Mounds of Paper

I am very much into de-cluttering and organizing our house lately. Gee, could that have anything to do with the impending arrival of baby # 3? ;) I was sorting through another pile of papers that had occupied one corner of our computer room and yes, I was able to recycle a good amount. However, I was simply amazed at the sheer amount of paperwork one family accumulates!!! We are doing our part . . . we have many bills that we pay online and we recycle just about every scrap of paper that comes across our home. I am also getting better about "letting go" of things/papers in general, but we still have plenty that we need to hold onto, tucked away in our file cabinet (e.g. taxes, bills, receipts, my ASHA certification, Bradley certification, etc.). I'm not even certain you will be able to read some of these receipts in 7 years anyway . . . let's just hope we are never audited.

Ah and the reminder, at the top of my "to do" list this week = TAXES! I really don't want that hanging over my head after baby is here. I would rather just enjoy baby with leisurely nursing sessions and revel in the newborn stage all over again.

Back to my original point: why do we have all this paper anyway? There is a certain amount needed for proof and verification purposes (whatever happened to the good old handshake and promise?), but I wonder if some of it is a vain attempt on our part to show that our lives have had meaning . . . that we had a purpose . . . that we were loved, appreciated . . . that we were making personal progress in some fashion. Just wondering out loud. All I do know is that I would be a much less stressed person if I could chuck 80% of this into the recycling bin. ;)

St. Valentine's Day

I told Shan a few years ago that I wanted to stop "observing" this day. She acquiesced and we hardly even acknowledge it when it rolls around every year. A few issues I take with the day:

1) Pried from its Catholic roots. Our culture is great about taking days with Christian significance and completely secularizing them (e.g. Christmas, St. Patrick's Day, etc.). No exception here. St. Valentine was an early Christian martyr (more here), but I'd be surprised if you heard about that at Applebee's last Saturday night.

2) Expensive. I bought a dozen roses for a girlfriend in high school on this day and I'm still paying down the interest.

3) Makes single people feel like crap. This is probably the worst part of the day. I was single for many V Days and they all sucked. Being immersed in the "jock" scene at my high school, I remember feeling this pressure to have a girlfriend at all times (well, more accurately, to "get some"); if you didn't, your manhood was put into question in the post-practice locker room.

This is something that will change with our kids. I've yet to meet a 16-year old with the maturity to have a serious relationship (or to drive, for that matter, but that's a different post) and I think removing that pressure from young people can hardly be anything but beneficial.

Shan and I have our unofficial St. Valentine's Day on October 1st, the day we met, though we usually forget about it . . . I'm going to mark it on the calendar right now.

Homebirth Editorial in Medical Journal

I realize many of you are probably sick of hearing me talk about homebirth and midwifery, especially in Illinois. However, this is an excellent editorial about the "higher up" medical organizations (i.e. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, American Medical Association) and their recent resolution against "home deliveries". I personally don't even agree w/ the term "home deliveries" as women are birthing babies and not delivering any packages, food, etc. but that is a whole 'nother post. ;)

You can read the editorial here. She sums up the issue pretty nicely and I hope more medical professionals who are aghast at the idea of homebirth will take a minute to read it as well.

Shannon

Hilarity

I laugh every time I read it.

Link

UPDATE: How do I actually put that image on our site? Obviously the text is easily cut and pasted, but I'm not sure how to actually bring the image over . . . anyone know?

Cavan Quotables

Here's a couple of recent quotables from our oldest:

Loud crash heard in kitchen

Me: What happened?!

Cavan: Mom, your shelf fell off your beach!

One of my splendid Christmas gifts was a rolling island to create more counter and storage space in our kitchen . . . somehow he interpreted the island as "beach". It would be nice if I had my own beach! (Anyone else sick of winter?!) Though I don't know why there would be shelves there, unless it involved a sand bar w/ a cabana Heath serving me drinks. ;)

And this one just happened today on an absolutely GORGEOUS day, leaving me salivating at the mouth even more for spring's arrival . . .

