH thinks we should wait a bit, and I'm pretty much in agreement. The only rub is, while our grocery store has a wide variety of jarred organic baby food, it has no organic whole-grain cereal. Which will necessitate a trip to Central Market. Or Walmart (gulp!).

Last week I put away the bassinet and got out the pack 'n play. He's over in the corner of the bedroom now, instead of right by the bed. Sometimes it feels like too far away. I can't wake up in the middle of the night and check to see if he's breathing without getting out of bed. You would think that after three babies, that feeling would go away, but it doesn't. I'm quite a bit more laid back now that when I had the first baby. But not entirely. He sleeps next to me for the second half of the night, though. I sleep better if I can fall asleep by myself with plenty of room. Plus, with his pre-crawling behavior (rolling over and scootching around) it's not so safe for him to be in our bed by himself. At least until he learns not to fall off, which is a good six to eight months away, as I recall. And he's going to be crawling before we know it.

Brain-dead woman gives birth, then dies - Yahoo! News

Brain-dead woman gives birth, then dies

Or, more accurately, was taken off life support.

Happy Baby Blawg-o-versary!

It has been one year since I first announced the expectation of the wee one. I hope that having his own blog will make up for the fact that we didn't send out birth announcements :) Third child, what can I say?

My actual first post to this blog - an "under construction" message - was, ironically, posted within 48 hours or so of the wee one's actual date of conception, as far as such things can be determined.

Mom Solicits Doula Services On Ebay

Hmm... Might be a good marketing technique for a Doula wanting to make a name for herself?

eBay: I'm pregnant! Would You Like To Be My Labor Coach?

A Routine Epidural Turns Deadly

A very touching story about a woman who died from and epidural-related hospital-acquired infection. Lawsuit pending.

A related link: Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths

Many Approaches Taken to Childbirth

From the (Ohio) Tribune Chronicle, a neat story on choices in childbirth, with this quote:

Diane Simcox, a long-time labor and delivery nurse at St. Elizabeth and a self-described advocate of epidurals, said pain management options have improved over the years.

"You don’t get a gold star for going through the pain," Simcox said.

Martin, whose three children were born with the help of a midwife, and all without pain medication, disagrees.

"I have my own gold star," she said. "I am so proud of myself."

Her husband, Tim Martin, is proud, too.

"I'm a sissy — if I were a woman, I'd probably never have kids," he said. "But whenever you tell someone you just had a baby, one of the first questions they ask is, did she get the epidural? If you say no, the next question is, didn't that hurt? And when I say no, there’s a look of respect."

The Mother Magazine

Hey, I didn't realize that The Mother Magazine was online. It's pretty radical, but quite interesting.