This NBC Commentator Doesn’t Think Simone Biles’ Adopted Parents Should be Called ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’

Posted on August 8, 2016

One NBC commentator is catching a lot of heat from the Adopted families community. Al Trautwig repeatedly refers to the adopted parents of US Olympic gymnast and Gold-Medal hopeful Simone Biles as her grandfather and his wife. While true, after finalizing the adoption, they got a new familial title.

Trautwig doesn’t seem to understand that it doesn’t matter what a family member was to you before adoption, once a child is officially adopted, the parental units on the adoption form become their mom or dad. End of story.

There really is no reason to ever refer to an adopted mom or dad of a child as anything other than that child’s mom and dad.

Biles grandad and his wife adopted Biles and her sister when the girls were taken away from their drug-addicted mom.

Yet, Trautwig defended his rude on-air characterizations after one Twitter member called him on it:

So @AlTrautwig deleted his horribly rude & insulting comment but guess what, screenshot. @NBCOlympics #simonebiles pic.twitter.com/m6EtwJi1Ln
— Jen Talley (@jenunexpected) August 8, 2016

I can appreciate Carrie Goldman of Chicago Now‘s response:

As a journalist and also a mother through adoption, I think that NBC should do a better job of educating their commentators. When Trautwig publicly denies that Ron and Nellie Biles are Simone’s parents, it is a terrible blow to adoptive families everywhere. It threatens the legitimacy of Simone’s own self-identity. It is not Al Trautwig’s place to say whether or not Ron and Nellie are Simone’s parents. His tweet brings back the pain that adoptees feel every time they are told that their mom and dad are not their real parents.
My daughter was born to another mother. She, like Simon Biles, lived in foster care before she came to us. Her dad and I are her parents. To every adoptive mother or father out there, you ARE a parent. You are validated. You are real. Your love and devotion and time and sweat and unconditional love make you a parent. Don’t ask Al Trautwig. Go ask the sons and daughters who love you, who call out your name when they are scared or excited or lost or hopeful or sick or joyful. Adoption is about love and family and so much more than 130 characters in a Tweet.

Trautwig has since deleted the offensive tweet after being dragged by parents and adults who were adopted as children all across the internet. As when I last checked, he is still responding to people on Twitter coming for him. Good luck, dude.

He is the same guy who called another Twitter user’s mom in Israel because he didn’t like what the guy tweeted at him. ‘Can dish it but can’t take it’ much?

And, this is not the first offensive gaffe from an NBC commentator this Olympics which is only a few days old, might I add.

After Hungarian swimmer Katinka Hosszú blew away her competition in the 400-meter individual medley, broke the world record and scored a gold, commentator Dan Hicks credited her husband for the win. After she won, the camera cut away to her enthusiastic husband/coach, Shane Tusup. That’s when Hicks added “and there’s the person responsible for her performance”. He too got roasted afterwards.

When will they learn? sigh

Photo: Getty/Courtesy Biles Family

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These Sisters Took the Same Photo Each Year for 4 Decades

Posted on August 7, 2016

Remember our post about the Swedish photographer who took a photo of his now-teens every week of their lives starting at infancy and turned those projects into photo exhibits in a museum?

Here is another one: Nicholas Nixon snapped his wife and her sisters every year from 1975 to beyond 2010. That’s over 40 years!

The idea came to Nixon when he visited his wife’s family in the summer of 1975. He asked all four sisters – left to right: Heather, Mimi, BeBe, and Laurie – to pose for a photo with each other. Next year, at one of the sisters’ graduation, he asked for another photo in the same order. After that, Nixon has taken snapshots of the siblings every year to document their growing up and aging together.

These photos were exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in a a collection that went along with the publication of the museum’s book, The Brown Sisters: Forty Years, that was released in November 2014.

 Take a peek at this amazing photo series documenting these siblings’ aging over nearly 40 years together.

h/t Its the Vibe

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Study: Women who have had appendix or tonsils removed get pregnant easier

Posted on August 7, 2016

Women who have had their tonsils or appendix removed in the past are more fertile, a new 15-year study finds.

The pregnancy rate of an average woman is 43.7%. The rate of women in the study who had an appendectomy or tonsillectomy was around 54%. For women that had both procedures, that rose to 59.7%.

These findings came after researchers pored over medical records of more than 530,000 women in the United Kingdom to find a connection between fertility and the removal of an appendix or tonsils.

“Our first study produced such a surprising result – that women who had had their appendix removed actually appeared more likely to become pregnant – that we wanted to look at a wider group to establish whether this was really related to the removal of the appendix, which if left can be a cause of inflammation,” Shimi Sami, co-author of the University of Dundee, U.K., study told Medical News Today.

The study authors actually think the link is because of behavioral changes women in these categories make after their surgery. The link could also be traced to the removal of inflamed organs.

Interesting. Going to check to see what those behavioral changes were and report back!

