False Advertising

Last night I was watching TV while my husband read behind me. I think I was watching Scrubs because I really could have used a laugh last night. Too bad that is not what happened - stupid commercial breaks! This is the first time that I have seen a commercial for Plan B or emergency contraception. They ran that add as a backup plan after contraception failure or unprotected sex. They made it look like it was simple and wouldn't cause many side effects even though it is a lot stronger than any birth control pill (how do you think it could work in just a couple days and after the fact).

What pushed me over the top was when they said it would not cause an existing pregnancy to fail. I knew that was a lie and practically yelled at the TV. My husband asked me what was wrong and I told him about their false advertising. So how can they get away with saying that? I looked back on a previous post of mine to find out. Mainly, plan B works by loading your body with hormones to prevent ovulation, but there is a second option that I explained in a previous post....

The second option would be defined as an abortifacient. To get around this tricky word, proponents of the drug define pregnancy as the time when the fertilized egg implants to the uterine lining. However, science agrees that the genetic makeup of the new child is complete once the egg is fertilized and before it implants to the mother's uterus.

How can this misleading add go on tv? Who let them get away with changing the time that pregnancy occurs? Plan B definitely works by destroying the fertilized egg (which they say is not pregnancy) a small percentage of the time. And I'm sure only a small percentage of the time is it actually needed which is almost just as sad. Girls as young as 17 can get this over the counter and some will take it when they are not fertile and have no chance of becoming pregnant. It is a shame that their bodies will go through all that for nothing and that a commercial makes it seem like it is as simple as buying and taking something like cough syrup. I wish pro-life groups had more money so we could make fancy commercials that gave the whole truth and listed other options. I have to believe that most girls and women do this to their bodies because they think it is the only way they can keep living their life. There is information out there but it is many times extremely hard to find and I hope to help change that.

Weekly Update and Surgery Recap

My road trip was awesome! I always get so excited for life when there is a new one on the way. My friend I visited was about 6 weeks from her due date and the baby was moving a lot. I learned a ton about pregnancy and I'm glad that I have her as a resource when that time comes for my husband and I.

The reason I planned the road trip when I did was to escape the reality of my life and get really excited for my friend. She enjoyed the company before she officially started her part time job in a local school. I enjoyed the diversion from thinking about the lack of leader in my pro-life group and surgery.

On Tuesday, I went to the hospital where I underwent a very short surgery. The surgery was over in 30 minutes and I was awake and asking to see my husband about an hour after it started. I didn't know any operation could be that quick! What was it for?

Like many women, I suffer from cramps. In the past year or so it has gotten considerably worse to the point I was bedridden for up to two days from the pain. I also started having more complications with my cycles and my doctor left me with three options:

1. Live with it - that did not sound fun, wasn't I already suffering through that option?

2. Go on the pill for a few months to level out my hormones - problem: that would not give me a diagnosis or any added information on how to prevent this problem from happening again.

3. Have surgery - diagnosis the problem and take anything out that is not supposed to be there

Obviously I chose option three and I'm glad I did. I have a lot more information about my body, the endometriosis was removed (probably by burning it off)and now my doctors know what to treat. Most importantly for me was the peace of mind I received by knowing exactly what was wrong, that it did not permanently affect me in any way. The doctor said the rest of my system looked great. No more wondering if "living through the pain" meant delaying diagnosing something that could affect my fertility later. Now I know that hasn't happened yet and hopefully never will since we know what we are dealing with.

My week has been just about the best case scenario. I was in and out of the hospital in 3 hours. The meds they give you there are strong so the first day I felt great! Yesterday and today I have some abdominal pain that prevent me from bending over too often but I'm not missing any work and I have had a lot of family and friends keeping me company. I'm doing well so I am ready to tackle the next thing on my list...

What Should Health Care Look Like?

I want to start this post by saying that I am surrounded by many wonderful people. I am informed by friends and family and directed to multitudes of resources. I am astounded to know there is so much to learn every day.

Today I was shocked to realize something that I should have known all along. Health Care does not cover anything related to infertility. A friend of a friend had a hard time getting a surgery approved because it was partly done to help her reproductive system working as it should - meaning that she would be more likely to experience the miracle of creating life with her husband. The surgery will also help reduce pain and other issues that many women have to struggle with each month.

What is wrong here?

Health Care is not covering medical problems. A medical problem is something that changes/affects the correct functioning of your body. Proper functioning of a woman's body includes the ability to conceive and carry a child. So why does insurance cover something that suppresses normal functioning (birth control pill, etc) but not something that will restore it?

Hopefully, more people will come to the realization that I did today and speak out that abortion is not health care and should be excluded from any health care reform.

Marriage and Parenthood

As part of my training to become a Natural Family Planning teacher, I am required to report to the group about research related to the topic. Many of you already know that I spent a summer researching the debate over family planning that took place in the 20s. Part of my report will be my own findings, and part will be given on a study I found online that I found quite interesting. The study, done by UCLA, explores the topic of Marriage and Adult Development. One aspect of the study looked at parenthood.

Our initial analyses on this topic indicate that the couples who have a child early in marriage are more satisfied with their relationship than those who do not have a child. Couples are more likely to make the transition to parenthood to the extent that spouses - and particularly wives -- feel their relationship is strong. We are also learning that couples who do and do not have children over the first few years of marriage do not differ much in the rate at which their marriages change.

In other words, conventional wisdom that says your love life will end the minute you have a child was shown to be inaccurate. According to the study, babies do not cause a noticeable change to the relationship you have with your spouse. So what is my opinion? A child is always a blessing - what a privilege to create new life! If your marriage is strong - it may become stronger with all the new opportunities you will have to work together and problem solve while raising a child. If your marriage is weak it may highlight some weaknesses, but you probably would have figured those out soon enough. More importantly, I am excited to see that there is a large study that states babies are not a problem. And to take the report one step further (my own conclusion) - couples should welcome or at least be open to forming a new life together.

Summer Update & Health Care

My summer has been a little crazy and so I have not written as much as I have wanted. My husband and I have been looking at houses and found one we liked. Now the big decision is whether or not we still believe this is the right time to buy. On top of that, we have gone on a bunch of mini-vacations. We've made it to Chicago, South Bend, a wonderful B&B in South Haven where we had a four course breakfast outside (see picture), Interlochen and I went to Harbor Springs while he went to Sterling. They have been wonderful and relaxing but that pushes all the work, chores and errands into a shorter amount of days. The summer has flown by and I think everyone is in the same boat as me - did summer really happen? We can't tell by the temperatures and no one seems to believe it is August! I'm getting in one more trip to visit friends in South Bend and then school will be starting again already. So there was the update on me, now for the update on a pro-life issue...


There is one short and simple post I want to address concerning the sanctity of life. As you are probably aware, Health Care is one of the main issues the U.S. Congress wants to address. They were not able to pass anything during the month of July. They are on break for the month of August - please consider contacting or visiting your representative while they are in your area. We need to fight to make sure that taxpayers don't finance abortions.