Yay Obama!

As an undergraduate, I studied family life education, apart of which is marriage education. I worked as a research assistant on the National Healthy Marriage Resource Center where I summarized research studies on marriage as the optimal arrangement for children, men and women (see recent post: http://descentintomotherhood.blogspot.com/2008/11/why-is-govt-promoting-marriage.html).

In 2006, George W. Bush sponsored legislation that would promote and encourage marriage as that optimal arrangement. The Healthy Marriage Initiative was authorized under Temporary Aid for Needy Families (TANF/welfare funds).

Although the social science research is very clear (I recommend reading The Case for Marriage, 2001), I was worried that in a time of economic downturn and administration change that the funding to provide marriage education services would not be continued.

Today I learned that Barack Obama has been a firm supporter of marriage education efforts and plans to continue supporting the funding of such programs. On the Healthy Marriage Initiative homepage, there is a quote from his book The Audacity of Hope, 2006:

"...Finally, preliminary research shows that marriage educaton workshops can make a reall difference in helping married couples stay together and in encouraging unmarried couples who are living together form a more lasting bond. Expanding access to such services to low income couples, perhaps in concert with job training and placement, medical coverage, and other services already available should be something everybody can agree on..."

By placing that quote on the webpage, I am heartened that the research will continue to speak for itself and that programs and efforts to stablize American families will continue.

Week 22 Update

Today, we saw our little GIRL by ultrasound. I felt before I was pregnant that my next baby would be a little girl and since becoming pregnant, I've felt very strongly that same way. And my belief was confirmed today.

She looks totally healthy, placenta is in a good position. She looks kind of squished in there right now so I'm thinking I'll have a spurt in uterine growth soon.

Still feeling great, with lots of energy and a more active mind than usual, and my mind is usually pretty active.

Willem is affected by the pregnancy; either because I'm producing less breastmilk or he no longer likes the taste of it. I can tell he's beginning to wean himself because he's asking for cow milk more frequently than mama milk. I'm hoping that after the baby is born, he will go back to nursing more frequently.

Grandma, aunts and neighbors are very excited for a little girl in our family, and so am I. Maybe sometime I'll write an exposition on my thoughts of having a little girl. And if my scanner can start working, I'll get pictures posted.

Jinxed it

Yesterday while on a family walk, I sadly watched an ambulance drive towards the Children's hospital near to our home, sad for the family and the child impacted by the need for doctors and hospitals. I thought in my head that I'm glad we've never had need to take Willem to the emergency room for anything. I choose to not say anything to my husband walking along side of me for fear that I would jinx it and something would soon happen that would take our little one to the ER.

It happened last night. After our travels, I'm not surprised that Willem would be coming down with a cold. Around 2 am, he woke up crying, hot and irritated. I decided to take his temperature to get an idea with what I was dealing.

The thermometer reported 107.3!

I thought for sure that the thermometer gave a faulty reading. I switched to the back-up thermometer which was taken between 30 seconds and a minute to register a change in one tenth of a degree. I wasn't about to wait for it to get to 107 if that was really his temperature. I knew then that I all I need was a reliable, working thermometer, but at that hour the stores I could get to quickly would be closed. Any other time of day, rather than the middle of the night and that's what I would have done, or gone to my neighbor's to borrow theirs. But I wasn't about to do that and so we headed to the ER after dosing with children's acetomeniphen.

At the ER, he was cranky and tired but feeling cooler. Their cool temporal artery thermometer reported no fever. The diagnosis was acute upper respiratory infection, with clear chest sounds and ears. Big surprise.

Thank goodness for state medical insurance, with our old insurance that visit probably would have cost us between $200 and $400.

Since I was in need of replacing our thermometer, I looked into the temporal artery scanner at medical supply stores thinking that even $100 for a more reliable piece of medical equipment was worth it to me. I was surprised to find out that home models are sold at major retailers very affordably- $30. I was even more surprised that there were some in stock when we took our Costco trip. I am now the proud owner-mama for a temporal artery thermometer.

