Archives for 2011

That’s every month, but I’m trying to make this October a time when I commit to making an extra effort to do something I don’t normally do or usually have time for.

October is a month when there are several life respecting events taking place. Among these are Life 2011, 40 Days for Life and Life Chain, but if these public events aren’t for you, there are many other ways to promote life and show your support for our seniors, women and children. Try donating to your local women’s shelter (clothing and toiletries are always needed), make a food donation (Feed Nova Scotia is my local program), or volunteer your time to senior facilities, parent centres, and crisis pregnancy centres. Whatever you decide to do to participate this October, do it remembering that your contribution is a statement. It says that Canadians value life from conception to natural death, and these statements, if we make them regularly and often enough, will permeate the culture.

People say, ‘What is the sense of our small effort?’ They cannot see that we must lay one brick at a time, take one step at a time. A pebble cast into a pond causes ripples that spread in all directions. Each one of our thoughts, words and deeds is like that. No one has a right to sit down and feel hopeless. There’s too much work to do.

–Dorothy Day

Praying for this family today:

I’m not adopted. Well, I don’t think of myself as being adopted. My father adopted me shortly after marrying my mother when I was very young. Regular readers might know that I had never known my birth father, so when at the age of six my parents told me of my heritage I was confused and frightened. It was a lot to take in at that age, but I do remember that after the initial shock had subsided, I felt  a swell of acceptance, inheritance and love.

Now, I know I’m not “adopted”, but I can perhaps imagine what kind of emotion comes with being fully adopted. I’ve held onto my father’s name, even through marriage, in part because of that sense of inheritance that bound me to him. Reading this beautifully written piece in The Guardian, I couldn’t help but feel a tinge of the proud rebellious love that comes with being adopted (even if you’re not really adopted).

Shortly before I left home, my mum told me she was adopted. Although this news was a shock, adoption was not unfamiliar to me: my great-grandfather was adopted, so was my great-aunt. Now my mother’s made a third in the family.

Recently, when I told someone of this history, they gasped and said: “You’ve got no past.” The more I talk about the adoptions, the more I realise how hard it is for other people to get their heads around the idea. […]

The more I think about the three adoptions in my own family, the more I realise that what they mean to me cuts across other people’s expectations of strain and discord. The adoptions have given me a tremendous sense of inheritance, and of luck. I feel lucky to be part of this extraordinary family.

______________________

Andrea adds: For Facebook readers, let me add here that I am not adopted. (This is Jennifer Derwey’s post.) Truly, not in any sense of the word. If I am, the likeness my mother and I share is all the more uncanny. Heading to the Czech Republic soon for my grandmother’s 90th birthday, where I expect to be called “mala Hana” for the week. (Czech for “small Hana.”)

I used to think I had a good idea of what went on inside the human body, and with the advent of Google, there was no symptom I couldn’t diagnose or home remedy I haven’t tried. Doctors, of course, were there to provide second options. But recently I’ve been reading about Natural Family Planning, and can I just say…there is A LOT I didn’t know.

You might think the goings on of the female body would be important information for women, but really there isn’t much emphasis placed on that kind of knowledge, not in our education systems, not in the media, and sadly not even by a woman’s doctor. So what is emphasized? Contraception, hygiene, and generally anything that conceals what a woman’s body does, naturally. Young girls then grow to be women who are left in the dark. They aren’t aware of what is normal and what is abnormal, even though detecting abnormality is exactly what leads to successful early diagnosis for things like cancer and infertility.

Dr. Diane Woodford, a fertility specialist at CRE, said that many women are often unaware they even have PCOS until they try to get pregnant and cannot.

“While PCOS is a leading cause of infertility, it is also associated with many other serious, long term health issues such as diabetes, heart disease and endometrial cancer,” […]

“If over the last 12 months, a woman has had six or fewer periods, she should see a physician and be evaluated for PCOS,” Dr. Susan Trout of CRE said. “An earlier diagnosis means complications like diabetes, heart disease, infertility, and hypertension are more easily managed.”

