Strollerderby : good news

A Happy Miscarriage Story: Believe it or Not

JeanneSager — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 17:25:00 GMT

Who knew there could be a happy miscarriage story?

Not Claire Hunter. The British woman was six weeks into her pregnancy when she began feeling cramps in her side and was rushed to the hospital. It turned out her pregnancy was ectopic - the fetus had formed in the fallopian tube instead of the uterus.

At six weeks pregnant, Claire Hunter lost her baby, and doctors told her she may never get pregnant again. Until six weeks later.

Still experiencing pain, despite surgery on her damaged ovary, she was given another pregnancy test. She was pregnant - and had been for at least a full trimester. Somehow, in all the hullabaloo over the loss of her baby, doctors missed a twin baby boy, a fetus that developed properly inside Hunter's womb. She gave birth in the summer to Ryan, a healthy seven pounds and change.

Why this story came out now, I'm not sure. It's not news of a lawsuit - which I guess there would probably be grounds for (how do you miss a second baby during surgery?). But how do you sue when you have a happy ending? A chubby cheeked, smiling happy ending at that?

Nothing takes away from the loss of a child, but to see that little guy sitting there, grinning, it gives you hope!

Image: Telegraph

Four Children's Books That Almost Weren't

White Firefighter Reunited with Black Baby He Saved Forty Years Ago

Boy Saves Brother's Life With Bone Marrow

Brett Singer — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 03:00:00 GMT

Sometimes it's good to just read a nice story. Especially around the holidays.

Yes, I'm sappy, but this has to make you smile.

Back in October, Daniel Badmus, a five-year-old boy from Ontario, CA, donated bone marrow to his four-year-old brother John. John suffers from sickle cell anemia, described as, "a genetic condition in which there aren't enough healthy red blood cells to carry oxygen throughout the body."

Daniel, the donor, received an award today from the Canadian Armed Forces. They also held a torch ceremony in his honor. (Not sure what that means but it sounds like a good thing.)

I have to admit that this sort of story (a) always chokes me up a little bit, and (b) makes me think about paying attention to my own health so that I can be there for my kids for as long as possible. There's also (c), where I think about whether or not I would have the courage to do what five-year-old Daniel did. I hope I would. He's a brave guy. Good for him.

Source/Image: citynews.ca

Read more:

Working Parents Smackdown Part 2 – Dads With Jobs vs Moms With Jobs

High School Student in Hospital After Scavenger Hunt

Autistic Girl Kicked Out Of Girl Scouts

Rite Aid Says They Will Stop Selling Expired Baby Products

They Say – Most Toys Are Toxic

Brain Wave Study Sheds Light On Autism

Puppies Save Lost Toddler

Brett Singer — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 15:30:00 GMT

After so many sad stories (winter, I suppose?), this one was a nice find.

3-year-old Jaylynn Thorpe had "wandered away from his baby-sitter" and was missing for almost 24 hours in the woods of Halifax County, Virginia. (That's some babysitter.) Luckily, he was with two 12-week-old puppies. When it got late and cold – 17 degrees – the puppies snuggled up to Jaylynn and kept him warm. The kid is fine, thanks to these two dogs.

The trio had quite a journey – according to published reports, the boy and his two dogs "wandered up to a mile in the dark, even across a highway." Eventually he was found, "sitting by a tree, the two puppies nestled against him."

Even after Jaylynn had been rescued, the dogs didn't let him out of their sight -- "Where he went, they went," said search party member Billie Jo Roach.

When people get dogs to protect their families, I don't think this is what they have in mind. Luckily everyone is OK. I might have a little chat with the baby-sitter, though.

Source: NY Daily News via The Howard Stern Show (specifically Robin Quivers' news)

Read more:

Brain Wave Study Sheds Light On Autism

They Say: Get Some Sleep or Die

Do You Take Your Baby Bar Hopping?

