Our Newest Addition

Look at how CUTE she is....

 

ECO MARLEY

 

More on circumcision....

Ok, so oddly enough this was just posted to my myspace bulletins and I thought it was kind of appropriate.

Your Newborn Baby
Date: May 2, 2008 10:09 AM




After reviewing 40 years worth of medical studies, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Task Force on Circumcision concluded that the "potential medical benefits of newborn male circumcision... are not sufficient to recommend routine neonatal circumcision." While this 1999 policy may be revised soon, it is still the current official recommendation for parents and doctors.



Here are some highlights from the report:

Role of Hygiene

"there is little evidence to affirm the association between circumcision status and optimum penile hygiene.



"

STDs including HIV

"behavioral factors appear to be far more important than circumcision status.



"

Penile Cancer

"in a developed country such as the United States, penile cancer is a rare disease and the risk of penile cancer developing in an uncircumcised man, although increased compared with a circumcised man, is low.



"

Urinary Tract Infections

"breastfeeding was shown to have a threefold protective effect on the incidence of UTI in a sample of uncircumcised infants. However, breastfeeding status has not been evaluated systematically in studies assessing UTI and circumcision status." meaning that the earlier UTIs studies results were confounded.



Even if their numbers were accurate, in order to prevent one UTI during the first year of life by circumcising a baby boy, approximately 195 babies who will not get a UTI would need to be circumcised. Also infant girls commonly develop UTIs(in some studies at even higher rates than infant boys) and the standard treatment for them is antibiotics which works just as well for infant boys with UTIs. The AAP concludes this section noting that "the absolute risk of developing a UTI in an uncircumcised male infant is low (at most, ~1%)".





Ethics

Of course here, they hedge and say while even though cutting off part of your baby's genitalia "is not essential to the child's current well-being" they are perfectly fine with parents and doctors using cultural tradition as justification. This report is also the first time the AAP has acknowledged(after decades of doctors mindlessly repeating the belief that babies don't feel significant pain) that circumcision without anesthesia is traumatic and if circumcision is to be done, anesthesia should be used.





I would like to know if the AAP thinks cultural tradition is an acceptable reason to cut off the clitoral hoods(biologically analogous to foreskin) of infant girls especially if it is done with anesthesia as is the case here: http://www. youtube. com/watch?v=xWvi475cYZY
(the video is not particularly graphic as it was made by a mother who had her own clitoral hood cut off when she was a baby and she wants to continue the tradition)

If you want, you can read the full AAP policy here: http://www. cirp. org/library/statements/aap1999/

If you want to share this with the videos and links intact, hit reply to poster and cut and paste the code into a new blog or bulletin.



Thank You:-)

I'll keep mine, thanks!

 

OK....so as with a few of my other blogs, this topic was brought up my lovely place of employment...ha. We always have such wonderful conversations there. HA! Anyway, I was asked to aid in a debate topic....American involvement in Sudan....ok...fine...I can help out with that, but then I asked what the other topics were (out of curiosity) and she said comparing the war in Iraq with Vietnam...(damn I could have gotten all over that one), something else...shoot I forget now...but it was another topic that I would have JUMPED at the opportunity to debate about, and then female genital mutilation (AKA female circumcision.) DAMN I want to debate about THAT...not Sudan...so here folks you have it: My take on  genital mutilation.

We ended up talking about circumcision in general and argued discussed whether or not male circumcision was equivalent to female mutilation. The argument  debate was over the fact that female mutilation was cruel and unusual punishment, where as a male circumcision was about hygiene and health benefits. I personally feel that anytime you cut something off of a person's genitals, it is mutilation.

Circumcision is just a term that we use for males so that we can justify the fact that we are MUTILATING their bodies WITHOUT their consent. I agree with the fact that female circumcision is cruel, especially when you consider the fact that most of the time this is being performed by a person without a medical degree, in a hut/home somewhere, without anesthesia and using crude instruments such as glass or sharp rocks. But, boy does this sound familiar! During a Bris, a male child is handed of to a Mohel (who by the way does NOT have a medical degree, they are taught by senior Mohels), in the comfort of your own home WITHOUT anesthesia. Granted this isn't the case in every male circumcision, but in the case of a religious circumcision it is. In Africa and the Middle East, religion was claimed to be the reason for female circumcisions, despite the fact that it wasn't stated in the their religious books. The National Health Organization banned ritual female  circumcision in the early 70s siting that it was cruel and unjustified. However, ritualistic male circumcision was still widely being practiced and to this day it is still a common procedure.

