Results tagged “news” from Momtourage: Blogger Knows Best

Why we shouldn't condemn the woman who gave birth at 66 via IVF and died this week at 69.

The death this past weekend of the woman who, for a time, held the Guinness Book of World Records title for oldest woman to give birth, surely incited a wave of judgmental head shaking. Some would argue that Maria del Carmen Bousada's pregnancy at age 66 went against the laws of nature. Others might even go so far as call her selfish. After all, her 2-year-old twin boys are now orphaned. How could she become a mother when she could not guarantee she'd remain healthy enough to raise her boys into adulthood?

photo: ©Jenny Goodall/Daily Mail/ZUMA Press

Three years ago, a 21-year-old mom in England was denied custody of her premature newborn after social workers determined that she wasn't intelligent enough to care for it. Now, she's making a last-ditch effort to get her child back. The story was first reported in the Daily Mail.

Rachel Pullen, now 24, wasn't allowed to take her newborn home from the hospital after the baby was born at 27 weeks with severe complications, and the child was placed in foster care shortly thereafter. Now, with the child on the verge of being adopted, Pullen is taking her case to the European Court of Human Rights.

Ripped from today's headlines there's another story of a Teacher (aged 27) allegedly having sex with her 14 year old student.  Shocking and disgusting.  The mother of the boy was tipped off by another parent at their PTA meeting.  (I will never blow off another PTA meeting again.)  After checking out his cell phone, the mother found hundreds of contacts between the student and teacher who were allegedly having sex on the school grounds no less.  One of the last texts from the teacher told the boy to "erase your phone" which he obviously did not.   Apparently, she's still good at giving directions.....and he's stilll not good at following through on them. 

Too many women are starting pregnancy carrying too many pounds and are gaining too much while they're pregnant, according to a new report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM).

To counter this trend, the IOM has changed its pregnancy weight gain guidelines, which advise obese women (who have a BMI over 30) to gain a minimum of 11 and no more than 20 pounds during pregnancy. Previously they were advised to gain 15 to 25 pounds.

The institute's recommendations, which are the gold standard used by OB/GYNs, remain unchanged for overweight, healthy and underweight women. Overweight women are classified as having a BMI of 25 to 30 and are allowed to gain 15 to 25 pounds. Women at a healthy weight are classified as having a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 and are allowed to gain 25 to 35 pounds. Underweight women are classified as having a BMI below 18.5, and should gain 28 to 40 pounds. (Weight categories are based on the World Health Organization's body mass index calculations.)

It's not just me who thinks the now famous Los Angeles mom of octuplets bears a striking resemblance to Angelina Jolie...they must have the same plastic surgeon....it's all over the internet and all the comedians in the clubs are talking about it too.  They both have those unnaturally augmented lips going on:  like goldfish being pushed through a key hole.  Angelina also has an ever growing brood of kids (both biological and adopted) but unlike Octomom she also has a mate and tons of dough.  Is Nadya trying to be Angelina?  Is this just a more elaborate form of stalking?  (I also think she wants her own show on TLC like the Gosselins.)  I bet if you do a little back tracking in her email you'll see tons of emails to Angelina's fan site.  I bet she's been 'friending' Angelina like crazy on Facebook.....and I'm sure Angelina's people have her on 'ignore'.

Every year on Black Friday, some store offers crazy discounts (like a laptop for $50) to the first 5 shoppers (or some other number) which always results in angry mobs crushing some poor soul.  This year, the Walmart in Valley Stream, NY gets this prestigious honor but every year it's the same story.  We can't whine that it's the economy because this has been happening for years.  I provided commentary on this very topic for Court TV , check out the link to my clips.  Why do people feel the need to get up at 3am for these so-called Door Buster deals??  Don't they know it's just a ruse to get you in the door?  That they only have one or two of these items?  What happens to people around the holidays that makes them so crazy?  Is it the fruitcake?  Is it the endless, awkward hours spent with family?  Is it the cards?  They never stop coming.  It's not Sarah Palin anymore.  During the election, sometimes I'd feel like stampeding a mall after listening to her speak.  What possesses people?

There's a spring in my step today.  Wonder what it could be?  Could it be.....hope?  That's right, I'm actually feeling hopeful today for the first time in a long time.  I went to vote at 6:50am at our local school in Brooklyn just in case there were any lines.  Guess what?!  There were!  The lines were wrapped around the building.  The turn out is amazing.  I hope our current president sees the news tonight (it comes on right after Barney, George) and interprets the vast voter turnout as I do:  the people's mandate for change, that we're anxious to have the current adminstration over.  There's been a Bush, a Dick, a Colon....I think we got screwed.  Say bye bye boys.  I pray for all the Democrats on the ticket today.  It's important to get out there and vote dear readers....as we don't have this one locked up by a long shot. 

Hollywood more excited about bumps than boobs these days. 

I'm not that old at all, but being in show business myself, I do remember the days when having a baby meant the end of a starlet's career.  However, today is a much different story: between the all too excited rumors of Jennifer Garner possibly expecting again; the craziness over J-Lo's twins; and the reported $12 million paid for the first pics of Brangelina's summer blockbusters; I think it's safe to say that Hollywood is gaga for the goo goo set.

