Celebrity

Michelle Obama Had A Miscarriage, IVF at Age 34, Memoir Reveals

Posted on November 9, 2018

Michelle Obama reveals in her upcoming new book that at age 34, she and President Barack Obama went through the in vitro fertilization (IVF) process when they couldn’t’ conceive through traditional means.

Inside her memoir, “Becoming“, to be released this upcoming Tuesday (pre-order yours today), she opens up in a way she couldn’t before when she was married to the leader of the Free World and she really goes in deep and personal.

In an advance copy given to the Washington Post, she revealed how she had to give herself the necessary shots when her husband was off fulfilling his duties in the state Legislature.

“I felt lost and alone, and I felt like I failed,” she told Robin Roberts in an interview that ran Friday on Good Morning America. “I didn’t know how common miscarriages were, because we don’t talk about them. We sit in our own pain, thinking that somehow we’re broken.”

Of those who had a miscarriage, 37% felt they had a lost a child, 47% felt guilty, 41% reported feeling that they had done something wrong, 41% felt alone, and 28% felt ashamed, according to a 2015 study CNN cited.

In opening up this way, the former First Lady is showing to the world that she is no different from other women who have suffered in silence. She also pointed at the social stigma of miscarriage and blamed it for why more women do not open up about their loss.

“The biological clock is real because egg production is limited. I realize that now because at 34 and 35, we had to do IVF.” she shared. “I think it’s the worst thing that we do to each other as women, not share the truth about our bodies and how they work and how they don’t work.”

The former law firm attorney looks to want to inspire and encourage others because her struggles, they came out on top and with two beautiful children to boot.

“Too many young couples who struggle…think there is something wrong with them,” she added during the interview, saying she wants them to realize people like her and her husband, who are considered couple goals have dealt with it.

It’s great that she is using this opportunity to commiserate with those who have lost and struggled with infertility.

Watch bits of the interview here and she talks about miscarriage about 1:08

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News

Why New Moms Attempt Suicide A Year After Giving Birth

Posted on August 5, 2017

Depression, Hormones and societal expectations are among the common reasons women attempt suicide within the first year of giving birth.

This summation of facts are among many eye -awakening revelations in a report about mental health and pregnancy in a recent Washington Post expose.

Author Michael Alison Chandler notes “mental health disorders are the most common complications of pregnancy, but just 15 percent of the women affected by postpartum depression seek professional help.”

She relays a few relatable examples of women who experienced mental breakdowns before, during and after pregnancy.

If you didn’t know how prevalent it is, know that “at least one in seven women experience anxiety or depression during pregnancy or in the first year after birth, making mental-health disorders the most common complication of pregnancy.”

Also illuminating:

About 80 percent of women experience “baby blues” within the first few weeks of child birth, often defined by mood swings and irritability or sadness.
Maternal depression is longer lasting and has more-severe symptoms, which can include anxiety, sleeplessness, extreme worry about the baby, feelings of hopelessness, and recurrent “intrusive thoughts” about hurting themselves or the baby.
Women are more likely to attempt suicide during the first year after childbirth than during any other time in their lives, and they tend to choose more lethal means.
These mood disorders are triggered by fluctuating hormones, including estrogen and progesterone, that ramp up during pregnancy and then drop off sharply after birth. Another significant hormonal shift occurs when women stop breast-feeding.
Researchers are trying to understand what predisposes some women to be more sensitive to these hormonal fluctuations.
It’s clear that environmental stressors play a role. The prevalence of depression is far higher for women who are poor or in abusive relationships or for women whose babies are born premature or disabled.

The good news is that medical practitioners are doing a better job at “screening for depression” and even lawmakers are beginning to look for solutions for expanding treatment options.

For example, last November, Congress passed the Bringing Postpartum Depression Out of the Shadows Act as part of a large medical research funding bill to provide federal grants to states to create programs that screen and treat women for maternal depression. The bill had broad bipartisan support, but as usual with Congress, it is stalled on how to fund it.

