Whew!

Okay, I just returned from the store, took another HPT and its NEGATIVE!!! woohoo! Man... while I was in the store, or actually, while driving there, I would tear up. You know, I love babies and me being pregnant wouldn't be the end of neither my nor Jeremy's world... the kids would LOVE for me to have another. And if I had been, well, then so be it. My major concern was actually for Wyatt. Had I been pregnant right now, I would feel I didn't give him enough baby time, ya know? And what if my milk would have dried up like it did during my pregnancy for Wyatt? I don't want him to wean before he needs to, ya know? I already feel badly for Ursula... she nursed throughout my pregnancy and all but since my milk dried up, she probably stopped getting milk around the time she was 2½... and I know most probably think I'm crazy but I really feel her health isn't as good as it could be... esp. when compared to Calista, who nursed for 4 yrs. Calista's barely ever sick and has never had an ear infection.

Anyhoo... that's my good news for today :D lol

A Little Freaked...

Why, you may ask... well... I took a pregnancy test last night and didn't wait for 3 minutes before returning to bed... it looked negative. This morning... the test looks funny... the positive part isn't a straight line... squiggly-looking. I believe I've read that you can't trust the home pregnancy tests after so many hours. So, I'm buying another one today... in a couple of hours I'll have the results.

Why would I be freaked? Hmm... because we've been practicing abstinance for the most part!!! LOL Seriously... and if we do 'do it'... Jeremy uses a condom. He always checks it afterwards.

Why would I take the test in the first place? Or, what would make me think I needed to take a HPS?

#1. Nausea.
#2. Lower back pain
#3. Frequent urination
#4. Fatigue
#5. Wyatt's been bending over, looking between his legs... old wive's tale... that's he looking for his next brother/sister... (and for the record, each of my kids did this while I was pregnant).

Along with that... I've been getting headaches. I hardly ever get headaches. That's not a typical pregnancy sign for me though... the above 4 are though. If I'm pregnant, than at least I know what's 'wrong' with me. If I'm not... WTF?

If I am... this was a bigtime 'Oopsie'.

First off, I was happy with having just 3 kids.
Secondly, I haven't even started my period back.
Thirdly, I didn't want to have a baby this close in age even we had decided to get pregnant again... Wyatt won't even be 2 yrs older than this one... if I am.
Fourthly, Do I even have enough patience for a fourth child??? OMG
Fifthly, Our house will soon get way too small. We live in a 1188 qf house; 3 beds/2 baths.
Sixly, I'll want to trade in my car for a mini van.
Sevenly (lol... don'tcha love my 'ly's? lol), I CAN'T BE! NOT YET, ANYWAYS!

To be quite honest... I actually suspected I'd have four kids. My sister, Aimee, says that she knows when she's not done having kids (she has 5) when she senses a child is missing and all are accounted for. I've been having that same feeling lately... like, I see all 3 of my kids in front of me, yet, it seems like one is missing.

If I am pregnant right now... This baby REALLY wanted to come through me and Jeremy NOW.
If I'm pregnant now, according to the chinese conception chart, if I conceived in Jan, I'll have a girl... if in Feb. or March, a boy.

Vaccines again linked to form of autism

http://www.news-medical.net/?id=22490


Medical Studies/Trials
Published: Thursday, 8-Mar-2007

New findings presented yesterday at a National Autism Association meeting bolster claims that vaccines may play a role in the development of autism spectrum disorders.

David Ayoub, MD presented data suggesting a correlation between mercury- containing vaccines and rates of pervasive developmental disorder (PDD), a form of autism, in Montreal.

The peak rate of one in 87 children diagnosed with PDD occurred following the period of greatest exposure to the mercury- based vaccine preservative thimerosal. A flattening of the rates studied is now emerging as mercury-containing vaccines have been gradually eliminated from the routine schedule.

This new data points out flaws in a 2006 study published in the journal Pediatrics by Eric Fombonne, MD, et al, which found PDD rates continued to increase even when rates of MMR vaccination and use of mercury-containing vaccines decreased. The study population consisted of a single Montreal school board that was an Autism Center of Excellence, suggesting an over- ascertainment of regional diagnoses. Dr. Ayoub and co-authors Monica Ruscitti, BA, and F. Edward Yazbak, MD broadened the data to include all five Montreal school boards.

The earlier study also reported PDD rates in children from Montreal, but MMR coverage data was taken from Quebec City located 265km from Montreal. The researchers confirmed MMR coverage rates actually increased in Montreal along with PDD, noting a sharper rise in rates after the number of required MMR shots doubled.

The Pediatrics paper claimed there was no exposure to mercury from vaccines post-1996 although several mercury-containing vaccines were administered well beyond 1996. "It's irresponsible that such flawed data was published in a medical journal. This new information confirms a relationship between vaccines and autism that can't be explained by better diagnosing or changing diagnostic criteria," said Karen McDonough, NAA -- Chicago president.

Drs. Ayoub and Yazbak detailed the Fombonne study flaws in letters to Pediatrics which the journal declined to publish. Editor Jerold F. Lucey, MD stated in a reply, "I believe the evidence of no link between MMR and Autism is sufficient. It's not worth publishing more on this subject."

"This dismissal of legitimate concerns regarding data affecting those suffering with autism is a disgrace," commented Ms. McDonough.

http://www.nationalautism.org/

How to Know Whether or Not You're Ready for Motherhood...

I found this on another blog (I know I've seen it a few times before but I guess it just hits home now... LOL) and felt I needed to repost it on my own blog :D

Mess Test:

Smear peanut butter on the sofa and curtains. Place a fish stick behind the couch and leave it there all summer.

