New Life New Hope
By Cathy Jameson
The best things in life are unexpected…
Two of my friends are pregnant. Both are in their 40s. Both have a typical child. Both also have a child on the spectrum. Both have been enthusiastically congratulated. I was happily shocked to learn of each of these pregnancies. Then I was excited. It’s almost as if these pregnancies are a first-time pregnancy. With all that these Moms have already gone through, they sort of are first-time pregnancies.
No longer will Mom be timid about what typically happens in a regular OB office.
She is so much more informed!
No longer will Mom let one person dictate all that she must do.
She knows she has other options!
No longer will Mom allow a medical professional trump her mother’s intuition.
She now has experience, knowledge and confidence on her side!
In each case, Mom knows so much more. She knows how to ask for certain things. She also knows how to politely yet firmly decline others. Mom wants so many things to be different and better. Yes, better. Better for her and better for her unborn child.
Part of me is worried for my friends. Being pregnant now, compared to ten or fifteen years ago when youth was on their side, will surely be different. According to literature, they’re OLD. Old means tired, exhausted, fragile. But, knowing these women and their personalities, old is just an adjective, and would never be the first one I’d use to describe them.
Both Moms are active in their other children’s lives. They are both movers and shakers in their own communities. They are both looked up to, respected and sought out for advice. Who better than an already inspiring woman to bring new life…and hope to our world.
Sure, I’m a little worried for my friends, but I’m downright giddy that these two women are pregnant. I’m more excited for these pregnancies than other. They will be far different than that of the younger people in my life. The younger people are having their first and second children and are clinging to every word, statistic and procedure their medical provider tells them. Then, their children are taken to every appointment that the powers that be have dictated. When pictures are shared, I see darkened circles under baby’s eyes and hear of food allergies, eczema, early speech problems and endless sleepless nights. Red flags are waving violently behind baby but Mom has yet to connect the dots or see the destructive path her children are walking.
It saddens me to know that these young Moms are marching in my own footsteps, the foolish steps I so blindly took with my children before I forced myself to open my eyes. These young Moms haven’t had the “I wish I’d known” moment even though they do know. They are aware. They have witnessed. They’ve watched my son and a host of other children decline. They’ve heard stories of seizures, of loss of speech, of daily struggles that have become life-long struggles. They’ve seen children slowly decline and then fall hard on the spectrum. But they’ve chosen to brush that knowledge away. These young Moms have watched it all happen right in front of their eyes, but they refuse to see any of it.
I know that so many of us here would do things over if given the chance. We would read more. We would ask more. We would demand more. We would stand up for our health and that of our child without hesitation. We would take that chance and hold tightly to it if given the chance. The two older friends that I have who are pregnant will do all of that because they have that chance. I applaud them and am ready to support them.
As surprised (and tired, and slower, and achier) as these older mamas might be, I believe that their pregnancies are a blessing that and that their child will be a beacon of hope for many. God bless these Moms, and God bless the new life they carry.
Cathy Jameson is a Contributing Editor for Age of Autism.
Thank you Kapore for sharing - Congraduations on your grandchild and her health.
Posted by: Benedetta | July 14, 2014 at 11:48 PM
I think that following the no vaccine rule of thumb is critical. My daughter (who has autoimmune disease) had a C section, antibiotics, problems with breast feeding, and had to return to work when her infant was 9 weeks. You would think that this baby would be a mess, but no she is fine. She is half way through her 9th month and is almost walking, highly vocal and understands a lot of words--if I say hat she grabs my hat, and so on. Above all, she is a joyous baby who almost never cries, and has only had two minor colds. Why is this baby so lucky and precocious??? Biology--no, good medical care (sort of although she has only seen the pediatrician once), good genes (no since her mother was chronically ill), vaccine free...yes!
The same goes for my nieces kids who also are vaccine free and precocious and healthy. It's so easy and yet the terrible CDC policy makes it so hard. Amazing.
Posted by: kapoore | July 14, 2014 at 02:34 PM
Mums-to-be should avoid hair dyes during pregnancy. Preferably hair dying should not begin until after the childbearing years.
The darker hair dyes are particularly bad and travel through the hair follicle and scalp into the blood stream without the filtering of the GI tract.
I would also be cautious about prenatal ultrasound.
I know two little healthy boys born to parents in their early 40s (mother and father). Mother and father had also been born to older parents: All four grandparents were in their late 70s and 80s when grandsons were born.
Parents and babies were exposed to stress, EMFs, ultrasound, caesarian births, and many toxins. No vaccines. Boys are healthy. In importance avoidance of all vaccines comes first.