New Zealand Girl Treated Successfully With Cord Blood

Babysitter Made Pornographic Film With 2 Year Old

Daughter's Homework Assignment Leads to Presidential Pardon for Dad

Suri Cruise: Most Powerful Child On The Planet

Missing Girl Reunited With Father

Brett Singer — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 18:30:00 GMT

Here is a bit of mostly good news:

"A 5-year-old Wisconsin girl whose disappearance prompted an Amber Alert has been reunited with her father."

That's good, of course. I particularly like a story where Amber Alert works. Makes you feel good about emergency systems.

And here's the less good part:

"The girl's biological mother, Lori Eberle (EB'-er-lee), is being held on possible charges of interfering with custody of a child after the two were located in Paw Paw, Mich."

Basically, there's a custody dispute, and the mother took the kid. Which is a bummer. But she was found, and hopefully they'll be able to work everything out.

Oh, and "Paw Paw" is a funny name for a town. That doesn't mean anything but maybe it'll make you smile for a second or two.

Source: AP via Chicago Tribune

Image: maine.gov

Woman Swings Crowbar At Trick Or Treaters

Smokers No Longer Allowed Foster Children

Mississippi Students, Postal Worker, Punished For Wearing Obama Shirts

Grown Kids Try Forcing Dad To Divorce Second Wife In Court

Teacher Has Affair With Student, Parents Say Keep The Door Open

Guy Changes Name to Captain Fantastic

Sarah Palin Gets Pranked By Canadian Radio Hosts – Video

Baby survives tornado

Brett Singer — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 14:00:00 GMT

A tornado hit the town of Epsom, New Hampshire, destroying the home of Brenda and Harley Stevens. Also in the house was their 3-month-old grandson.

Harley was downstairs checking out the weather situation, and was blown into the front yard. Brenda and the baby were in the house when it collapsed.

Sadly, Brenda did not survive. But the baby did. Despite being stuck under a pile of tornado-smashed house, firefighters heard crying and were able to rescue him. Harley, his grandfather, also survived; he didn't even require hospitalization.

Obviously it's awful that anyone died, but it's amazing that the baby survived. That's one tough kid.

source: cnn, image: flickr

When Granite Attacks

Michael Savage says kids with autism need to get over themselves

When playgrounds attack, the sequel

Convicted Child Molester Yet To Serve Any Time

Political Nanny: Bush Bans Officials From Today's Obama Rally

No presents for this kid - just donations

Brett Singer — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:00:00 GMT

More nice news – an 11-year-old in Greensboro, North Carolina told her friends not to bring presents to her birthday party. Instead, she asked them to bring canned goods that she will donate to a local food pantry.

This isn't the first time Audrey Mangum decided to forgo gifts in favor of more charitable pursuits. This has been going on for four years. Previous birthdays included items such as teddy bears and toys to be donated to less fortunate families.

Some kids, of course, brought presents, and Audrey was happy about that, proving that she's nice, but not nuts. "That is pretty cool," said Mangum. "They didn't even have to do that."

Cool kid! I have a friend whose daughter did something similar one year, and everyone was pretty charmed by the gesture. Frankly, I think it would be nice if more kids did this sort of thing, but I think the idea needs to come from the child. That is, if you say, "Hey, Toy Boy. How about this year you don't get presents and your friends just bring cans for the food pantry?" you may not get a great reaction. Then again, maybe not every kid is going to think of this on their own, or they might be embarrassed to bring it up for fear of being teased (not to mention not getting any cool gifts.) Has anyone ever done this with their children?

Image/Source: digtriad.com

Attack of the Monkey Children

Your baby is ugly

Just Say No

J.LO Is Doing It All Without A Nanny, She's So Awesome

Marathon Mom runs big race after birthing sextuplets

Brett Singer — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:00:00 GMT

OK, she didn't do it RIGHT after giving birth. But that's about the only thing about this story that doesn't make me feel like a big giant marshmallow.