Toy Test:

Obtain a 55 gallon drum of LEGOs (if LEGOs are not available, you may (substitute roofing tacks). Have a friend spread them all over the house. Put on a blindfold. Try to walk to the bathroom or kitchen. Do not scream (this could wake a child at night).

Grocery Store Test:

Borrow one or two small animals (goats are best) and take them with you as you shop at the grocery store. Always keep them in sight and pay for anything they eat or damage.

Dressing Test:

Obtain one large, unhappy, live octopus (they turn bright red when they are unhappy). Stuff into a small net bag making sure that all arms stay inside.

Feeding Test:

Obtain a large plastic milk jug. Fill halfway with water. Suspend from the ceiling with a stout cord. Start the jug swinging. Try to insert spoonfuls of soggy cereal (such as Fruit Loops or Cheerios) into the mouth of the jug, while pretending to be an airplane. Now dump the contents of the jug on the floor.

Night Test

Prepare by obtaining a small cloth bag and fill it with 8-12 pounds of sand. Soak it thoroughly in water. At 8:00 p.m. begin to waltz and hum with the bag until 9:00 p.m. Lay down your bag and set your alarm for 10:00 p.m. Get up, pick up your bag, and sing every song you have ever heard. Make up about a dozen more and sing these too until 4:00 a.m. Set alarm for 5:00 a.m. Get up and make breakfast. Keep this up for five years. Look cheerful.

Physical Test

Obtain a large beanbag chair and attach it to the front of your clothes. Leave it there for 9 months. Now remove ten of the beans.

Final Assignment

Find a couple who already have a small child. Lecture them on how they can improve their discipline, patience, tolerance, toilet training and child's table manners. Suggest many ways they can improve. Emphasize to them that they should never allow their children to run wild. Enjoy this experience. It will be the last time you will have all the answers.

Lately...

Just an update of recent events, thoughts, articles that's been on my mind or wanted to remember for later...

So tragic. I've been having this online friend, Leslie, for quite some time now... at least 8 yrs now. We've only met once in person in the past, back before Calista was even a year old. At that time, Leslie had only 2 children, both girls. I had invited her to our house for supper. We had a nice time. We had intended on getting together again... but, in that time, Jeremy and I have moved many times and she moved a couple of times. And then, when I would be able to go meet up with her, I either wouldn't have a working car or didn't have one at all. Anyways, we've kept in touch via email, blogs, pictures, etc and I went on to have 2 more children and so did she. Flash forward to this past Sunday. Her 2nd child, Elizabeth - now 10 yrs old, was riding their 4-wheeler and they aren't sure what happened, but she died. How sad. Terrible. She was with a friend of hers, both on 4-wheelers. Leslie told me that she had told Liz not to go past 2nd gear - no racing. Well, they go ride. Her 12-yr-old friend comes running back telling Leslie and her dh, Chris, that Liz needs them. Chris knows CPR and all that stuff, he's trained in it. There was nothing he could do. Leslie told me that the coroner said Liz was bleeding from both ears. The 4-wheeler was upright and Liz was laying next to it. They have no idea what happened. Leslie said that the 4-wheeler was in 5th gear... but, how strange, huh? And how terribly sad. Leslie had posted her obituary on myspace, that's how I found out... otherwise, there's no way I would have known. I wrote her and asked if she'd like me to go to the funeral home... I wasn't sure how appropriate it would be, ya know? Well, she wrote back saying she'd love to see me and to please come. So, I had to wait for Jeremy to get back from work since the carseats are in his car. I ended up just taking Wyatt. I went only for like half an hour. I didn't know anyone else but her, so I only had her to talk to and I didn't want to take up too much of her time; plus, Wyatt was getting antsy... he wanted to get down and play with the stuff on the floor. At the funeral home, Liz has tons of flowers, quite a few soccer balls, her best friend even put his handheld game system in there with her! Leslie told me a couple of times that she was glad I went. I'm glad I did too... to show support and friendship.

My girls like going next door to ride our neighbor's 4-wheeler, 3-wheeler, go-carts, etc... I am thinking 'NO MORE'. Is that too crazy? I was always leary about them anyways. They only ride the go-cart by themselves (its kids' size) and there's a seatbelt that they do use. But, I'm thinking that they don't get to get on the 4-wheeler unless there's an adult with them as opposed to just another kid.

I know, I know, you can't save your children from everything. I know. Personally, and I know many others feel this way, I want to pass on BEFORE any of my children do.

I'll finish up on this entry later... Jeremy just called to tell me that I need to pay the electric bill today... thanks for the heads up! So, now I have to get myself and the kids dressed... I'll be back :D

Okay, I'm back...

Then, last night, I dream that I can't find Calista. I'm crying like crazy and looking everywhere. I wake up without ever finding her in my dream. So, this morning, before she gets on the bus, I review with her stuff about not talking to strangers, not taking candy, not helping them find their dog, etc... and scream and run, kick, bite, poke their eyes, whatever. I hate when I have dreams like that.

In recent news...

I'm just copying and pasting the whole articles in case they disappear in the future.

I wonder what the end result of this will be...
Tomb could be of Jesus, wife and son

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The burial site of Jesus has been found and suggests he had a wife and son, according to highly sensitive claims in a documentary by "Titanic" director James Cameron and Israel' -born Simcha Jacobovici.

The claims inject controversy into the issue of resurrection central to Christianity and, if accurate, could reignite questions about Jesus' earthy family life popularized in the book "The Da Vinci Code."

