Morning Sickness?

This is the point where a disclaimer becomes necessary: "All content of this blog is the opinion of the writer and not necessarily based on any actual fact or legitimate research". For example, today we proved our own hypothesis correct while sitting around a women's poker table. The study was in response to our dear baby-bearing buddy who is still in the "wake up and puke" stage.

It was first declared that morning sickness was a reaction to the woman's body trying to interpret the male's different DNA.

It was then proposed that women pairing with men of similar gene types may have less morning sickness.

After a short pause, nodding heads and pensive looks - our living proof (mildy mortified) spoke up at the end of the table. Her great grandmother had married her cousin and had indeed been spared any morning sickness!

It was then noted that research studies (marginally more professional than ours) had found a correlation between intelligence levels in offspring and the dissimilarity of genes between their parents. i.e. the more similar, the less intelligent.

hmmm.

As such, our group of non-scientists decided that morning sickness may be in the name of the baby's brain...so it's not so bad after all;)

FOR OUR PMS... in china town!

check it out, it will get you out of the house to china town or TNT and you will try a new recipe that you will hate but why not? you are already in a bitchy mood?

http://www.shen-nong.com/eng/exam/specialties_womenpms_premenstrual_specialrecipes.html

enjoy!
karley-wa

Bloggers Block?

Many moons...many moods.

It is about time I post a piece from the book that literally inspired this blog...It's title: Women's Moods: What Every Woman Must Know About Hormones, the Brain, and Emotional Health by Deborak Sichel and Jeanne Watson Driscoll. Both women are psychiatric health professionals and it is fascinating to hear their accounts of treating women's emotional and mental struggles. The most interesting and pertinent information is their emphasis on the significance of women's menstrual cycles on their moods and mental health.

They say, in their experience, that it was very rare for a doctor to address or consider their patients' menstrual cycles when determining the severity and regularity of mood disorders - and if women did pay more attention to their symptoms throughout their entire cycle, they would notice a pattern that would significantly inform the relativity of their mood swings (and lead to more appropriate and effective means of managing the problems than the wide administration of general anti-axiety and depression medications). Included in the book is a chart to track your own mood. I think it is an amazing and worthwhile tool for all women.

(I've uploaded the chart below but the words are not too legible. If you are interested, this makes this a good excuse to hit your favourite local bookstore ;))

Menstrual Power

Last night I came across an online forum discussing historic traditions and myths regarding menstruating women.

I particularly liked this:

I've worked with Native American ethnographic collections for many years and tribal representatives usually talked about the power of a woman on her moon. We were told by one visitor that women are restricted from certain activities or touching certain things because she has the power of life and it may be something she can't necessarily control. He described it as an energy that bounces so the woman is protected but those around her may not be. A woman past menopause also has a special status and may have priveleges that even other men may not have.

Plan C - Celibacy

A good friend recently coined (or at least re-discovered) this term. A good friend with a bun in the oven ;) Ironic. I think it's hilarious. Why? Maybe because it seems that in this day and age, no sex is not an option, is it?

Celibacy is defined as the lifestyle of someone who is and is striving to remain unmarried all his/her life or to describe a state of life where one chooses to abstain from all sexual activities (also known as "continence"). Often, it is incorrectly used to refer a mixed or an involuntary or even temporary abstinence from sexual relations – even though celibacy is by definition a freely chosen and permanent state.

Contraception - a favourite topic lately. The discussion arose (yet again) one morning over pancakes and eggs, with two young and radiant pregnant women around the table. Plan A is a constant battle (condoms, pills, shots, IUD's, risk, cost, efficacy, blah blah blah). Plan B is a pain in the but and a waste of a day, barf. And Plan C...ahhhh...now that's it....avoid the act all together!

I wonder if the potential unwanted consequences of sex will eventually be reason enough to abstain all together...and might there possibly be a greater benefit in that - as individuals - as a collective society?

But, for a lifetime....???

On the topic of body image...

I challenged mine today in class. After standing in front of a my naked body magnified on a projector in front of 19 other class-mates, I am continuing to push my limits by releasing it for all the "world wide web" to see.

Given the recent conversation topics of self-esteem, fat asses and sexuality - I feel this is an appropriate platform to display my savvy digital skills and personal creative expression. After all, my own inspiration to find comfort, beauty and honesty in the natural human form was most definitely influenced by all of your thoughts and words.

Enjoy.

Women's genital self-esteem affects sex, health

Women's genital self-esteem affects sex, health

This is a pretty interesting article... more things for women to be self conscious about.

Some Menstruation Humor

Some interesting reading on the pill and the powers of marketing.....http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/26/health/26contracept.html?_r=1&em

What are we made of?

....as her father had done out of his own ineffectiveness and unconscious projections. She too was an over achiever compensating for a depressed and ineffectual father and a mother who was unconsciously ambitious but not achieving herself. Later this woman had many dreams of playful men and of children and finally uncovered her own lighter side and was able to express it with others.
-Linda Schierse Leonard.

Where do you come from? I suggest that we are not actually our own creation. It doesn't absolve responsibility as a woman, but it sure helps make sense of our ups and downs. I decided today i have a fat ass.....really? what a waste of time, i bet i didnt think that up myself. I propose we try to leave the heavy fat asses behind and pick up some different baggage. What are you going to pick up?
My first pick, horsechest nuts.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Chocolate

I refuse to believe that my love for chocolate is necessarily an individual thing (or perhaps it makes me feel better to blame it on my gender).