For the nifty technical sounding description of how it works:

The superficial temporal artery demonstrates the necessary requirements for the skin thermometry method: it is easily accessible, contains no mucous membranes, and notably, it has no or very few arteriovenous anastomoses (AVA).1,2 Lack of AVA's means that perfusion rate is reliable under essentially all conditions, and the blood flow is relatively free of vasomotor control in response to thermomoregulatory stimuli. This property is unique to the temporal artery when considering all accessible cutaneous blood vessels. The high and reliable perfusion allows accurate mathematical computations of the heat lost to the environment due to the cutaneous flow, and thus an accurate calculation of the source arterial temperature at the heart. http://www.exergen.com/medical/eductr/temp_assess.htm

And a fun video: http://www.exergen.com/medical/videos/TemporalScanner.mpeg

Week 18 Update

In the last two weeks I got over my desire to hear baby's heartbeat on the Doppler. I don't need to hear evidence of life when I'm feeling an active fetus moving around thumping and kicking in my uterus. We are already able to feel the baby moving from the outside as well. Peter has felt our new little one a couple of times already.

Willem is showing more and more interest in the baby as well. He kisses my stomach and talks about baby all the time. For Christmas, he was given his own baby doll that he conscientiosly make sure is given milk, held, taken for walks and diapers changed. The newborn size diapers I bought for our baby fit the doll--they may make for a very big butt but its a fun enterprise!

When we take the pictures off the digital camera, I'll post the video of me walking at graduation carrying Willem across the stage with me. We had a great time on our trip staying six days on the island of Hawaii and ten on Oahu.

Next steps are to prepare my manuscript for publication in family science journals and to prepare for our new little one. We are still planning on the anatomy check/gender ultrasound where I suspect my intuition will be verified that we are having a little girl.

Why is Govt Promoting Marriage?

This is a topic that has been a interest of mine, and a major focus of my research throughout my undergraduate and graduate degrees. My readers can think of it as part of my grand scheme to make our society and country a better (safer and happier)place for children and families.

From the Department of Health and Human Services, Adminstration for Children and Families:

Benefits of Healthy Marriages

For Children and Youth
Researchers have found many benefits for children and youth who are raised by parents in healthy marriages, compared to unhealthy marriages, including the following:

More likely to attend college
More likely to succeed academically
Physically healthier
Emotionally healthier
Less likely to attempt or commit suicide
Demonstrate less behavioral problems in school
Less likely to be a victim of physical or sexual abuse
Less likely to abuse drugs or alcohol
Less likely to commit delinquent behaviors
Have a better relationship with their mothers and fathers
Decreases their chances of divorcing when they get married
Less likely to become pregnant as a teenager, or impregnate someone.
Less likely to be sexually active as teenagers
Less likely to contract STD's
Less likely to be raised in poverty

For Women
Researchers have found many benefits for women who are in healthy marriages, compared to unhealthy marriages, including the following:

More satisfying relationship
Emotionally healthier
Wealthier
Less likely to be victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, or other violent crimes
Less likely to attempt or commit suicide
Decrease risk of drug and alcohol abuse
Less likely to contract STD's
Less likely to remain or end up in poverty
Have better relationships with their children
Physically healthier

For Men
Researchers have found many benefits for men who are in healthy marriages, compared to unhealthy marriages, including the following:

Live longer
Physically healthier
Wealthier
Increase in the stability of employment
Higher wages
Emotionally healthier
Decrease risk of drug and alcohol abuse
Have better relationships with their children
More satisfying sexual relationship
Less likely to commit violent crimes
Less likely to contract STD's
Less likely to attempt or commit suicide

For Communities
Researchers have found many benefits for communities when they have a higher percentage of couples in healthy marriages, compared to unhealthy marriages, including the following:

Higher rates of physically healthy citizens
Higher rates of emotionally healthy citizens
Higher rates of educated citizens
Lower domestic violence rates
Lower crime statistics
Lower teen age pregnancy rates
Lower rates of juvenile delinquency
Higher rates of home ownership
Lower rates of migration
Higher property values
Decreased need for social services


[Source: Why Marriage Matters, Second Edition: Twenty-Six Conclusions from the Social Sciences, September 2005.]

