Name That Melon!

Our game show for today is Name That Melon!

What I thought I had planted in the spot where this grew was cantaloupes. We do have cantaloupes growing - ate 2 of them yesterday, as a matter of fact, and you can see one in the picture behind this melon. This, however, does NOT seem to be a cantaloupe. It was dark green until a couple days ago, then turned yellow. It smells kind of like a cantaloupe, and we're going to cut it (and another one just like it) open later. It's about 4-5 pounds, 20 inches around. Anyone? Any clue? I'm calling it the mystery melon.

(Birthday pictures later.)

You might be a mother to a toddler if ...

You hear yourself saying, "Do NOT put a bean up your nose!"

Yep, we got beans from our garden. And yep, Turner put one up his nose earlier. Thankfully, it popped right out, since I didn't put 2 and 2 together right away. (He was walking around laughing and saying "Bean. Bean. Bean." while putting his finger up his nose, and I finally asked, "did you put a bean up your nose?" to which he responded by laughing hysterically, causing the bean to fall out of his nose.)

That wasn't, quite, the point of the garden.

I'd erase all of Turner's toys

We've been reading Shel Silverstein's Where the Sidewalk Ends, and Guthrie loved the poem about the child who uses his magic eraser to erase someone.

Just now, he came up to us in the kitchen, and said, "If my pencil that I bought had a magic eraser, I would use it to erase all of Turner's toys. Then he wouldn't have ANY toys to play with, and he would leave me alone."

I think the logic is faulty, but the sentiment is right.

Thank goodness there is no magic eraser, or brothers everywhere would instead erase each other.

Bad Mommy! Bad!

We'd bought a bunch of limes since they were cheap, planned on making limeade and some other things. We finally realized they needed to be used, so Eric and Guthrie started squeezing. I asked him to keep some back so we would have lime juice to use in cooking, but the only bottle we had handy was an empty water bottle. Eric filled that up with lime juice, used the rest for yummy limeade.



Well, Turner's gotten creative and independent lately, and opened the fridge to get himself a drink. He saw the bottle, and I guess he thought it was water. I couldn't resist the opportunity and grabbed the camera, just as he took a big swig of straight lime juice.



I know, I know, it's cruel. Don't worry, I rewarded him with a little piece of dark chocolate after, and he seems to have forgiven me.

I act 30. And I'm almost 30. Scary.

I got this from my daughter on MySpace. When I looked at my number, and realized it's age 30 - and I'm about to turn 30 (3 weeks from today), I laughed. And then I wanted to cry.

For the record, the one detention I got was in Advanced Chemistry class. One of my best friends, Tonya, and I wouldn't shut up during class - don't know why. I think we had the highest grades in the class, but we just couldn't stop talking, and the teacher got sick of it and gave us a detention. We had a blast!



[[x] You know how to make a pot of coffee
[x] You keep track of dates using a calendar
[x] You own a credit card
[ ] You know how to change the oil in a car
[x] You've done your own laundry
[ ] You vote in every election
[x] You can cook for yourself
[x] You think politics are exciting
TOTAL SO FAR: 6

[ ] You show up for school late sometimes
[x]You always carry a pen in your bag/purse
[ ]You've never gotten a detention
[ ] You have forgotten your own birthday at least once
[x]You like to take walks by yourself
[x]You know what credibility means, without looking it up
[x] You drink caffeine at least once a week
TOTAL SO FAR:10

[x] You know how to do the dishes
[x] You can count to 10 in another language
[x] When you say you're going to do something you do it
[x] You can mow the lawn
[x] You remember to water the plants
[x] You study when you have to
[x] You remember to feed your pets
TOTAL SO FAR: 17

[x] You can spell experience, without looking it up
[x] You clean up your own mess
[ ] The people at Starbucks know you by name
[ ] Your favorite kind of food is take out
[x] The first thing you do when you wake up is get caffeine
[x]You can go to the store without getting something you don't need
[x] You understand political jokes the first time they are said
[x] You can type pretty quick
TOTAL SO FAR:23


[x] You have realized that the weather forecast changes every hour
[ ] Your only friends are from your place of employment
[x] You have been to a Tupperware party
[x] You have realized that no one will take you seriously unless you are over the age of 25 and have a job
[ ] You have more bills than you can pay
[x] You have been to the beach
[x] You use the internet every day you have the chance
[x] You have been outside of the united states
[x] You can read a book and actually finish it...
TOTAL: 30

Stay out of THIS courtroom

There are downsides to where we live. Check out this headline:

Lawsuit: Los Fresno JP ordered spankings

It doesn't give much detail about what the 14-year-old girl in question actually did, only that she would be fined and found guilty of truancy if her father did not give her repeated spankings in open court. With a large heavy wooden paddle!

