Crunchy Parenting

That’s right kids, the AMA could give jack crap about your right to privacy and your right to choose.  In a move of blatant disregard for the entire populace of this country, the AMA, in conjunction with ACOG has introduced legislation seeking to make any sort of homebirth, assisted or otherwise, illegal.

AMA reference committee B legislation #205:

Whereas, Twenty-one states currently license midwives to attend home births, all using the certified professional midwife (CPM) credential (CPM or “lay” midwives), not the certified midwives (CM) credential which both the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and American College of Nurse Midwives (ACNM) recognize ; and

Whereas, There has been much attention in the media by celebrities having home deliveries, with recent Today Show headings such as “Ricki Lake takes on baby birthing industry: Actress and former talk show host shares her at-home delivery in new film” ; and

Whereas, An apparently uncomplicated pregnancy or delivery can quickly become very complicated in the setting of maternal hemorrhage, shoulder dystocia, eclampsia or other obstetric emergencies, necessitating the need for rigorous standards, appropriate oversight of obstetric providers, and the availability of emergency care, for the health of both the mother and the baby during a delivery; therefore be it

RESOLVED, That our American Medical Association support the recent American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) statement that “the safest setting for labor, delivery, and the immediate post-partum period is in the hospital, or a birthing center within a hospital complex, that meets standards jointly outlined by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and ACOG, or in a freestanding birthing center that meets the standards of the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, The Joint Commission, or the American Association of Birth Centers” (New HOD Policy); and be it further

RESOLVED, That our AMA develop model legislation in support of the concept that the safest setting for labor, delivery, and the immediate post-partum period is in the hospital, or a birthing center within a hospital complex, that meets standards jointly outlined by the AAP and ACOG, or in a freestanding birthing center that meets the standards of the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, The Joint Commission, or the American Association of Birth Centers.” (Directive to Take Action)

Fiscal Note: Implement accordingly at estimated staff cost of $1,929.

I cannot stress enough how this pains me, as it is a deliberate, calculated attack on women.  We are just now, 88 years after the ratification of the women’s suffrage act, beginning to embrace our powers over our bodies and our births and wouldn’t you know the first big battle is one to take away our voices entirely.  I am baffled, angry, and mostly terrified.

But through my terror I sit and I write, and I do so as a woman who will not be silenced by fear, there’s no room for that.  I will be writing every Senator and Representative I can find on a daily basis until I can be assured beyond a shadow of a doubt that this filth is nothing more than a bad dream.  A dangerous unscientific piece of drivel written by a group of stodgy doctors who are finding their incomes threatened will be no match for the passion of women who have claimed the power of birth for themselves and are willing to apply it to maintaining their constitutional freedoms.

Okay I admit it openly.  And without shame.  But if I weren’t  bad blogger I’d be a boring blogger and IMHO that’s worse.

In the near future though I hope you will look to hyenacart for a new store - Insomnia Mama should be opening sometime in the next month!  Stay Tuned!

I have so much yarn, roving, top and other fiber sitting round the house just waiting for a wheel on which to be spun. And a wheel is finally on it’s way! But I have to wait for my to do list to shorten substantially before I get to play with my new toys.

Sissi needs 18+ diapers, and has paid me off with my first crafting love, fabric and notions.

Lindsay needs diapers, covers, and more family cloth. We bartered sewing in exchange for Vera Bradley. Darn you Vera and you attractive handbags, backpacks, and cotton loungewear!

I’m in the midst of a trade with a DSD mom, 6 small/medium fitteds for 3 skeins of yarn.

I have a diaper shower to complete, my current WIP knitting and the two diapers that will go with it.

Oh and a gift for a friend in Chicago who just had a baby girl. I had been planning on making her a complete NB/small stash but it just isn’t going to happen. Which is tragic because I had most of them cut out and everything just got to busy. So now she will get 9 NB/small fitteds and I will have others cut out for another friend who isn’t due until a while later.

All in all that is 41 diapers, 6 covers, 1 pair of longies, and however much family cloth L sent me to serge. The sheer volume is almost overwhelming, but if I could just get one good day of sewing in I could knock most of it out. The most daunting task is all the snapping, I’m so excited that I *can* snap things but I hate doing it, I can’t squish hard enough without putting my full body weight on the press. What a pain.

