• Last updated 3/10/13 by AdinaL

Corina is waiting for me, sitting in a patch of sunlight at the table outside Starbucks. She looks different. Her auburn hair is longer, pulled back in a ponytail. The last time I saw her she was pregnant and happy, smiling and chatting with customers. Now she’s hunching her shoulders as if to keep out the November cold. She’s wearing a black jacket over a hoodie and blue jeans. I notice under the table her black and gray sneakers have bright blue laces. She asked me to meet her because she wanted to tell her side of the story. She contacted me... read more

• Last updated 3/10/13 by AdinaL

It occurred to me recently that this is a mighty powerful question. What’s it going to take? We usually use that phrase in dire circumstances. What’s it going to take for you to wake up? What’s it going to take for me to quit? What’s it going to take for them to realize? But life is an urgent circumstance, really, when you think about it. Birth…miraculous. Survival…miraculous. Death…inevitable. Suffering…optional. Life…urgent. I wonder what my days would be like if I approached my happiness with more urgency and insistence (like I... read more

• Last updated 3/10/13 by AdinaL

  An image has come to me of a wheel. You are in the center and the spokes extend out to make the wheel. The wheel turns and carries the cart which is your family. If the wheels can’t spin, then the cart falls. At the point where each spoke connects to the wheel, there is bright light that extends to the center of the wheel where your heart is. The spokes of the wheel can be health, wealth, creativity, education, service and the sacred. Interspersed are spokes that represent your support system: grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins,... read more

• Last updated 3/10/13 by AdinaL

Beth, our yoga instructor, took a dry erase marker and wrote a word I’d never seen before on the board: citta. “Citta. Anyone know what it means?” she asked. She pronounced the word chitta. I was attending an all-day fertility yoga workshop, and there were about ten of us sitting in a circle. Women began guessing: love breath wisdom “Um, it’s kind of a negative thing,” Beth hinted. I made no guesses. I was stumped. “Citta. Chatter. The stuff that goes on in our heads,” Beth said. “We have so much of it. A lot of it... read more

• Last updated 6/27/11 by Cynthia Mosher

Dingo n.  An MDC mama (or soon-to-be mama, or mama in her heart) with the desire to move forward at a run or walk. She supports her fellow dingo in each dingo's quest to find balance and reason in her life. Requirements to become a dingo: Posting on this thread goals for the day, week, month, year, or decade. OK if starting couch to 5k or running an ultra marathon. Identifying features of a dingo: Posts often here, facebook, daily mile. Starts to get antsy during extended time off for injury or sickness. Found on the road, on the dreadmill, in the pool, or on a... read more

• Last updated 12/24/10 by Mothering Editorial

By Gussie FauntleroyIssue 149, September/October 2005 Medical journals and mainstream publications caught the world's attention in recent years with headlines such as this one, from the December 24, 2007 issue of Time: "Circumcision Can Prevent HIV." The magazine honored this dramatic claim with the top spot on its annual list of "medical breakthroughs." The New York Times, the Manchester Guardian, Medical News Today, and scores of other newspapers, magazines, and online news and medical information sources echoed the news. The World Health Organization (WHO) used the... read more

• Last updated 1/5/11 by Mothering Editorial

As someone living in California (despite being a Dr.) you have probably heard hospitals and parents concern about their infant contracting and dying of whooping cough. I am wondering your opinion and input about the idea of requesting that anyone that wants to come into your home/around your baby be vaccinated against the whooping cough? FYI: I am not going to be doing this but a close friend of mine is. Thank you!A more logical approach would be to simply not allow anyone into your house who is sick with a cough or cold. Having said that, I could totally understand... read more

• Last updated 3/7/13 by mamazee

Epilepsy is something that is bound by myth.  Of people with Epilepsy (about 3 million Americans), only half know the cause. Most of the time, you wouldn’t even recognize someone who has it-it’s just not visible until the person actually goes into a seizure. I am one of those people. You wouldn’t know it by looking at me, but I do have Epilepsy-I’m mother who has Epilepsy. Of course, there are challenges, but for the most part, I live a normal life on medication. I’ve had it all my life. Nobody knows for sure why I have it, they cannot give me a reason at... read more

• Last updated 8/22/11 by JMJ

  The Fertility Awareness Method, similar to Natural Family Planning, is a method of birth control that uses symptoms including basal body temperature, cervical mucus, and cervical position to detect ovulation and thus allow a couple to abstain or use other protection during potentially fertile times.  This is the basic set of rules taught in Toni Weschler's book, Taking Charge of Your Fertility.     Summary of FAM rules (sympto-thermal) Pre-ovulation rules: 1) First 5 Days Rule: You are safe the first 5 days of your menstrual cycle if you had an obvious... read more

• Last updated 2/21/13 by Cynthia Mosher

Hi! Welcome to MotheringDotCommunity and the Pleased To Meet You forum! We are so happy you're here. The Pleased To Meet You forum is a space to stop in and introduce yourself and to greet others. It is support-only and does not host debate. Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with our User Agreement, Our Statement of Purpose and our Signature Rules. Here is a helpful article written by Mothering/MDC's owner and publisher, Peggy O'Mara, that helps explain "Natural Family Living" in more detail. Please note that our User Agreement does not allow... read more