Cavan: Mom, does Dod (God) wiv (live) in va (the) sun?
Me: I don't know . . . He lives in heaven. Do you think heaven is in the sun?
Cavan: Yeah . . . 'tuz ('cause) den (then) He tan (can) woot (look) down on us and watch over us beddew (better).

So precious are the young years!

Paradoxical Logic?

Every now and then, we receive a health newsletter from our insurance provider, OSF. One arrived on our doorstep in the fall, shortly before "flu season" with a snippet at the bottom of the front page regarding getting flu shots while pregnant. Here is a sampling of the short notice:

If you're going to be pregnant during flu season, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that you get a flu shot. Pregnant women are at high risk for serious illness. And the flu can cause life-threatening complications, such as dehydration or bacterial pneumonia.

What's more if you get sick, treating the flu could be risky. That's because the antiviral medicine usually prescribed haven't been tested for safety in pregnant women, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. (emphasis mine)

Okay, so let me get this straight. Flu shot = proven safe for pregnant women, antiviral medicine = safety unproven. Now, putting aside my own personal issues w/ ACOG, this just makes me scratch my head. When considering the list of ingredients found within the flu vaccine, how can ALL of those be proven safe for mothers and unborn babies??? (BTW, my general rule of thumb is if I can't pronounce it, I don't need it circulating in my body. Despite this rule, I have a very difficult time finding 100% acceptable food products at the store that aren't raw veggies and fruits.) If you are unaware of some of the flu shot contents, here is a funny look at what is being injected into thousands of people each year:




In Marsden Wagner's book "Born in the USA: How a Broken Maternity System Must be Fixed to Put Women and Children First", he mentions two opposing principles to the practice of medicine. One is precautionary: "assumed unsafe until proven safe" and the other is anti-precautionary: "assumed safe until proven unsafe". I would say that in general, American medicine likes to practice with precautionary principles. We are often throwing out the latest research to help us prove our point. However, especially in regards to maternity care in America, we unfortunately tend to fall in the anti-precautionary camp most of the time. Many careproviders think there isn't a problem, simply because they have not had any catastrophic results yet. One prime example of this is the use of Cytotec (generic name: misoprostol) for inducing/augmenting labor in women. Despite being manufactured for use in adults with stomach ulcers (who first thought it would be a good idea to shove this into a woman's birth canal???), many obstetricians use it to stimulate the cervix and uterus. Please keep in mind that the drug "manufacturer was well aware that one possible side effect of the drug was severe uterine contractions, so it stated on a label that it should never be given to pregnant women" (Wagner 75). Ahhh, now it makes sense . . . a drug label says DON'T, so an intelligent medical school graduate says "Why not? Let's give this a shot!" Cytotec has killed moms AND babies and yet, it probably is still being used in some hospitals today. I am glad there are some warnings out there. But I digress, back to the flu shot.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a few published studies evaluating the benefits of giving the flu shot to pregnant women. Here is one. While it appears that infants in the study group (i.e. mothers who received flu shot) had lower rates of influenza, respiratory illness and fever than the control group (i.e. mothers who only received the pneomococcal vaccine), there are some issues. First, there was no comparison group of mothers who did not receive any vaccines at all. So, you're basically evaluating the effectiveness of vaccine 1 versus vaccine 2, not the effectiveness of vaccine versus no-vaccine. Second, in the summary they concluded that the flu vaccine has "substantial benefits" for both mothers and infants. However, I would argue whether or not the range of reducing symptoms by 29-63% really constitutes "substantial benefits," meaning a large degree of benefits. Lastly, I personally would also want to see rates of how many of those moms were exclusively breastfeeding, as breastmilk contains high amounts of immunities for a nursing baby. Would the breastfed babies be healthier overall than formula-fed or supplemented babies? Furthermore, how many of the babies were in day-care (meaning increased exposure to viruses) and how many were at home with mom?

