Monday, February 23, 2009

The bag is out of the cat..

Just watch the look on this cat's face as it is being blow dried before it is "shorn".

Hysterical. (Even if you do feel a bit sorry for the kitty...)

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Birth control pills increase risk for gallstones.

According to an info sheet at the University of Michigan:

"If you have gallstones and are taking birth control pills, you may want to ask your health care provider if you should use another method of birth control. "


And, according to the National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse (NDDIC):

"Women are twice as likely as men to develop gallstones. Excess estrogen from pregnancy, hormone replacement therapy, and birth control pills appears to increase cholesterol levels in bile and decrease gallbladder movement, which can lead to gallstones."

Gallstones can cause anything from annoying discomfort to life-threatening illness.

One more item to add to our list of many reasons to consider Natural Family Planning and avoid synthetic hormones.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Eugenics and idiocy in the media once again...

FoxNews has an article about a woman in California who just gave birth to eight children after getting a fertility treatment:


Reports are circulating that cast an unflattering light on the miracle mom who gave birth to octuplets in California Monday.

CBS News reported Friday that the mother of eight newborns, who already had six children, filed for bankruptcy and abandoned her home less than two years ago. She hasn't been identified publicly yet, though CBS News described her as a woman in her 30s who lives with her parents.

The woman's mother revealed to the Los Angeles Times that her daughter already had six children before seeking fertility treatment, though she had no idea she would become pregnant with so many babies.

...

The babies were born nine weeks premature, adding to their health risks, the Associated Press reported. Because of the risks, doctors generally advise against births with so many multiples — though the decision is left up to the mother.

Stress comes along with any pregnancy, but giving birth to octuplets could be overwhelming, according to Dr. Charles Sophy, medical director of Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services,

"Any new parent is going to be under stress and multiple that by 8, it's a lot of stress," Sophy told FOXNews.com. "Hopefully the upfront work and due diligence was done."

Sophy said the most pressing concern for Suleman should be getting the youngsters on a schedule.

"Eating, sleeping and bathing are the key areas to get scheduled," he said. "The same goes for mom and dad. Parents need to make sure they're whole or else they won't be valuable to their children."

Sophy said the expense of raising 14 children will likely be prohibitive, citing studies that estimate it costs roughly $2.5 million to raise a child to adulthood. Using that math, raising 14 children would cost roughly $35 million.

"And that's basic stuff," he said. "That doesn't include swimming lessons and things like that. It's very costly and hopefully the planning that needs to be done was done upfront."



The subtext: She's poor, she's ignorant, she's too stupid to know better than to have 8 more kids when she's bankrupt and living with her parents. Oh, and the poor dear will never be able to manage the STRESS!

In other words, she's not a miracle mom, she's just an ignorant woman.

They fall just short of saying she should have done the "smart" thing and had them all killed in the womb. You know, save the poor babies from a lifetime of illness and suffering and the taxpayers from the expense of providing them with health care. Doesn't she know that chilren are better off dead than chronically ill? Doesn't she know they'll be a drain on society? You know, like Nancy Pelosi says, "family planning" stimulates the economy!

I'm surprised they didn't comment upon all of those little carbon footprints.

It really irritates me when people play the ignorant/hysterical/weak woman card. Really.

Setting aside the ethical problems with the kind of fertility treatment she received, let me ask this: Is there something wrong with seeing this as courage?

She could have aborted some or all of those children, but she didn't. She has six already, so it isn't like she doesn't know that having kids is difficult. And she sought fertility treatment, so it's not like she doesn't know how this happened. Come on.

Furthermore, having been a Kaiser patient, I can tell you it isn't their style to not inform a woman of the negative risks of motherhood, especially if she is having multiples. She had to know what she was getting herself into. And she did it anyway.

Think about it. How many women have the guts to try to raise 16 children, even if they're born one at a time?

I'd have a cup of tea with someone like that any time. She can bring her 16 kids along.

Who said FoxNews was a right-wing news outlet?