What's Best for Kids: Bottled Water or Fountains?
UPDATE 2-US Democrats would kill healthcare over abortionUPDATE 2-US Democrats would kill healthcare over abortion
WASHINGTON, March 4 (Reuters) - A dozen House of Representatives Democrats opposed to abortion are willing to kill President Barack Obama's healthcare reform plan unless it satisfies their demand for language barring the procedure, Representative Bart Stupak said on Thursday.
"Yes. We're prepared to take responsibility," Stupak said on ABC's "Good Morning America" when asked if he and his 11 Democratic allies were willing to accept the consequences for bringing down healthcare reform over abortion.
"Let's face it. I want to see healthcare. But we're not going to bypass the principles of belief that we feel strongly about," he said. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Take a Look on healthcare [ID:nHEALTH] ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The Michigan Democrat held up House legislation last year until he was satisfied that its language prevented federal tax dollars from being used to fund abortions.
No specific legislation has yet surfaced. Obama began a final push for reform on Wednesday, urging Congress to vote on the plan in the next few weeks even if it means passing the measure with a narrow Democratic majority and no Republican support.
The White House says it does not intend its bill to change current U.S. law on abortion, and does not believe that the Senate healthcare bill, which Obama's plan resembles, would change the status quo.
"The president is not and will not change current federal law in dealing with abortions and healthcare," spokesman Robert Gibbs said at his daily news briefing on Thursday.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Obama's top adviser on health issues, said the White House was prepared to bar the use of federal money for abortion. "This will not change the status quo on the policy of abortion. There will be no federal funding for abortion," she said on the television program.
Stupak said anti-abortion lawmakers are worried that the legislative language will follow the blueprint of the reform bill passed by the Senate, which he said does not provide sufficient safeguards.
(Reporting by David Morgan, additional reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Philip Barbara)
Losing weight after childbirth
Many mothers expect they will be able wearing their favorite pre-pregnancy trousers right after arrival home from hospital, after childbirth. In fact, such cases are rather rare. No doubt, weight loss will raise your spirits. However, active self-perfection and parallel care after a newborn baby and rest family members adds even more stress in your life. In this situation healthy nutrition and balance between care about yourself and others are an optimum decision.
What should mothers striving losing weight after childbirth know?
How many kilograms a woman gains during pregnancy?
On average, a woman gains 10-12 kg during pregnancy. During childbirth a woman loses on average 5,6-6 kg, and as a result she has only 4-6 kg of overweight that she needs losing already after childbirth (in rare cases overweight is 10 kg and more kg).
How soon a woman can return her pre-pregnancy weight? Is it possible?
Yes, it is possible. Childbirth does not mean now you will stay full for ever. Most moms return their previous weight in already 8-12 months.
Can a woman stick to a diet during breastfeeding period?
During lactation period a woman should not stick to any diet, however, she should watch her menu closely. During breastfeeding period a woman should eat 500 calories more than her usual norm before childbirth (in case your weight is considered normal comparing with your height). If you have overweight, you need consulting your doctor, it is quite possible, you would not have to eat these additional 500 calories.
During first three months after childbirth a woman should include healthy food in her diet and work out her plan of exercises. After your organism starts recovering and menstrual cycle recommences, you can stick to a healthy diet with low fat content.
Can a woman stick to a diet, if a baby is on artificial feeding?
If you do not breastfeed your baby, you can proceed to a sparing healthy and nutritive diet, however you should remember that, anyway, you need to receive at least 1500 calories with food (three meals).
Which exercises can help a woman getting into shape?
Include walks, runs, swimming or aerobics (30-60 minutes) in your program and repeat this program firstly one a week, and then 2-3 times a week as your organism recovers.
Pregnancy after 30
- There’s a myth saying about dangerous childbirth after 30. In fact, ovary age changes that reduce a chance of conception, usually happen after 40. At the age of 30 tissues elasticity can be reduced.
- That’s why frequency of breaches and colpoceles while childbirth increases. However, this happens not always. Childbirth at 30 today is not late childbirth. Modern women of this age are young, healthy and zippy. A term “age limit, late childbirth” should be deposed to 40 years.
- You should pass all “traditional” checkups and tests. This concerns all women that are preparing to become mothers. In older age – after 30 – you will also need to visit a medical geneticist before pregnancy. And after 35 you will definitely pass a water test that helps revealing a list of hereditary diseases.
- “Aged” pregnant women also should be constantly observed by therapeutist. The matter is that with age we accumulate usual, non- gynaecological problems, which can prevent normal course of pregnancy and childbirth. For example, heightened or lowered pressure, alimentary canal problems. Doctor will tell you about measures to take to have a healthy pregnancy without complications.