Oh my beautiful Kromski Minstrel, when will I ever get to discover all the mysteries of you?

Oh and did I mention I am newly addicted to ravelry? Yeah, we’re gonna have time issues there

So after many annoying months of lockout I can finally blog again! Don’t know what happened with wordpress but for some reason it was angry. Since I have no real time or subject for todays post I think I’ll just show what I’ve been doing to keep myself busy. Ready for this?

Add on to that a pair of small shorties, a pair of NB longies (embroidered and overdyed), three or four more diapers, a dress, and 4 skeins of yarn and you have the last month or so of my crafting. Go me! Oh yeah and go my parents, who came for two weeks and completely remodeled my kitchen, new cabinets and counter tops (and a high efficiency super quiet dishwasher!) rock!

Yes, its been a couple weeks since our last blog post. Between Stephanie being on vacation (no, she didn’t come visit me) and me dealing with family issues, everyone has been too busy to post anything. However, I plan to do my best to get back to posting more often.

Today I want to share an email I received from Dana (Steph’s mom, my step-mom) a few days ago.

 MSN headline March 13, 2008:  Foreclosures up 60%
from the article:  “The overall U.S. foreclosure rate last month was one filing for every 557 homes.” and: “Nevada had the nation’s highest foreclosure rate, with one in every 165 households receiving at least one foreclosure-related notice.”
 
AP article Feb. 9, 2007:  “ATLANTA - The largest U.S. study of childhood autism to date has found that about 1 in 150 have the disorder — a higher prevalence than previous national estimates.”
 
Now I’m sure there are later and greater studies on autism, but this one serves the purpose here, which is:  where are our country’s priorities?  The media scare tactics on the housing market is driving the stock market down, and causing general panic in the economy, when in reality the foreclosure rate is 1:557, except for California, Florida, and Nevada (where overbuilding, over lending, and general greed are the primary factors).  In Nevada, the worst case scenario, it’s 1:165.  Autism rates are 1:150, or greater.  Shouldn’t this be the panic headline?  Yet every day we are bombarded with housing “nightmares” in the news.  What’s more important here?  (And I’m not even getting into the cause of it; that’s your generation’s fight!)
 
But, to keep things in perspective, poor Alex Rodriguez baseball contract does expire this year, and with this bad economy, can the Yankees afford to renew his $27,500,000 a year? 
 
Sometimes I’m glad I’m getting old, leaving the problems to you all.  Too bad I’m getting grouchy with it too!  At least you don’t have to be around me when the news is on… count your blessings!
 
Love you all,
mom

I couldn’t have said it better myself. I hope she doesn’t mind that I shared it. Its amazing how often this epidemic is overlooked, down played, or flat out ignored. When will our leadership stand up and demand that something be done? Oh, I know… when they decide to reform lobbying, stop accepting bribes (lets call them what they are) and incentives from the drug manufacturers and actually do something about the conflict of interests and out right fraud that is going on within the medical cult.

Why do I call it a cult? Well… lets look at the definition of the word ‘cult’…

NOUN:

1. 1. A religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader.
   2. The followers of such a religion or sect.
2. A system or community of religious worship and ritual.
3. The formal means of expressing religious reverence; religious ceremony and ritual.
4. A usually nonscientific method or regimen claimed by its originator to have exclusive or exceptional power in curing a particular disease.
5. 1. Obsessive, especially faddish, devotion to or veneration for a person, principle, or thing.
   2. The object of such devotion.
6. An exclusive group of persons sharing an esoteric, usually artistic or intellectual interest.

When was the last time you went against your doctors advice? I mean blatently went against his advice? For those of us who don’t vaccinate, or choose to homebirth, etc… You will know exactly what I mean. You are treated as if you walked into a church and cussed out the pastor in the middle of a baptism. Look at numbers 4, 5, and 6. Doesn’t that describe the medical community? If you aren’t doing exactly as they tell you to do, then you are an outcast. After all, entirely too many (not ‘all’, there are some VERY GOOD medical care givers out there, they are just unfortunatly out numbered) act as if they have divine knowledge of the human body and because you didn’t attend medical school you couldn’t possibly know what you are talking about. Hmm… sounds like a cult to me… ‘if you don’t believe as I tell you to believe, then you are a sinner and must be ostracized from the group”.

