Saturday, June 27, 2009

If you are pregnant...

... and don't want a C-section, it is imperative that you inform yourself NOW, while you are still expecting. The sooner the better. Don't wait until the late stages of your pregnancy, when your doctor starts telling you that the baby is too big, your pelvis is too little, you are overdue, the baby is breech, there is too little amniotic fluid, you are developing pre-eclampsia, you are too fat, too old, or a number of other issues that are either fabricated or could have been avoided/dealt with naturally.


Please don't think it couldn't happen to you. C-sections rates across the nation's hospitals are at an all-time high of 34%, but are as high as 70% in some hospitals. Florida and New York must be about the worst places to have a baby from what I've heard. Rates are only expected to continue their sharp upward trend as VBACs become almost unattainable with many doctors and at most hospitals (thanks to the stipulations of their malpractice insurance underwriters).

Many women have been led to believe that having a Cesarean is not that big of a deal any more, and that it is perfectly safe. Please stop and take the time to read this article about a lady who had a cesarean due to her baby presenting breech. She almost died. I wonder how common it is for this to happen and we never hear about it. The nurse who is writing about it is new, so I'm guessing complications such as this occur frequently.

Did you read the article? No? Go read it right now, seriously.

But even if Cesareans were perfectly safe (which they are not), they could also limit how many children a woman would be able to have. The risks associated with this major surgery increase in number and severity with each additional C-section, and three is generally considered the max for any woman.

So back to what I was saying, if you are pregnant and planning on having a hospital birth, please do all you can to educate yourself now. Even if you are not wanting to have a home birth, you can read many pregnancy books written by midwives, glean from their childbearing wisdom, and take that knowledge to the hospital with you. Some suggestions of mine would be:

- Ina May's Guide to Childbirth
- The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth
- Silent Knife
- The Natural Pregnancy Book
- Heart and Hands
- The Complete Book of Pregnancy and Childbirth

and many others that you can find crossreferenced on Amazon. It is unlikely that you will find any of these books at your local bookstore. About the worst book to read during pregnancy is "What to Expect When You're Expecting", which must be why so many OBs give it out for free to their patients.

A lot of great information is also available online on websites such as Unnecesarean, ICAN, and My Best Birth.

I also liked a recent documentary, "The Business of Being Born". Because of a few brief but somewhat graphic scenes (given the nature of the subject), I would only recommend this to be viewed by other women.

Of course, the situation is much different with home births, which continue to maintain very low rates of hospital transfers leading to Cesareans. While hospital births and midwife-attended home births have about the same numbers for infant and maternal death (or in favor of home birth, depending on the study), home births have much, much lower rates of intervention. What that means is that home births achieve the same results without all the trauma, pain, blood, and gore.

Please do not wait until you are in labor and your doctor plays the "dead baby card" to educate yourself. It is YOUR responsibility and nobody else's to ensure the health and well-being of your child. If you suffer at the hands of an ignorant and conceded doctor, it is your own fault if you did not take the time to educate yourself first, but rather blindly followed "doctor's orders".

One great change that you can make today that helps prevent many pregnancy-related complications is to start following the Brewer Pregnancy Diet.

If you do plan on having your baby at a hospital, tour all the ones in your area that your insurance will cover, and pick the best one, then find out which of their (female) OBs is the best, i.e. has the lowest intervention rates. I would never recommend male OBs because aside from the fact that I think it is a perverted job for a man to have, they also know nothing about the female body. It's like having a mechanic doing your dental work. Getting all this info can be time consuming, but it is well worth your effort. You can call the maternity departments and ask them about their rates for C-sections and other interventions.

You should also definitely look into having a doula at your birth. A doula is not a midwife, but is a skilled birth attendant whose role it is to help and support the mother, and advocating for her safe and natural birth. She can help you decide if the doctor is just trying to pressure you into a C-section because he wants to get home in time for the ballgame, or if your baby really is in immediate danger. Going to the hospital without a doula is like going to court without an attorney.

The most common objection I hear against doulas is that it would hurt the feelings of the pregnant woman's husband, and as ridiculous as that may seem, I can see that being a real issue. While certainly most moms would prefer their husband to be at the birth for emotional support, that does not always translate into the ideal physical support. Because men are men, they may end up pushing on the wrong spot at the wrong time, or too hard. I remember during one of my labors I was in the late stages and very thirsty. Between contractions, I managed to ask my husband to bring me some ice water. By the time he got back, I was in the middle of a long and hard contraction that took all my strength and concentration. He didn't even notice, and proceded to try to force the drinking straw through my grit teeth. I snapped at him to get him to stop, and he was puzzled why I didn't drink the water I had just asked for. Practically speaking, you will get a lot more comfort from somebody who knows what you are going through.

