Strollerderby : baby

Creepy Old Japanese Pregnant Dolls (with Attached Creepy Fetus Dolls!)

Cole Gamble — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 17:00:00 GMT

Apparently used to teach 19th century Japanese midwives, these pregnant dolls not only included placenta and stretch marks, but also interchangeable fetuses of different stages. At least, I hope that's what they were used for. It's kind of weird for a novelty item.

Crocheted Doll Gives Birth

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6 Reasons Why it Sucks to Be a Kid Today

Disturbing Baby-Swinging PSA

Eating Your Baby's Placenta

10 Great Books For (Traumatizing) Children

Melissa Joan Hart Drops the Ball on Being a Role Model

JeanneSager — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:26:00 GMT

So Melissa Joan Hart packed on the pounds during her pregnancy. That makes her different from any other pregnant woman in America, how?

The former Sabrina the Teenage Witch star showed off her bikini-worthy bod in People last week, but it was her words that cut deep into the psyches of moms everywhere.

A picture of her post-partum at one hundred fifty-five pounds, snapped on the beach, was "horrifying," Hart told People. That's why she lost weight. Not because she felt physically bad at her weight. Because she cared what everyone else thought of her.

Wow, how, SHALLOW of her. Yeah, yeah, I know, she lives in Hollywood - she's supposed to care what the public thinks about her. She points out that living in Hollywood puts huge pressure on you, and I'd bet it would. But if you're going to use that as your excuse, you can just as easily use it as your soapbox. Because Hart is one of those women who can make a statement to the world that sets the world afire and lets other women know it is OK to walk outside of their houses with their heads held high in the days after they give birth.

But where she had the chance to be a wonderful anti-dote to the thousands of celebrity women who practically prance out of the hospital with their twiggy forms back and make the rest of us feel even worse about ourselves, Hart chose the wrong route. Showing off her hard fourteen months of work was a great example to women that you can do it, maybe. But the words "horrifying" about her post-partum body undid much of that positive message.

What happened to being honest about what happens to a woman's body during pregnancy? To facing up to the fact that the weeks after having a baby are hardly the time to focus on weight loss/gain because you're focused on a new life?

Image: People

Kelly Ripa Beats Obamas for Your Family Vacation

Post Partum Hilarity in Book Form

Best of FameCrawler - Week of May 29th

Whit Honea — Fri, 29 May 2009 20:00:00 GMT

Mike Tyson's 4-Year-Old Daughter Dies

Madonna Dishes on A-Rod and Kate Hudson

Confirmed - Gisele is Pregnant With Tom Brady's Baby!

Nicole Richie, Dad Lionel & Daughter Harlow (PHOTOS)

Sneak Peek! Jon & Kate Plus 8 Season Premiere

Kelly Rutherford, Lies and Videotape

Amy Mickelson's Breast Cancer Battle

Michelle Williams and Daughter Matilda Support Their Local Coffee House

Angelina Jolie: Madonna Adopts For Fame

Jon & Kate - Who Are The Kids Happier With? (Photos)

Slumdog Kids Finally Get A Home!

Brian Grazer's Prenup Still Makes Wife Rich

WATCH: Man Drinks Daughter's Breast Milk to Cure Cancer

Cole Gamble — Fri, 29 May 2009 16:00:00 GMT

Tim Browne puts a little something extra in his corn flakes every morning, and he’s hoping it will save his life. Browne’s colon cancer spread to his liver and lymph nodes. His future looked grim. Then his daughter, Georgia, came up with a radical suggestion: drink her breast milk. She came up with the idea after seeing a TV show about the benefits of breast milk. Now after feeding her son Monty, she sets aside a few ounces for dad.

"I found the milk not unpleasant, but slightly pungent and oily, but once it was mixed with cow’s milk I couldn't taste it,” Browne said.

AND NOW HERE IS YOUR QUOTE OF THE DAY:

Browne continued, ““If I have a lactating daughter, why not take advantage of her? As long as Monty didn’t mind,” Browne said.