 We must learn to educate ourselves, to make decisions based on that research and stand up for our decisions in the face of this ever growing epidemic. Obviously the medical cult, to include the CDC, FDA, AMA, AAP, even our own government have shown absolutely no intention of protecting our children from this growing epidemic. They are too busy pointing their fingers away from what they say couldn’t possibly be the cause or contributor, rather than openly researching the actual cause and finding not only how to prevent it, but to heal those who have been effected by autism, as well as injured in other ways by vaccines and other synthetic medications.

 We must also take the time to respond and educate those who hold the publics attention such as the media. This Story is just one more example of how the media twists things. Writing a letter to a news paper editor may not seem to be very effective, but if it gets even one person to begin to do their own research, then thats one less person who will blindly follow the cult of medicine.

According to a study published in the February, 2006 Journal of Child Neurology, authored by physicians from John Hopkins, Boston Children’s Hospital, and Georgia State University…

To our knowledge, this is the first description of an autistic child with mitochondrial dysfunction, growth failure, and abnormal muscle histopathology without seizures or a defined chromosomal abnormality. This patient exemplifies important questions about mitochondrial function in autism and developmental regression. It is unclear whether mitochondrial dysfunction results from a primary genetic abnormality, atypical development of essential metabolic pathways, or secondary inhibition of oxidative phosphorylation by other factors. If such dysfunction is present at the time of infections and immunizations in young children, the added oxidative stresses from immune activation on cellular energy metabolism are likely to be especially critical for the central nervous system, which is highly dependent on mitochondrial function. Young children who have dysfunctional cellular energy metabolism therefore might be more prone to undergo autistic regression between 18 and 30 months of age if they also have infections or immunizations at the same time. (emphasis mine)

Although patterns of regression can be genetically and prenatally determined, it is possible that underlying mitochondrial dysfunction can either exacerbate or affect the severity of regression. Abnormalities of oxidative phosphorylation can be developmental and age related and can normalize with time.

I find it interesting in the light of “there is no conclusive evidence of any connection between vaccinations and autism” that there ARE doctors who are finding at least the possibility of vaccinations being a trigger. I do not feel that vaccinations are the end-all-be-all cause of Autism, but I do believe they play a definitive roll in the current epidemic. I also believe that the simple “it’s genetic” doesn’t fit for explaining the overwhelming upsurge of autism rates. Anyone who has ever taken a biology course knows that genetic mutation/evolution only occurs in response to an outside stimulus as a means to survive a threat to life (such as Sickle Cell mutation which occurred within the human to combat malaria).  If that is the case that some doctors are arguing, what is it that the human body is trying to protect itself from? Perhaps all the toxins that assault our bodies each and every day (processed/genetically engineered foods, cleaning chemicals, vaccinations, etc)? If it is a genetic mutation, why are we seeing cases of regressive autism without that chromosomal metamorphosis?

I think this study is just one more in the plethora of reasons that the FDA, CDC, AMA, APA and many, many others need to stop pointing their fingers away from vaccines and do open, honest studies into the cause of autism. Leave the pharmaceutical companies out of it, they have entirely too much to loose to be unbiased. If it isn’t the vaccines (or perhaps their toxic ingredients), FIND OUT WHAT IS CAUSING THIS TO HAPPEN TO OUR CHILDREN!

In the early 80’s there was public outcry for studies to be done into the causes of HIV/AIDS which resulted in a nationwide studies and an education program to teach what HIV is, how to protect yourself, and so forth. In the early 90’s there was a huge scandal with the tobacco industry. They were being sued left and right for compensation after their product was found to cause lung cancer, the tobacco industry even published its own studies saying tobacco was completely safe. I find it rather insulting that history seems to be repeating itself and yet no one is willing to do anything. No one in a position of power is willing to learn from the mistakes of our past and see if they apply to our present. Is Autism our generations ‘lung cancer’? Will we be fortunate enough to have a whistle blower make a stand? Will it be in time to save a generation of children from slipping into autism?