This summer there seems to be an unusual sickness going around---kidsickness.

According to CNN, many parents no longer view summer camp as a much-needed break away from their kids and kids are no longer begging to come home. Instead, the kids are handling the separation well and it's the parents who are longing for their kids. 

During the summer, many kids are busy diving headfirst into frigid lakes and joining campfire sing-a-longs---a little homesickness is nothing that contraband candy can't fix. But for their homebound parents, the house suddenly seems too quiet, their days too long, their mailbox too empty. And for some parents, kidsickness continues as their kids go off to college.

On the other hand, we've found an upside to having a kid-free house. Try filling your free time with one of these suggestions:

Every day we hear crazy stories on the web.  Today apparently, the trend continues.  This one comes from BBC News.  A 30 year old woman gave birth during a friend's batchlorette party in the UK.....the kicker.....she didn't know she was pregnant.  Ally Ashwell, from Newcastle, was touring the seaside town's pubs and clubs in a bumble-bee outfit when she began to feel unwell. She returned to her hotel room, where the shocked 30-year-old found herself delivering her own baby. 

I hope she left a nice tip for the chamber maid.  How selfish taking the attention away from the bride like that.  What a Bridesmaidzilla.  I bet she's out of the wedding party. 

The fragile 2lb boy - named Owen - is being cared for in the intensive care unit of Blackpool Victoria Hospital.  He's doing well.

How the heck can this happen in this day and age?!  This wasn't an underage girl from a third world country this was a hard drinking, hard partying girl from England in a bee costume!  Maybe that was the problem, maybe she's been partying a little too much.  It's a bear in a bee costume!  That's an inside joke for my girls or momtourage - Mama's Night Out. 

OMG!  I was watching CNN this morning and they were going on about the dangers of bunk beds.  Give me a break already!  Enough with the scare tactics and the crappy reporting and looking for stories where there are none.  If you are stupid enough to not properly install a bunk bed and then your child gets hurt then you should put your helmet back on, hop on the short bus and go very very far away.  And if your child hits their head on the bottom of the top bunk believe it or not, he/she will survive.  The fun they have with bunk beds far outweighs the dangers.  I'm surprised that bunk beds don't come with built-in safety straps for our litigious, neurotic society.

Bunk beds are dangerous if they're not installed properly?!  No sh**!  Tell me something I don't know.  So are training wheels and baby gates and other child safety devices.  Beware the dangers of the high chair!  Take a pill please.  I'm surprised the media didn't link bunk beds to terrorism:  Al Qaeda is lurking on the top bunk! 

Isn't this the cutest?  Seeing this piglet nuzzled so peacefully against his mama in sweet slumber almost makes me forget how much I love bacon. 

This mama piggie had 8 piglets in her litter!  Unlike any of those crazy, kid-filled families on the Discovery Channel though no one is offering her her own show.....at least that we know of.  But who knows?  With the trend being tasteless, trashy peeps on all those reality shows (Flavor Of Love, Real Housewives of New York City, etc.) these pigs might be the cleanest thing out there.

Yes, no, maybe, sometimes but not always. Put it this way, my 'balancing act' is constantly shifting to accomodate daily life.  I gotta tell ya, as a working mother, I'm so sick and tired of people constantly telling me how easy it is to balance career and family.  Personally, I have found that the key to having a career and family is constant negotiation and adjusting one's goals to reality (and a great babysitter).  I call it, living a life of lowered expectations.  I'm sure someone is going to read this and say, you're wrong, it's easy and that they've got it all down.  Good.  Good for them.  Recently, I read an article on AOL that offered the latest input on the four (overly simplified) simple steps to balancing career and family.   Here they are: 

1. Incorporate telecommuting into your workday.

Many companies allow their employees to work from home one or more days per week, which is an easy way for you to spend more time in the morning and afternoon with your children rather than in standstill traffic. Check with your human resources department and employee manual to see if telecommuting is an option. Of course, to telecommute you should be self-disciplined and able to get your work done even though the boss isn't leaning over your shoulder.

-- Have these people actually tried working at home??  It ain't easy.  I'm a professional writer and I do most of my writing in the wee hours of the night when everyone's asleep.  (There goes my sleep and my sex life - good thing I don't work in an office or I'd be exhausted, frustrated and snapping at everyone all day.)  Have you ever tried talking on the phone when your kids are around?  If you think that's hard try creating a presentation with them in the next room.  Good luck with all of that.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back on the internet another wacky news story is spreading like a virus.  It's manic Monday my dear readers.  This one takes the cake:  A Maine woman was taken to a hospital rather than a jail cell after she began going into labor in the back seat of a police car following her arrest on a domestic violence charge this past weekend.

Police said the 23-year-old gave birth after being arrested earlier in the evening for allegedly assaulting her husband in a fight while driving.  Road rage is taking on a whole new meaning.  I'm shocked - she's married at 23!  Poor thing.

