Chaos
I know that I am fortunate enough to not know anyone with any of the serious stressors in their lives. People in other countries have many more challenges than many of us will ever face in our lives. Although it may not be the worse thing people live through, I felt like the household my husband grew up in and the lasting results affected not only him in adulthood but all of us. His father was an alcoholic but was a very gentle kind man who never raised his voice and always appeared defeated looking to me. His mother would have been diagnosed as bi-polar by today's standards. After many years of my husband having the same traits, he finally got help as I continued to read books about narcissistic personality disorder and living with the self absorbed. I always knew that my husband had his mother's genes so I took full responsibility for my children and left him out of things like discipline. I did everything with my children. We sort of lived our own life while he was their Dad that just lived in our house. They didn't know any different. After he came to his realization about how he was raised and what he was doing to his wife and children, he began to open up to me. He told me stories about his mother throwing knives across the room at his dad when he came home drunk. My husband lived in 11 houses before we got married. He recalled coming home from school and boxes were packed to move or coming home and various pieces of furniture or appliances were gone because she sold them to buy something she wanted. There was constant fighting that could have been avoided if she didn't feel the need to control every person's life. When my husband and I were dating, I got so tired of having her curse me and fuss at me that I just stopped talking. Then I was labeled as snobby. There was no winning. Sometimes the mind uses defense mechanisms to help you cope. That is what my husband must have done growing up but then when he wanted to replay the same scenarios in my home, I said we need help. I know many people live through worse but when I think of the definition of chaos, I think of my husband's household
Haiti
I know this is sort of a repeat of a previous blog but I am very passionate about children going hungry. The everyday things we take for granted would be luxuries for them. Many live in tent cities, no clean water, or no food. As a result of these conditions, there are various diseases that plagued the country. I've stated before that I cannot imagine being a mother that has to watch her children go hungry or watch them die before her eyes and there is nothing you can do. There are many organizations such as UNICEF and Food for the Poor that help to make the living conditions better by building homes, providing food, giving immunizations, and purifying the water. There is so many people that are not being helped. This country seems to be a magnet for natural disasters. As soon as organizations make some progress, it is set back by a disaster. Giving just a little money goes a long way for the people of Haiti.
Friday, September 28, 2012
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Malnutrition
Most people think they know the meaning of malnutrition, at least I thought I did. However many times malnutrition is generalize as people going hungry. Malnutrition is a result of not enough calories especially from proteins. Many problems occur from malnutrition besides the obvious. Children's brains may not develop normally if deprived of good nutrition. Their immune system is compromised which makes them more susceptible to diseases while many diseases are a result of malnutrition.
I chose to discuss this topic because I have always been a fanatic about my children getting adequate food and rest. I still check on my grown son who is working on his PhD and ask him if he is eating well and not skipping meals. He is in another state from me so I don't have to see him rolling his eyes at me but I can hear it in his voice, "Mom, really, I'm fine." I cannot imagine the feelings of mothers who's children are wasting away due to malnutrition and they know no way of stopping it. I can't imagine watching my child crying in pain because they are so hungry or because they are in pain due to a disease.
Haiti
I did some research on the country of Haiti that has been plagued by malnutrition as well as devastating storms and earthquakes. UNICEF has done amazing work in helping the people of Haiti especially mothers, infants, and young children. After the earthquake in 2010, They provided education programs for mothers on the benefits of breastfeeding. They provide supplements of micronutrients such as iron, folic acid and vitamin A. UNICEF reports that in 2005 1 of 10 children under 5 in Haiti were malnourished and one fourth of babies were born LBW. Now in 2012 severe malnutrition has decreased from 4% to 1% and underweight children decreased from 18% to 10.6%.