Posted by: Rosycurler | July 13, 2014 at 11:15 PM
According to new protocols from the obstetric community, moms who have c-sections now receive an antibiotic before the incision is made instead of after the cord is cut. Infection rates are so high that they now give it before the incision, therefore every baby is born with antibiotics in their system. I am a heath care professional who was strep b positive during delivery and received antibiotics. Back then I followed the party line and my child received the Hep b In the hospital. Then at two months he developed thrush. I was told it was from breastfeeding. After more vaccinations and tylenol we became members of this community. Being a first time mom in my forties, I did not get a chance for another child with the knowledge base I have now. If I did, I would ask a lot more questions. I would discuss all my options of vaginal delivery, c-section delivery , anesthetic choices and any other drugs and procedures my child or I would be exposed to during our hospital stay. I would ask for the antibiotic after the cord was clamped. I would discuss this before I delivered. Unfortunately, mainstream medicine has become protocol driven instead of treating individual patients. IMHO, antibiotics give before the incision will continue to fuel this epidemic.
Posted by: SCR | July 13, 2014 at 09:44 PM
Frankly, I am no longer concerned about autism, having recovered mine, but would worry about other age-related birth defects. Autism is mostly immune dysfunction from toxins. Avoiding them is pretty easy for me now, since now I know where and what they are.
Posted by: HeidiN | July 13, 2014 at 05:08 PM
I do hope you post if all goes well with their babies. Given the way our irresponsible vaccine program is headed (ie more difficult to get exemptions and more and more vaccines mandated on the schedule), I've actually warned my kids NOT to have their kids in this country if vaccine choices are removed. We are researching countries that might offer a sane, safer approach to delivery and vaccines. Anyone know which countries have the best track record?!
It's sad, but our system is so broken, I'm terrified for my grandchildren to be born here (and I'm a licensed healthcare worker). Best of luck to your friends!
Posted by: Anne J. | July 13, 2014 at 03:28 PM
learn by observation...we all know those kids drinking iced tea in their bottles ..chocolate dripping down their faces..good will clothes.. who only saw the light of day enroute to a sitter..moms busy.. forgoing doc visits, letting their kids blow green snot balls for days..waiting for the colds to go away..once in awhile shooting some oil into their ears..ugh! These kids are FINE. My fresh air walks, gleaming little faces, obsessive on time doc visits, organic self prepared meals, exposed my kids daily to the suburban pesticides, monthly to the vaccine poisons, too many antibiotics, tylenol, hand wipes, plastics in super pump and milk storage bags..all WRONG!
Posted by: barbaraj | July 13, 2014 at 10:52 AM
I hope that these older moms will know to only have wired connections in their homes - no wi-fi, no IPADS, IPODS, no wireless laptops (or wired laptops for that matter, only PCs give out little EMF if staying a distance of at least a couple of feet from the tower), no routers, no DECT or older wireless landlines, no cell phones in their pockets or used anywhere near them, in the home and never EVER in the car or in an elevator except in an extreme emergency...I hope that the gov't hasn't yet installed "smart" meters on their homes and that their homes aren't situated within 2 miles of a cell tower. I hope that if they work outside their homes that their places of employment don't expose them to these hazards and that when they go out in their towns that they will be able to avoid high wireless transmission areas.
Posted by: Linda1 | July 13, 2014 at 10:13 AM
Cathy, I hope your friends will insist that placental circulation not be stopped immediately after birth by clamping the umbilical cord. Pulsations continue in the cord until the fetal valves in the heart close, and blood is redirected to the lungs.
After I put up my website 14 years ago, I received many email messages asking how soon after birth my son Conrad’s umbilical cord was clamped. It was clamped before he was breathing, and his resuscitation took too long. I am eternally as angry about this as you are about vaccination.
I went to the Harvard medical library, and for several days pulled one textbook of obstetrics after the other off the shelf. Until the mid 1980s the instruction was to wait for pulsations of the cord to cease before tying or clamping the cord.
Clamping the cord became fashionable in the 1930s when placental blood was sought for blood banks (see Douglas Starr’s book, Blood, 1998). By the 1950s the cord was clamped to preserve the “sterile field” for repair of the episiotomy, but Virginia Apgar noted that many obstetricians still practiced “slow birth,” and did not perform episiotomies.
There is NO health benefit from clamping the cord. This is a clear medical error, and must be stopped.
Posted by: Eileen Nicole Simon | July 13, 2014 at 10:02 AM