Browne admitted slight improvement in his cancer but cannot tell if it’s the milk or his chemotherapy regiment.

watch it here

More Good Stuff:

Creepy Old Japanese Pregnant Dolls (with Attached Creepy Fetus Dolls!)

8 "PG" Movies Way Too Scary for Kids

6 Reasons Why it Sucks to Be a Kid Today

Disturbing Baby-Swinging PSA

Eating Your Baby's Placenta

10 Great Books For (Traumatizing) Children

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Eating Your Baby's Placenta

Cole Gamble — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:00:00 GMT

Placentophagia is term for eating of the placenta, and you know if there's a name for it, it's a real deal. Animals, of course, do it al the time. Anyone whose cat had kitten can attest. Humans also engage in the pratice all over the world because it's said to stem postpartum depression and help to contract the uterus after the birth. Chrissy Schilling over at Momlogic details her own placenta feast with twin sister Kathy. From her post:

"The placenta is such an amazing organ in all its done for my baby that it didn't seem right to simply throw it away. My thought was "being the only organ that the human body makes that naturally exits the body, why not take advantage of it?"

Chrissy and Kathy got more than just one meal out of the six pound placenta. They served it over noodles and made sandwiches.

Chrissy even found the experience cathartic:

"By taking it in again, it was symbolic for me as a way to truly say "good-bye" to my 9-month pregnancy and "hello" to an exciting (albeit challenging) new chapter in my life.

See? Delicious, nutricious and life affirming. It's good to eat stuff that comes out of your body. Except poop. So, can I fix you up a nice egg and placenta scramble?

Photo: Kathy Schilling

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10 Great Books For (Traumatizing) Children

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Baby Toupee Creator Speaks

Brett Singer — Tue, 26 May 2009 21:00:00 GMT

If you made something as dumb as the Baby Toupee you might think keeping quiet would be the best course of action.

But you would be wrong!

TruTV interviewed Graham Farrar who did indeed come up with the idea for a line of baby headgear. Not just hats -- these puppies have hair.

Here's a sample:

Q: Who’s your typical customer?
A: Nuts with kids.

What a card.

Now, I suppose if someone wants to buy this sort of thing -- you know, a "nut" with a kid -- go for it. Apparently Farrar's customer base is mostly reggae fans, since his Bob Marley-esque model (aka "The Bob") is his biggest seller. (One of my colleagues wanted me to say that she feels the jokifying of Black hair is racist -- anyone agree/disagree? Let us know in the comments.) And in this economy, I don't want to bash a small businessperson.

Yet, bash I must.

Personally I'm not a fan of this sort of thing. Babies are cute enough on their own. OK, maybe Halloween. But these wigs look kinda nasty to me. I picture baby food getting stuck in those fake dreads... excuse me, I'm a little nauseous.

What do you think? Cute, not cute? Irie? Offensive? A great big plate of who cares?

Source: TruTV Dumb as a Blog

Japanese Potty Training Video

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Best of FameCrawler - Week of May 22nd

Whit Honea — Fri, 22 May 2009 20:00:00 GMT

Gosselins are Good for a Gander

Katie Holmes Sets a Bad Example For Suri

Mormon Marie Osmond Supports Her Gay Daughter!

Stars Come Out For American Idol Finale: Brad Garrett and Kids Max and Hope

Barbara Walters To Interview John Edwards' Mistress Rielle Hunter!?

Bristol Palin and Son Tripp Cover People

Angelina Catches Brad and Jen Aniston Together!

Kate Gosselin Blogs Her Troubles Away

Matt Damon: Bourne to Be a Dad

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Kelly Clarkson Looks Like She's Pregnant!

Caption This, Julia Roberts (or Don't)

Baby Asleep On Dad's Head

Brett Singer — Sun, 17 May 2009 17:00:00 GMT

This 12-second video is one of those things that I think only a parent could appreciate.

