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Best DVDs for your personal DVD player
When bought personal DVD player, the very next thing to do is purchasing an important DVDs collection with your favourite movies, documentaries, shows, cartoons. Here are few hints before buying.
Have you just bought a portable personal DVD...
Family Meals - Better For Children, Easier For You
Another day, another dinner to prepare. Are you having a difficult time finding easy to prepare meals that can satisfy your growing family?
You want to give your family the best, but time is in short supply and preparing a healthy...
Here's What to expect at a Baby Shower
A baby shower is a great way to welcome a new child and congratulate the new mother. Many mothers appreciate the help in purchasing the items they will need for their new baby. Commonly, baby showers are given only to new mothers or mothers who...
September 16 is Stepfamily Day!
In the United States, and perhaps in other countries as well, September 16
has been designated as "Stepfamily Day". A day dedicated to the stepfamily. A
day to honor all the StepHeroes out there who choose every day to be parents to
ALL the...
Toilet Terrors and Other Potty Training Fears
Potty training fears, often called toilet terrors, are common among toddlers and small children. Look at things from your child’s perspective. He is giving up the security of a diaper for a big, cold thing with a giant hole that might swallow...
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Painful Lessons from the Maternity Ward
Whoever dubbed New York, New York "the city that never sleeps" should visit The Maternity Ward. My recent visit included a drop-in on several screenings of "A Star Is Born" at the late-show theatre, right near Mama's Breast (all night milk bar) and Papa's Gas Station ("We burp you on your way.").
To a chorus of infant cries, I drafted this column at 1:00 a.m. Of course, it was 3:00 p.m. in Tokyo, so I suppose it wasn't so late after all.
The whole experience of birthing seems to be a very traumatic way to build a family. Fortunately, it did lead to two very happy results. It gave me a new daughter, Lauralee, the Little Sister. And it taught me some valuable lessons, which it is my patriotic duty to share with you.
The first lesson – all men, take note – is that my wife is my hero.
As the husband, I experienced the whole birthing outburst second-hand. After careful observation, I conclude that this is the best way to experience it. (Apparently I had some first-hand experience over 40 years ago, but I can't remember too many details.)
Most husbands suffer great humiliation during childbirth. Wives hurl razor-sharp insults like "I hate you!" and "You fink!" and "You did this to me!" and "I HATE YOU!!!" My wife, truly original even in pure agony, didn't use any of those words. In fact, she didn't say a thing. Instead, she threw up on me.
Of course, I don't hold the throwing up against her. The second lesson I wish to share with you is the importance of forgiving people who act in haste, in anger, or in excruciating pain from pushing a six-inch wide baby through a one-inch wide hole in their bodies.
Did I mention that this was a "natural" childbirth? Natural, as in no painkillers. OK, so there was the epidural, which should have relieved the pain, if even one of the four dosage increases had worked. And I suppose you could call morphine and nubain painkillers if they had actually killed any pain.
So my wife, with a permanent back condition amplifying the stab of every contraction and reverberating it through the spine with no
momentary relief between contractions, felt every glorious minute – 487 in all – of the unplanned "natural" childbirth. Did I mention that she is my hero? The third lesson is, when the best-laid plans go astray, improvise (which might explain the throwing up – I have reason to believe it was not planned, either).
My wife's trauma was nothing compared to what Little Sister overcame. Her shoulders got stuck, pinching the umbilical cord and cutting the oxygen supply from her not-quite-yet-born brain. To do the equivalent, you would have to press your shoulder up into your nose, while a bulldozer on steroids pushes you in a river of blood through your mailbox. (Don't try this at home, folks.)
Thanks to Quick Thinking Doctor, the focused team of nurses, and a well-sharpened pair of scissors, Little Sister is enjoying great suction at the all-night milk bar with no more damage than a limp arm. (That's "brachial plexus injury" in medicalese.) The arm will hopefully recover. Even if it doesn't, we know what the alternative would have been ... and we do not look good in black. Lesson number four is to appreciate what you have rather than worry about what you don't.
