Donating Breast Milk for Premature/Ill Babies

Someone had asked once about donating milk... I just wanted to pass
along this info in case anyone else is interested.

If you qualify to be a donor for "Milkin' Mamas Breast Milk Bank" all
donors receive free testing, free electric breast pump, free
collection bags, and free shipping. ALL milk is used for hospitalized
premature and critically ill infants as a part of Prolacta Bioscience.
There is no minimum donation and every ounce is used.

You can visit the Milkin' Mamas site here:
www.milkinmamas.com

You can visit Prolacta's site here:
http://www.prolacta.com/index.php

THANK YOU DADDY

I just came across a thread of messages from people THANKING their husbands, fathers, sons, brothers, etc who were cut at birth for keeping their baby boys intact. It is beautiful and heartwarming. I have mountains of respect for Nick for his wisdom in researching things fully before making decisions and not just blindly jumping onto bandwagons, even when it goes against his previous experience.

View the whole thread at: http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.php?p=12452285

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BlessedMommy2006 Wrote:

This is something that has been on my heart today and I just wanted to share.

Thank you so much for courageously choosing to look at the facts and choosing what's best for your son, even though it was different from what your parents chose for you. Thank you for being man enough not to feel that your manhood was challenged by your son's intact status. Thank you for not jumping into the "everyone's doing it" boat and using social reasons to justify circumcision. Thank you for being willing to stand up to criticism from your parents if needed.

To all men like this (including my wonderful DH who's total on board with intactness, should we have a son this time), I say thank you. You are making a huge difference.

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This great site is for cut men choosing to raise intact sons:
http://www.noharmm.org/raising.htm

Circumcision Resource Center

A friend just brought this site to our attention -
GREAT RESOURCE!!

http://www.circumcision.org/

FREEBIRTH on DISCOVERY HEALTH - OCT 21st

I am reposting this message pertaining to this show that would be worth checking out for all you birth-junkies out there. Freebirth is of course more controversial than homebirth with an experienced midwife. It is not something I chose to do with my first baby, but is still interesting and I have a lot of respect for women who do choose to birth this way.

It airs on Discovery Health at 9pm (EST) today (Tues), 12am Wed 10/22, 11am Sat 10/25
I will likely put it onto DVD (for my collection of educational birthing videos) as well if someone doesn't have Disc Health and still wishes to view the show.


Dear Friends,

Oct. 21st at 9pm (EST), “Freebirthing," the British UC documentary that was originally titled “Outlaw Births,” will be airing on the Discovery Health Channel in the US. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, it isn’t a bad program, as far as these things go. There was actually much I liked about it, but of course there are negative comments throughout from medical professionals who don’t approve.

I’ve blogged about the program several times. Here is my most recent posting: http://laurashanley.blogspot.com/2008/10/freebirthing-to-air-on-discovery-health.html

Be sure to read the comments below it. Heather B., who is prominently featured in the program, shared her thoughts about the way her story was presented. Heather is also prominently featured in the promos they’ve been showing on Discovery Health. I’ve turned to the station 3 times in the last few days, and within 15 or 20 minutes saw the promo each time.

Here is a page I put up with video clips from the British version. It’s essentially the same as the one I put up for “Outlaw Births” – http://freebirthing.org

To read what Discovery Health says about the show click here - http://health.discovery.com/tv/crib-notes/freebirthing.html

In other news, we have another tentative date for the “20/20” childbirth show – Oct. 24th. The show has been bumped several times and could be bumped again. But if it does end up airing, this could be a big week for UC! I’ll keep you posted!

With much love,

Laura

Laura Shanley

Bornfree! The Unassisted Childbirth Page

intactivist

So in looking at intactivist tshirts...i saw three quotes that are great:

1) If men were meant to have foreskins, they would be born with them.

2) Sexual assault is not medicine.

3) Circumcision: An operation that permanently marks little boys with
their parents ignorance.

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Comment by Stancypants:
Love em!