According to the Post, the House also last week approved just $1 million of the $5 million originally allocated. The Senate has not voted on it yet.

Congresswoman Katherine Clark, D-Massachusetts introduced the bill because she said many women struggle silently through what is supposed to be “the happiest time of their lives.”

“Moms have a lot of guilt about how they feel, so they don’t seek treatment,” she told the Post. “We want to reduce the stigma and increase awareness that this is highly treatable.”

Read the complete WashPo article here.

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Woman charged with murder for taking abortion pills she bought online still faces charges

Posted on June 10, 2015

Murder charges against a woman who took an online abortion pill to terminate her 5 1/2 month pregnancy have been dropped, but she still faces other charges

Kenlissa Jones broke up with her boyfriend and according to her brother could not afford an abortion the traditional way. She opted for purchasing the prescription drug Cyotec from a Canadian pharmaceutical company. The four pills Jones took induced labor and she delivered the baby in the back of a neighbor’s car on the way to the hospital

Hospital officials alerted authorities and police threw Jones in a Dougherty County jail and charged her with malice murder and possession of a dangerous drug.

An attorney for the National Advocates for Pregnant Women predicted the case would be thrown out. Lynn Paltrow, who is also the group’s executive director told The Guardian that Georgia case law explicitly prohibits prosecuting women for foeticide involving their own pregnancies.

Jones’ brother Ricco Riggens told the Washington Post that Jones gave birth to another child earlier who was taken away from her and given to another family member.

Riggens, who lives in Alabama, gained custody of Jones’ first child, a 20-month old child she delivered almost two years ago.

He is described at sobbing over the still born death of his nephew.

“These past four days, I cried buckets of tears; I cried in that lady’s office for a long time,” Riggins told The Washington Post. “It was gut-wrenching..I hate it. I just really, really hate it.”

Jones still faces charges for misdemeanor possession of a dangerous drugs, Doughtery County District Attorney Greg Edwards told the Associated Press.

Riggens said he doesn’t think his sister is aware of the consequences of her actions and her mother Brenda Jones said her daughter is mentally unstable.

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BumpNews

A non-vaccinated kid at Disney responsible for recent measles outbreak

Posted on January 23, 2015

Officials are blaming the recent measles outbreak at Disneyland parks on a kid of “anti-vaxxers”, parents who refuse to immunize their children from deadly diseases,

Apparently, as the theory goes, somebody’s non- vaccinated kid caught the measles while traveling abroad then went to one of the Disney Parks in California and sneezed. It was the little action needed for all the other anti-vaxxer kids at that park to be exposed and come down with the deadly disease.

Sheesh!

A total of 64 children since December in California have contracted the highly contagious disease, a likely impact of the anti-immunization movement, the Washington Post reports.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state that measles is so contagious that if “one person has it, 90% of the people close to that person who are not immune will also become infected.”

And there you have it. We knew it was coming.

The outbreak has gotten so bad, California officials issued a warning telling anyone under 12 who is not vaccinated to avoid Disney, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Disney has told its employees in contact with measles-sickened co-workers to stay home until they can prove they’ve been vaccinated and undergo a blood test.

It’s a case of too much education, a new study says, finding that anti-vaxxers are affluent, educated and cluster in certain communities and infect each others’ thinking on the issue.

It’s unfortunate. As I’ve blogged before, I could have died from catching German Measles while a small child living in my native Sierra Leone, West Africa decades ago. Vaccinations were a premium and privilege that all kids did not get back when I was growing up.

My best friend and I contracted the disease at the same time and he died.

It is for this reason, I am always baffled by those who decide against vaccinating their kids, and to take their chances, believing they are protecting their kids, and not putting them as risk for early death. A report in 2011, found that the study that catapulted the modern anti-vaxx movement was a big fraud.

Baffles the mind!

Sound off in the comments. Risk worth taking or reckless option to not vaccinate?

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Washington post