Cameron and Jacobovici, an award-winning documentary director, said their research suggested Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had a son, Judah.

"DNA analysis conducted at one of the world's foremost molecular genetics laboratories, as well as studies by leading scholars, suggest a 2,000-year-old Jerusalem tomb could have once held the remains of Jesus of Nazareth and his family," a statement from Discovery, which will broadcast the documentary, said.

The tomb was located in Talpiot, Jerusalem, March 28, 1980 by a construction crew developing an apartment complex.

Scholar L.Y. Rahmani later published "A Catalogue of Jewish Ossuaries" that described 10 ossuaries, or limestone bone boxes, found in the tomb, the Discovery statement said.

Five of the 10 discovered boxes in the Talpiot tomb were inscribed with names believed to be associated with key figures in the New Testament: Jesus, Mary, Matthew, Joseph and Mary Magdalene. A sixth inscription, written in Aramaic, translates to "Judah Son of Jesus."

"Such tombs are very typical for that region," Aaron Brody, associate professor of Bible and archaeology at the Pacific School of Religion and director of California's Bade Museum, told Discovery News.

In addition to the "Judah son of Jesus" inscription, which is written in Aramaic on one of the ossuaries, another limestone burial box is labeled in Aramaic with "Jesus Son of Joseph." Another bears the Hebrew inscription "Maria," a Latin version of "Miriam," or, in English, "Mary."

Yet another ossuary inscription, written in Hebrew, reads "Matia," the original Hebrew word for "Matthew." Only one of the inscriptions is written in Greek. It reads, "Mariamene e Mara," which can be translated as, "Mary known as the master," the television network said.

Jacobovici, director, producer and writer of "The Lost Tomb of Jesus," and his team obtained two sets of samples from the ossuaries for DNA and chemical analysis. The first set consisted of bits of matter taken from the "Jesus Son of Joseph" and "Mariamene e Mara" ossuaries. The second set consisted of patina, a chemical film encrustation on one of the limestone boxes.

The human remains were analyzed by Carney Matheson, a scientist at the Paleo-DNA Laboratory at Lakehead University in Ontario, Canada. Mitochondrial DNA examination determined the individual in the Jesus ossuary and the person in the ossuary linked to Mary Magdalene were not related.

Since tombs normally contain either blood relations or spouses, Jacobovici and his team suggest Jesus and Mary Magdalene could have been a couple. "Judah," whom they indicate may have been their son, could have been the "lad" described in the Gospel of John as sleeping in Jesus' lap at the Last Supper, they argue in their
documentary.

Israeli archaeologist and professor Amos Kloner, who documented the tomb as the Jewish burial cave of a well-off family more than 10 years ago, is adamant there is no evidence to support claims that it was the burial site of Jesus.

"I'm a scholar. I do scholarly work which has nothing to do with documentary film-making. There's no way to take a religious story and to turn it into something scientific," he told AFP in a telephone interview.

"I still insist that it is a regular burial chamber from the 1st century BC," Kloner said, adding that the names were a coincidence.

"Who says that 'Maria' is Magdalena and 'Judah' is the son of Jesus? It cannot be proved. These are very popular and common names from the 1st century BC," said the academic at Israel's Bar Ilan University.

And this is cool:
Strange New Creatures Found in Antarctica

Andrea Thompson
LiveScience Staff Writer
LiveScience.com
Sun Feb 25, 12:20 PM ET

Several strange creatures including a psychedelic octopus have been found in frigid waters off Antarctica in one of the world’s most pristine marine environments.

Others resembled corals and shrimps. At least 30 appear to be new to science, said Julian Gutt, chief scientist of an expedition that was part of the International Polar Year research effort set to launch on March 1. The researchers catalogued about 1,000 species in an area of the Antarctic seabed where warming temperatures are believed to have caused the collapse of overlying ice shelves, affecting the marine life below.

“This is virgin geography,” said expedition member Gauthier Chapelle. “If we don’t find out what this area is like now following the collapse of the ice shelf, and what species are there, we won’t have any basis to know in 20 years’ time what has changed and how global warming has altered the marine ecosystem.”

The expedition also found sea lilies, sea cucumbers and sea urchins thriving on the sea floor—these species are usually found in much deeper waters where food is scarce, but the ice shelves probably made food scarcer than it would usually be at that shallow depth.

Images of the newfound creatures:

Octopus
Sea
Squirts
Crustacean
Cucumbers

An opened seal

In the Weddell Sea off the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, 10,000 square kilometers of seabed was sealed off from the surface for thousands of years by the 100-m thick Larsen A and B ice shelves. When these ice shelves collapsed in recent years, the area was opened up to colonization by species that could not have survived there before [Original News Story].

The international team of scientists recently completed a 10-week expedition of the area. Using a remote operating vehicle, they were able to do the first comprehensive survey of life on the seabed. Before the ice shelves collapsed, the only access scientists had to the area was through holes drilled in the ice.

Ice shelves form when creeping glaciers reach the continent’s coast and begin to float on the ocean. They usually lose mass via icebergs that calve off and float out to sea gradually, but the Larsen A and B shelves both suddenly and surprisingly collapsed. Since 1974, a total of 13,500 square kilometers (about half the size of New Jersey) of ice shelves have disintegrated—a phenomenon linked to global warming, as temperatures have risen faster in Antarctica than anywhere else in world.

In general, the expedition found that animals were less abundant in the Larsen A and B areas compared to other areas of the Antarctic. Animals in the area were only one percent as abundant as other parts of the Weddell Sea, which Gutt suspects is somehow related to the availability of food.