Comment by Hygeia:
I feel for all the women who went against their mothering hearts, and I understand how hard it must be for them to rise from the depths of denial...everyone requires healing when horrid behavior is forced upon our loved ones. We all know the value of a good cry. Come on, ladies, cry it out and understand the pressure you were up against - husbands, religious leaders, society - thanks to internet we are in a position to connect, un-learn damaging beliefs, heal from the trauma of cowering, and come on strong as collective she-bears protecting our young!

the rape of human integrity

Simply because a form of infant mutilation is socially accepted at any particular place and time in history, including the present, does not make it any less a vehement human rights violation, or any less a horror for the individual at the scalpel's edge.

I am so utterly sick of people back in Iowa making up excuses and sugar coating the tragedy that still exists for 46% of baby boys born in the United States -- most of whom are born in the Midwest, as this practice is far less common on the Coasts and South. It is a disgusting, violent act upon the innocent sexuality of a new child.

It is the rape of a baby who cannot yet stand up for himself by any means possible.

And all the more terrifying is that this little one is painfully cut up at the hand of those who are supposed to be his utmost protectors and source of trust, comfort and care - his parents.

Every child is born with the RIGHT to their body and genital integrity. Every oath that is taken in medicine is to "do no harm." Too many young men are finding themselves with deeply rooted (and "unexplained") post-traumatic stress, the inability to bond, form secure attachments, or trust. And after discovering that the vast majority of men in the world, in their neighborhoods, and among their peers, maintain their human rights and stay intact, too many men are finding that they feel mutilated, incomplete, and angry with their parents for allowing such irreparable harm to take place at a time they could not yet speak for themselves.

This organ is NOT "just skin." It is a fully functioning, irreplaceable organ that serves the functions of protection, lubrication, antibody formation, sexual pleasure, among a host of other purposes. The foreskin is the same organ, designed of densely packed nerves (more than all other body parts combined), blood vessels, tissues, multiple glands and sensitive multi-layers of delicate skin, as the clitoral hood/inner labia. They are homologous and analogous organs.

If you believe that it is genital mutilation to cut up baby girls at birth, then the same is true for baby boys.

Period.

There is no more sugar coating this horrific and devastating practice.

If you are going choose to violently cut off 3/4 of your baby's penis at birth, without anesthesia, without his ever having a say, then tell it like it is. Don't pussy-foot around the topic and make it sound all pristine.

If you made a mistake with the son you already have, then admit it. Apologize to him for what was done to him, all that was taken from him. Hold him closely and teach him gently so that he does not replicate the destruction.

People are now speaking up.
Boys are speaking up.
Men are speaking up.

It will not continue.

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Comment by Tippie:
so amazingly well written! may i cut and paste this to prego friends with boys...ha..and friends WITH baby boys..my last three friends to have babies had boys and i EVANGELIZED not circumcising to them..and yet..they were all cut..it's awful and my heart broke every time. Mothers are standing PASSIVELY by and saying," It's his dad's thing"..."it's up to his father"...HELLO MOTHER'S ITS YOUR BABY!!! When I asked those mom's if they went in with their babies to be with them during this procedure i was always met with horrified faces and "ofcourse not"...how dare you allow this mutilation and take no responsibility..simply turn away..its his dad's thing..the dad goes with them..it's awful..and the mom's ALL told me stories of their friend so and so's son who just "slept right through it" as if that justified it some how? i don't have sons yet but I pray I do so that I can proudly keep him intact and inform mom's of why it's the absolute right thing to do no matter what..if you want your son to "MATCH" his dad...buy them matching shirts or hats...mutilating their bodies in the same way...is wrong for the sake of "matching"...please please get this blog out as many places as you can!!!

RESPONSE:
by the way...the whole "he slept thru it" thing is a bunch of crap. the baby experts all say that many babies lapse into a semi-coma state in order to just live thru the horrifying pain that is being inflicted upon them. this semi-coma sometimes lasts for weeks after the trauma - making breastfeeding more difficult, causing them to sleep MORE than is normal, then enter into a state of insecure attachment, distrust, and screaming...and occasionally leading to failure to thrive. many babies also lapse into COMPLETE COMAS and of course many have died from surgery complications or blood loss. so i know i am "preaching to the choir" by responding on your page...but it is just an outcry that this ever even happens to ANY baby!

Comment by Tippie:
i didn't know that about the semi coma state but makes sense. whenever i would hear that babies slept through it it just didn't sit right with me...now i know...i am just going to add that insight to your blog i posted k?
so many titles we have; intactivist, lactivist, ;)