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The Pregnancy Test Hack Giving TTC Women False Hope

Posted on August 6, 2016

Bellyitch rewind

So…the new thing in women’s online parenting and pregnancy forums is a practice called pregnancy test “tweaking”.

It entails a woman who is trying to conceive posting an image among other members of the online or bulletin board community of a recent pregnancy test that doesn’t’ definitively indicate she is pregnant. There is usually a very faint second line or indicator that could be perceived to be indication that she is pregnant.

Afterwards, members of the community use digital imaging tools to enhance the photo so they can decipher better if there is a second line.

The “tweaking” process give women false hope, some critics say. They worry it could be a damaging practice that toys with the emotions of women who are struggling to conceive.

Some tweakers defend the practice.

“We can NEVER bring something out that IS NOT ALREADY THERE,” says Brandy Linex, who says she tweaks photos on BabyCenter.com “We do not create positive tests out of negative ones. It’s either already positive or it isn’t and we are VERY up front and honest about that.”

There is a common explanation for the faint line that is seen after the tweaking: It could be residual indication of an early miscarriage.

Doctors warn that some tweaked photos may actually reveal a chemical pregnancy, which often times go undetected and women recognize them only as a late menstrual period.

Only a follow up test at a doctor’s office, usually a blood one, can confirm the home-based test.

The tweaking process is just an exercise that lasts only until the obvious is confirmed a few days or weeks later when there is either positive confirmation of an active pregnancy or not.

What are your thoughts about “tweaking”?

h/t Dr. Drew at HLN

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Pregnant and Scared in Miami’s Zika Hot Zone

Posted on August 4, 2016

Jessica Ardente waited 36 years to have her first baby. Her parents will visit in two weeks to watch their grandson’s ultrasound. There are cribs and car seats to shop for, a nursery to decorate, and bottles, diapers and clothes to buy.

And now, on top of everything else, there is Zika to worry about.

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My Face When I saw Cosmo’s Article about one of the ‘Best Butts’ on Instagram

Posted on August 4, 2016

This is my face when I scrolled past a Cosmo article with the title, “The Woman Behind One of the Instagram’s Best Butts Now Has the Cutest Baby Belly.“

I don’t know why I expected to see Kim Kardashian, 22-year old fitness fanatic Jen Selter who has close to 10M followers or maybe even Asha Soltan from BravoTV‘s Shahs of Sunset (who arguably has one of the best derriere’s on TV)

Black & Gold Power uniform. ?? #GettinIt #priestess #PowerPriestess #asasoltan #shahs #shahsofsunset
A photo posted by Asa Soltan Rahmati (@asasoltan) on Jul 19, 2016 at 6:04pm PDT

Nope! It is fitness trainer and Instagram celebrity Brittany Perille Yobe who has close to 1M followers and fans on Instagram. She is expecting her first child with her husband since last December. The couple have dated for 10 years. Congrats to them. And Cosmo wasn’t kidding, she does have an amazing bum.

Well-Conditioned Hip Abductor Muscles ? As you get stronger, try adding resistance with a band. ?? Also spotlights core and hip flexors ?? Click the link in my bio for the SUPPLEMENTS I take and help with your DIET ??. @LEGIONATH can create a Customized Meal Plan specifically for your goals! ? Code: “Brittany” for a discount A video posted by Brittany Perille Yobe♡ (@brittanyperilleee) on May 9, 2016 at 7:22am PDT

#mondaymotivation Breaking through that stubborn little sticking point ? Working on accelerating through this weak zone in my sqwaatz. Have to produce more force? Should have pulled 3 plates on the Landmine like usual, but didn’t have Versa Gripps on ? Oh and cable werk ?? A video posted by Brittany Perille Yobe♡ (@brittanyperilleee) on Jan 18, 2016 at 1:24pm PST

I’m in awe that you can use body building to grow the “perfect butt” because this is what she looked like before.

Brittany Perille Yobe♡ brittanyperilleee • Instagram photos and videos

Congrats!

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RoadTrip MustHave: This App Tells You Where the Nearest Clean Bathroom Is

Posted on August 3, 2016

If you are heading on a road trip this summer, you know the pains of finding a clean bathroom to do a diaper change or take a fidgety toddler who you would need to physically hold over a dirty toilet seat in a public bathroom.

Good thing for technology to rescue modern parents.

Charmin toilet paper sponsors the Sit or Squat free app which determines your current location and gives you an array of options of bathrooms near you. When you click on the location, there is the option to vote for it’s rating and view what others have to say.

During a road trip, you will know whether it would be easy to take your kid in the stall or whether you should make him hold it and find another one.

Similar to Sit or Squat, Whizzer app gives you the location of bathrooms near you. There is a rating system showing overall cleanliness scores as well as the amenities that the facility offers (such as changing tables and if there is a fee to use a particular restroom). I think that app has tanked tho since it launched a couple years ago.