New species?

One of the main aims of the expedition was to survey both indigenous life-forms and creatures that had moved in after the collapse to take advantage of the newly opened environment.

Gutt said that 95 percent of the animals the expedition found were probably indigenous and just 5 percent had moved in after the ice shelves collapsed, but even that small percentage indicated a shift in biodiversity and species composition in the area which will probably continue.

“Life at the sea floor obviously reacts very slowly to this very climactic change in the environmental conditions," Gutt said. “[It] needs hundreds to thousands of years until a new community has fully developed, if this will happen at all.”

One creature new to the neighborhood was the fast-growing, gelatinous sea squirt, which the scientists found in several dense patches.

Iceberg damage

The expedition also found scours created by icebergs that calved from the ice sheets and ran aground on the sea bed, destroying the life in the area, but the damage wasn’t as bad as expected.

“I expected more, because if there are thousands of icebergs disintegrated, or calved, in a very short period of only a few months, then I expected that everything would be destroyed. But it was not,” Gutt said.

The expedition actually found more evidence of disturbance outside the Larsen ice shelf area at points where many icebergs must pass.

But in the areas icebergs had destroyed, Gutt said, signs of life were returning.

Beautiful in Blue

Here's my kiddos :)

I took these pictures today.

I also have pics of the girls by themselves at their blog and Wyatt at his.

I took them in to take pro pics today; after I took these :)

Those will be in on the 22nd.

Oh, Calista's hair was so full of static! I kept brushing it and smoothing it down with my hands before each pic but... as you can see, it wasn't working.

The Saints!

Their playoff game has just begun and we're excited :D This is the first time in Saints' 40 yr. history to have come this far!!! woohoo! Playing the Bears. It would be so awesome if they win! People always look at the Saints as a lost cause. I'm hoping it will bring some positive reaction to both New Orleans and to our state. And plus, its always cool to be with 'winners' :D Jeremy just told me that Saints have only had 8 winning seasons! That's not a whole lot in 40 yrs. But, maybe this will be a turn-around for them. Shucks, tourism is always a plus down in New Orleans... they really depend on that.

I admit, I'm not a huge sports fan... but, I'm always rooting for the home teams!

On to another thing...

Calista may have a broken nose. Yep. Yesterday, our neighbor gave his son a bday party (small). There were two relatives of the bday boy that are like 12 and 13 yrs old... Well, one of them landed on Calista's face. I wasn't actually there because Wyatt was taking his nap...but, there were like 4 adults there. And I've told my kids many times that if there's big kids on the trampoline, not to get up there or to get off if they get up on it. I am pretty sure she's learned her lesson :( It really didn't bleed much. Jeremy says he's pretty sure its broken. Her nose is swollen on one side.

More Dreams

I remember 2 dreams from last night/this morning.

In one of them, we were eating. Lots of us. Seems like we were eating on sofas, watching TV, but maybe in a casual place... didn't seem like a person's home as it was a really big area. Anyways, we're eating and Jeremy stops eating and gets up. I ask him what's wrong and he puts his hand to his chest area and says 'heartburn'. Well, that's normal enough... no big deal. Jeremy leaves. I continue eating when I overhear Shane (my bil and Jeremy's best friend). He's like talking to Angele (his wife, my sister) and he says, "Heartburn? Yeah, right! That's Hailey over there!" I'm like, who? in my mind. I woke up shortly afterwards, so I didn't get to see what her face looked like or where Jeremy went off to in my dream. I had felt in my dream, that she was someone that he must have messed around with at some point... hoping it was before we were together, and perhaps even had some feelings for... that would explain his action. Either that or someone he messed around with while we were together and couldn't believe he saw her while I was there too... Keep in mind, this is all still part of me dreaming. This morning, I asked Jeremy if he knew any Hailey's and he's like, I know a Hane.... whatever that means... LOL So, I told him about the dream.

Second dream is kind of funny. I was in a classroom... my age now with others my age as well. Some of which went to school with me. I had a dufflebag with my books and purse in it. I remember looking in it, looking into my purse and my wallet and seeing that I had 2 $500 bills in there as well as a couple of $100's. I think it was like $1400 or so... can't remember exactly how much right now or why I even had that much money in my purse; on me!!! Anyways, I'm in my seat and I guess I'm feeling stressed and one of my classmates rolls this HUGE, gigantic joint... shaped it like a pipe even! LOL Reminded me of something from Cheech and Chong. lol Anyways, weed is pouring out of it. And they're passing it to me and I'm trying to hide it from the lecturing teacher! I take my 2 hits and pass it back. It was hitting too! LOL Then, someone from behind me gets my attention as my dufflebag is passed back to me! I'm like, where was it and why was it gone? This guy in the back of my line had it (a guy I knew from school, Christian). He, for some reason was looking in my stuff. He had seen my money and at some point, xeroxed them and put them back as well as the copies...??? Okay... I remember I kept counting my money to make sure it was all still there. I woke up around that time.

Tiny Update

Okay, update time:

We went ahead and formatted our computer's hard drive the other day. One cool thing about that is we get to use our Norton Antivirus again without paying for a new year! woohoo! hehehe

Jeremy and Shane (my bil/his best friend) went to the Sugar Bowl (LSU vs Notre Dame). Jeremy's dad surprised them by giving them the tickets; yes, they were very excited.

My sister, Angele, and her husband have to move to a very small apartment, so, she cleared out some stuff... we got her purple leather sofa, chair, and ottoman as well as one of her TV's, a huge, black, cast iron pot, & small freezer!