One the points brought up in our conversation were the fact that the uncircumcised penis is dirty because of the build up of smegma that can occur. But what one doesn't realize is that women have smegma as well. Normal daily hygiene practices can drastically reduce this in both uncircumcised men and women. So, if this were a valid argument in favor of male circumcision then women should technically have their labia majoris removed to avoid the build up of smegma that could occur if one was non-hygienic. Another point that was basically along the same lines of hygiene was that it was more work to clean an uncircumcised penis, which is COMPLETELY untrue. Normal daily cleansing is all that is needed when caring for the uncircumcised penis. And on this topic I have SEEN men shower. In every man I have seen spends nearly 90% of their time washing their penis. SERIOUSLY! Have you ever seen the mass email that went around about How a Man/Woman Showers. It says something along the lines of wash face, wash penis, wash arm, wash penis, wash chest, wash penis....funny but OH SO  TRUE! So, my point is that men take a lot of time cleaning their penis so I am sure washing an uncircumcised penis would not require any more attention than a man typically gives his penis anyway.

With all that being said, I did allow my son to be circumcised, against my better judgement. I don't have a penis (obviously) so I allowed his father to pressure me into getting the procedure done. I was given the 'I want my son to look like me' guilt trip. I regret it. I think it's the ONLY thing in life that I DO regret. Thankfully he still has a lot of foreskin there so it would be able to be stretched in the  future if he decided he wanted to grow it back. YES you can REALLY do that. lol

Mutilation is an act or physical injury that degrades the appearance or function of the (human) body, usually without causing death. Technically speaking piercings (even though I don't think that they degrade the body) are mutilation. So apparently I am not COMPLETELY against female genital mutilation.

My Resignation

I am hereby officially tendering my resignation as an adult. I have decided I would like to accept the responsibilities of an 8 year-old.

I want to go to McDonald's and think that it's a four star restaurant.

I want to sail sticks across a fresh mud puddle and make a sidewalk with rocks.

I want to think M&Ms are better than money because you can eat them.

I want to lie under a big oak tree and run a lemonade stand with my friends on a hot summer's day.

I want to return to a time when life was simple; When all you knew were colors, multiplication tables, and nursery rhymes, but that didn't bother you, because you didn't know what you didn't know and you didn't care.

All you knew was to be happy because you were blissfully unaware of all the things that should make you worried or upset.

I want to think the world is fair. That everyone is honest and good.

I want to believe that anything is possible. I want to be oblivious to the complexities of life and be overly excited by the little things again.

I want to live simple again. I don't want my day to consist of computer crashes, mountains of paperwork, depressing news, how to survive more days in the month than there is money in the bank, doctor bills, gossip, illness, and loss of loved ones.

I want to believe in the power of smiles, hugs, a kind word, truth, justice, peace, dreams, the imagination, mankind, and making angels in the snow.

So... here's my checkbook and my car-keys, my credit card bills and my 401K statements. I am officially resigning from adulthood.

And if you want to discuss this further, you'll have to catch me first, cause.......tag! You're it!

You're kidding, right?

Ok...so...most of you that actually know me, know that I am not too keen on the so called medical professionals. Well I took Britt to her doctor about a month or so ago because she had a little lump in her cheek area. Well while we were there he was extremely condescending. I know a lot of  it was because of how old I actually look...and because Britt is 14 years old. YES...I *was* a teenage mother, but I was a VERY good mother even at that age...and I am still a good mother now. But, anyway....we get there and he asked if I had realized that this lump had grown and  I told him that I wasn't really sure. And he point blank said, "and you ARE her mother, right?" WTF is that?!?! Yes I am her mother. We JUST had found this lump @ a week or so prior to the appointment and I don't make a habit of sticking my hands in my childrens' mouths all the time. But...anyway...ok he is an @ssh*le. So, he points out that she hasn't been in for a physical in a while and she is due for vaccinations. Ok, well I knew he was talking about the HPV vaccine which I have researched and opted out of. But, I ended up making the appointment anyway for a "check-up."