With the contraceptive Seasonale, you’ll only have one. With newer pills like Lybrel, you may never have one again. Are there so many products designed to keep our bodily functions concealed (and sometimes altered altogether) that we’re out of touch with ourselves? Have women conceded to the expectation of physically manipulating ourselves, even if it puts us at higher risk for disease?

What is in the water these days? First we have a radio station auctioning off a Russian bride. Now Ottawa’s “Hot 89.9” is giving away in vitro. No really. Now I probably don’t need to tell you that Hot 89.9 isn’t a family station. In fact, I’m listening to it right now and they are playing Pitbull. (I had to google that; here, let me help you.) It’s your general umcha umcha I’m blasting this techno beat as I rev my souped up sports car down your quiet suburban street type radio station. Nothing terribly wrong with that. Haven’t we all done it? Anyhoo.

How on earth did they come to this? The signs around town just show a baby and say something like “Win me.” I’m truly at a loss. It could be a publicity stunt. It could mean they are catering to a largely female crowd of roughly my age. It is certainly a sign infertility is a feature of our current culture.

I think it’s gauche and inappropriate; I can also think of worse things. Like giving away an abortion. (But then again, don’t we do that all the time; our tax dollars generally take care of it.) What’s hot, what’s really, really not. To me, this radio thing is somewhere in between.

I reviewed Mara Hvistendahl’s most excellent book, Unnatural Selection, here. I heartily recommend it. She covers the topic of the world’s disappearing women very thoroughly.

Two stories cropped up today from CBC news, and virtually every commentator to these stories was disgruntled to some degree. One is on funding for Planned Parenthood,

Canada will fund an organization that provides family planning services around the world — but only in countries where abortion is illegal in most cases, CBC News has learned.

International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda has decided to approve a proposal by the International Planned Parenthood Federation to provide sex education and contraception in five developing countries.

…and the other concerns funding for maternal and child health projects.

Canada has selected 28 maternal and child health projects to share $82 million in funding between now and 2016, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Tuesday.

The money was committed in the G-8 Muskoka Initiative, 15 months ago. It brings the total allocated under the fund to almost $740 million for projects in Africa, the Americas and Asia.

What are your views on these proposals?

If you’re in Halifax and are interested in promoting prenatal care for women and families, then this event is for you (anything that is pro-birth is a worthy cause in my book).

On Sunday, October 16th, 2011 the Nova Scotia Doula Association (NSDA) and IWK Health Centre Foundation will be hosting the 1st Annual Walk, Rattle and Stroll for Birth. Our goals are to raise awareness about the importance of prenatal, birth and postpartum support for women and their families and raise funds to benefit the NSDA and the IWK Women’s and Newborn Health Unit.

Welcoming a new life into the world brings a lot of change within a family. Research shows that doula care reduces family stress, improves health outcomes and reduces healthcare spending. This will be a fun-filled family event that helps to create healthier communities in Nova Scotia, right from the start.

Parents shouldn’t have to apologize for giving birth to their children. While this story is one of strength and community, I dislike the apologetic tone of the article (though I’m happy to see adoption mentioned as a positive option for couples). I hope the parents of this baby don’t feel like anyone blames them for not knowing their child would be born without an immune system, because no one should.

With no immune system, your body is completely susceptible to every virus or illness. For four-month-old Brayden Vaters, this is reality. […]

“This whole thing was just such a shock to us,” said Adam Vater, Brayden’s father. “I’ve never even heard of this disorder before.”

Brayden ‘s parents Adam and Megan are both carriers of the genetic disorder and were completely unaware until their first child, Brayden, was born.

“The mutation is on a gene from both of us,” Adam says. “It was a one of four chance of Brayden getting the full blown immune deficiency.” […]

Since learning this, Adam and Megan say they have decided not to have another child, but will consider adoption and other means of growing their family.

“That’s just something we don’t want to put another baby through,” said Adam. “There was no family history of it. So there was no reason to check if Brayden might have it, or even if one of us had it because there’s been no sign of this before.”