Hypotheically

So let's say you have this super new car? And pretty much everyone you know is getting this same car. Let's say that you find some amazing information on how to make this car better. You find out how to make the car run better, look better, feel better and last longer. And best of all, the things you can do are FREE and so much easier than the way you have been taking care of the car. Not to say the way you have been taking care of the car is wrong but there is a better way to take care of it that you didn't know about fully. The way that it was supposed to be taken care of. Wouldn't you want to know about it? Wouldn't you want your friends to tell you if they had this information? I know I sure would.

WHY IS IT DIFFERENT WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR CHILD? Why do you get offended when people simply try to share information that can make your child healthier, happier and live longer?

"I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better."
— Maya Angelou

This never gets old

A Newborn's Conversation with God

A baby asked God, "They tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow,
but how am I going to live there being so small and helpless?"

God said, "Your angel will be waiting for you and will take care of you."

The child further inquired, "But tell me, here in heaven I don't have
to do anything but sing and smile to be happy."

God said, "Your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you.
And you will feel your angel's love and be very happy."

Again the small child asked, "And how am I going to be able to understand
when people talk to me if I don't know the language?"

God said, "Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words
you will ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will
teach you how to speak."

"And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?"

God said, "Your angel will place your hands together and will teach
you how to pray."

"Who will protect me?"

God said, "Your angel will defend you even if it means risking its life."

"But I will always be sad because I will not see you anymore."

God said, "Your angel will always talk to you about Me and will teach
you the way to come back to Me, even though I will always be next to you."

At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from Earth
could be heard and the child hurriedly asked, "God, if I am to leave
now, please tell me my angel's name."

God said, You will simply call her, "Mom."

I think a very important part of being a mother is molding the spiritual person your child will become. I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am that we are in church and developing a closer relationship with God. There is something amazing about seeing your husband come to know the Lord.  

Blog layout

I am going to make this my parenting blog. I am going to start a new one with personal info so if you want that just let me know!

Magic Boobies

Goodness I learned so much I don't even know where to start! I am not sure anyone would want to hear everything I learned but I am so full of amazing information I need to put it somewhere! Poor Tim knows more about boobies than I think any man in the world. Ha.

Did you know breastmilk actually fights cancer??
Breastmilk contains a substance called a-lactalbumin which ingested to the stomach of an infant/toddler binds to oleic acid and becomes "HAMLET" Human a lactalbumin made LETHAL to tumor cells. "HAMLET" induces cell in vitro death in tumor cells, but normal cells survive.

Here is a link to pub med that talks about it some more http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7644538

The human body is simply AMAZING!

Not breastfeeding increases the risk of high cholesterol later in life. Cholesterol is in human milk but is not present in formula. One would think this is a bad thing but in fact its not! The baby's body will compensate for the lack of cholesterol in the formula and will start to make its own. This turns the system on overdrive because this is not they way they were designed to be fed. Because of the formula, later in life the body is already set up to make extra cholesterol which we all know is a very bad thing when it comes to heart disease!

We learned about how milk actually protects against the specific germs and bacteria that the mom and baby come into contact with on a day to day basis! It actually goes through the babies body and binds to specific germs and flushes them out in the GI tract about every two hours! The science behind all of this is so cool.

If breastfeeding rates just jumped 7% in the hospital we would save 3.8 BILLION dollars on treating only 3 illnesses. Ear infections, respiratory infections and diarrhea. That is simply amazing. That is not even counting everything else out there that breastfeeding protects against like obesity, leukemia, diabetes, high cholesterol etc.

We are just now beginning to find out everything there is to know about breastmilk but it is already being used in chemo patients around the world so clearly there are healing properties we have only begun to find.

I am trying to space out everything so I don't overwhelm anyone so I will continue to post on the matter for a while!


Use those boobies God gave you!

Principles of Lactation Management

I had a wonderful WONDERFUL day! I have never been so excited to learn anything as I was today. I was listening to every word from the instructors and it was awesome being around people that care about breastfeeding! I can not wait to make this my work. Right now my work is Tyler of course but one day I will have to be back to work and I am excited at the thought of helping moms or even promoting breastfeeding. My good friend Lauren works for the Lance Armstrong foundation and is always promoting healthy lifestyles and I know they would love to hear about the vast benefits of breastfeeding.

It is shocking to me that anyone would not breastfeed their children. It truly is. I understand that there are circumstances beyond control but generally people just don't try at all or don't try hard enough and I simply don't understand. I even prayed about it on the way to the class because it is simply the way our Heavenly Father designed our babies to be fed. Its simply physiology.

I can and will keep going on this topic but I am pooped today!

Extended Rear Facing in the Car

This seems to be a hotpoint for some and I really don't understand why. I understand that there are some parts of parenting that can be "this or that" but when it comes to your child's safety WHY on earth would you take a chance?