Jenny Masche, the mother who last year gave birth to sextuplets, recently ran a 26.2 mile race. Yes, in her spare time. She trained after the kids, who are now 1 year olds, turned in for the night. "They’re good sleepers," she told Meredith Vieira on the Today show last week.

And did she enjoy herself? You bet! "The marathon was so fun for me — until I hit 21 miles," Jenny recounted. "Then you hit a wall. You push through and you’re so exhilarated." Oh yeah, I know exactly what you mean. That first 21 miles – just great.

That, in case it's not obvious, is sarcasm at its most sarcastical. If I get to the gym once every two weeks, it's a freakin' miracle. Jenny trained for, and then ran, a marathon. This is in addition to feeding, bathing and changing the diapers (30 per day) of six infants. Her husband helps, of course, and so do the grandparents (Bryan, the proud poppa, also ran the race with her). But, like, yowza. Good for her. This might be the only time in my life when I think it might actually be OK for me to say, "You go girl!" Well, almost.

image: Today Show

Source: ParentDish

Another girl that can kick my ass

Brett Singer — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 15:00:00 GMT

This is the second story from the New York Times about female weight lifting; someone over there must have a thing for it. Not that I'm knocking them. A good story is a good story.

Cheryl Haworth made news years ago when she started weight lifting, capturing the country's attention with the phrase, "It's fun to be strong." At 5'9", she weighs "roughly" 300 pounds (I guess asking her for her exact weight was too scary a prospect for the reporter -- ba-dum-bum), and can lift over 300 pounds. That's not double the body-weight of Melanie Roach, but it's a hell of a lot more than anyone I know, male or female. The Times article says that she carries "her size well -- visual evidence for girls that a slim shape is not essential to achieve goals." Especially not if your goal is to lift 300 pounds over your head.

(Aside: sometimes names for things are a bit... off. In the Olympic weight-lifting trials, the opening phase is referred to as "the snatch." After that comes the "clean-and-jerk." Cue Beavis and Butthead laugh. Heh-heh-heh...)

Kelly has written about the notion of "fit" vs. "skinny", and its important to remind everyone, especially girls, that not everyone needs to look like a stick figure in order to be healthy. In fact, I think it's safe to say that nobody needs to be that skinny, and for some, it's just unhealthy. As long as we also point out that if you're not a weight lifter, 300 pounds is probably a bit much, especially if you're 5 foot 9. Cheryl says this is her last Olympics, and she plans to slim down a bit when it's all over. Either that, or start playing professional football.

Cheryl's goal is a modest Bronze medal. I'll be rooting for her.

Mother of autistic boy is going to Olympics

Brett Singer — Mon, 19 May 2008 14:00:00 GMT

I love a good Olympics story. Maybe it's because I'm so out of shape myself. This tale, though, about a weight-lifter mom with an autistic son, has enough in it to appeal to everybody.

When you think of an Olympic weight lifter, you picture an enormous human specimen, someone who looks like they eat Buicks for breakfast. But Melanie Roach defies expectations – she's 5 feet, 1 inch, and can lift 238 pounds. She weighs in at 117. So yes, that's a little more than twice her total weight.

Roach started out as a gymnast, then switched to weight-lifting 10 years ago. Injuries sidelined her Olympic dreams. Since then, she has had three children, one of whom was diagnosed with autism in 2005. When Roach found out, she became depressed, and went to visit her bishop (she's Mormon). She said, "This is not what I signed up for," to which the bishop replied, " This is exactly what you signed up for." (This, incidentally, is also exactly what Rachael said in this post.)

You know how sometimes the right person saying the right thing at the right time can turn your life around? Well, that's what happened to Melanie. Her attitude towards her son changed. Instead of feeling like she had "lost a child," she did what she could to cope with the situation, getting him therapy, removing gluten from his diet (which seems to make him feel calmer), and altering family routines as needed to help him in whatever way they can. Roach's mother-in-law, Pam, said, "You can’t surmount autism. You can learn to live with it."