I'm guessing she was feeling very charitable and also gave me her Chi flat iron and bought me 2 bras from Dilliard's!!! Love the bras too!!!

Just wanted to add two pictures I took of Wyatt and Ursula from last night. Can't include bath pics of Calista... she's a little too old for that now!!! LOL For a couple more pics, go to both Wyatt's and Ursula's blogs.

I liked that one of Wyatt looking at Ursula... I love how he's looking at her... he actually goes to her... like, puts his hands up for her to take him.

Strange Dream

Alrighty, this morning, I was awakened from a strange dream by a phone call from my sister, Angele. I mean, I was smack-dab in the middle of it when one of the kids brought the phone to me in my bed.

Okay, the dream.

Lately, I've been having dreams of us being in a different house, right? Right. So, this time, I was asleep in my bed when something roused me. I look, and there's a small chest of drawers that also opens on top; like to store things there as well. As I look at it, I'm thinking how I just got Jeremy to bring it in the room because it was too heavy for me. Oh yeah, it was a rustic kind of green in color. So, as I'm looking at it from my bed, I see the top open slightly and some of the doors and drawers as well as a slight light coming out of it. Then it all shut as if it knew I saw it. I lay back down and next thing you know, a small drawer comes flying out of it and hovers above me, circling around and around. It finally falls right around my pillow. I am, naturally, freaking out. Now, for some reason, which I'm quite sure was all very logical while I was dreaming, my neighbors were in bed with me... sleeping, of course. So, I grab Jen's arm (who, incidently, is still in the hospital) and shake her awake so she could see the levitating drawer (obviously, this is before it fell by my pillow). Then, after the drawer falls, I shake Todd awake. Jeremy had already left for work... still can't remember why they were both sleeping in my bed though... anyways, he goes to touch the drawer and it shocks him unconscious. I'm like, 'great!'.... by this time, the green set of drawers/storage thingie is opening all of its doors and drawers over and over. Then, it also flies above us, as we were laying in bed... it starts circling above us too.
Around this time, Calista comes in and asks if she could go play with one of our neighbors (apparently, in this dream, we had a new family, black, and in the dream, I knew the little girl's name... can't think of it now). So, I tell her she can (figuring its better she's outside than in here with possessed furniture) but to stay in our yard. Then, I get out of bed and walk to the kitchen when another of our neighbors come knocks and enters the house (this neighbor is totally not real... no idea who she is)... I tell her she has GOT to see in my bedroom. Well, I bring her in and the storage thingie is on the floor again... with lots of glittery stuff on it. The drawers and doors were slightly opened... in fact, it looked like it had just fallen from somewhere... messed up looking. So, I'm like, great, you'll never believe what was just going on in here! And that's when Angele called me in real life! LOL I was so into that dream... I was all groggy and told her I'd call her back in a little while.
Whatever it means, no idea...

New Camera!

heh heh heh
Well, Jeremy knows me well & knows how much photography means to me, so he bought me another camera! He bought another Kodak EasyShare. This one is the Z710. Its like the first one I had (the one Kimber had given me) and that stopped taking the battery's charge and I exchanged plus $50 for the next one. This new one is a 7.1 MP with a 10X zoom :D So far, so good! AND I promise, this one will stay safe, out of harm's reach!!! I can't be buying a new camera every year!!!

I'll upload pics as soon as I'm able to... Blogger isn't allowing me right now.

If You Take Painkillers During Childbirth, You May Have Difficulty Breastfeeding

Another reason to give birth naturally!

Epidurals and other painkillers used to ease childbirth are linked with decreased rates of breastfeeding. This is the result of a new study led by Dr Siranda Torvaldsen, a senior researcher in the Facultly of Medicine at the University of Sydney, Australia.

Of course, there's more to the article... click the link and read :D

UTMB researchers discover breast-feeding overcomes genetic tendency to ear infections

Here's the link to the article and below is a snippet from it:

“This is a major finding, that breast-feeding neutralized the effect even in kids who had all the genetic polymorphisms,” Patel said. “Not only that, they were protected from recurrent infections even later in childhood, long after they stopped breast-feeding.”

Its cool how more and more evidence is proving how beneficial breastmilk really is.

13 things that do not make sense

I received the link to this article in my Mercola newsletter today.

Here are the 13:

1. The placebo effect
2. The horizon problem
3. Ultra-energetic cosmic rays
4. Belfast homeopathy results
5. Dark matter
6. Viking's methane
7. Tetraneutrons
8. The Pioneer anomaly
9. Dark energy
10. The Kuiper cliff
11. The Wow signal
12. Not-so-constant constants
13. Cold fusion

Its a cool article, so go read it! :D

Breast-milk compounds could be a tonic for adult ills

Copied and pasted from here:

Julie J. Rehmeyer

Catharina Svanborg thought that she already knew how remarkable breast milk is. The immunologist had logged hundreds of lab hours documenting ways in which human milk helps babies fight infections. But when the group decided to use cancerous lung cells to avoid the variability shown by normal cells in laboratory tests, Svanborg and her team at Lund University in Sweden were in for a surprise. They applied breast milk to the cancerous lung cells, and all the cells died. Breast milk killed cancer cells.

GOAT GOODS.
A transgenic goat named Artemis produces in her milk a human-breast milk compound called lysozyme. Lysozyme destroys bacteria by drilling through their cell walls.
E. Scharfen

"From that moment on, we've been working with it," Svanborg says.

Svanborg's serendipitous discovery of human milk's anticancer power is remarkable, but other researchers have also been finding that breast milk can both protect against and heal a remarkable variety of ailments. Perhaps these properties shouldn't be surprising: Of the thousands of substances that people eat, breast milk is the only one that evolved under natural pressure to keep people healthy.