- The matter is that there is an optimum age for all organs’ work, including genitals. Its limits are individual for each person and are determined genetically. During a period of 30-40 years different people’s calendar age combines with biological one differently.
For example, if your propitious age is 18-38 years, then your chances to conceive easily and give birth to a baby calmly will be equally high both at 20 and 36 years. And at 18 and 40 there can appear some problems, connected with age condition.
- We repeat again, every woman has her own favorable age. For someone late childbirth will be at 35, and for another one – at 45. However, while competent preparation and pregnancy running you can avoid many problems.
Aromatherapy: Pregnancy and childbirth
* There are many levels of essential oils quality and an inexperienced look cannot distinguish them.
Herbs and pregnancy: raspberry leaf tea
* male fern,
* lady’s purse,
* persicaria,
* Ledum palustre,
* mistletoe,
* Melilotus officinalis,
* Thlaspi arvense,
* Salvia officinalis,
* aloe
* garlic
* wormwood,
* smellage,
* Juniperus,
* snakeroot
* celandine,
* creeping thyme,
* knotweed,
* bearberry,
* cabbage (seed),
* Sambucus nigra,
* centaury,
* kelp,
* calendula,
* Asarum,
* cinquefoil erect,
* parsley,
* tansy,
* ruta.
Raspberry leaf tea .
Valerian root.
How to keep a good nanny
• Offer a fair wage. Just as you wouldn't be happy earning a below-average salary at your own job, neither would your nanny. Depending on where you live, how many children you have, the duties involved, and your nanny's experience and education, you may pay anywhere from $300 to $700 a week or more for 40 hours of work.
If you offer room and board, the range is a bit lower, from $300 to $500 a week. But if you plan to have your nanny work longer than eight hours a day or more than five days a week, you need to compensate her for that.
To determine what a competitive salary is in your area, ask nearby parents with nannies what they pay or contact the International Nanny Association.
• Provide good benefits. To ensure that your nanny stays, hammer out a sweet incentive package in your employment agreement, which should outline days off, paid holidays, and vacation time.
Some parents provide a car for their nanny to drive. (Make sure she's covered by your car insurance — the premium can be hefty.) Others offer to pay for classes at a community college or for a gym membership. If you're chipping in for health or car insurance, specify this in the contract.
Letting your nanny bring her own child to work is another benefit that will likely make her happier to work for you, but it isn't a reason to lower her compensation.
• Treat her like a professional. Her job may be in a home instead of an office, but nannies take their job seriously, and so should you. If you're confident of her abilities, show it. Trust that she'll do a good job and don't second-guess her decisions.
If there's something that you'd like done differently, don't assume that she's wrong and you're right. Be respectful of her approach, and suggest without undermining her that you have your own particular way you'd like it done.
Address any complaints or concerns you may have in a constructive manner. Avoid attacking her personally and stick to the issues at hand.
• Lay down ground rules and respect them. Remember, you hired your nanny to care for your child. She's not the housecleaner, so she shouldn't be asked to do extensive housework unless her contract — and her pay — includes that expectation from the beginning.
Don't ask her to run errands unrelated to childcare unless she agrees to certain duties, such as picking up your dry cleaning, ahead of time in her contract.
If her hours end at 6 p.m., make sure you're home at that time (emergencies excepted). And if you have to ask her to stay late, compensate her fairly.
Remember, she has her own life, and if she doesn't live with you, she may have a family to go home to at the end of the day. (See our story on setting ground rules for nanny care.)
• Show your appreciation. Remember how good you feel when your employer tells you how important you are to your co-workers? Your nanny needs to hear the same thing. She's doing a very important job for you, and it's important to tell her often how much you value her and the job she's doing.
You might write your nanny a thank-you note anytime she does something especially wonderful or bring her a small gift. If you've stopped at the market on the way home, bring her some fresh fruit. If it's been a stressful week for all of you, a bottle of bubble bath would be a nice acknowledgement.
Celebrate her birthday and other special events. She'll also be thrilled with an unexpected cash bonus for a job well done.
• Be flexible. Allow for some changes in your nanny's schedule, as long as she doesn't take advantage of this. Sometimes you have to take time off during the workday for doctor's appointments or other personal errands. So will your nanny.
As long as she gives you plenty of notice so you can find a substitute or adjust your schedule, try to accommodate her needs.
• Be communicative. Whether you have compliments or complaints, make sure you touch base with your nanny consistently and often. If she feels you're open to talking, she'll be more likely to approach you with ideas and concerns.
"Be clear and communicate," says Amy, a part-time nanny from El Cerrito, California. She suggests spending a few minutes at the beginning or the end of each day checking in. If you don't see your nanny in person every morning or you're too rushed to talk, try writing down your thoughts.