Officer Doug Maifeld told the Sun Journal of Lewiston that the woman, who was eight months pregnant, began going into contractions in the back of the police car. He said an ambulance met them at the police station and took the woman to the hospital.  Police said the mother and baby were then taken to Maine Medical Center in Portland, where they were reported to be fine. 

Perhaps all that exertion brought on labor.  I remember taking walks around the hospital to bring on labor I just should have beaten up my husband....lord knows I was in enough pain too.  Did I miss something?  Is beating up other people the new lamaze?  Breathe and beat ladies.  Do you think she'll blame this on raging hormones? 

Did you beat your husband when you were pregnant?  Did you come close?

I just heard the news that J Lo and hubby Mark Anthony are going to star in their own reality show on the Learning Channel about balancing family and career.  I am so fed up with the reality genre already.  What ever happened to a little fiction?  Not to say that reality shows aren't completely produced and fake but enough airing of the boring minutia of the lives of celebrities, their ugly, spoiled families and showing them after they've had unneccessary plastic surgery and calling it entertainment already.  

And J Lo just had her babies like a few weeks ago and suddenly she's the authority on balancing career and family?!  Oh yeah, it's so hard to maintain that balance when you have millions of dollars.  Try balancing my entertainment career with my family!  There's no full time nanny in my house to pick up the kids after school, clean the house, no personal assistant to run my errands or drive me to the airport.  Give me a break.  I'm on the ledge people and I'm gonna jump already.  Sounds like the Learning Channel got desperate in their grab for ratings and lowered themselves for another celeb style reality show. 

PS - I did a season on a reality show and I can say with the utmost conviction that they're completely produced.

Custom cars, custom computers, why not custom kids?  The question is asked of almost every prospective parent: "Would you prefer a girl or a boy?"  Upon first pondering a parent's ability to select the sex of their children I must admit, my knee jerk reaction is NO.  I'm of the belief that this much fooling with nature will only result in an imbalance in the population like the one very present in China.  They have entire generations of men with no wives and no more children.   I realize the inherit conflict in saying this because I believe a woman's right to chose is her own private medical decision so logically it should follow the right to chose the sex of her children should be her decision as well. 

Medically speaking, I am aware that doctors often provide genetic counseling to couples who may be carriers of diseases that are more prevalent in certain sexes leaving the couple to decide.  That's appropriate. 

If I could choose the sex of our next child I have to say I'd have another girl only because I have such great clothes from Lily.  I also have some fabulous shoes for 'her' that I'd hate to waste and some great accessories too.  I even have a great name picked out:  Violet.  Then, I could have my little garden of children:  Lily; Violet.  Sounds like science fiction.  And we all know, little boys can be very gross.  I have nephews.  I've seen their disgusting little habits.  I'm kidding people.....or am I???

What do you think?  Should parents be allowed to pick the sex of their children?  Did you?

I think these are the perfect solution for people who want to feel like they live in the city but remain in the country.  If you look closely enough you can see the still in the background.  I'll take the penthouse please.

OMG!  I went to our local Keyfood this morning just to pick up a few items, 5 in fact, and the total came to $29.73.  I was so shocked I made the Express Line cashier (who now really hates me) void out the order and do it again.  I hate that she chews her gum so loudly and then snarls into that awful microphone, "Manager to express register."  Much to my chagrin and disappointment, the total was the same - $29.73 for: cookies (one package); breakfast sausages; milk; scallions; and organic apple juice!  Holy crap people!  Now that I'm a mom, I find myself running to the store every day to pick up some item I've run out of.  Looks like I'll run out of money first.  I don't know about a full on recession but I think it's say to say that inflation is way on the rise. 

Have you noticed prices going up on everything as well?  I know we're getting hammered at the pump but what about everywhere else too?   Share your latest sticker shock with your fellow fleeced parents, misery loves company. 

How much do you spend on groceries for you and your family each week?

• Under $50
• Between $50 and $100
• More than $100

Sorry readers I couldn't help commenting on this photo I saw on AOL.com today.  My b.s. barometer has reached fever pitch and there's not enough Children's Tylenol in this house to break it.  I know what you're thinking.....this photo of Bush must be photo-shopped because we've never seen him expressing real emotion in the form of tears before for the victims of the war that he started in Iraq.  Finally.  But do you think he really cares about all our young soldiers dying over there?  Or for the Iraqi people?  The families (in both countries) that are being destroyed by this senseless war?  The fact that we've taken the most secular country in the Middle East and completely devastated their economy and their infrastructure?  And what about our own economy?  Our own infrastructure?  Our schools? 

The bridge in my neighborhood was just voted one of the 20 most heavily trafficked in the U.S. in need of immediate repair.  And it's over water!  There's no money to fix it either but there's money for a war.  And for those of you who say, that money comes from a different place I say it comes from the same place - the tax payers pocket.  Enough already.  Every great civilization falls:  ancient Rome did too fighting countless wars against supposed 'invaders'.  I wonder if they referred to the Gauls as the evil doers?  A man started this war I think it will take a woman to end it.....and you know who I'm talking about.  But I think it would be even more sweetly ironic if the man to assume office after Bush has the middle name Hussein.  Maybe there is a god after all.