Food for the Poor - this organization has many projects that work to help the plight of the Haitian people. Some of the programs include work on home, schools, orphanages and feeding programs. Food is also distributed to other organizations to help with their local feeding programs. I have contributed to this program for years through my church and feel confident in the work they do. Everyone should consider giving something to one of these organizations to help alleviate the plight of these children in Haiti. It doesn't take much money to save a child from malnutrition.
www.unicef.org
www.foodforthepoor.org
I chose to discuss this topic because I have always been a fanatic about my children getting adequate food and rest. I still check on my grown son who is working on his PhD and ask him if he is eating well and not skipping meals. He is in another state from me so I don't have to see him rolling his eyes at me but I can hear it in his voice, "Mom, really, I'm fine." I cannot imagine the feelings of mothers who's children are wasting away due to malnutrition and they know no way of stopping it. I can't imagine watching my child crying in pain because they are so hungry or because they are in pain due to a disease.
Haiti
I did some research on the country of Haiti that has been plagued by malnutrition as well as devastating storms and earthquakes. UNICEF has done amazing work in helping the people of Haiti especially mothers, infants, and young children. After the earthquake in 2010, They provided education programs for mothers on the benefits of breastfeeding. They provide supplements of micronutrients such as iron, folic acid and vitamin A. UNICEF reports that in 2005 1 of 10 children under 5 in Haiti were malnourished and one fourth of babies were born LBW. Now in 2012 severe malnutrition has decreased from 4% to 1% and underweight children decreased from 18% to 10.6%.
Food for the Poor - this organization has many projects that work to help the plight of the Haitian people. Some of the programs include work on home, schools, orphanages and feeding programs. Food is also distributed to other organizations to help with their local feeding programs. I have contributed to this program for years through my church and feel confident in the work they do. Everyone should consider giving something to one of these organizations to help alleviate the plight of these children in Haiti. It doesn't take much money to save a child from malnutrition.
www.unicef.org
www.foodforthepoor.org
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Birth
It was a busy time at the hospital when my daughter was born. After she was born, they moved me from a birthing room to a regular room across the hall. It was a full moon and the nurses said there would be many babies born during that night. From early afternoon well into the middle of the night my daughter stayed in the room with me laying on my chest the whole time. Nurses came by to bring me bottles and check and me and my daughter but for the most part my husband and I spent much quiet time with our daughter. My in-laws were caring for my other 2 children. It was the middle of the week and many people were working so that cut down on visitors. When my daughter woke, we spoke to her and made eye contact with her but mostly she slept on my chest. She is now 17 yrs. old and is calm and a very happy easy going young lady who is very social and has respect and appreciation for all people. Our families often joke about the incident and say that she is still "connected" to my chest because she and I have such a close, warm relationship. It is no joke to me. I firmly believe that the environment following her birth, created that bond of attachment. The situation was very different for my other 2 children. It was very much a formal, clinical atmosphere. I didn't see my babies much until we left the hospital. I think maybe they were brought in for me to feed once.
My experience with my daughter came to mind when reading about kangaroo care in our text. In our text it shows women in Manila providing kangaroo care. I went onto the Internet and found more information about it. It is used most effectively for premature babies but of course is beneficial for full term babies also. There are different kinds of kangaroo care. There is the Skin to Skin care where the baby lays on the mother's body with nothing in between. From my research, it appears that this practice is used extensively in South Africa.
After reading more on kangaroo care, I learned that I did not provide true kangaroo care for my daughter, it was a form of it. I firmly believe that the time spent with your baby following birth is crucial to the attachment in later years. People should respect that parents need those first few hours as a time of quiet bonding and save the visiting for later. My experience is far from being a study but it was convincing enough for me to believe that the parent/child attachment after birth is a good indicator of attachment in later years.
My experience with my daughter came to mind when reading about kangaroo care in our text. In our text it shows women in Manila providing kangaroo care. I went onto the Internet and found more information about it. It is used most effectively for premature babies but of course is beneficial for full term babies also. There are different kinds of kangaroo care. There is the Skin to Skin care where the baby lays on the mother's body with nothing in between. From my research, it appears that this practice is used extensively in South Africa.
After reading more on kangaroo care, I learned that I did not provide true kangaroo care for my daughter, it was a form of it. I firmly believe that the time spent with your baby following birth is crucial to the attachment in later years. People should respect that parents need those first few hours as a time of quiet bonding and save the visiting for later. My experience is far from being a study but it was convincing enough for me to believe that the parent/child attachment after birth is a good indicator of attachment in later years.
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