Shiatsu and Labor Induction

I just finished reading the above article in Massage Magazine. They are reporting about a study done in England in 2000.

The subjects attended a hospital consultant clinic appointment at 40 weeks gestation and were taught the massage techniques by a midwife who had completed a six-day shiatsu course. The control group consisted of 76 women who attended similar clinics but were not taught the shiatsu techniques.

Three... more

Fridays are always busy work days for me. Not that you can call actually being at the office for 3 hours busy, but it is the most time that I spend there at once. Anyway, as I was working today I was thinking about another benefit for me that comes with working outside of the house, bragging!

I never thought that I would be one of those women who goes on and on about her kids, but as I look back on my life, I can't think of a reason why I thought that. When my nephews were small, I talked about them nonstop. Before them, it was my much younger brother... more

There weren't many times during our trying to conceive our kids that I didn't want to be pregnant. But those times did come about, oftentimes unexpectedly. Our current conditions are definately not conducive to being pregnant, or largely pregnant for that matter. Why? It is now about 7 pm and it is still 100 degrees! The low for tonight will be 69. Miserable.

I gave birth to my daughter in mid-September. So I was largely pregnant during that summer. We did not experience weather like this during those months, but I was sooo hot that I couldn't believe it. I would lay on our cool leather couch, or in our darkened bedroom in our central air equipped home. I was worried... more

More happy things! Here is a celebrity couple that I adore! I love to hear updates on them, especially one like this. Congratulations to the Heidi Klum-Seal family! Congratulations to Leni and Henry on the upcoming arrival of your new sibling.

A healthy baby Bec woke up all better this morning. Just like nothing had happened. The antibiotics must be working their magic

a sense of style Miss Ivy is wearing her Buzz Lightyear tank top, her sleeping beauty pj... more

Yesterday marked the official end of my maternity leave with Becken. I took off 5.5 weeks and I was ready to go back. Of course, my job is extremely flexible and pays very well. So going back to work for me really isn't going back to "work". I am one of those annoying people who say that they would still work even if they won the lottery. In my case, this is the absolute truth. I can't stay away. For the summer, my schedule will be Wednesday and Friday mornings every other week with some Saturdays thrown in here and there.

At one point in my life, I did not want to return... more

"Pregnancy Spacing Affects Outcome"

After reading the above article today, I really got to thinking about child spacing. The article states that the spacing in between biological children has an effect on the risk of premature birth. Pregnancies occuring right away after giving birth, and also pregnancies that happen after 5 years of giving birth have this down side, according to studies that will be published tomorrow in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Of course, these statistics aren't related to the spacing of adopted children, but for myself, I had secure views... more

Whenever I've been pregnant, I haven't ever dreamed of my pregnancies or the child that I am carrying. It always seems though, that women have many crazy dreams during pregnancy. A midwife that I used to be friends with until she moved away thought that this was due to the lack of quality sleep during a pregnancy and also that hormones could be a factor.

My step mom gave birth to my brother and sister almost 18 years ago. Her recurrent pregnancy dream was that she gave birth to monkeys. They brought the babies in, all diapered and washed, but they were monkeys. She said... more

The cover of People magazine featuring Brooke Shields and her daughters is absolutely striking. I am always pulled to buy the magazine, but never do. This photo is so gorgeous that I couldn't pass it up. Even the newborn is flawless. They all look like they could be from another time with their pale skin and large, expressive eyes. I don't normally enjoy celebrity photos at all, unless it is to check out their clothes. This photo seems more than a media driven staged prop. It is haunting.

Conceiving her first daughter was a test of infertility for Shields and her... more