I would suggest that we all call our Congressmen and demand that a full scale investigation be done, but unfortunately the pharmaceutical companies have their hands in entirely too many of their pockets for it to do much, if any, good. After all, it was our elected officials who added the Eli Lily act to the Homeland Security Bill of 2002 (which was later repealed, though it does continue to turn up in other bills from time to time). In light of this epidemic, its time for parents to take the stand and demand answers. Scream it from the mountain tops. Margaret Mead said it best, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”  

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An internal email from the AAP regarding media relations shows just how low the AAP has sunk in their quest to keep children poisoned… oops I mean vaccinated.

It seems the AAP is feeling a bit put off by the recent media attention in regards to vaccinations and their link to autism. The fact that there are so many parents of children who have been affected by autism spectrum disorders and are willing to speak publicly has the AAP ‘wagging the dog’ and looking for families whose children are on the autism spectrum but do not feel it was induced by vaccinations as well as families whose children suffered from vaccine preventable diseases.

Personally, I think it is ridiculous. They fight to keep fictional television shows off the air because they dramatize something that they disagree with (the notion that vaccines can cause, or at least trigger autism spectrum disorders), and yet when the media doesn’t cower to their demands the AAP is left to scramble. The fact that they are looking for parents who happen to agree with them, or who didn’t/couldn’t vaccinate and their child got sick to further manipulate parents into vaccinating shows how absolutely desperate they have become.

How long ago was it that the big tobacco companies were trying to desperately to convince the public that their products didn’t cause cancer? How many fraudulent studies were published by the tobacco companies saying that they were not the cause of the cancers that were killing so many people who used their products? How long before a whistle blower stands up and shows the world the evidence that so many parents with regressively autistic children already know?

How long before the world wakes up to the fact that we cannot continue to inject known neuro-toxins and carcinogens into our children’s bodies and then ignore the fact that autism rates have sky rocketed from 1:10,000 in 1987 to 1:150 today (unless you can show me the same ratio of autism in other age groups - such as 1:150 in the adult or geriatric populations), not to mention childhood Type I Diabetes, and auto-immune disorders.

Allow me to take a moment to profess my love and affection for Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy. They recently funded the publication of an anti-vax advertisement in USA today. I’ve never been a huge fan of Jim’s, he was enjoyable but not the guy that I would go out of my way to see. But this just shot him up, like, a notch.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m ever so much more fond of Ms McCarthy as well, but here’s the thing, Carrey is stepping up to the plate for a child to whom he has no biological connection, making a claim completely out of love for a woman and her son. And that takes a real man. So to that I say go Jim go!

I was ecstatic today when I read that John C. McGinley and his wife had a daughter Saturday in a home water birth. I think it’s amazing when someone is able to have a good experience with birth, especially when that someone is in the public eye but not obtrusive about it.

But then I start reading homebirthers’ response to it and I find myself on the other side of my own issue. I like activism I think its great. But it irks me to no end to hear “well now maybe they’ll put a homebirth on Scrubs” or”he should talk to his producers about how the show can portray homebirth in a good light”.

It’s not that I don’t think homebirth is frequently vilified by mass media and mainstream parenting magazines, I do. But it is not the job of a fictional television show to educate the whole world. Especially now that said show has been canceled (I reserve the right to stay bitter about this for a long long time BTW). And with a new baby to take care of I would never ask that of a homebirthing family.

It’s been my experience that the mainstream viewers of shows like Scrubs aren’t looking for a message promoting the agenda of an actor or his wife. And when they see it on there they think, oh look someone is pushing their agenda again. Frankly I’ve been impressed with Scrubs quite often even if they don’t glorify natural birth choices - they don’t glorify hospital choices either. I’m going to take a moment here to prove what a huge geek I really am but this is a show that has shown every main character to give birth breastfeeding Carla, Jordan and Kim), and the only c-sections that have been done for legitimate medical reasons (cord prolapse with Carla and Jordan’s section with Jennifer Dylan after prenatal microsurgery). Given the fact that neither were glorified and they even went to great lengths to show the effects of post partum depression I’d say they are doing alright for a show that takes place in a hospital.

Look, the revolution is coming, homebirth is being brought into the mainstream as an option and soon it will be be on TV somewhere, I’m sure of it. In the meantime, lets congratulate John C and his wife, hope that they give an interview in a mainstream magazine and not push him into a role he doesn’t necessarily want as homebirth defender. After all, isn’t coached pushing one of the reasons we do what we do?