The Human Microbiome Project

The same friend who told me about outsourcing health care told me about a fascinating research project that he is working on as an employee of a bio-tech company on the East Coast.

You've heard of the Human Genome Project which catelouges all the genes in the human species. This is a little different: they are looking at all the organisms that live in the human species.

The average human body, consisting of about 10 to the thirteen power (10,000,000,000,000 or about ten trillion) cells, has about ten times that number of microorganisms in the gut. Somewhere between 300 and 1000 different species live in the gut,[3] with most estimates at about 500. These microorganisms are helpful the human existence: the microorganisms perform a host of useful functions, such as fermenting unused energy substrates, training the immune system, preventing growth of harmful species, regulating the development of the gut, producing vitamins for the host (such as biotin and vitamin K), and producing hormones to direct the host to store fats. However, in certain conditions, some species are thought to be capable of causing disease by causing infection or increasing cancer risk for the host.(see references on wikipedia.org)

The Human MicroBiome Project is trying to figure out what all of those microorganisms are, just as the Human Genome Project sought to determine all of the genes in our genome.

The process is not a pleasant one, definitely a study I would not sign up for. Participants are given a strong antibiotic that kills all of the microorganisms living in the digestive tract, and then they are asked to collect stool samples over the next weeks as the flora repopulate in the gut. Then the lucky lab techs get to analyze the stool samples.

Many holistic oriented, health conscious people, especially mothers, are aware of the importance of maintaining healthy intestinal flora for proper immune and health functioning. The Human Microbiome Project has the potential to make that information for well-known and accessible to the public, providing evidence for the importance of microorganisms in association with health and disease with applications across the medical and healthcare fields.

Outsourcing Health Care

A friend informed me of a new concept that has implications for childbirth: outsourcing healthcare. Evidently, there is a new trend for insurance companies, to cut costs, to send patients outside of the United States with cheaper healthcare services for procedures, etc. The example my friend told me about was patients being sent to India for heart transplants. While there, patients are given "gold-star treatment", first class flights, nice hotels, limos to and from the hospitals, gift baskets, etc.

I have heard about the birthing mother's receiving celebrity treatment for extra cash-- $15,000 for continuous labor support provided by an obstetrician, extra special hospital accomdations, incentives, etc. but outsourcing takes it to a whole new level.

Next, will there be reports of U.S. insurance companies sending birth women to India, France, Spain, etc for gold-star scheduled inductions to decrease costs?

In order for that outsourcing to be effective in the case of labor and birth, the birth would have to be scheduled, otherwise women might be living out of hotels for 2-6 weeks waiting to go into labor. I can't imagine how that could still be cost-effective. So let's assume that a woman is put on airplane at 38 weeks and the induction is schedule for a day or two after arrival.

Would that be cost effective?
Do we need to see more inductions of labor and scheduled c-sections?
Would those births be granted dual citizen status?
How would the birth stats be reported--in the country of birth or in the United States?
Will this be a new trend or will common sense prevail?

Northwest Taking Legal Action Against VBAC Bans

This was recently posted on ICAN, providing legal representation for women seeking Vaginal Births After Cesarean (VBAC), inspite of hospital policies in the Northwestern United States banning them.