MomLogic says that the "best line ever uttered by a dad" is "I felt cold drool on my head." (I thought it was "WOW! THAT DIAPER SMELLS LIKE CHERNOBYL!")

I know that I used to feel that baby drool was gross. Until I experienced my own kids' drool. It's still a little gross, especially when it dries. But somehow, when it's drool that fell from the mouth of your very baby, it's not so bad.

Source: MomLogic

A Really Graphic Homebirth

10 Year Old Burned By Tanning Bed

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Best of FameCrawler - Week of May 15th

Whit Honea — Fri, 15 May 2009 20:00:00 GMT

Tom Cruise Pressuring Katie For Another Baby?

Dirk Nowitzki's Fiance Arrested?

Comedian Wanda Sykes & Wife Alex Welcome Twins!

Jada Pinkett Smith a Lesbian?

Julie Bowen Welcomes Twin Boys

Mary Stuart Masterson Has Reason to Smile!

Manny Ramirez Busted!

Chyler Leigh Welcomes Daughter Anniston

Sean Penn Still Dating Natalie Portman, Robin is Pissed!

Kate Gosselin's Heartbreak: Jon & I May Separate

Look, Look, It's Another Octomom Story

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Best of FameCrawler - Week of May 8th

Whit Honea — Fri, 08 May 2009 20:00:00 GMT

Julia Roberts Shows Her Bikini Bod & Tattoo In Honor Of Her Kids (PHOTOS)

Jon & Kate - Jon Is Cheating -It's Been Confirmed - Photos

Elizabeth Edwards Has "No Idea" If John's The Baby Daddy

Jon Gosselin Tells EW Exclusively "I Did NOT Cheat!"

I'm Following You, Nicole Richie

Pregnant Heidi Klum Naked on Ellen - Video

Mary Stuart Masterson Has Reason to Smile!

'Idol' Winner David Cook Announces his Brother's Passing at 5K Race (VIDEO)

Matthew Fox Prepares to get UnLost with Family

Jenny McCarthy To Get Her Own Talk Show?

Ed Burns and Christy Turlington Are Not Selfish

Kate Gosselin To Address Rumors About Jon?

Best of FameCrawler - Week of May 1st

Whit Honea — Fri, 01 May 2009 20:00:00 GMT

Details Revealed About SJP Twins: Elisabeth Hasselbeck Is Her Surrogate!

Rosie O'Donnell's Marital Spat Gets Twittered By Neighbor

BREAKING: Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick Expecting Twins!

Gavin Rossdale Had A Secret Romance?

Portraits of the Artists as Young Men - Before They Were Famous

Wolverine Goes to Disneyland

Sarah Jessica Parker - Baby Bump On Display

Patton Oswalt Welcomes a Baby Girl

Brangelina Started Because Jennifer Aniston Is A Secret Lesbian?

Jennifer Aniston Adopting A Boy!

OctoMom's Kid - Bite Mark And Black Eye

Brett Singer — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 21:30:00 GMT

This is disturbing.

Social Services paid a visit to Nadya Suleman's home the other day. Surprisingly, this isn't a regular occurrence. They were there to investigate because one of the OctoMom's children, Aidan, had gone to school with a black eye and a bite mark on his back. After a 45 minute interview, investigators left without taking action.

Orange County Child and Family Services and La Habra police did not comment because, you know, things like this are supposed to be confidential. Nadya, however, did an interview with her exclusive outlet, RadarOnline. (Remember when Radar was this hip and cool magazine? Yeah, not anymore.)

In the interview, she managed to make me question her parenting skills even more than I might have previously, which is impressive if you think about it. She tells the interviewer that the social services visit was her fault, because she didn't see the note that Aidan's teacher had pinned to his backpack asking about the injuries. To be fair, I've missed notes as well, but they weren't asking me if my children were participating in after-school cage fights. The scariest line to me is that Aidan's black eye is from "falling down," something he does because he has autism. There's a moment where Nadya says the black eye is from his meltdowns, and "in the process of throwing him... throwing himself on the floor..." I know, it's just a slip, but it's creepy.