 

So, fast forward to today. I take Britt in for her check-up and she wasn't really happy with the idea of going in, but...whatever. I told her she wouldn't be getting any vaccines, he was just going to basically look her over because she needed a form filled out for the school anyway. So...the nurse weighs her (110lbs), measures her (59 7/8in...ALMOST 5ft), gets her BP (120/58), and then starts handing out forms about vaccines that she *should* be getting this visit. Chicken pox...(nope it's a useless vaccine, plus she has a 3 mo brother at her dad's house that could potentially get the CP), HPV (again, nope...this vaccine hasn't been studied enough for me to even remotely CONSIDER agreeing to this...I do my research) and Hepatitis A (oh shoot didn't research that one, but considering that the *risk* groups are homosexual men, IV drug users, and persons working with infected primates, I don't feel the need.) Anyway....he started lecturing me on the importance of childhood vaccines, and how with the HPV vaccine they really want to get it into girls between 11-14  years old because of the age that children are becoming sexually active. And then he asked if I knew the *risks* of not getting hem. Yes I do, thank you for making me aware. I have done my research. Then he said...well I just want  you to know that I feel very strongly about vaccines. I think that they are completely safe. And I wouldn't recommend something that I wouldn't give my own daughter. And I still calmly said...well thank you for that. But these vaccines haven't been out for very long and there really aren't any long term studies on them so we are still going to pass. He finally dropped it...sort of.

 

Ok...so he asks about her grades, about her period, about sex, drugs, and alcohol....asks her if she knows anybody in her grade that smokes cigarettes or does drugs or drinks. She said, I am sure there are but I don't really associate with them. Then he asked me if I had talked with her about these things. Yes I have, despite the fact that you think I am a HORRIBLE *teenage* mom....I have an AWESOME relationship with my children and we speak freely about nearly everything. (no I didn't say ALL of that.) So then he checks her over and tells me she looks great, extremely healthy EXCEPT for the fact that her weight has popped up a little. (Ummm ya dickface see those things on her chest...they are BREASTS....and see in the past year she has entered puberty and gotten some hips and @ss to go along with those breasts....no I didn't say that either...I was TRYING to be nice.) Yes..I realize she has put on weight but she did grow 6 inches or so, and hit puberty. Well....she is a bit heavier than she is tall....(umm...ok?!?) Then he proceeds to tell her that she really needs to get more active, and she should be doing 1-2hrs of hard core, make you sweat, exercise daily so that she can get to a *healthy* weight. WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So basically he was telling her ya you are fat!

 

(Ok....1st off we have just gotten out of a NE winter....yes it probably isn't the BEST excuse but we aren't very active in the winter...it's hard to be motivated, but all spring/summer/fall long we are EXTREMELY active....swimming, hiking, biking, jumping on the trampoline, playing kickball, baseball, and just running around.) Britt started telling him now that the weather was getting better she is outside all the time...at which point I was FUMING! WHY in the HELL am I letting my daughter VALIDATE her PERFECTLY NORMAL body with this @ss. So....we got up to leave. And I made the decision to find her a new doctor.

 

I cannot believe that this man is a pediatrician. I cannot believe that he is still practicing after giving this advice. I mean does THIS look *unhealthy* to you:

 

Brittany 1 month ago...

 

 

Hmm....perfectly normal to me it seems. But if this is the advice that doctor's are giving out, and add in the media's portrayal of a woman's body it's no freaking wonder that we have an extremely high number of young girls who have eating disorders. As we were leaving the office, Britt was commenting on how she is one of the smallest ones of her friends and she didn't *THINK* she was "fat". UGH UGH UGH!!! Nothing like creating a little insecurity in a young girl who had amazing confidence!! WTG F*CKING @sshole!!!!

 

I did speak to her about it....and she is ok, she knows he is a complete idiot and we will be finding a new doc ASAP! So...hopefully we have avoided any horrific issues in the future.

 

Ah.... I feel better...thanks! lol

The Universe hates me right now!

I don't recall doing anything horrible. We have been making a conscious effort to 'Go Green' here in our house so that we can Save The Planet. I was green and crunchy before this but we are doing everything in our power to reduce and reuse the waste that we are putting back into the Earth. So I am not sure exactly what I have done to have such horrible Karma coming my way this week. But I do.