I hear it all the time from parents when we discuss this matter. I hear how the child was unhappy rear facing or uncomfortable and various other "excuses". Of course we would all love to see our children facing us in the car and look at their beautiful faces. Of course we want them to be comfortable and happy. What good parent would not want that? I know Tyler would love to be turned around and would probably throw less fits in the car but I am his mother and I have to keep him safe. In my opinion SAFE is far far above HAPPY when it comes to being a good parent.

Keeping the kids rear facing is by far the safest way for them to be in a car. To me a broken neck or back is not worth risking just to make my kid "happy".

Here are all the stats....

Even with best practice, not all injuries can be prevented. Some crashes are unsurvivable. &nbsp Still, much of best practice is based on statistics, and how to have the best chance to reduce injuries. Best practice may also be based on crash forces and physics. Both are very important regarding the use of rear facing seats.

A few factors govern the physics of crashes as they relate to children in carseats. Obviously, the faster the vehicles are going, the more energy will be in the crash. Similarly, heavier vehicles will also have more energy. Perhaps most important is the length of time passengers have to "ride-down" a crash. The longer the "ride-down", the more time your skeleton and organs have to absorb the crash energy. Longer time means less power is transferred to your body, and less chance of injury.

• Statistics. According to Crashtest.Com, frontal and frontal offset crashes combine for about 72% of severe crashes. Side impacts are about 24%. Rear and rear offset crashes only account for about 4%. The NHTSA FARS database shows similar numbers. The odds of being in a frontal crash with a fatality or very serious injury are many times greater than being in a severe rear-end crash. Rear-enders are more common at lower speeds, though most injuries in these crashes are not as severe; typically whiplash injuries to adults, especially passengers lacking proper head restraint.
  
  
• Crash Energy. Vehicle speed is very important to the energy in a crash, even more important than vehicle weight. Frontal and frontal offset crashes are the most severe because they often happen with both vehicles traveling at high speeds in opposite directions.
  
  Rear and rear offset crashes, on the other hand, often happen at lower speeds. In many cases, one vehicle is stopped or nearly stopped, and the other hits it from behind at a relatively low speed. Other times both vehicles are traveling in the same direction at similar speeds when one is bumped from behind. Either way, the difference in the speed of the vehicles is usually much lower in rear end crashes, and so the energy in the crash will also be much lower. Lower energy means less chance of injury.
  
  
• Ride-Down Time. Child Passenger Safety advocates often stress the importance of "Ride-Down Time." This term simply refers to the time it takes for a person to come to a complete stop in a crash. This is important because the total force on the passenger increases with both the weight of the person and with the speed they were traveling before the crash. On the other hand, the total force on the passenger decreases significantly as the time it takes to stop increases. While we have often have no control of the speeds involved in a crash, we can do some things to help increase the time it takes for a passenger to come to a stop. As mentioned earlier, in a frontal crash the vehicles are often traveling in opposite directions at high speeds. When they crash, both vehicles stop very suddenly, in a small fraction of a second. Even a slight increase in this stopping time can reduce the risk of injury considerably. This is perhaps the most fundamental concept in keeping passengers alive in a crash.
  
  Take the case of a child in a carseat. Ideally, you want the child coupled as tightly as possible to the harness system and carseat, and the carseat coupled as tightly as possible to the vehicle with the seatbelt or LATCH system. When you do this, the child gains all the benefit of "ride-down time" provided by the crushing frame of the vehicle in a crash. With a loose installation of any kind, the child gets less ride down time and suffers a more severe crash into the harness system. The analogy is that a tight installation is like catching an egg when you "give" backward with your hand to prevent it from breaking. A loose installation will be more like holding your arm and hand rigid when you catch the egg. The egg will splatter in your hand if you don't give, much like what happens to the internal organs of a person when they are flung into a loose seatbelt or harness. By giving with your arm, you cause the egg to slow down gradually, increasing its ride-down time. Vehicle frames, advanced seatbelts and airbags are all designed to help passengers slow down more gradually. Carseats themselves are not designed provide much ride-down time; their main functions are to prevent ejection and to allow the child to be coupled tightly to the vehicle so the frame can provide the necessary ride-down time.
  
  Fortunately, rear-end crashes allow for a lot more ride-down time than frontal crashes. We already mentioned that the potential energy in a rear-end crash is usually lower than a frontal crash because the speeds involved are slower. In addition, the two vehicles are not usually moving toward each other like they would be in a frontal crash. That often means one vehicle is allowed to "give", and the overall ride-down times for both vehicles are much greater, meaning lower forces on the passengers.
  
  
• Forces and Area. We know that frontal and frontal offset crashes are more frequent, more severe and usually have less ride-down time than rear-end crashes. In such a frontal crash, it is easy to see why a rear-facing carseat is a better choice. The entire shell of the carseat cradles the child's back, neck and head. Some seats even have foam protection in the shell to cushion the child even more. The crash forces are spread throughout the large area of the child's back and head, reducing the pressure during the crash, and keeping the head from snapping backward with respect to the body.&nbsp Unlike this rear-facing carseat, a child's legs and head are not restrained at all if they are turned front-facing. In a serious frontal crash with a front-facing carseat, the head and legs of the child are thrown forward like a rag doll, and serious forces are put on the child's spinal cord. In a front-facing carseat, only the harness couples the energy to the child's body. The smaller area of the harness means more pressure on the child. In the egg analogy, the egg is much less likely to break if it is caught using the whole padded area of your hand rather than with just a couple bony fingers.
  