As for the bite mark, Nadya says it's from one of his siblings. (To borrow a line from Robin Quivers on the Howard Stern Show, "They're eating each other!")

In the video, you get to see Ms. Suleman attempt to discipline one her kids as he first hits his sibling, then hits the camera. "We're just starting time outs," she says. Seems to be working great. She also tells us that the officials told her they were impressed with how well the family was doing, and "how well-organized her home was." Wow. I don't believe that statement one bit.

I know. It's not fair to criticize parenting skills. Right? Except that she's making these videos on putting them online. Mostly I just feel bad for the kids. There's no way they could possible be getting anything resembing a decent amount of attention from their mother.

Source: AP via Yahoo and RadarOnline

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Best of FameCrawler - Week of April 24th

Whit Honea — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 20:00:00 GMT

David Beckham's Victoria Tattoo Is Misspelled

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Geri Halliwell Reveals Her Dark Past

Guess the Baby Bump!

Celebrity Guess Who: Name the Mom Edition

CBS' Julie Chen Pregnant!

Octomom Nadya Suleman is Ready to Add to The Family, AAACK!

Madonna's Ex-Chef: She's A Self-Centered Mother

Get Their Pee Away from Me

JeanneSager — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:30:00 GMT

I'm one of those parents who extols the virtues of "eau de kid." So I was all excited to read Peter Hartlaub's ode to the odors of kids in the Poop this week.

Until I got to section two. Cheerios and pee.

Really Peter, you had to lay that one out there for the child-free by choice folks to throw back at us? Maybe it's the mark of a mom who was beaten down by potty training, but where I agree with everything else on Hartlaub's list, his assertion that "the faint scent of toddler pee can actually be kind of pleasant." just made me want to retch.

Yes, I know he was kidding (sort of), but let me lay out my own list of reasons the Cheerios and pee smell has apparently been WAY overrated:

1. My daughter insists on sleeping with at least five to six books in her bed every night so she can "read" herself to sleep. As a sign of her love of literature, I couldn't be happier. As a sign of what's to be thrown out at 2 a.m. in case of that (rare, but still) bedwetting incident . . . ick. Nothing says read me like Goodnight Moon with urine dripping off of it.

2. Although perfectly able to use the "big" potty, the lure of the small potty is big in my house. Like most potties for kids, it lacks a flushing function. It makes up for it with a lid . . . which is usually left open. The only other thing you need to know? We have a dog. Nuff said.

3. Accidents happen (and if you watched Elmo's Potty Time as much as we did, you are now singing the song), but wet undies can always be whisked away to sit in the middle of a pile of laundry that needs to be done . . . right in the center of the pile, where heat and urine meet. Yum.

4. Ever been peed on by a potty training toddler? I don't think I need to say anymore!

But Hartlaub has good news for all of us. They graduate to the suntan lotion/peanut butter/Play-Doh/bananas smell . . . and it smells gooood!

Image: Green Baby Guide

Octo-Mom Home With All Eight Kids - VIDEO

Brett Singer — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 18:45:00 GMT

Nadya Suleman, the Octo-Mom (do we really need to say that anymore?), has "finally" brought the eighth and final octuplet home to roost. Jonah is his name. (Someone less sensitive than I would make a whale joke here. But I won't.)

RadarOnline has the EXCLUSIVE video of Nadya and the children. The kids are cute. There are a lot of them. She already has six. That makes fourteen.

We know all of this, of course. The question is, do we still care?

Is anyone else surprised at how quickly we seem to have become uninterested in Mme. Suleman? I wonder if whoever signs her up for a TV show is prepared for "Denise Richards – It's Complicated" level ratings. I mean, would you watch an Octo-mom show? Maybe at first, but for how long?