You may or may not relate to other "chocoholics" out there, but I can guarantee that the ones you know are more often women than men. I'm still not really sure why this is - but do believe in our physiological differences being partially responsible. Anyone got news for me?

According to wikipedia, chocolate can (in a sense) replace your morning coffee, daily orgasm, evening joint and/or sugar craving. So it's obviously and simply - essential - for all of us ;)

Pill Honesty

"To be or not to be..that is the question" on the pill that is.

Why is it that us gals in our mid-late 20's are having this dilemma? I went off the pill roughly two years ago after being on it for 10 years...why? I wanted to know my un-drugged hormonal body :) I wanted to know my body's response to my natural hormones...verdict? I love my naturally hormonal body! In short...i'm scared the pill will take my mojo :)

I think why this is causing such a stress is that I am choosing to be responsible after the few years of rebellion and debauchery. On one hand spermicide is ok, condoms are doo-able... then on the other hand I want to have the peace of mind and also give my partner the peace of mind without all the mess (hehe)

My question is...why am I hesitant?

A little trip down IUD lane

One year ago I decided to give up the pill, after almost 15 years of doggedly taking one every morning. Not having an employer-supported health care plan, I am a regular at the Options for Sexual Health Clinic (http://www.optionsforsexualhealth.org/) at Vancouver Women's Hospital, where you can get birth control at discounted prices.  Bless their volunteer souls, they make you sit through a 1/2 hour long discussion where they show you a huge range of options for birth control when you sign up for the program. I scoffed at this in my head, but ended up being fascinated by the interview! It turned out that sexual health 'technology' or whatever you call it had significantly progressed since my last Sex Ed class in 1996!!
I was interested in IUDs, but was a bit skeptical about them - because as someone else on this blog put it, wombs and metal seem like a disgusting combo at first thought. After talking to the nurse at Options, I decided to switch to the plain-jane copper IUD, for many reasons. First, because it does not tamper with my natural hormone balance (I will get to the cramping, etc. later), and I wanted experience myself as naturally as possible after over a decade on the pill. Second, because it was cheaper ($80 through Options), Third, because I figured that paying $80 for 3 years of birth control lends LESS financial support the the pharmaceutical industry. Fourth because I don't have to remember to take it every day! Fifth because the odds of getting pregnant with an IUD in are very low - although it does happen. I have actually heard of a baby that was born with an IUD stuck to its head...ok, it was a friend of a friend's baby so I'm not sure if that is true...but that mental image has stuck with me...

Getting the IUD inserted was very painful, but not for long. It was a weird feeling, one that I had never experienced and I liken to giving birth to a very very tiny baby!!!! I was surprised at the amount of bleeding that occurred for the next 3-4 days. Everyone told me it was 'natural' to bleed that much after getting an IUD inserted, but that didn't stop me from freaking out a bit and calling the nurses hotline to get further reassurance. My uterus felt 'strange' for about a week afterwards, but soon the bleeding stopped and I was ready to rock!
Until my first period after insertion. I had some light cramping during my pre-IUD periods, but the new cramping was very painful. I had to get a special prescription painkiller to deal with them for the first two or three months, but after that I think my body got used to the damned thing and now I have no more cramping...it's all but disappeared.
So....all of that sounds like a bit of a horror story - but now, one year in, I LOVE MY IUD. For real, I love it. I no longer get worse-than-usual cramping, although my periods are a day or two longer than before. I rarely if ever think about it, have my natural hormone balance, and don't pay a cent for birth control. If you can deal with a bit of discomfort it's well worth trying out! I also highly recommend a visit to Options if you are interested in new-fangled birth control practices...there's a lot out there to choose from!

revisiting The Pill

Raftissimo,

As an unlikely blogger you've set up some nice space here. Well done, and timely.

I just made an appointment with my doc to talk about The Pill. I was on it for about 10 years and have been off it for about 4 years- I'm reluctant to start back up but am going to. Condoms suck. Babies are for the future.

Who has experimented with different doses/brands of the pill? Who has anything to red flag or green flag?

thanks gang!

Times (of the month) They are a Changin

Most of us probably thought that women ovulated once a month. Wrong, my friends. Research out of the University of Saskatchewan shows that women, in fact, ovulate in 'waves' driven by horomone levels up to three times a month! What does this mean? Well for starters, it appears that for 40 percent of women there is no 'safe' time to have sex if you are into natural family planning. If un-natural family planning is more your bag, the research will also undoubtedly have an impact on oral contraception.

Thanks to you doctors of U of S, the horses and cows who inspired the study, and those dedicated women of Saskatchewan who volunteered to have their insides ultrasounded everyday for a month.

Full information available at http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/16631.html.

Tight tummies?

 

So I am not ashamed to say that I found my new favourite jeans and jean-skirt at H&M...MAMA.

And no, I am not pregnant.

What possessed me to try them on in the first place, was the possibility of skinny jeans that would fit my tiny legs and not dig into my waist. Ta-dah! These are the best darn things I've ever worn and it makes me wonder why women ever started fastening belts, buckles and buttons around their soft and sensitive abdomen.

After a couple drinks with a friend in my new found stretch-top jeans and my rant about how every article of women's clothes should gently drape over your belly, she mentioned the company Haramaki Love to me.

Check it out - fantastic idea.

Doesn't matter if you are preggers, PMS-ing or allergic to wheat - women should be kinder to their bellies!