  Similarly, for the uncommon rear-end crash, a front-facing carseat may be safer than a rear-facing model. Still, rear-end crashes are much less common and much less severe than frontal crashes, and it is for that reason we choose to maximize the protection for a frontal crash instead. In addition, rear-facing carseats can also provide an added degree of safety in side-impacts. Rear-facing seats will usually protect the head from being thrown outside the shell of the carseat much better than a front-facing carseat in a frontal offset or side impact. Even a minor rear-end crash can be serious for front-facing adults without proper head restraints, but this is usually not an issue for children in properly fitted carseats and boosters.
  
  
• Physiology. For the reasons listed, rear-facing not only turns out to be safer for infants, but for people of all ages. In fact, we would all be safer rear-facing in cars, airplanes, trains and elsewhere. Of course, this would not be acceptable to most adults. Fortunately, adults are somewhat better able to withstand the forces on the head and neck in a severe crash when they are front-facing. Babies have very immature bones and connective tissue, and this is especially the case when they are younger than 1 year or under 20 pounds. For that reason, front-facing babies face a particularly serious risk of spinal cord injury in a frontal crash.
  
  

When used properly, rear-facing carseats provide significant safety advantages in frontal, frontal offset and side impacts. These types of crashes are far more frequent and severe than rear-end crashes. For these reasons, rear-facing is the safest mode of travel, especially for infants. In the USA, this recommendation is valid through the 30, 33 or 35 pound maximum rear-facing weight limit of newer convertible carseats, or until the child outgrows their convertible carseat by height. The height limit of a rear-facing carseat may be listed in the owner's manual. A child is also considered too tall for a rear-facing seat if the top of their head is at the level of the top of the carseat shell. It is NOT considered a safety issue if a child's legs are bent at the knees in a rear-facing carseat, or if their feet can touch the vehicle's seat back. At a very minimum, children should remain rear-facing until AT LEAST one year of age AND 20 pounds in weight. In countries like Sweden, children are often kept rear-facing much longer, even to 3 or 4 years old. Auto related injury and death rates for rear-facing children in Sweden are near zero because of this.

This blog

This blog will be a mix of studies I find interesting regarding our parenting and my personal stuff.

The topics will consist of:

Breastfeeding including extended
Natural Childbirth
Extended Rear Facing Car seats
Herbs, homeopathic medicine
Non Cry it Out
Delayed, Non Vaccinating
Pregnancy
Trying to Conceive

I realize these are topics that not everyone sees eye to eye on but this is my blog and I will post what I want! Ha.

TTC #2

Well we are currently TTC. For those that are not in with the lingo that means Trying to Concieve. Thats right... we are trying for number 2. I know most of you already know this because 1. I don't even know if I have any followers and 2. I share all my life with everyone and their mom. Literally. :)

This seems to be trickier than last time because of breastfeeding. Breastfeeding does a few things to decrease your fertility.

• Increases prolactin which inhibits ovulation so I am ovulating VERY late.
  
• Decreases progesterone which shortens your luteal phase ( the time after ovulation) and makes it difficult for a fertilized egg to implant even if conception took place!
  
• Decreases your sexual libidio ( in some women)
  

So pretty much we have our work cut out for us! I have started acupunture so it has helped me out tremendously so far! My cycles were about 45-60 days and now they are in the 30's which is getting almost close to normal! I love my acupuncture time. It is very relaxing and I know it is doing good things for my whole body. We have technically been trying for 8 months now! We concieved in July but it was very short lived as I started bleeding the very next day after the positive test. It was hard on us but I know things happen for a reason as Tyler is no where near ready to wean or share and I would be due in two months if that were the case.

It is a pretty common misconception that you can not nurse during pregnancy or nurse two! I fully plan on responding to Tylers needs and if that means continuing to nurse him we will do it!

This month we are pulling out all the stops on our TTC journey.

• Taking Vitex to help regulate my cycles
• Tim is on Maca Root and Zinc
• Charting as usual. www.fertilityfriend.com/prettygirls
• We are planning on using raw egg whites as lubrication as instructed in "Taking charge of your fertility"
• We will have "together time" every other day starting on day 10 of my cycle until we confirm ovulation with a temperature shift
• I will be taking ovulation predictor tests starting on day 10

Now that you know more than you could ever care to about my sex life and lubrication I am out for the day.

We are doing a raw vegan detox this weekend so I will update about that as well. I also am starting my journey to become a lactation consultant and I have my first class next week!

I suck at blogging and have no idea if anyone sees this.

I will try to be better this year. I figure people know more than they would like on facebook as it is. ;)