Anyway, here's the video for those who are interested. I sort of am. But I think I've reverted to feeling sorry for the kids, and even slightly sorry for her. Not that I think she didn't create this situation, but, as Hannah wrote, she seems like she might be "crazy in a way that requires compassion and serious psychiatric treatment, not a media campaign, and definitely not a fertility clinic." Well put.

Source: RadarOnline

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Woman Plans to Be Impregnated with Dead Lover’s Sperm

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 17:50:00 GMT

Nabokov wrote, “Eccentricity is greatest grief’s greatest remedy.” This is certainly the case for a Bronx woman whose 31-year-old fiancé died unexpectedly from a heart attack last week. In the wake of her partner’s death, Gisela Marrero found comfort in the possibility that she could harvest his sperm. Marrero and Johnny Quintana had been together for 13 years and already have a two-year-old. According to Marrero, they were planning to have another child.

Marrero’s fight to harvest her lover’s sperm was a race against the clock, as sperm remain fresh for only 36 hours after death and Marrero was required to have a court order okaying the procedure, since she and Quintana were not married. The judge approved of the post mortem sperm extraction with only four hours to spare, so sperm bank employees rushed to the medical center where Quintana’s body was held.

In the midst of the indescribable pain that Marrero must be in, it makes sense that she would jump at the opportunity to keep the man she loved in her life, in any way possible. But, as unimaginable as it surely seems to her now, Marrero could eventually fall in love with someone who would love to be the father to her second child, making life much easier for this unborn child. I’m certainly not against artificial insemination for single women, but bringing a baby into the world so that the memory of his father can live on is, in my opinion, too much burden to place on a child.

Marrero claims that having another child was Quintana's wish and is the "last thing I can do for him." But having a child while alive and becoming a father after death are two entirely separate things. There's no way to know what Quintana, who was not expecting to die so young, would have wanted in this situation.

Do you think that the judge was right to approve of Marrero's desire to increase her family, despite her lover's death?

Photo: Daily News

Mom Gets OK to Collect Dead Son's Sperm

Best of FameCrawler - Week of April 17th

Whit Honea — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 20:00:00 GMT

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Farrah Fawcett Near Death?

Suspect Arrested in Killing of 8-Year-Old Sandra Cantu

Hugh Laurie Says "My Children are Perfect"

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Breastfeeding Debates: Just a Tempest in a Sippy Cup?

JeanneSager — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:23:00 GMT

Here's the thing about the breast is best debate. Do we really care what another mother does with her boobs?

No, really. You might say you care that she gets the best medical advice, that that precious little baby gets the best start to life. But when your kid and her kid sit side by side in kindergarten, holding hands, is it really going to matter who did what on day thirty-six of that baby's life?

Sometime Babble contributor Lynn Harris turned her often irreverant sense of humor to the oh so serious topic of breastfeeding on NPR this week, and though she treats the subject with all due respect (she is, after all, a mother), she pokes her fun where it's due. The breastfeeding debate, she says, is nothing but "a tempest in a sippy cup."

For MOST women, it isn't about whether or not they think breastfeeding is good for babies, or even whether they WANT to do it. Says Harris:

"Because we don't read the Journal of the American Medical Association to decide whether, or how long, to breast-feed. We consider our bodies: Are we physically able to nurse in the first place? Or are we plagued, as I was with my first child, by plugged ducts and serious mastitis? We consider the child: Did we, luck of the draw, get one who just says no to latching? We consider our workplace: How long is our maternity leave? Where can we pump when we go back?"

And that, my friends, is where the debate needs to take a hike. You want to breastfeed? You made it work? Woohoo! Fabulous! Really. I'm not being facetious here. I'm happy for you that you are able to nourish your child with your breastmilk, that you have got the latch down and find the appropriate place to pump if need be.

Not breastfeeding? Didn't want to? OK, well, that's your choice. Did want to, but couldn't? I'm sorry, is there anything we can do? Other than berating you and telling you you're feeding your child pure evil in liquid form and forcing you onto mega doses of Paxil to handle your postpartum depression caused by feelings of inadequacy?