Research teams are now learning to exploit its tricks for purposes well beyond feeding babies. Components of breast milk are being developed as drugs that fight viruses and bacteria. A particular target is diarrhea, which kills about 2.2 million
people every year, mostly children in developing countries. Other milk compounds may be added to food to improve digestion. Some milk components might fight medical conditions ranging from arthritis to septic shock.

Although some of these compounds are found in milk from other animals, others occur only in human milk, and the nonhuman versions are generally less potent in people. This presents a challenge, since human-breast milk is not available for sale. So, researchers are developing new sources for the compounds, including genetically modified bacteria, rice, goats, and cows.

The potential for therapies derived from milk is "enormous, absolutely tremendous," says Marian Kruzel, an immunologist at the University of Texas Medical School in Houston.


Good bugs and bad bugs
The protective properties of mother's milk have long been apparent. Breast-fed babies, for instance, get diarrhea half as often as infants who are fed formula do. Decades ago, scientists began wondering how breast milk stops the pathogens that cause diarrhea.

In the 1950s, Lars Hanson, an immunologist at Göteborg University in Sweden, started to solve the puzzle. He found that mothers produce antibodies in their milk and that way pass on to their babies immunities that the women had acquired over their lifetimes.

But the antibodies in breast milk didn't explain all the observations. For example, breast-fed babies have different bacteria in their guts than formula-fed babies do. The breast feeders harbor more of the beneficial, food-digesting bacteria, such as acidophilus and bifidus, as well as less of the coliform Escherichia coli and other germs that can make infants sick.

When scientists started analyzing breast milk, they found that the third-largest constituent of breast milk, making up about 1 percent by volume, is a mixture of indigestible sugars known as oligosaccharides. Many of these sugars occur only in human milk.

Initially, the scientists thought that these were useless by-products of milk production. But why would mothers expend so much energy creating compounds that their babies can't use?

In the past few years, scientists have solved this puzzle. David Newburg, of Massachusetts General Hospital in Charlestown and his colleagues genetically
engineered mice to produce oligosaccharides in their milk. He then gave their pups campylobacter, a bacterium that causes diarrhea. The pups that drank oligosaccharides didn't get sick.

Unlike the antibodies that mothers pass along to their infants through breast milk, oligosaccharides can protect the baby from pathogens to which the mother has never been exposed.

For a pathogen to infect a person via the digestive tract, it first has to latch on to the sugars that line the gut wall. Oligosaccharides have binding sites that are identical to the ones on the gut-wall sugars, so the pathogens attach to the oligosaccharides instead of to the lining of the gut. Once bound to oligosaccharides, pathogens travel harmlessly through the intestinal tract.

Surprisingly, bacteria that aid digestion prosper in the presence of oligosaccharides. Bruce German, a nutritionist at the University of California, Davis, proposes that only the beneficial bacteria digest some of the oligosaccharides, thereby gaining an advantage over the harmful bacteria. This theory is controversial, however.

German says that the beneficial microbes' advantage is a natural consequence of the coevolution of breast milk and gut bacteria. Oligosaccharides occur in thousands of slightly different forms, and the precise mix of types of oligosaccharides varies from woman to woman. Those who produced breast milk with oligosaccharides that only beneficial bacteria can eat must have had an evolutionary advantage.

German notes that because of this evolutionary process, some bacteria in human digestive tracts are found nowhere else on Earth. "What milk did is recruit an entire life form to protect the infant," German says. "To me, that's pretty inspiring stuff."

German and other scientists want to leverage that protection for babies that aren't breast-fed and for adults too. Oligosaccharides might augment elderly people's weakened natural protection against pathogens. After people have taken strong antibiotics, the sugars could help them recolonize their digestive tracks with beneficial bacteria. Foreign travelers or military personnel who expect to be exposed to unfamiliar pathogens could take oligosaccharides as a preventive measure.

Newburg expects that as bacteria continue to develop resistance to antibiotics,
oligosaccharides will be increasingly important for fighting pathogens. "This is a totally different type of defense against pathogens that mammals have been using for thousands of years, and it still works," Newburg says.

He suggests that bacteria can't evolve a resistance to oligosaccharides because if they change in such a way that they no longer bind to the oligosaccharide, they also can't bind to the cell wall to infect their targets. "The mechanisms for protection in milk are so exquisite," Newburg marvels.

Procuring a supply of oligosaccharides for preventive or therapeutic treatments presents a challenge. Newburg is working to genetically engineer E. coli bacteria to produce the sugars.

"What motivates me personally is the large number of babies in the Third World who have diarrhea," Newburg says. Oligosaccharides added to formula could protect
babies who don't receive breast milk.


Bioengineering milk
Getting bacteria to produce human oligosaccharides would be only the first step toward Newburg's vision. For protection against infections, people would have to eat substantial amounts of oligosaccharides regularly. So, to make supplements for adults or for baby formula, bacteria would need to produce oligosaccharides in large quantities and at low cost.

ATTACK THWARTED. Bacteria that can cause pneumonia attack a throat cell (top) by attaching to sugar chains on the cell. In a solution of oligosaccharides—indigestible sugars contained in breast milk—the pneumococci bind to the sugars and don't latch on to the throat cell (bottom).
B. Andersson

On the other hand, genetic engineering of larger organisms has already produced inexpensive and abundant supplies of two other human-breast–milk compounds: lysozyme and lactoferrin.