I’m a lawyer with the Northwest Women’s Law Center in Seattle. I’m
investigating possible legal responses to bans on vaginal birth after
cesarean at hospitals in the northwest states - Alaska, Idaho, Montana,
Washington and Oregon. If you are currently pregnant and want to have a
VBAC, but are facing a hospital policy that would require you to have a
c-section regardless of whether you want it and whether it is medically
necessary, and are willing to consider working with a lawyer on this, we’d like to talk with you. Please email us at vbacbanhelp@ican-online.org Our services will be provided free of charge.

I believe this is a follow-up to the Seattle PI editorial from September 2008.

Updates

The last couple of weeks could be called the weeks from Hades. Between me and Peter, he had his comprehensive exams to be advanced to Ph.D. candidacy or ABD status (all but dissertation) and I was making the final revisions to my thesis that were suggested by my committee at my defense. On top of that, I'm in my 11th week of pregnancy, the week where either my dream from a few weeks ago would be realized or not. I guess maybe the stress of those weeks could have resulted in a miscarriage but thankfully they haven't.

I'm still pregnant, yay!

Peter passed his exams! yay!

My thesis is done, mailed and delivered! yay!

Not surprisingly, my house is a mess. I guess that's what we'll be working on today. After my massage (my reward for the last couple of weeks).

Willem present at birth

Someone recently asked me the question if I planned for Willem to be present at the birth of his younger brother or sister in May. I have given lots of thought to that and had an experience in the past week that have really made me think about it.

I do want my Chunka to be present while I'm laboring and birthing. My dream is that he'd play with his cars and toys, cuddle with me, come to me give me hugs and kisses, and nurse occasionally, and be asleep for good parts of it. I'd love it if he played in the water with me and made me laugh through labor. Realistically, it could work out that he's sleeping through the night while I bring his brother or sister in the world. But in all fairness he'll be 2 years old, the process can be long and require lots of concentration and space; he may need a place away from mom for both of our sakes. He'll definitely need some of his own support and help because I'll be a little busy during that time.

I was trying to make plans accordingly by asking my doula friend to be there for him during labor and birth. She was okay with that for awhile and then she got freaked out when she realized that she and Chunka won't know each other and he could be uncomfortable with her. She also realized that as a doula/midwife/child care person, her focus would be pulled in all sorts of directions even though she's hired to be there as help for the kid. I understand that and I'm glad she told me that sooner than later, because I'd really be stuck in a lurch if she told me that and I was 33 weeks pregnant.

Now I'm trying to find out what my Plan B is. I do live in a very supportive community where I have friends living next door and across the courtyard. Chunka is comfortable with the kids and the parents, and he'd be nearby so taking him somewhere is not a big deal and having someone bring him back is not a big deal either. Sounds ideal, but I'm very concerned about how supportive my neighbors/friends are of homebirthing. Everyone has had their kids in a hospital and I have no idea how much fear/doubt/discomfort they have regarding homebirthing.

One neighbor is probably more comfortable with it than the others (she's the one who lives right next door, in fact we share a wall). Her sister has had babies at home and is a Bradley instructor and her mom has been a Lamaze instructor. I think she's comfortable with birth but I need to ask her if she's willing to help me out when I'm birthing next door to her.

The other neighbor is very openminded and non judgemental. She's a reader of my blog in fact so she knows exactly what my plans are, and since she knows that I'm worried that she would balk at being apart of those plans.

And the other neighbor, she's kind of in awe of me and never said anything negative about me giving birth at home this pregnancy but at the same time probably harbors all sorts of fears and doubts so I'm really hesitant to ask her.

Basically, I don't want to open myself up to all sort of questions and fears and concerns. Ideally I want someone there for him (and nearby me) who:
1) knows Chunka and he's comfortable with them.
2) is comfortable around birth.
3) lives nearby.
4) won't project their fears surrounding birth on me or my husband.

That's already made me reject the offers from two friends who live locally but further away from me. They are more likely to be more comfortable with birth but they wouldn't have the advantage of taking Willem for a nap at their homes or playing with their children nearby.

At least its still early in the pregnancy and I do have time to figure these sorts of things out.