Here's why everyone needs to read Harris' essay: she puts blame where blame is due. On the crappy advice in hospitals. On the crappy employers who don't give moms appropriate time for pumping. On the family medical leave act's lack of depth and the lack of paid leave time available for new mothers. On the public breastfeeding conundrum, especially for women who are shy and uncomfortable out in the public eye.

"Show me a lactation room at the Qwik Mart, and I'll show you a woman more willing to leave the maternity ward without her care package of free formula," Harris says (see, told you she was a bit irreverant).

Come on moms, let's look at who you're really mad at. It's not each other.

Image/Source: NPR

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When a Sitcom Actress Gets Pregnant

JeanneSager — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:22:00 GMT

The problem with hit television shows for the actors can be trying to live their lives around their TV schedule. And for actresses, that means trying to make sure their pregnancies don't intervene with shooting.

But CBS's How I Met Your Mother has taken the pregnancies of two of its main actresses (Alyson Hannigan and Cobie Smulders) in stride. They worked around the burgeoning bellies - as most sitcoms do these days - and they played off of them.

In the past, TV shows have taken one of two tacks. They've completely hidden women's growing bellies by shooting from the chest up, making their characters do a lot more sitting or having them tote large handbags or stand behind counters - like Ugly Betty's Ana Ortiz. Or they've written pregnancy into the show - most famously when Lucille Ball was expecting her second child with co-star and husband Desi Arnaz, and suddenly their characters on I Love Lucy, the Ricardos, were expecting too. More recently, Without a Trace's Poppy Montgomery had a similar go as TV mom-to-be and pregnant chick, and the baby's daddy was the same onscreen and off.

The folks on How I Met Your Mother have taken another road entirely. They've made catching sight of the actresses' bellies a sight gag. When Hannigan's character took part in an eating contest, she lept up to show off her overextended tummy - supposedly from all that extra food . . . but not really. Other times, they've had her stand near a globe or rack of basketballs, the round shapes mimicking her real stomach.

The show's executive producer has said they figured they might as well play up the pregnancies for extra laughs, and it's been working.

I do tend to notice more when an actress seems to be spending a lot of time hiding behind baskets of fruit or sitting at a desk, even those whose pregnancies I missed hearing about in the news (or on Famecrawler!). It's a goofy game, but I love trying to catch the director out, see if they miss a second of covering the bump.

Do you notice or do most of your favorite stars do a pretty good job of keeping their pregnancy off camera?

Image: Chicago Tribune

Did Having a Baby Make You Start Thinking About Your Ex?

JeanneSager — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:30:00 GMT

I wasn't thinking about much when my daughter was three months old. My maternity leave was over, and I was back at work - albeit at a reduced thirty-hour schedule. I didn't have time to think about sex, nonetheless an ex.

Turns out some parents have turned the seven-year itch into the three-month itch. Their baby hits three months, and as exhausted and un-sexy as the mothers feel, they start thinking about what their life could have been if they took a different path. Namely, if they picked another partner.

In the New York Times this week, essayist Anna Solomon says she couldn't help romanticizing her exes when her daughter was still a newborn, when she hit that three-month mark everyone told her would be a turning point, when she would start to get her life back:

"I was certain that I’d ruined my life, and I was thinking — with alarming frequency — of men who were not my husband, men who seemed suddenly more attractive than they’d actually been, or kinder, or braver — men who would never have gotten me into this mess."

I always thought it was just in the movies that women turned on their husbands during childbirth, that they started screaming, "I hate you, I can't stand you, get away from me, you did this to me." But here that same feeling is, rearing its ugly head three months on, when the pain of delivery is gone and the reality of being a mother has set in. You aren't you anymore, and as long as you're stuck in this bleary-eyed state with this little person who can reach top volume and turn tomato red in the blink of an eye, it's hard to imagine you ever will be again.