Many nannies tout the benefits of a written to-do list. Note what you want done, with the date you wrote it down and a "due date" if you need it done by a certain time. Leave a separate column where you can indicate the priority of the various items, so your nanny knows what to tackle first when she has a few free moments.
• Back her up. If your nanny attempts to impose agreed-upon restrictions on your child, don't undermine her authority by reversing her decisions. After all, she's only doing what you asked her to do. And you need your child to respect your nanny's authority just as she does yours.
Mary O'Connor says one woman she placed through her nanny referral agency left the family she worked for because the parents took away her power to enforce the rules of the household.
Although they had said she could take away their child's swimming privileges if she misbehaved, they often changed their minds and let their daughter use the pool whenever the child complained to them. This kind of thing is confusing to a child and makes the nanny's job much harder.
• Be concerned about your nanny as a person, not just as your employee. Her job may be to care for your child, but she also has her own life. If she's young, she needs time in the evenings to see people her own age. If she has a family of her own, don't keep her overtime any more than you have to or she'll feel like she's having to choose between your children and her own.
Without prying, find out a little bit about your nanny. Does she like music? Is she a movie fanatic? If she has children, ask to see their photos. The more you get to know her, the more she'll feel like the important member of your family that she is.
• Respect her privacy and teach your child to do the same. If your nanny lives with you, make sure everyone in your home knows that when the day is done, she's off-duty. Her days off should be truly her own — no asking for last-minute household or babysitting help.
Communicate this to your child as well: For example, if your nanny has Sundays off, make sure your child knows that Sunday mornings aren't the time to knock on her door and ask for breakfast.
Signs of a good babysitter
If Not SEX, then what?
Top 25 things Teens can do other than Sex
24. Go see a funny movie
23. (: Send a card to a friend :)
22. Play Monopoly
another card games by amazon : Uno Card Game , Revolving Card Holder For Six Decks ,
21. Write a letter to a family member
20. DaNcE
find some dance songs !!
19. ~ Take a trip ~
18. *Express Yourself in a Journal*
17. Read a book to a younger family member
16. : Go Bowling :
15. ^ Cook a gourmet meal ^
14. *Drink some Water*
13. Fix something that's broken
12. Help your parents with a chore
11. Volunteer in your community : )
10. ~ Go Swimming ~
9. @ Bake a Cake @
8. Sing your favorite song
7. Fix a creative sandwich
6. Help a senior citizen with a task
5. Watch a cartoon
4. ) Go Bicycling (
3. # Make a Hot Fudge Sundae #
2. Take a walk in the park
1. / Have a loving conversation /
Is Jennifer Lopez getting more in vitro procedure?
Jennifer Lopez has been dealt another crushing blow in her quest for motherhood.
But Jennifer’s so determined to have a baby with her husband, singer Marc Anthony, that she’s going to undergo the grueling procedure again, says a source close to the star.
“She’s tried everything else without success, and though IVF has failed once, she knows it’s the only hope left for her to get pregnant,” said the source.
“Marc is supporting Jennifer all the way. He knows how much she wants to be a mother.”
Safe Sleep for Babies
Advice about safe sleep for babies is nothing new. But it sure has changed. Twenty-five years ago, doctors advised parents to put their infants down on their tummies to avoid the possibility of choking on milk or spit-up. Experts were starting to address crib safety issues, such as ensuring crib bars weren’t too far apart. But nobody had much advice for parents on how to prevent sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), the tragic incidents where babies die mysteriously in their sleep.
Today, over 20 years of studies have identified numerous risk factors for SIDS (see Understanding risk), resulting in a long list of safety guidelines for parents. Here is the current advice: Parents are told to place the baby on his back in a crib that meets Health Canada standards, preferably in the parents’ room until the baby is six months old. Sharing a bed with your baby is risky, some experts advise, but having the baby near you protects against SIDS. And, in contrast to the days when cribs were festooned with lush decorative duvets, bumper pads and a stuffed animal or two, today’s baby crib is supposed to be empty except for your baby and perhaps one light, tucked-in blanket. Some advice givers don’t even approve of the blanket. One Canadian parenting website illustrates its safe sleep article with a photo of an empty crib bearing the caption: “No toys, no blankets, no drapes, no bumper pads, no anything.” Finally, the room should not be too warm, and baby’s environment should be smoke-free.
Not much when you say it fast! Some of this advice has been well accepted (for example, most parents now put babies on their backs). But other advice, particularly advice against bed sharing, has been controversial. Long lists of safety rules are not only complicated, they have the effect of making it seem as if all risks are equally important. That is not true in the world of safe sleep advice. According to paediatrician and SIDS researcher Aurore Côté, of McGill University in Montreal: “The most important risk factors are smoking during pregnancy, sleeping on the stomach (for the baby) and co-sleeping (bed sharing) in certain situations — on a sofa, if the parents have been drinking or using drugs, or on a makeshift bed with pillows and cushions. None of the other risk factors are nearly as important.”