I think there are other variables that contribute to the health of moms and babies, besides whether or not they receive the flu vaccine. It would also be nice to see more of natural ways to boost your immunity during the flu season. A well-balanced diet with limited processed foods, for instance, not only enhances your overall health but will help determine how well your immune system can fight off infection. Reducing stress is another "free" way to help increase your immune system function. Some things our family has been doing is supplements of vitamin C, vitamin D (which I do think has made a difference, at least for Heath and I this year), and probiotics. But you never see these suggestions in the newspaper (or if you do, it is a rarity). Rather, there are posters everywhere reminding us to get our annual flu shot.

Don't get me wrong. I am NOT saying if you eat well, limit stress (is that possible?) and follow a supplement regimen, you will not get sick. But it may reduce your chances. For me, I would much rather take this route than step into a clinic, roll up my sleeve and consent to a shot with (in my opinion) unproven benefits for myself and baby. Here's hoping we can survive the rest of the flu season unharmed!

I've seen better days . . .

Well, this past Thursday was a bit of a bummer for a number of reasons:

1) I sold my 1995 Dodge Intrepid. We bought a van a couple months ago, and thought it silly to have 3 vehicles for only 2 drivers. Something had to go, and my gray beauty lost the coin flip. It served me well for nearly a decade and I was just a little sentimental about getting rid of her.

I sent an "ad" out to my fellow staff members (one actually bought it) which seemed to be a hit, though by no means did I intend for it to be humorous. Here it is:

_____

With the impending arrival of Morber child number 3, we bought a mini-van over Xmas break. We now have 3 vehicles, but only 2 drivers! I'm looking to find a home for my old Intrepid; if you know of anyone who needs a car and may be interested (including yourselves), please let me know. Otherwise, I'm also looking for suggestions of where we could donate it if it comes to that. Any worthy charities that have this sort of program?

Details of the car below:

1995 Dodge Intrepid
148,000 miles
Blue Book: approx. $1000+
Sale price: $500

Pros:

--Still drives!
--spacious
--hasn't needed much maintenance over the past 20, 000 miles or so


Cons:

--transmission concern; occasionally will struggle to shift and will go to higher RPMs; stopping and putting in park briefly usually fixes the problem (I've taken it in a few times and it never acts up for the mechanic! Again, it's infrequent.)
--passenger side window sometimes doesn't roll back up
--had a mouse in the car for awhile; some of back seat is chewed up (mouse is gone though!)
--heater works about 60 percent of the time; air conditioning about 25 percent
--driver side-view mirror damaged; hit by a foul ball when my dad parked too close to a baseball field

In all honesty, it may go for another 100, 000 miles or it may die tomorrow. We've taken good care of it, changing oil regularly and not driving like a maniac. I don't hesitate to take it anywhere, even on long trips. It's been a good vehicle.

One more caveat: I'm going to swipe the custom CD player I had put in there a few years back. In other words, it will have no option of playing music at that point (I have no idea where the factory deck is).

_____


Who wouldn't jump at the opportunity to get such a deal!


2) Our "waste management" company sucks. We had to call them for the fourth time in 2 months when they picked up the trash from every other house on the street but ours, yet again. I'd finally had enough: I spoke with someone and said that either a) they could refund our money for the two months that we hadn't received service, or b) we would cancel our service with them. She had to talk to her supervisor and would call me the next day. She didn't. Wonderful customer service, huh?

And get this: at this point in our lives, we don't generate a lot of trash (though lots of recycling stuff) and I don't even set out a can every week. We might have been calling them twice as many times!

3) Pages for All Ages, a family-owned bookstore/cafe nearby in Savoy, closed its doors, due to financial problems as a result of the current recession. This was terrible news. We loved that store. It was very similar to a Borders, but with a more "personable" feel, and the fact that it was an independent-owned store made me feel a lot better about putting my dollars into it. It had a nice atmosphere, adequate selection of books, and a great children's area. The newspaper article mentioned that some of their employees had been working there since it opened, over 20 years ago! When would you see such loyalty at a Barnes and Noble?

Damn this recession. I feel like we've been shielded somewhat by it, as I didn't know anyone who had been laid off, and no store/business closings had really affected us. Until now.

Now I'm pro-free market and I understand that the family-owned business model is slowly (or quickly) going extinct. But it still sucks; I'd much rather support a locally-owned restaurant rather than an Applebee's.

