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Skadi

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Everything posted by Skadi

  1. I was all set to have a natural delivery with our first child. But after 36 hours of labor, I didn't progress past 4 CM, even with cervadil and pitocin, and eventually I had to have an emergency c-section when my baby's heartrate began to drop. Our local hospital network does not do VBACs if you have never had a vaginal delivery before. The closest hospital that does them is over an hour away, and it may be difficult to get to it in inclement weather. We are weighing our options about whether to try for a VBAC or do multiple repeat c-sections. I know all the statistics for both. Believe me! But what I'm interested in are some anecdotes from real people. I've read lots of VBAC stories, but it's hard to find stories from people who have had 3+ c-sections. How many sections did you have? How did the recovery change each time? Any complications? I'm all ears!
  2. I enjoyed Charles and Emma, if you'd like to just give an overview of his life. There's also an abridged Origin of Species (6 hours long) narrated by Richard Dawkins that you might find useful.
  3. I have used the Eureka Enviro Steam Mop to clean houses part time for the past two years. It's still going strong, I've never had a problem with it. It is so superior to regular mopping that I'll never go back! I bought it over the Shark, etc. because it steams at a higher temperature and has a bit more weight on the head (vs. the handle) which helps it do a better job cleaning, I think. :)
  4. Watership Down by Richard Adams would be a great fit for your kids' ages!
  5. Air. We hardly use disks anymore, and you can buy a separate disk reader if you really need it (I think it's around $50). The 13 hour battery and lightness are incredible. I really think you only need a Pro if you are a Pro (a professional)--that is, a photographer, illustrator, film maker, etc. For the average person, I think Air is just fine.
  6. Peter is #205 in last year's name rankings: http://www.socialsecurity.gov/cgi-bin/popularnames.cgi So not super popular (it's not in the top 100 after all), but not extremely uncommon, either.
  7. A one-time BP test isn't really a good indicator. If you're concerned, you should start taking your own blood pressure at home. Do it at the same time everyday after sitting down for ten or fiteen minutes. A week's worth of results should give you a much clearer picture of what's going on!
  8. I clean houses part time for extra income, and I've used an Eureka Envirosteamer for the past two years. I bought it based on the reviews which found that it gets hotter than the Shark and Bissell. I'm 100% happy with it. Despite using it several times a week in rather large houses for years, it hasn't diminished in its performance at all.
  9. Wow! I'd love to do this when our baby arrives this winter. I wonder how you go about finding a caterer who offers this? I usually think of caterers just doing weddings and events.
  10. For what it's worth, I don't think you're asking too much. That list of things is standard for our household at ages 4 +, with the only difference being that they must wash their own clothes. (For safety's sake, I should note that we do not keep bleach within arm's reach or anything like that.) They get consequences for whining or dawdling. We're not a "military" household, either. I think it's just a matter of what expectations you have for your children influencing what they are truly capable of. Even as little as half a century ago, children helped around the house a lot more than they do today. If I were you, I'd try to pinpoint the real issue going on. Is it that she can't remember all those things she's supposed to do? If so, a visual checklist could help. But I suspect that it has more to do with laziness, since you've always helped her in the past. In that case, I would tell her she has half an hour (or whatever time you think reasonable) to complete these tasks and if she decides to be disobedient and lazy, then she will face serious consequences. What that looks like exactly depends on your parenting style--for us, it could mean taking away anything you have to pick up for her (any clothes on the floor, toys, etc.) for a month. If you're not responsible enough to take care of your things and keep them clean, then you shouldn't have them to begin with.
  11. I wish I could apologize on behalf of America for what we did to Dresden, regentrude. It makes me sick thinking about it. Maybe Americans' attitudes would change if they knew more about Dresden and the Morganthal Plan. :( Speaking of the Nanking Massacre, you should all watch "John Rabe." It's on Netflix right now. One of the best films I've seen in a long time, and certainly one of the most important regarding WWII history. Here's the trailer: http://youtu.be/Wt9-ME6mQqI
  12. The number one reason underage teens don't name the "rapist" is because the sex was consensual, often with a boy only three or four years older than her.
  13. Which version of Middlemarch did you get?
  14. If you have a Mac, it probably came with GarageBand. If I remember right, there are around 30 free lessons for both piano and guitar.
  15. They aren't here, maybe they are in other states? As a private medical office, they can do what they like. Because this friend does surgery at the hospital (not in-office), the hospital can put its own stipulations on what its staff must do. Our local hospital mandated that you must *either* get a flu shot or wear a mask at all times with a small badge that states you are not vaccinated against the flu while working on their premises. My friend chose the latter but was not at all happy about it.