Here’s a guide to help you understand where today’s safe sleep instructions come from, why some are more important than others, and whether some lesser risk factors might be relevant to you.
How to Prepare for Baby : How much do you know about growing a baby?
Your ninth-month to-do list :
What a month! Excitement, anticipation...maybe a little tinge of worry. Some days, it probably seems to be taking forever; other days, you aren’t sure where the time has gone — and your baby will be here soon! There’s plenty to do in these last weeks: winding up at work, getting your home ready for your amazing new arrival, buying things you’ve never shopped for before, such as diapers and tiny undershirts. Without wearing yourself out, you’ll want to make the most of this precious time.
Need a little help getting organized? Read on!
Jill Ritchie, a certified doula and owner of Babeeze in Arms Doula Centre in London, Ont., stresses that the most important thing to do before you have your baby is to plan for support during labour and in the early weeks postpartum.
• Ritchie recommends writing a birth plan — what she calls a “hopes and wishes list”: a short, realistic, positive letter for your support team describing the kind of labour and birth you’d like to have.
• You will want to put together a labour bag. Besides your hopes and wishes list, Ritchie suggests including: your hospital registration forms and health card; slippers or warm socks; an oversized T-shirt to labour in; a sports bra for the bath or shower; a robe; comforts (music, lotion, lip balm, hand-held fan); your own pillow and birth ball; a list of people to call and a cellphone or change for the pay phone; and your camera and video camera (both charged!). Add toiletries, Gatorade or clear juice, and nutritious snacks for you and your partner.
• Pack postpartum supplies too: diapers and clothes for the baby, something comfortable to wear home, maxi-pads and a nursing bra.
Sex During Pregnancy : PREGNANCY Guide
Sex. You had an awkward conversation about it with your mom with when you were 12. You formed your own opinions as a young adult. And, if you’re reading this article with any personal interest, you’ve had some recent first-hand experience.
Now you’re pregnant. Today, sex may seem more inviting than ever or as appealing as taking out the trash — and that may change again tomorrow. For most couples, sex will follow a meandering course of ups and downs through these nine months (and beyond). How these changes affect your relationship is entirely in your hands and, no matter what you’ve heard from your weary parent-friends, the results may be better than you imagine.
“I think the majority of women enjoy sex even more when they’re pregnant,” says Toronto midwife Andrea Lennox. “Pregnant women have a significant increase in their natural discharge, and that lubrication can make sex quite wonderful. A lot of couples will also say that it’s liberating to not have to worry about birth control, maybe for the first time in their lives.”
When it comes to the emotional changes during pregnancy, David McKenzie, a certified sex therapist with a doctorate in human sexuality in Langley, BC, also sees great benefits. “In men, I’ve noticed an increase in tenderness and concern for their partners. It’s not that they were uncaring or unloving before, but a different level of nurturing will often come forth and draw a couple even closer.”
Diana and Brad Paulson, of Burnaby, BC, found that to be true as they navigated the romantic challenges of their first pregnancy. “We managed to maintain a healthy sex life almost right up until the week that we delivered,” Brad says. “While we weren’t nearly as spontaneous as before, we still enjoyed it and each other.”
Home pregnancy tests : Getting pregnant
How do I use a home pregnancy test?
First, read the directions carefully, because the instructions will vary with different brands. Some require you to urinate in a pot and then, using a dropper, place a small sample into a testing well. Others let you pee directly onto a stick. But, fundamentally, all pregnancy tests work the same way; they measure the amount of hCG in your body. What's different is how they display results (positive or negative). Some change the colour of the urine sample, others show pink or blue lines on the test strip, reveal a red plus or minus sign, or the actual words "pregnant" or "not pregnant", in a window.
Are home pregnancy tests accurate?
If you follow directions to the letter, home pregnancy tests are 97% accurate. But mistakes do happen, which is why some kits come with two tests. There are several reasons why a home pregnancy test may be negative: you may not be pregnant, or your body may not be making a normal amount of hCG. If you test too early (before the first day of your missed period), you may get a false negative result because not enough of the hormone has built up in your system. If the test comes back negative but you still suspect you're pregnant, wait a few days, read the directions carefully, and try again. False positives, when the test says you're pregnant but you're not, are rare.
If you have irregular periods, it may be harder to calculate when your period is due. Allow for your longest cycle in recent months before testing. If you have recently stopped taking the contraceptive pill, you may not know how long your natural cycle is so you may end up testing either too soon or too late. If your test is negative in either of these situations, you should test again in three days.
Where can I buy one?
Home pregnancy tests may be purchased without a prescription at most high street chemists and supermarkets. You can also buy them on-line by mail order.