Been away a while..

Hello loyal readers ;) Sorry it's been a while since the last post. I have finally started VACATION!! This is the first month of vacation I've had since July of last year, so I'm ready for it. However, Jake's at Heather's today because I have my 24 week ob appointment during his naptime. I'm going to attempt to take advantage of the time by doing some stuff for the pathology project I'm working on. Also, I'm blogging ;)

We're very excited that Jake's really into his "Baby Brother". He yanks up my shirt (occasionally in public, which is probably terrifying for strangers and certainly mortifying for me), rubs my belly, and says "Hi Baby Brother!" and gives the belly a hug. In fact, the other day, he came up to me, yanked up my shirt, and put his face on my belly saying "Hi, Baby Brother (sounds like Bwuder), I WUB you!" and gave my belly a big wet kiss. Hopefully he doesn't change his mind when baby brother comes home with us!

Now, this is mostly an update on family stuff kind of blog, but today I've got a quick rant/comment to make. This morning Jenny McCarthy was on Good Morning America talking about her new book, co-written by a pediatrician, on autism and how to cure it. Oy. Based on what they said this morning, they both believe vaccines are to blame for autism, and that purification and detoxification will cure kids of autism. Ok. So, I'm not even going to pretend I know what it's like to have an autistic child. I've had the opportunity to work with some autistic kids, and have been blessed to watch the improvements that can be made and the interventions that can be done for these kids in special education (Mom, you rock). And you know, if you want to try putting your child on a gluten-free diet I think that's appropriate, as long as s/he is getting proper nutrition. What I cannot handle is that people still hang their hats on this belief that vaccines cause autism. A few decades ago a paper was published which drew this conclusion. Since that time, a multitude of studies have not replicated the findings. The author of said initial paper was discredited - data in the paper were falsified when compared with the medical records of the children in the study. The kids were rounded up according to their parents' concerns with the MMR vaccine - they weren't selected randomly. And by the way, there were 12 participants. TWELVE. That's it. That's not a lot. The main author is a surgeon, not a pediatrician or an expert on development or special needs children. And finally, it was discovered that the main author of the paper was in cahoots with a lawyer, and the pair was gearing up to try and sue the manufacturers of MMR two years before the study began. Oy.

So I looked up this physician who is an author on the Jenny McCarthy book. He went to SLU (good school), did a peds residency in the military, and now, he sells vitamins. Oh yes. Lots of vitamins. In fact, $220 for a month's worth of vitamins intended to treat and prevent autism. It saddens me that people will take advantage of the innate nature of parents to do anything and everything possible to keep their children healthy or make them better. And as an aside, I'm not familiar with any lab research McCarthy has done on autism, or any large randomized controlled trials she's conducted. I'm glad she's found something that works for her son, but it doesn't appear to work for everyone - I wish she'd make people aware of that. Also, I've read reports that her son may have been misdiagnosed; he has a seizure disorder along with his behavioral issues, and improved dramatically once his seizures were controlled. I could be wrong, but I'm not aware of seizures being a major component of autism.

My kids have and will continue to receive all of their vaccines. Did you know we had a measles outbreak in the state just over a year ago? I applaud the parents working hard to help their kids, and send my empathy to parents of autistic children, and I thank God for hardworking special education teachers and staff who help make life a little easier for autistic kids and their families. I'm thankful for the people to research autism and are working hard to find a cause and cure; I hope we find it someday. But I abhor the people out there who falsify information to create controversy and further their own careers and gains, and those who take advantage of hurting families.

Thank you.

(hops off soapbox, as easily as a large pregnant lady can do so)