Filed under: Health and Safety, Pregnancy and Birth, High-risk pregnancy, C-section, Home birth, Midwives, Hospitals

The Wisconsin Guild of Midwives has a list of questions to ask when interviewing a midwife. It is detailed and thorough, but based on my experience, I have something to add.

My third child was born at home.

Yes, I planned it that way. It went so very well, in fact, that I planned to have my fourth one at home with the same midwife. But, the pregnancy was difficult. At 26 weeks (on Christmas morning) I was admitted to the hospital for an induction because the doctors thought I had an unusual, but possibly fatal, pregnancy complication. I was too ill to talk, but John called the midwife to let her know what was happening. She came to the hospital and stayed with us for ten hours. I don't really remember much from that day.

After my odd recovery (women with HELLP syndrome don't generally get well until the baby is delivered), I was doing well enough to stick with my original homebirth plan. But, at 33 weeks I had an emergency c-section due to a placental abruption.









When things had settled somewhat, I got in touch with my midwife. Early in the pregnancy we'd paid her fee in full. I expected that she'd refund a portion of the payment, and thought that I'd be charged for each of the prenatal checkups I'd had, along with any other expenses. I was really surprised when our refund check arrived. She'd charged us an hourly rate of $100 for the ten hours she'd spent with us in the hospital.

I'm not saying that she wasn't entitled to charge us for that visit, or even that she overcharged us for her time. However, I do wish that we'd known about her policy beforehand. We would have called her on Christmas, but asked her not to come to the hospital.

If you are interviewing a midwife, ask her what her policy is in cases where she has to turn over your care. Find out what her hourly rate is, and ask her to notify you when get into a situation where that would apply.

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Filed under: Health and Safety, Kidwear

When my nine year old was four, we passed by a man on the sidewalk who was wearing a patch over his eye. "Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr," my son growled at him, assuming he was a pirate. The man was not amused.

Kids have a hard time wearing patches, too. They can be uncomfortable, annoying and attention-calling. But, they don't have to be ugly, at least!

I ordered my daughter's patches from The Fresnel Prism and Lens Company. One of the things I like most about this company is that they let you create a package of 51 patches, choosing up to three of their awesome designs. I didn't want my daughter to be stuck with the "plain," "girl," or "boy," choices I've seen elsewhere. Her favorite are the fire ones you see at right, and she actually wears them for hours each day. Success!

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Filed under: Gear, Moms

Back in May, Heather Craven wrote about "Mommy business cards." For those of you not in the know, they are business cards, but for stay-at-home parents.

I've recently thought about printing a few up to keep in my purse or the stroller. Heck, I even have a business card sitting on my desktop though I haven't done anything about it.

Have you ever used a "Mommy" business card? I've recently met a few people while out with my children and I wanted to exchange information with them. But, you know, I felt kind of dumb saying "Here, hold this wiggling baby while I search through my purse full of old receipts and melted chocolate to find a pen that may or may not work so I can give you my number that you won't call."

Wouldn't it just be easier to hand them the stinking card? And, of course, my card has to be a little humorous so I can weed out all the "boring" people who would rather discuss the frequency of bowel movements than Britney Spears.

Now if I can only change my email address to "BeMyFriendIWon'tBite at gmail," all would be set.

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Filed under: Health and Safety, Lifestyle, Media, Dads

Professional football players in Britain are stirring up controversy with the freezing of their children's stem cells as "future repair kits."

Eight professional "footballers", as they're called, have frozen their children's stem cells with two different stem cell labs in the past year.

"As a footballer, if you're prone to injury it can mean the end of your career, so having your stem cells - a repair kit if you like - on hand makes sense," said one player, speaking anonymously.

The stem cell storage as future "repair kit" is an experiment.

I think that the term "repair kit" might sound a little trite, but really I see nothing wrong with this. If the athletes have the money and the inclination, and children are not hurt in the process, why not?

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Filed under: Feeding & Nutrition, Health and Safety, Breastfeeding

When my daughter turned 12 months old, I couldn't help but notice a flareup of eczema all over her face. No matter what we tried, it didn't get better.

When I questioned doctors about the eczema, I was told "it just happens."