Nice. Download Sit or Squat HERE on iTunes or Google Play!

CBS did a report last year about another app that tells you when is the best time in any movie to run to the bathroom. It’s great for parents too who may not want to miss the best or most important parts of a film.

READ:

If you’re heading to the movies this weekend, an app could help with the one thing you might not be thinking about until it’s too late to ignore, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann.

For audiences torn between leaving a great movie and the pain of a needed bathroom break, the RunPee app comes to the rescue.

RunPee is the brainchild of Dan Florio, a former software engineer in Asheville, North Carolina. The 48-year-old was inspired to design it in 2008 after he saw “King Kong” in theaters — a three-hour epic.

Ninety minutes in, it was that time.

“By the end of the movie I couldn’t enjoy it. All I wanted was for King Kong — for his heart to stop so the movie would be over and I could run to the restroom,” Florio said. “Out of that pain came the RunPee app.”

Florio watches movies differently than most. We want the high drama, the big laugh or the memorable one-liner, while he’s looking for any three-to-four-minute stretch viewers can live without seeing.

“You don’t want to come back into the theater and someone to be like, ‘Hey Darth Vader is Luke’s father,'” Florio said.

The app gives audiences several opportunities to go every movie and a quick summary of what they missed.

When it’s time to think about going, the user’s phone vibrates with an alert. The app now has 1 million downloads, and 450,000 active users with active bladders and occasional complaints.

I also love the names of these apps and their liberal use of colloquial and slang terms for everyday things. ha!

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No Disney for You! UK Warns Pregnant Women to Avoid Travel to Florida

Posted on July 31, 2016

British Health Officials Suggest pregnant women consider postponing non-essential trips to the US state of Florida, amid concerns over the Zika virus.

The UK is advising British women to avoid traveling to Florida after news of four confirmed cases of the Zika virus were released.

The country’s Public Health England updated its travel advice warning expectant mothers postpone non-essential trips to the US state of Florida. Before recently, US cases were only found with people who had traveled abroad but these new cases are from mosquitoes carrying the virus are native to a small section of south Florida.

The US Center for Disease Control does not expect a widespread outbreak of Zika in the country, but says it is preparing for small clusters of infections.

Florida has announced more aggressive mosquito-control efforts, and politicians are keen to assure tourists the state is safe to visit.

Paul Cosford, medical director and director of health protection at Public Health England, said Public Health England was monitoring the international situation closely.

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Man ‘Low-Key’ Plays Pokémon Go While Wife is In Labor

Posted on July 30, 2016

Pokémon Go is addictive for adults, including men whose wives are in labor at the hospital. Last month, dad-to-be Jonathan Theriot screenshot a Pokémon sighting by his wife Jessica who was in labor at the time awaiting a C-section delivery.

He shared the screenshot on Imgur with the caption, “When your wife is about to have a baby and a Pokemon shows up and you have to low-key catch it…”

If you haven’t heard the online buzz surrounding the release of Pokémon Go, you’ve probably been living under a rock for the past week.

This popular smartphone app, created by the makers of Nintendo Gaming systems, blends a fictional virtual world with real life. The goal is to catch as many different Pokémon as you can by literally walking around with a Google Maps-esque screen as your guide. The creators plant the creatures that originated in an s Japanese cartoon that was wildly popular in the US in the 1990s.

The game has been the subject of many news stories including stories of a guy getting caught cheating by his girlfriend, a guy who quit his job as a bartender to catch them all, people falling off of cliffs and getting shot while playing the game in people’s yards and being charged with trespassing on zoo grounds while playing. The game is also being used by thieves to rob victims playing the game and not paying attention of their surroundings.

The game has positive benefits as many parents report that their children now want to go for long walks. In order to make a Poke egg hatch, you have to walk it. One guy reported losing weight playing it and a shut in finally got outside because he had to in order to play the game. A couple of marines playing the game noticed a suspicious guy while playing and helped detain the man until police arrived.

Meanwhile, several national monuments, museums and landmarks like The Arlington Cemetery, The National Holocaust Museum and the Auschwitz Museum have asked people to not play the game in their locale.

This week, Niantic, the division that makes the game said it will start removing historic places from the game to discourage people from being disrespectful.

And now, The Theriots’ baby, a third daughter, Ireland Sage Theriot, was born later that morning of the photo.

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Report: Iron Deficiency Puts 1/3 Pregnant Women At Risk

Posted on July 29, 2016

Around 35 percent of expectant mothers may be at risk of pregnancy complications – such as miscarriage or preterm birth – as a result of iron deficiency. This is the conclusion of a new study published in the European Journal of Endocrinology.

Iron deficiency is a common form of anemia, arising when the body does not have enough iron – a mineral present in a number of foods, including beef, beans, nuts, whole grains, and dried fruits.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 30 percent of the global population are anemic, with most cases attributable to iron deficiency.

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