In 1998, scientists genetically engineered a goat to excrete lysozyme in its milk, and in 2002, another team created one variety of rice that produces human lysozyme and another variety that yields human lactoferrin. Also in 2002, a team engineered a cow to produce human lactoferrin. As a result, researchers are for the first time performing large-scale clinical trials of lactoferrin and lysozyme.

Lactoferrin is a dazzlingly multitalented protein. In breast-fed babies, it can appropriately suppress inflammation or boost immune activity. It also fights viruses, bacteria, and fungi. Even after the protein has broken down in the gut, the fragments fight urinary-tract infections as they are expelled from the body.

Because lactoferrin lowers the immune system's inflammatory overreactions, it may be useful against arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and septic shock. In 1998, when
researchers treated piglets with lactoferrin before inducing septic shock, the compound reduced mortality to less than one-fourth of that in untreated piglets. In 2001, another group showed that treating rats in septic shock with lactoferrin dramatically reduced blood-toxin concentrations.

The many claims for lactoferrin's capabilities "may look suspicious," admits Michal Zimecki, an immunologist at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Wroclaw. Lactoferrin "seems like a golden bullet, but it really is so."

Lysozyme is, by comparison, a one-trick pony: It chews up bacterial cell walls. However, its trick is fine-tuned. Lysozyme selectively destroys deleterious bacteria, usually leaving the beneficial ones unharmed.

At a clinic in Peru, Bo Lönnerdal, a nutritionist at the University of California, Davis, recently conducted a trial of a combination of lactoferrin and lysozyme against diarrhea. The standard treatment for acute diarrhea in children there is simple rehydration with a solution of sugar and salt.

Lönnerdal added his two compounds to the solution given to half the children treated. Those who received lactoferrin and lysozyme, he found, recovered more quickly and were less prone to a repeat bout of the disease. The study is scheduled to appear in an upcoming Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition.


Killer milk

As outlandish as lactoferrin's potential may seem, it is perhaps even stranger to think that breast milk components could cure cancer.

Once Svanborg and her team had established that something in breast milk was killing human cancer cells in the lab, they isolated the assassin. It turned out to be
the protein alpha-lactalbumin. But the compound becomes lethal only when exposed to acid, as it is in a stomach and was in the lab. The acid unfolds the alpha lactalbumin protein into a havoc-wreaking form.

Svanborg dubbed the acidified form of the protein HAMLET, for human alpha-lactalbumin made lethal to tumors.

Cancer cells take up far more HAMLET than healthy cells do. The huge quantities of unfolded proteins destroy the cancer cells.

Svanborg found that HAMLET killed 40 kinds of tumor cells in lab dishes. She has also studied the reactive compound in rats with human-cancer cells implanted in
their brains. She used an invasive cancer called glioblastoma that usually kills people in less than a year. She injected HAMLET directly into the tumors of some of the rats, while others received injections of alpha-lactalbumin that hadn't been activated by acid.

After 7 weeks, the rats getting inactive protein bore tumors seven times, on average, as large as the tumors in the HAMLET-treated rats, the researchers reported in 2004.

Svanborg has also found that HAMLET reduces warts in people. Warts and tumors share the property of growing without respect to normal controls. HAMLET reduced the volume of more than 95 percent of the warts to which it was applied, whereas only 20 percent of warts treated with a placebo decreased in size.

Svanborg is currently concluding human trials of HAMLET for bladder cancer. She says that her results "look very good," and that the treatment produced no side
effects. Pharmaceutical companies are now developing the activated protein for clinical use.

Hanson, the first scientist to isolate immune antibodies from breast milk, says that HAMLET is "quite a discovery," especially since it seems to be effective against so many kinds of cancer. He cautions, though, that "the crucial thing will be the clinical studies."

Whether or not breast milk turns out to be the source of a potent cancer therapy, its remarkable properties have led to a new view of its role. "My thinking on milk has changed totally," says Newburg. "I used to think of it as the best source of nutrients. Now, it's looking like milk is really designed to be protective."

Soon, that protection may extend to the rest of us.

The references are listed under the article online.

Two Birthday Parties

Koltin had his 3 year-old birthday party last weekend. He's Jeremy's sister's (Tasha) son. He had it at this cool skate rink that had 6 jumpy thingies in the back (inside)! Nice place for bday parties :D And then the bday boy got to ride one lap in this big skate! What kid wouldn't like that?

Here's Koltin's little sister, Korah. She is 4 mths older than Wyatt. She's so sweet. She kept calling me Nanny (she calls most ladies that! lol) and would give me kisses just whenever :D Gotta love that!

This is Jeremy's brother's (Jason) son, Carter. He's 7 mths older than Wyatt. So, yep, me, Tasha, Tori (Jason's wife), and also Jessica (my brother's wife) were all pregnant together... me and my in-laws.

The second bday party was a surprise one thrown by Tasha for their parents. They were indeed surprised and thankful :)

Here's their family minus Jason... he had to work.

We stayed up until like 3am... they have this cool room above the barn that has a pool table (with a ping pong top as well), dart board, foose ball table (sp?), full kitchen, and keg dispenser!

One bad thing happened... Ursula dropped my camera :(( And now it won't turn off and it won't take pics... it only goes to the favorites folder (which I never use). There's a year warranty on it; I just have to see about sending it in.

I still have that cheapo camera from before that will have to suffice until my camera is fixed.