Is it any wonder some women fantasize their way out of it? Even for a few moments? It's not sexual fantasies of exes past, because, frankly, sex is what put you in this predicament. It's emotional escapism, the kind that nourishes the body in what can be a very dark time for a parent, especially a stay-at-home parent or a woman still nursing a baby through the night (and hence getting no sleep). And that's why, for most of us - including Solomon, it's fleeting. Your baby grows, you get some sleep, and you realize you are pretty darn OK where you are - if not completely and wonderously in love with where you are.

Did you ever fantasize about the ex when your child was young, or daydream about going back to the pre-pregnancy days?

Image: DailyMail

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Baby Dies After Being Left In Day Care Van

Brett Singer — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 19:30:00 GMT

This is just awful.

A 4-month-old child died on Thursday after being left in a van for more than five hours. The driver of the van has been charged with a felony and the day care center, Bumble Bee Learning Center, has been shut down pending an investigation. The Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel says that the driver "has no record with Milwaukee police but has two arrest warrants with the Waukesha County Sheriff's Department for paternity." To me that should disqualify him from working with children, but I guess not.

Even more horrible is the fact that this is the third time a child in Milwaukee County as a result of being left unattended in a day care van.

Alphabet Street Learning Center, owned by the same company, was also shut down. That's where an employee was accused of breaking two kids' arms.

Stories like these remind us of how much trust we place in the people who take care of our children when we're not around. It's bad enough that something like this can happen once. But three children dying, and others injured? How can these centers still be open?

Source/Image: Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel

Family Awarded Millions For Circumcision Mistake

Babies in Tuxedos

Brett Singer — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:00:00 GMT

I may be a cranky so-and-so but I'm also a bit of a mush. Case in point: these pictures of babies in tuxedos. They're cute. What can I tell ya? Try and look at these and not say "awww" at least once.

I had to add another one from TuxyBear.com because it was too cute to ignore. It's also a one-piece tux, which sounds complicated to invent. So I'm impressed, although I wonder how tough it would be to do an emergency diaper change with a one-piece tuxedo.

This one, from ClassicBabyTux.com, moves. Which makes it the winner.

Source: urlesque via buzzfeed

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Another Hospital Baby Mix-Up, Now With Added Racism!

Kate Tuttle — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:01:00 GMT

Despite all the modern technology that's meant to keep newborns from being given to the wrong parents in the hospital, there seems to be a rash of inadvertent baby swaps going on. The latest took place in New Hampshire, at the Portsmouth Regional Hospital, late last month. And the parents of the newborn in question -- a baby girl who was handed to the wrong mother for either five minutes (according to the hospital) or significantly longer (according to her parents) -- are hopping mad.

Calling it "every parent's worst nightmare," the father has taken to the media to publicize the mistake, because, he says, "the public has a right to know." Also, I'm guessing, to lay the groundwork for a lawsuit. Because here's the crux of the matter: when their baby, whom they had sent back to the nursery after the mother had ("reluctantly"!) taken a sleeping pill, was given to another mother, that mother did something truly horrific. She breastfed the baby. Now the parents are waiting for results of tests for HIV and Hepatitis C (despite the fact that doctors estimate a risk of HIV transmission at one thousandth of one percent per liter of breastmilk consumed). They are terrified the other mother took drugs during her pregnancy (although it's not clear how this would affect their baby). They feel violated, assaulted, scared. The father says his wife is "physically sick" over it.

Could it be because they are both white, and the other couple is a white woman and a black man? I'm sensitive to making unwarranted charges of racism (it's too easy, and not fair), but in this case it's hard to escape the feeling that the parents' overwrought horror of contagion may have something to do with their (all white! 100% caucasian!) baby's having been sullied by the possibly unclean nipple of a race traitor, a nipple meant for another, darker baby. The racial difference has the white baby's parents especially confused as to how the other mother (and the nurse) could have made this error. Why didn't she notice, he asks, and "give our baby back?"