And to top it all off, Shan and I still had $25 gift cards for that place that we didn't use. Crud.


4) The Illinois basketball team is in a bit of a funk, and laid an egg against Wisconsin. In the last couple weeks, they've morphed into last year's crappy team and it's starting to get a bit frustrating to watch. (I don't know how many readers we have that are sports fans, but indulge me for just a bit.)

They've definitely exceeded expectations for this year, but having such a great start to the season (they were 15-2 at one point, now 18-5) only gets my hopes up and makes me angry when they don't play up to their potential. They better turn it around pretty quickly or the last half of the Big Ten schedule is going to eat my soul.


Complaining over. Certainly, if these are the most grievous things I can whine about, things are going pretty well. I have a job, a warm house, healthy children, a loving wife . . . I'm blessed beyond belief. And sometimes, having a crappy day like this does help place things in perspective.

Tickets

A tale to tell:

Last Wednesday, we received a fairly large snowfall. In Champaign, if the snow is high enough, they send out plows to clear the sides of the street on certain "snow routes." We live on one. During the last snowfall, I was reminded on the radio that I needed to move our cars to a side street and I also had a note on my car telling the same. I came home that evening from work and moved them both. No problem.

So fast forward to last Wednesday. Same situation, but I completely forgot to move our vehicles. I come home late on Wednesdays due to rehearsal, and I hopped into my PJs and set down to spend some family time. At one point, Shannon yelled, "They're towing your car!" I immediately hopped up and ran to the front door, and yelled out to the tow truck folks, "Stop! I'm coming!" I ran to the back room, furiously searching for some blue jeans. I threw some shoes on (mind you, without socks in near-zero degree weather) and darted out the front door. I ran down to my Intrepid and luckily, they didn't tow me. I did realize, however, that our Prism had already been towed. I removed the "snow route" ticket from the windshield and started the car. The snow plow was right behind me, waiting for me to move so he could continue on down the street.

I had just cleaned everything (and I mean everything) out of the Intrepid that very day, as I had found a buyer for it, so I had no snow scraper, and the windshield was caked with snow and ice. I tried scraping it off with my (bare) hands, to no avail. Again, the pressure was on due to the snow plow impatiently waiting behind me. So I improvised: I drove around the block in the now-abandoned parking lane, with the car door open and my head hanging out the window (did I mention it was cooooold?).

I parked the car on a side street. I ran back into the house and started calling around to find where in the heck the Prism is. The police gave me the names of five different towing companies that they use; I called them all, and none knew where the car was. After another half-hour of calls, we finally found where it was. Since the parking attendant (aka Spawn of Satan) had also informed me that the Prism had a hold on it due to an expired sticker (honest mistake), Shannon asked the towing place receptionist if we needed to do anything before they would let us get it out. The lady said she didn't think so. Hmm.

I called a friend that evening (it's almost 10:30 by now) and asked him if he could take me to the tow company in the morning. He acquiesced and came by the next morning at 7:30. We drove to the other end of Urbana and wandered around for far too long, trying to find the darn place. When we finally came upon it, I hopped out, only to find that they couldn't release the car. Yep, you guessed it, we had to get a new sticker and then go to the police department and have the hold taken off. That would have been nice to know in advance.

Shan made the necessary calls and trips that afternoon, and then picked me up from work to get the Prism. We paid all the fees and trekked home. Playing it safe, we made sure both cars were parked on the side street. No need to repeat that fiasco.

There's more. I awoke the next morning to find two new tickets on the cars (one on each), for parking the wrong way on the side of the street. For Pete's sake . . . it's not like I parked the wrong way on a one-way street in downtown Chicago. I didn't even know there was a law against this!

Total tally:

First ticket on Prism: $20
Towing fee on Prism: $100
New sticker for Prism: $105
First ticket on Intrepid: $15
Second ticket on Prism: $30
Second ticket on Intrepid: $30


Total: $300

Oh yeah, I can't find the title for the Intrepid, so I have to buy another one before I sell it. Another 65 bucks.