And now something cool :D A few weekends ago when I went visit my family, I had brought home a box of clothes with no less than 6 pairs of jeans. Well, I brought a couple of them last weekend since we knew we'd be spending the night. And when we left, Tasha told me that my jeans looked good on me... I was like "Thanks!". She asked where I got them from and I told her they were free :D She asked me if I knew the brand, Lucky and I said 'no'. She said my jeans cost $95! Woohooo!!! So, that was cool! I found out my 'new' jeans were stylish, nice, and current! lol Because sometimes, as a mom who's stuck at home, you kind of just wear whatever is comfortable... plus, when I have the extra money, its usually spent on my children!

Alabama Police Say Mother Lied, Charge Boyfriend With Murder of 5-Year-Old Boy

And yet, another story that makes me want to cry. My sister, Angele, had called me this morning, while we were talking, she told me about this... I looked it up and will link for all to see... another case where the mom needs to be sterilized.

Here's the article link.

Apparently, the believe that the boy was dead before going to the convience store and that the car being stolen was a way to get away with murder. His mom told the sheriff that the boy died from getting a beating because he brought home a bad progress report. I am thinking, from what I've read in different articles, that the mom's boyfriend is the one who beat the boy... then, he died and they had to figure out a way to get out of it. He, apparently, was an abusive man. Its all so sickening.

I tell you what, though, it really makes you appreciate your own children and want to protect them all the more.

Puppy Eats Baby's Toes As Parents Sleep

Sickening, huh? I heard this news last night on TV. Pissed me off so badly that I had a hard time falling asleep... all I kept thinking about was this poor baby... how long she must have cried before her idiot parents woke up... the trauma that poor baby went through... heart breaking. Only one month old! I really feel these stupid parents need to be sterilized from having anymore children and then have their toes chewed on while they're strapped down.

Here's parts of the article:

Bossier City police said a couple was asleep as their pit bull puppy chewed off four of their baby daughter's toes.

Police said the parents were sleeping on a mattress in the living room of their residence and the baby was in an infant seat beside them when the puppy began chewing on their baby's toes.

The only thing that makes sense to me is that these stupid parents were drugged up or drunk... unless they were practicing the Cry-It-Out sleep method (CIO). I just don't get it. How wouldn't you attend to your baby's at the first scream? You know that baby was screaming. On the TV news, one man said that the 6 wk-old puppy must have been trying to nurse. You can't blame the puppy. I can just see that baby's legs kicking and her screaming while this puppy was probably playing and biting on her toes.

The parents are 22 and 26 yrs old and are being held in prison pending their initial court appearance. They are being charged with negligence.

Just sickens me.

Vivid Dreams

After Calista gets on the bus, I usually go back to bed if Wyatt and Ursula are still asleep. Well, this morning, I dreamt that my brother, Jared, was dressed up in this scary Halloween coustume, mask and all (all black) and he came in my room to wake us up; but, I knew it was him. We got up and I asked him how he got in my house (because I always deadbolt it when I'm in bed). He answered but it wasn't to the question that I asked... in fact, I was confused by what he was saying. Gene was with him (in fact, it seems like they were once again, working together). Gene had on this beautiful blue shirt. He was holding up another shirt of the same color as well, not sure if he was putting it on; but I was hoping he was giving it to me in my dream. I look around my living room and Aimee's (my oldest sister) here too! I asked her what she was doing here and she was kind of blase' about it... saying she used her thumb (and in my mind, it was the kind of Hitchhiker's Guide thumb). It was surprising to me to see them all in my house... for one, I live 2 hrs from my brother and about 9 hours from my sister... so, they usually call before coming.

I ask my brother how he likes my new house (apparently, that's another reason why I was surprised they showed up... I had moved). I was showing him around. And this was a nice house! You know, I've been having a few dreams involving me in a new/different house... hmmm... Anyways, it was shaped kind of like a U. When you walked in, it was the kitchen area. Walked toward the living room, that was the bottom of the U. Then, from the living room, you walk down the hallway to where the bedrooms are located.

Lately, I've been having very vivid dreams, memorable but not jotting them down. So, of course, I end up forgetting them. Funny thing is, is that Jeremy just told me that he too, has been having vivid dreams lately.

Oh, before Jeremy left for work this morning, I must have been going in and out of sleep because I had a dream about that. I dreamt that some guys from his work were carpooling with him and that Jeremy was waiting for them to arrive. I get out of bed and start doing dishes from the night before. One of his co-workers, a black guy (btw, I have no idea what his co-workers look like... I do know he works with several black guys though), arrives. He comes in the house and needs to use the bathroom. I tell him where its located. Then, they all leave the house and Jeremy comes to give me a peck before he walks out the door. And he is black... LOL I think to myself, I'm in a biracial relationship... lol Like I was surprised by that... even after all these years... LOL

What's interesting is that I've never dreamt about black people until recently. If I had, I didn't remember the dreams until recently. Usually, the people in my dreams are my family and if they aren't, usually their faces are blurred.

Dreams always fascinate me.

Pictures From Yesterday

The three girls together... have no idea why Ursula posed like that... LOL
And yes, they wanted to dress alike :D
See the post below this one to see why McKenzie was with us this weekend.

McKenzie and Calista:

The girls love wearing lipstick... we were only going to Jeremy's parents' house... so, what harm could it be? Plus, we all know how fast lipstick wears off... so, I let them play with my old stuff.

Played in the dog kennel (hey, is this like those cages in babycages.net? lol)...

Did some exploration...

They corralled themselves...
And they even did some work :D

They each received a dollar for the sweeping :D I think they all had a good time together. Just had to mention that I had them stay outside to play since it was such a gorgeous day. Calista thinks just because she's at her grandparents' house, she needs to watch TV (they have cable, so lots of cartoons on).