The thing is, biracial babies aren't necessarily any darker at birth than white babies -- believe me, I've given birth to both! My children, born 13 years apart and with different husbands, looked enough alike as newborns to be twins, and it's a well-known fact that many black and biracial babies don't come into their skin tone until they're older. At any rate, newborns are newborns -- the reason hospitals go to such trouble to set up systems to avoid baby-swapping is because they do tend to look so much alike.

Of course, now I guess I'll have to believe something a little bit uglier: that hospital policies to avoid baby mix-ups exist to allay the fears of parents who think that another woman nursing their child for five minutes is their "worst nightmare" (I can think of worse, and have friends who have lived through worse, and I'm sure you all do, too). I genuinely hope this is the worst thing that ever happens to this family; if it is, they'll have lived a blessed life.

Babies Switched in NYC Hospital

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Family Evicted for Having Twins

JeanneSager — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 21:57:00 GMT

Ever heard of someone too big to fit inside a house? What if that person were two people - two teeny, weeny newborn people?

A Michigan couple learned their newborn twins put them over the limit for space allotted to people in their housing community this week when they received an eviction notice - just after the babies were born.

Mike Morris, Shawnee Crider, and their three kids, moved into Mike's mom's double-wide at the housing complex in Kentwood, Michigan shortly after Mike lost his job . . . and the family lost their house. Shawnee was pregnant with twins when they moved in, and she gave birth shortly after they moved in.

That's when Mike's mom's landlord sent a letter - three adults and five kids was too much for one doublewide, it said. Park regulations require at least two hundred fifty square feet of living space per person. Mike and Shawnee - and their five kids - had to get out.

Mike is still looking for a job, and this is his mom's house - his family who had offered to help them when times got rough. Where are they supposed to go? Although we don't want to send people back to tenement living, when families of ten slept in one bed in one room, there's a reason tenements were popular in the thirties - because everyone was broke.

I'm also not convinced a newborn baby needs two hundred fifty square feet of living space. For what? To stare at while they lie like a lump in Mom's arms? They're not crawling yet, not running around, and they don't spend a whole lot of time not connected to a person (even sleeping they need only the size of a bassinet - and that's if you're not co-sleeping).

Should the landlord update its rules or should they stick by them, regardless of the economy?

Image: WoodTV

There Oughta Be A Law (Really?)

Kate Tuttle — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 19:30:00 GMT

The state of Oklahoma is set to pass a law that would protect pregnant women against murder charges if they kill to protect their unborn child(ren). Legislators pushing for the bill (which passed the state's house this week and soon will hit the senate, where it is expected to pass) cite a case in which a Michigan woman, pregnant with quadruplets, killed her boyfriend after he punched her in the belly. The woman was charged with manslaughter; she lost the pregnancy as well.

Now, I don't know about you but I would have no problem using maximum force if someone threatened me while pregnant, or if they threatened one of my children. That said, I'm not sure a new law is needed -- I would use force to defend myself or my kids whether I was currently pregnant or not. The only purpose such a law could serve would be to make the Oklahoma legislature appear to care deeply about women facing domestic abuse while pregnant (which is a real problem), and to create a back-door justification for future legislation targeting women who do anything while pregnant that could be perceived as harmful to a fetus. So if you're comfortable with the idea of fining or jailing women for failing to take their prenatals, then you should support this law. Otherwise, it's really just a waste of lawmakers' time at best, a cynical and sneaky anti-choice move at worst.

Sadly, many women are beaten when pregnant (though it's not always or even often because they "refuse to abort their child," as argued by Representative Mike Thompson). I'm all in favor of toughening laws and procedures to help protect women from domestic violence. As for mistreatment that happens specifically to pregnant women, heck, let's see if we can rectify some of the worst abuses they face now, like expensive or nonexistent medical care, the inability to find a private health insurer who will cover them, or the lack of a federallly mandated paid maternity leave? Advocacy for those goals would help moms and babies more than this silly bill ever could.

So yeah, I'd probably kill to protect my unborn baby. But I'd fight any law -- like this one -- whose actual goal isn't to help pregnant women, but to hurt them.

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