Turns out that it doesn't always "just happen." My daughter, like many children, had an allergy to milk. Chronic constipation and eczema were some of the main symptoms of her allergy. In fact, once we removed all milk from her diet, we saw an immediate improvement.

So, when my son started showing allergy symptoms, we knew to check into allergies. While we think it isn't an allergy but an intolerance to dairy, I've had to modify my diet. When you're breastfeeding a child with a food allergy, simple things such as going grocery shopping can become very frustrating.

Sometimes, when you're the only one not eating a certain type of food, you can find yourself playing "poor me." Finding support online or in person can help.

Thanks to Ethel for the tip!

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Filed under: Feeding & Nutrition, Health and Safety, Infant / First year, Toddler, Preschooler, Pre-teen, Teenager

My fourth child was born seven weeks early and spent fifteen days in the NICU.

By the time we brought her home, I thought we'd learned everything we needed to know about how to take good care of her. We hadn't: we were unaware that she was at risk for iron deficiency anemia.

It's a long story, but the upshot is that by the time she was eleven months old, she was severely anemic and had to spend ten days in the hospital.

This article at keepkidshealthy.com has great advice for parents of low-birthweight and premature babies, and offers advice for toddlers in general:

"Toddlers who drink more than 16-24 ounces of milk are also at risk for developing iron deficiency. In addition to not having much iron in it, cow's milk decreases how well your body absorbes iron from other foods. And toddlers who are drinking a lot of milk are likely getting filled up and probably aren't eating a lot of foods with iron in it anyway."


Does your child get enough iron?

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Filed under: Pregnant celebrities, Celebrity babies

Foxy football quarterback Matt Leinart (one of People's most beautiful people this year) and USC women's basketball player Brynn Cameron are expecting a baby in the fall.

It's not clear whether the couple were steadily dating, but a source says both Matt, 23, and Brynn, 20, have "support from their families.

Congratulations to the sporty couple - this is sure to be one beautiful baby.

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Filed under: Lifestyle, Media, Newspapers

In the small town where I grew up, there was a family that always had foster kids. I remember going over to the house to play with my friend, and watching with wide eyes as her various foster brothers and sisters got in all kinds of trouble. Without exception, they were troubled, high-maintenance children, and in retrospect I have so much respect for the foster parents. I can't imagine what a difficult - albeit rewarding - job it must be.

So this blurb about a foster couple who have provided shelter for 100 children in England caught my eye. Over two decades, Phil and Pat Simons have been caring for troubled children and are retiring so they can move to Northern England.

Pat said "If there were no foster carers I do not know what would happen to these children. I do not like to think about that."

Kudos to her and her husband for their service to the children who need it most. The world needs more people like them.

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Filed under: Family togetherness, Moms, Dads

I keep thinking that this is the moment in time when Nolan's at his sweetest: I can't imagine him getting any more endearing and therefore I should record this exact moment in time for posterity. It probably explains why I have over 1000 pictures of him stored in Flickr .

We got family portraits taken at the end of January, when Nolan was 6 months old and his thighs were at their most roly-poly, his smile still gummy. But he has changed so extraordinarily since then: he is leaner, with more wisps, his facial expressions are more pronounced. He is funnier, and once again I am certain that he is at his very cutest. However, we can't afford to get photos taken every month to correspond with his radical physical changes. And I am beginning to suspect that his cuteness will not be stopped.

When did you get family portraits done?

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Filed under: Health and Safety, Lifestyle, Media

It's a year after Hurricane Katrina, and believe it or not, there are still victims of the storm who are struggling to get on their feet. It is important for all of us to remember those who have been personally affected and seek ways to help those who are still desperately trying to rebuild their lives.

Hopping to bring renewed attention and aid to the victims of Katrina, Momready.com is announcing a partnership with Been There Clearinghouse, an organization which helps connect Hurricane Katrina victims with willing donors, and has opened the momready Hurricane Clearinghouse.

Anyone can post items, new or used, and services each would like to donate evacuees and they in turn will respond directly to the post. You can also respond to the specific needs of evacuees who have posted their requests.

For more information, click here.

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