ABCE

When women have cesareans, they are rarely warned that a possible complication can be placental problems in future pregnancies. Many women (and especially higher weight women ) are pressured into cesareans in their first pregnancy. Many of these same women are counseled away from Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC) and into repeat cesareans in subsequent pregnancies. Few of these women have been told that cesareans raise the risk for Placenta Accreta, a very serious complication, and that every cesarean increases the risk for it. I know *I* wasn't told this. This is a tremendous disservice to parents and to the importance of informed consent. About Accreta In Placenta Accreta, the fertilized egg implants near or on scar tissue in the uterus. This scar tissue is usually from a prior cesarean, but can also be from a D&C procedure, fibroid removals, a perforation from an IUD, or any uterine surgery or instrumentation. The placenta then grows into the uterine wall in this scar tis

Everything is so heavy right now, dear ones. Things in the world, things in our lives, the fucking patriarchy fucking everything up somehow faster now. I can’t heal that pain for you. I can’t heal it for myself, either. It hurts a lot, like constantly. I don’t have the answers to these things, but I do have some advice for us all to take heed. Hold onto the good ones in your life. Like, literally! Spend time with those you care about, even if it’s just sitting in a room looking at your phones. Seriously. Find the time to do something with the folks you can’t imagine your life without. We don’t know how long any of us have in this realm. Everything is temporary and nothing is certain, except love. Love is certain. Love is what gets us through! Love bonds and binds us to each other and allows our connections to bring and give strength back. It’s a beautiful cycle! We must nurture these relationships and I know it’s hard. Set reminders, or even put it on your calendar, to text people or t

You’ve probably seen the meme on social media:  “You are not fat. You have fat.  You also have fingernails.  But you are not fingernails.”  I’ve seen this in plenty of versions and I think it’s problematic on a lot of levels. It’s come up in a number of conversations recently and so I’m re-posting my response. First of all, as regular readers have probably already sussed out, I would be much more comfortable if this was written from the perspective of how someone feels about/for themselves instead of dictating to others how we should feel (ie: “I’m not fat, I have fat” instead of “You are not fat, you have fat”.)  People are allowed to look at their bodies this way because, hey,  underpants rule .  That said, I think it’s an idea worth some exploring. Let’s consider some other examples – can you imagine Facebook memes that say “You are not brunette, you have brown hair” or “You are not tall, you have above-average height.” You’re not thin, you have thinness? When I’m flying in for a sp

Weight Watchers announced on Monday that they are changing their name to WW to reflect their focus on wellness and health.   This is probably a clever move, though it’s not the first time they’ve made it.   In 2015, they launched a program called “Beyond the Scale” that seems to be the same thing they are talking about now, minus the name change. This idea that “everything old is new again” has been a long-running theme for the company.  They have built their business model on getting repeat business from the clients   they repeatedly fail . You see, WW has never had success is creating sustained   long-term weight loss . It’s a shameful track record — one they share with literally every other diet and lifestyle company that claims they can produce sustained, long-term, intentional weight loss.   They know that most people lose weight short-term and almost all of them gain it back long term (with a majority gaining back more than they lost). Moving forward, they will go by WW and will