Also, be very, very picky about whom you allow to attend your birth. Hospitals have gone from not even allowing the woman's husband to now having fullblown parties in the birthing suites while the laboring woman is hopped up on an epidural. If at all possible, I would recommend having only people who have had positive birth experiences themselves, and who do not work in the healthcare industry. People who had traumatic births themselves, and the ones who work to produce them, are filled with and lead by fear. Fear of the unknown and the unpredictable. The last thing a laboring woman needs is insane fabricated scenarios of what all could go wrong. Leave Eeyore at home and call after the baby is born. When it comes to birth attendants, less is definitely more.

Finally, think twice about whom to accept advice from. Decide what you want the outcome of your birth to be, find other women who have already successfully achieved what you want to achieve, and then do what they did. If you go to the hospital expecting a birth experience as peaceful and natural as somebody else had at home, you will be sorely disappointed.

Remember, it is your responsibility as a parent to act in the best interest of yourself and your child. You cannot rely on a doctor to do what is your job.

And the winners are...

Many thanks to all who participated in my giveaway. I randomly chose two winners.



Are you ready?




Congratulations to fourkid and Nikki! Please email me the address you would like the jelly sent to, my address is zsuzsanna.anderson [at]gmail[dot]com

It was great hearing from everyone who commented. I will answer your questions in a separate post in the next couple of days.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Canning for those who don't think they can

(lame pun intended)

...and a giveaway.

Some people love canning, and others don't see any point in it. To each his own, but this post is not intended for either of those types. This is for people who have never given canning a spin, are interested in it, but feel daunted for reasons such as cost, know-how, and time constraints.

In my opinion, canning should not be more expensive than store-bought, including ingredients, equipment and jars. If I had to can for 10 years before I started "getting in the black" after buying a ridiculously overpriced canner, I just couldn't get excited about all the work involved. So this is my low-budget, non-glamorous method, using things that you most likely already have in your kitchen.

Say it with me: Sí, se puede! We can do it, yes we can!

Step #1: Start small, and start with something easy such as jelly/jam. This is NOT what you want to buy:


That's 20 lbs of apricots and 16 lbs of cherries. And it's the reason why I have been MIA in the blogosphere. I am getting 16 more lbs of cherries this Saturday, too. I think my fingers may be permanently stained from pitting so many cherries.

I bought these from Bountiful Baskets for ridiculously cheap. I think the apricots were $16 and the cherries $13.

Step 2: Read the instructions and buy the ingredients


Pretty much, all you need is fruit, pectin, and sugar. The only equipment you need is jars with lids and bands, two large pots, a funnel, and tongs or a jar grabber. Also have lots of clean dish cloths on hand to keep your work surface clean.

The instructions inside the box of pectin will tell you how much fruit you need to make one batch of jam/jelly. It will also telly you of any other ingredients necessary, and about how many jars one batch will make. Go ahead and open the box of pectin at the store (yes, you are going to buy this, so please no outraged comments).

Get the necessary amount of fruit, and (if you don't have them) sugar, canning jars, and any other possible ingredients. And, don't forget to use the coupon that usually comes with the instructions when you pay for the pectin. The store I bought mine at doubles coupons up to $1.

Speaking of bulk purchases, if you are going to can a lot such as I did, buying a 25 or 50 lb bag of sugar is much more economical. I bought a 50 lb bag at Smart & Final for $18.

Step 3: Prepare the fruit

For the novice, the easiest would be to start with berry jam, because you simply wash the berries, throw them in a large pot, and mash them with a potato masher. If the berries are larger, such as strawberries, you may want to cut them into halves first.

The prep for the apricots was a little different, but I will explain it here because that's what I made, and I don't want to talk about making strawberry jam and show pictures of apricot jelly. First, I halved and pitted the apricots, and boiled them briefly in a large pot with water. Then, I strained off the apricots and put them through a food mill (this gets rid of the skins and fibery parts).

I was left with this:


Step 4: Sterilize your canning jars

Bring fresh, cold water to a boil in a very large stock pot. You can experiment which of your pots fits jelly jars the best, or can hold the most.

Do not use hot tap water because it could be contaminated with buildup from your water heater.