Yesterday, I woke up and went to turn on my PC as I do every morning and NOTHING! No power at all. Hmm. So I went on my laptop to try some troubleshooting tips only to find out that my motherboard was bad. UGH UGH UGH! Thankfully I had my laptop as backup, though I really don't like being on it. Well, after coming to grips with the fact that I had just lost ALL of my music and photos, I was ok with it. I had that computer for @ 7yrs so....it lasted a good while for the  usage that it had been through. Most of my photos were backed up to an online storage site and I can order CDs through there. (And I have learned my lesson. I will be backing up at least my photos on a monthly basis.)

The day went pretty well after I sulked for a bit about my PC. The weather was amazing, despite the fact that it was damp. We ended up letting the kids ride their bikes around the neighborhood for about an hour, and Gypsy and I walked/jogged. During our ride/walk we ran into Matt's brother, who repairs PCs, and he said he had a tower with a good motherboard and he could transfer all my components and have my desktop up and running within a few hours. All for only $30. SWEET! So...we took the tower back over to him, and he said he would have it done for me by this morning.

So...this morning I woke feeling refreshed after our great evening (oh how I love warmer evenings.) We went to the ATM to get the money out for my PC repair, only to find a negative balance. WTF?!?! So...I come home and check my account only to find that my car insurance doubled charged us. UGH! This is the 3rd time they have done this in the past few years, I am thinking it might be time for a change. So, I checked with the bank and then called my ins. company to let them know about it. Well I faxed over all I needed to, and they called me back to say I am not sure we can refund this. WHAT?!?! Well it is still a pending transaction and until it actually posts to my account they won't fix it. The amount is the EXACT same amount as my ins payment that came out YESTERDAY! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!?! Anyway...I transferred money from our savings account to cover the bank error but this is still frustrating.

OK....so Universe, I am begging for forgiveness. I am trying to be a better person inside and out, I promise to do good for the planet and the people who inhabit this planet. PLEASE allow my week to get better. I am not asking for a great week, just your average run of the mill week. Thank you!

Egalitarianism...to the EXTREME!

Ok, let me start saying that I am a very liberal, strong, independent young mother that is teaching my children to question authority when necessary and to make a statement and stand up for what they believe in.

I am going to start out with a reference to Wiki as I do often in my blogs.

 

**Egalitarianism is a political doctrine that holds that all people should be treated as equals from birth. Generally it applies to being held equal under the law, the church, and society at large. In actual practice, one may be considered an egalitarian in most areas listed above, even if not subscribing to equality in every possible area of individual difference. For example, one might support equal rights in race matters but not in gender issues, or vice versa.**

 

I believe that all people, regardless of race, religion or gender, should be treated equally without question. Despite the fact that there are still many instances in which people are singled out, for good and bad. I know that we society are trying to allow all people every opportunity to grow equally. Whether that is having a female football player or a male cheerleader,  having a female CEO and a stay at home dad. I think it is great that we as a society have become open-minded enough for this to happen, but society has taken this to the extreme in some instances. I was recently in a situation that has proven this. I was at the pharmacy picking up a prescription of antibiotics for Dawson and the lady at the counter asked if the medicine was for a boy or girl. So I said..."umm...a boy. Why?" And her response was that so that she knew which color syringe to give him. HUH?!?!? Are you kidding me? We, as a society, have become so "politically correct" that we have to give our children medicine in pink or blue syringes!  YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FREAKING KIDDING ME! So not only do we have the option for boy/girl toys at McD's but we also have the option of a boy/girl medicine dispenser as well.

I really HATE gender stereotyping, and I think that it hinders a person's growth. I have tried to not stereotype my children and allow them to grow and blossom into their own personalities. Take this for example:

He carried the purse around for well over a year, he always put his keys and a toy car in there. Sure we got weird looks, but this was Dawson at that age. He was exploring the world completely without interference from the harsh stipulations of today's society, which is how it should be. I think people are more prone to comment when it is a male doing something generally thought of to be traditionally a fit for a woman, which I think is partly because we live in a profoundly homophobic society.

I don't recall people staring nearly as much when my girls were playing with trucks, climbing trees or playing with bugs. IN FACT it was the complete opposite reaction. With the girls people welcomed the fact that they were "strong and independent"....where as having a boy that was "soft and gentle", he was seen as "weak." And in today's society "weak" men are seen as inferior. Gotta love the double standard there.

Anyway....I guess I have rambled on enough and went a little off track there. But what I am basically trying to say is that today's society is so worried about offending people and creating lame ass reasons to make people believe that we are all equal when in reality we are not. Society still has, and probably always will have, stipulations in what is "normal" in regards to equality.