The Maternity Ward offers far too many lessons to share with you now. My fatigue is overtaking me. I feel like a wad of gum squished on the asphalt, baked in the sun, and stuck on a motorcycle tire burning rubber on a gravel trail. Ha! Bet you never felt like that in New York, New York.
The author is David Leonhardt, The Happy Guy. To receive his satirical happiness column weekly in your inbox, sign up at http://TheHappyGuy.com/positive-thinking-free-ezine.html or read more columns at http://TheHappyGuy.com/self-actualization-articles.html. Visit his home page "Finding Happiness and Self-actualization" at http://TheHappyGuy.com.
Info@TheHappyGuy.com
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Family.org |
Offers practical help for marriage and child-rearing. Recent magazine articles, letters from Dr. James Dobson, news, and RealAudio broadcasts. |
www.family.org |
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FamilyFun: Fun stuff for Kids, Parents - and More Family Fun |
Family Fun is your online source for arts and crafts, recipes, and parties for every holiday, plus hundreds of ideas for kid crafts, birthday cakes, ... |
familyfun.go.com |
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Family.ca |
Take polls, rant and rave on Canada's family broadcaster site. Full of shockwave games, animation and information about the shows they carry. |
www.family.ca |
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Family.com - closed beta |
Features a to do list, calendar, and recommended sites for health, shopping, and recipes. |
family.go.com |
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FamilySearch.org - Family History and Genealogy Records |
Search for family ancestors. Billions of free family tree, family history, ancestry, genealogy and census records. |
www.familysearch.org |
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Family - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
A family consists of a domestic group of people (or a number of domestic groups), ... Members of the nuclear family use descriptive kinship terms: ... |
en.wikipedia.org |
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Family (biology) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
The concept of rank at that time was still in statu nascendi, and in the preface to the Prodromus Magnol spoke of uniting his families into larger genera, ... |
en.wikipedia.org |
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Family Guy |
The official Family Guy website with everything you ever wanted to know about the show and more. |
www.familyguy.com |
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Parenting advice, child development and family reference at ... |
FamilyEducation.com provides parents with educational printables, games, activities, parenting ideas, tips, family advice, and information on learning ... |
www.familyeducation.com |
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Family Life Today |
FamilyLife, a division of Campus Crusade for Christ, provides practical, biblical tools to strengthen marriage and family relationships, including the ... |
www.familylife.com |
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WorldVillage - A Family Friendly Portal for Families, Kids, Adults ... |
WorldVillage is for families, kids, adults, parents and teachers. Features include coupon codes, online games, downloads, internet monitoring and internet ... |
www.worldvillage.com |
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Open Directory - Home: Family |
Family Check-up - Provides assessment activities and access to educational materials related to family health with respect to family life, finances, ... |
dmoz.org |
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Free Family Ecards, Family Greeting Cards, Family Greetings, Cards ... |
Express your appreciation to your family/ loved ones for all that they have ... Reach out to your friend/ family/ loved one and let them know how much you ... |
cards.123greetings.com |
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kids and family news articles - arizona education - arizona family ... |
Family News Articles - azcentral.com provides articles and reports on Arizona education and Arizona family events. |
www.azcentral.com |
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Google Directory - Home > Family |
Many articles dealing with a wide range of topics from single parenting, family life, child development and stress management. ... |
www.google.com |
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Family Research Council: Wednesday, December 6, 2006 |
Christian organization promoting the traditional family unit and the Judeo-Christian value system upon which it is built. Provides links, commentary, news, ... |
www.frc.org |
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Sesame Workshop - Home Page |
The non-profit educational organization behind the show and related educational outreach. |
www.sesameworkshop.org |
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National Sex Offender Registry |
Free national US search for registered sex offenders. Map registered sex offenders to see who lives in your area. |
www.familywatchdog.us |
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FHI Family Health International |
Provides the highest quality research, education and services in family planning, STDs/HIV and family health to improve the health and well-being of ... |
www.fhi.org |
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National Family Caregivers Association |
Caregiving advocacy organization with tips and statistics on caregiving in America. |
www.nfcacares.org |
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