Your canning jars should be freshly washed in a dishwasher, or in hot, soapy water BEFORE you sterilize them in the pot of boiling water. You can reuse the glass jars again and again, but always get new lids and rings, which are sold separately. When the water is boiling, put the canning jars, lids, and bands into the boiling water to sterilize.

Some people leave the jars in the hot water until they are ready to fill them. I prefer to pull them out a few minutes earlier and set them upside down on a fresh, clean dish towel that has been washed and dried on the hottest setting.


Step 5: Cooking the jam

Look at the instructions in the pectin again. Usually, you add the pectin and other ingredients to the fruit puree and bring it to a boil. When you reach a point where the boiling can no longer be stirred down, you add all the sugar the recipe calls for at once, and boil for one minute sharp while stirring constantly.

Your stove should look something like this: Pot with jam cooking in the front, large pot with boiling water in the back. Do not dump out the hot water after sterilizing the jars, as you will need it to process the jam.


Step 6: Filling the jars


As soon as the jam has been at a rolling boil for one minute, pull the pot to a cold stove plate (if you don't have gas), and start filling the jars one by one. To do so, simply turn one jar over, fill with a funnel, wipe the rim with a clean, damp cloth, set a lid on top, and screw the band on "finger tight" - no need to over-tighten.

Canning funnels are handy, but absolutely not necessary.


Most likely, the last jar will not be full enough to seal and process. Leave this one out until it's cooled, and then put it in the fridge for eating, just as you would with an open jar of jelly. No need to process.


Step 7: Processing the jars

After all jars have been filled and fitted with a lid and band, bring the water in the large stock pot back to a boil. Then gently lower the jars into the pot one by one, and process by boiling for 8-10 minutes (depending on altitude, check the instructions for this, too).

A jar grabber is a handy tool for easily lifting jars in and out of the boiling water. For years, I have made do with a large pair of tongs that came with our barbecue, and it worked pretty well. Because I was canning so much last week, I did decide to buy a "real" jar lifter after I made this first batch of jelly, but for years, I didn't have one and fared just fine.

If you had a "real" canner, it would also come with a fitting metal rack in the bottom of the pot. Again, no need for this, you can put the jars straight into the pot.

After processing for the appropriate time, pull the jars out of the water and turn upside down until cooled. This will force the remaining air in the jars to go through the boiling liquid one more time. Also, if your jelly had foam on top, this will help get rid of it.


And, voilà! This is the first of five batches of apricot jelly I made last week. Yes, we love apricot jelly - it's a Hungarian thing. It tastes great on white French bread, or on palacsinta (our version of crêpes). Our family goes through one of these jars at breakfast.

It's easy, really. I made this batch on a Sunday morning in less than one hour while also getting the two girls ready for church and making the church bulletin. I made the other four batches in one night after the kids were in bed in about two hours. But, like I said, start small.

Finally, if you have read to the end of this long (and, if you're not into canning, boring) post, I think you deserve a treat. To enter, simply leave a comment (anyonymous or otherwise) that has in some way to do with jelly or canning. If you hate both, you could just say that, but then again why would you want to enter a jelly giveaway?

I will randomly pick two winners and send them a jar of my apricot jelly. This would be one of the big jars I made, which are twice the size of the ones in the pictures above. It would be enough to go around generoulsy even in a large family. In the unlikely event that a whole bunch of people leave a comment, I will give away more jars than just two, we'll have to see about that. If less than two people comment, it means that at least I will get to eat more jelly.

Deadline is midnight one week from today, June 26th. Thanks for reading my boring drivel. Recent photos of our many summer activities coming just as soon as I can get more caught up with housework. Hahahahahahahahaha..... [insert crazy laugh here].

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

The Mona Lisa Project

In recent months, LiveAction.org secretly videotaped patient consultations at various Planned Barrenhood facilities, pretending to be a young teen who got pregnant by her much older boyfriend, asking how to go about getting an abortion without her parents' knowledge or getting the guy in trouble.

By law, these clinics are required to report such cases as child abuse/rape, but - surprise, surprise - they instead cover them up. The PP employees in these clips are sick and disgusting. When I think of those involved in making abortions possible, I think of this passage in the Bible:

Psalms 109:7-16
(7) When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin.
(8) Let his days be few; and let another take his office.
(9) Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
(10) Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.
(11) Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour.
(12) Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children.
(13) Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.
(14) Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the LORD; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
(15) Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.
(16) Because that he remembered not to shew mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart.

Just to let you know, I refuse to publish any comment condoning abortion, so save yourself the trouble of leaving one if you disagree with me.