Apparently, the father did it. He felt he had no choice. I have no idea what I would have done in a similar situtaion - I imagine being too dumbfounded to do anything.

In some places, even a slight swat on the butt might get you charged with child abuse and your kids taken away. Apparently, here, it's abuse NOT to, and I suppose you could be held in contempt of court if you didn't spank your child - in open court.

This is insanity. This was Brownsville, and not McAllen, but sometimes I hear stories like this, and think, "Where am I again?"

Ah, Texas. There's nothing like it.

C-sections mean no insurance?

Navelgazing Midwife has much more to say about this, but this article talks about women who have had previous c-sections being denied insurance coverage, or having to pay additional expenses for their charges (unless they have been sterilized), because of the past c-section.

C-sections, of course, cost much more than a typical vaginal birth, cause many more complications, and are much more dangerous than a normal vaginal birth.

Now, before anybody goes throwing a fit saying, "But I had one because (the baby/I/both) would have died if we didn't!" well, I do know that there are times when a vaginal birth is impossible and a c-section is absolutely warranted. I am thankful they are there for the women and babies who truly need them.

BUT - the current c-section rate is the US is somewhere around 30% - in some places it's higher, and I've even heard of places where the rate is closer to 50%.

VBAC's (Vaginal Birth After Caesarean) are not "allowed" in many hospitals, and many doctors refuse to atted them. So, the general line of thinking (whether right or wrong) is "once a caesarean, always a caesarean," and even if a woman wants to have a VBAC, she is likely to be unable to find anyone to attend her birth or a place in which to deliver.

Now, many of those women who had unnecessary c-sections (and there is no way possible that 1/3 of babies NEED to be born by c-section, or the human race would not have survived this long) are being denied health insurance, being denied coverage for a repeat c-section (which, given the unavailability of VBAC's, is basically refusal to cover a subsequent pregnancy and birth), or being charged higher rates or separate riders for a future c-section, arguing that they can exclude them on the basis of a c-section being a pre-existing condition.

The implications of this are pretty scary. Many women go into birth not fully prepared or educated, and trust their doctors completely, so if they are told they "need" a c-section, "need" to be induced, "need" to have their labor augmented, or "need" any one of the long list of potentially unnecessary and harmful interventions (many of which eventually lead to that c-section), they trust their doctors. They never consider that many doctors never see a normal, natural, intervention-free birth, that doctors are trained to use all their equipment, that they are practicing in a way to protect themselves from a potential malpractice suit (and if a doctor has performed a c-section and there is a negative outcome, the doctor is generally assumed to have done everything in his power, whereas if he has performed an unnecessary c-section, he faces no repurcussions). And so they go along with it, end up with a c-section, and never have any option for anything else in the future.

And now, they may find themselves unable to have children in the future, unless they can figure out how to pay for a c-seciton out of pocket. And I don't know about you, but I can't really pull out my checkbook and cover that one right now.

First, how about universal health coverage, so this isn't an issue? Figure out a way to cover everyone, so we don't have to worry about whether a previous c-section, a birth defect, an inherited health problem, or our genetic makeup will exclude us from coverage. Radical idea, I know, but it seems to work for all those other industrialized nations.

But second, how about letting pregnancy and labor take its own course unless there's a darn good reason to do otherwise? Like not scheduling 38 week c-sections because a baby is "too big" (and then turns out to be 7 1/2 pounds). How about allowing truly elective c-sections only if the mother is willing to pay the full cost out of pocket, and understands all the potential implications?

Yes, I get riled up about this issue. I think women, and babies, deserve better, and sell themselves short when they don't trust their bodies to do what their bodies are designed to do - carry a baby and give birth. Plus, if I'd gone with a convential OB/GYN for Guthrie's birth, I'm pretty certain I would have been scared into having a c-section because he was "too big" for a vaginal birth. Oh, he was a big baby - over 9 pounds and 21 inches - and he was my longest and hardest labor of my 3, but he certainly wasn't "too big" - born after 7 1/2 hours of labor without a complication, without a tear, without an IV, epidural, or any other intervention.

The only good I can see coming from this development is that if enough women find out about it, and know what it could mean, maybe they will think things through and question whether that c-section is truly necessary.

(And because this comes with bad timing, as one of my friends just had a baby by c-section, if she reads this - as if she has time with a new baby - it's not directed at anyone in particular at all. Just my frustration with "the system" as it is.)