Melanie also found the strength, literally and emotionally, to get back to weight lifting. And it paid off. She just earned a spot on the 2008 Olympic team.

The story is worth reading, and watch the video, which features Roach interacting with her children. Somebody should turn this into a movie.

images: NYTimes.com, Seattle Times

Boy saves friend using Heimlich maneuver

Brett Singer — Tue, 13 May 2008 19:30:00 GMT

Remember the Heimlich? Remember the posters that were up in your lunchroom? I don't think they are anymore, but some kids are still aware of the life-saving technique.

Ryan Lim, a 10-year-old boy from Boca Raton, Florida, dislodged a piece of carrot from classmate Maranda Parliament's throat in the lunchroom at Del Prado Community Elementary School. Lim said, "I was, like, hearing her coughing, and she didn't feel so well, so I turned around when I heard the coughing because she was choking." (I love how they quote him so, like, exactly, y'know?)

Lim said that he heard about the Heimlich maneuver on television.

While this is, of course, a nice story with a happy ending, it got me a little bummed out that the classic poster isn't hanging up in schools anymore. I myself had the Heimlich used on me in 2nd grade; a friend of mine heard me cough, saw the Heimlich poster and leapt into action. I wasn't choking as it turned out, but if I had been, believe me, I would have been grateful.

Asked about a reward, Lim said, "The best thing is to do good deeds. That's really the reward." That's true, but somebody should take this kid to a baseball game or something. He deserves it.

image: umich.edu

Eat Chocolate, Protect Your Baby

Amy Kuras — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 18:33:00 GMT

Finally, some good news about pregnancy and what we might choose to eat or drink during those nine loooonnnngggg months.

Researchers at Yale University studied more than 2200 pregnant women between January 1996 and September 2000, and found those who reported eating at least five servings of chocolate a week were 40 percent less likely to develop pre-eclampsia than those who consumed less than one serving a week.

Preeclampsia is rare but serious, sending the mother's blood pressure soaring and often leading to premature deliveries and babies at serious risk of dying. It's scary stuff and the cause is unclear.

Researchers believe the chemical theobromine , which occurs naturally in chocolate, could be responsible for the protective effect. They tested the levels of theobromine in the umbilical-cord blood of babies born to mothers in the study. It found a correlation between women who consumed the most chocolate, therefore those whose babies had the highest concentration of theobromine, and a significantly reduced incidence of preeclampsia.

And this is my favorite pregnancy-eating quote ever from any expert, ever: Lead researcher Dr Elizabeth W. Triche said, "Because of the importance of preeclampsia as a major complication of pregnancy, a detailed assessment of chocolate consumption is warranted."

I'm anecdotal proof: Two pregnancies, a preexisting love for chocolate and carte blanche to indulge (what? It made the baby move), and no preeclampsia either time – low-ish blood pressure and overdue babies, actually. Almost makes me want to get pregnant again so I can justify my sweet tooth.

Fathers Rule, Part 825: Daddy Saves Twins from Fire

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 16:08:00 GMT

Terrible parent stories almost always gives me a stomach ache. I'm a natural fretter and hearing grim parenting tales just makes me worry more. I like to believe that most of us do a pretty good job far from the madding crowd, and that stories like James Kim's are more representative of the steely insides of most parents than those told on Parent's Behaving Badly.

So the story of a Scottish man who saved his 6 week old baby twin girls from a blazing house fire, is heartening. Apparently, the man was awoken by his trusty pet dog who barked loud warnings and eventually woke up what one assumes is one very very tired Daddy. Ahhhh.

Parenting requires extraordinary strength and stamina. I think men and women bring very different, but equally crucial skills to the project of raising kids. And although we aren't generally asked to climb burning buildings in a single bound to save our offspring, I have no doubt many of us would do it, with or without the red cape.