  16. You cannot give a newborn a flu vaccine. The immunity boost they get from the mother being vaccinated is only slight--somewhere between 20 and 40% if I remember right. It is because a newborn cannot be vaccinated against whooping cough or the flu that makes this a concern for us. We will not be bringing a newborn to the grocery store or a restaurant. We do not bring our newborns in public for the first two months unless we absolutely have to. I'm not saying that this will protect the baby 100%--of course not. Nothing is ever 100%. But I'm saying that you cannot equivocate exposing a newborn to a respiratory medical worker who is NOT vaccinated and who does NOT wear a mask in their office to a trip to the grocery store. The medical worker is far, far more high risk.
  17. People repeatedly have said things to the effect of, "It doesn't matter whether you are vaccinated." I specifically said in the OP that we believe it does matter, and I am not interested in discussing the merits of it--that the advice I am looking for should be given in the context of *this* is what we believe, *these* are the choices we make based on what we feel is important. Simply saying, "Oh, well, it doesn't matter if you get vaccinated," is unhelpful to say the least. I also said that the point of this post was (quoting from the OP): "I'm just wondering if there's any non-offensive way to tell them that we want to put our baby's safety first, even if they don't agree with our choices. Maybe we should say that we're taking some time to ourselves without any visitors at all, so we don't single them out? For how long?" Maybe I wasn't clear enough, but I was looking for ways to minimize this family's hurt feelings / defensiveness while still putting the interests of our newborn first.
  18. Yes, we know that all our other (close) friends get vaccinated. It comes up because much of our social circle talks about politics and vaccinations is one point of that. Several of our friends are libertarians, and that's a hot topic for them. My DH is in a science/math field, so even barring politics, it has come up as a "What do you think of that case where..." or "Have you heard about...?" in relation to vaccines. So we know, from previous conversations, what our friends think about vaccinations. I'm not sure why that seems so unusual. If I believed, as one poster said previously, that "you're just as likely to get the flu from someone who is vaccinated," we wouldn't bother with vaccines in the first place. As it happens, the data shows that healthy adults have a 90% reduced chance of getting the flu if they are vaccinated. So it makes sense to us to NOT treat everyone equally, when having the vaccine greatly reduces the chance they might spread a virus to newborn. Just because there's a 10% chance the person could still have the flu, doesn't mean an unvaccinated person should be treated the same, IMHO.
  19. Maybe it's a regional thing. All of our other friends and family get vaccinated against the flu. Some of them do so because they work in schools or libraries, but mostly it just seems like a cultural norm. "Hey, it's fall, we better get our flu shots."
  20. The friend who works in the medical field is often around very sick people without wearing a mask in her office. The friend complained that when she does work at the hospital, the hospital MAKES her wear a mask and she thinks it's an overblown concern. Based on that, I think this friend (and the family) is more high risk than the staff at the hospital or a random person on the street. But for what it's worth, we don't intend on taking our newborn out in public for the first two months because they haven't yet had most of their vaccines and their immunity is so low at that point.
  21. Oh yes, I forgot to mention that I'm getting the Pertussis vaccine while pregnant, too. I guess I'm honing in on the flu just because it's so much more common. I'll have to ask my husband about your idea. Usually, he is pretty adverse to outright lying, but in this case, it might be the only alternative that doesn't involve hurt feelings.
  22. I will be giving birth at the height of flu season this winter. I'll be getting the flu vaccine in August, which studies show will help the newborn's immunity slightly (but just slightly). The problem is, some very good friends of ours are anti-vax (and yes, we know they specifically oppose the flu vaccine as well). Up until this point, we've "passed the bean dip" whenever it comes up, because we know that no one is going to change their minds and it's a personal decision every preson has to make. These friends have lots of kids (you know how kids carry sickness). One of these friends works in the medical field and is routinely around sick people with respitory infections, etc. Am I being a crazy hormonal pregnant lady by thinking that we should be concerned about exposing our newborn to non-vaccinated people? It's mostly the flu that I'm worried about. These friends are very dear to us. I would say that they are some of our closest friends. So it seems really rude to tell them that we don't feel it's safe to have them around our newborn. And even if we did that, when would we say it's okay for them to meet our new baby? One month? Two? Please try not to make this into a vax/anti-vax thread. I am very well aware of the arguments on both sides and don't need a lecture on why my friends believe what they do. I'm just wondering if there's any non-offensive way to tell them that we want to put our baby's safety first, even if they don't agree with our choices. Maybe we should say that we're taking some time to ourselves without any visitors at all, so we don't single them out? For how long?
  23. Prince Charles also lobbies to get the NHS to cover things like homeopathy: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/hes-at-it-again-prince-charles-accused-of-lobbying-health-secretary-over-homeopathy-8723145.html Even though homeopathy has been proven again and again not to work and has led to children dying who received no other treatment. :(
  24. Christians who use the word "convicted" all the time. "I was convicted the other day..." "I think she's been convicted!" Ugh!
  25. "[Jesus] said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.†—Luke 22:36, NIV A sword was the equivalent of a gun in those times...
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