July 24, 2008

Discussing Pelvic Health With Poise

I have a confession to make. I have something to share with you, dear readers, but it’s kind of embarrassing to discuss. But here goes: I have this problem with my bladder. Either it doesn’t hold the same amount of liquid it used to, or maybe it has gotten smaller after childbirth. Whatever the reason, sometimes I have a problem with light bladder leakage.

It’s not as though I can’t hold my bladder, it’s just something that happens occasionally. Like when I’m busy all day long and forget that I have to pee. Or if I drink too much water and both of our bathrooms are occupied. Occasionally it happens if I can’t stop laughing or if I’ve sneezed or coughed too hard.

This condition is so common among women, it’s still considered a taboo subject even with close friends and family. Recent research found that 80% of women who suffer from light bladder leakage are hesitant to talk to their peers about this sensitive topic for fear of embarrassment. I’m one of those women. And I always blamed my “problem” on childbirth, an after affect of pregnancy.

The fabulous ladies of Mom Central have asked me to help women become aware of this very common and uncomfortable condition, and I learned that Kimberly-Clark’s Poise brand has joined hands with the Women’s Health Foundation (WHF) to increase awareness of pelvic health and wellness.

Recently, the Foundation held the “Below the Belt” benefit to raise awareness of the issues effecting women today and celebrate champions of the cause. At the event, Poise presented the first-ever Passion Award to Linda Michael of Portage, Indiana because her story of personal triumph over pelvic pain and bladder control issues - and her willingness to tell it - has inspired women and doctors alike to share their stories. Click here for Linda’s Story (you’ll need Window’s Media Player or equivalent to play the video.)

Linda personally struggled with and overcame her own pelvic pain and bladder control issues after giving birth to her son and now works toward breaking down the stigma surrounding these and similar problems affecting many women.

We’re hosting a blog tour in conjunction with Kimberly-Clark, to help jump start a conversation on Women’s Pelvic Heath. (To learn more about bladder control, click here.) What kinds of pelvic health concerns do you have? Have you ever suffered from light bladder leakage? How did you “control” the situation? Do you have any advice you’d like to share about your experience with this condition? Comments are open!

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Did you check-out Dana Reviews yet today? Head over there to read about the Box Tops for Education Program, and the really cool contest they launched with Kimberly-Clark!

June 8, 2008

I’m No Rachael Ray, So I Married Alton Brown

I’m not a horrible cook. I’m not the world’s greatest chef, either. It’s safe to say I can turn on the oven, boil water, and make almost any basic recipe given to me. I have a vast collection of cookbooks and I love to dig them out of the back of my pantry to try something new on occasion, but for the most part, my husband is the master chef of our kitchen.

When we were first married, I cooked dinner every weekday. My husband always seemed to eat what I prepared and never complained, however, as a former line cook in a popular local restaurant, he always took it upon himself to educate me on cooking techniques and ways to “doctor up” my favorite dishes.

I always say if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and it started to irritate me that my loving spouse had a “suggestion” for every meal I made. After a few years I decided to hand over the reigns. If he was so smart, he could do all the cooking, right?

In fact, Doug thinks he’s the greatest chef in town and often refuses to go to restaurants because he believes he could cook the meal ten times better. (This is probably why we haven’t gone to Chili’s in ages. He insists on outdoing their baby back ribs.)

After Dawson was born, I barely had time to shower let alone stand in the kitchen over a hot stove. Then I discovered Rachael Ray and fell in love with her 30-Minute Meals. Her cookbooks are my favorites, because when I do have to cook, she makes it quick and somewhat easy. I’ve even caught myself saying, “Yummo” and using a garbage bowl.

My husband, a FoodNetwork addict, will frantically write down recipe ingredients from these shows, and then try to recreate the culinary masterpieces. He will spend hours watching Alton Brown on Good Eats, and has a secret crush on Giada De Laurentiis.

A few years ago, I thought it would be fun to make an Emeril recipe for coconut shrimp. I bought all the necessary ingredients, made the batter with the flaked coconut, and proceeded to line the coated shrimp in rows on a baking sheet. I was so impressed with myself, until I realized I forgot to clean the shrimp veins. My husband assured me we wouldn’t die from eating shrimp poop, but it took me a good three weeks to eat the little crustaceans again.

These days, my “cooking” consists of visits to Subway, and Dawson doesn’t seem to mind. (Of course my know -it-all husband insists he could make a better sub at home. He probably could.)

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This post was written for Parent Bloggers Network as part of a contest sponsored by the American Egg Board. If you’d like to participate in this blog blast, visit this PBN post for details.

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Don’t forget, today is the last day to enter this contest! (You have until 11:59 pm CST, comments will be closed at midnight CST.)

May 9, 2008

Take Me Out to the Mall Game

Right after Dawson was born, I had this irrational fear of taking him out in public alone. My baby intimidated me, and because I was nursing, I decided to only leave the house with Dawson in tow if it was absolutely necessary. This included monthly check-ups at the pediatrician’s office and the drive-thru at McDonald’s for coffee (only because I was too busy to brew my own).

It didn’t occur to me that saving my sanity was a must until Dawson was about a month old. I hated being alone while Doug was at work, and staying home was starting to drive me batshit crazy.

I decided to venture to our local (crappy) mall. I stuffed everything I thought I could possibly need into an oversized diaper bag with a bottle of pumped breast milk (I was too scared to nurse in public), a pacifier, burp cloth, diapers, wipes and toys that my son was too young to play with and loaded the stroller in the car.

Once we arrived at the mall, I did nothing but push a sleeping baby in the stroller while I window shopped. It was nice to be out of the house, but looking at clothes I couldn’t fit into made me feel depressed.

Not only that, watching skinny girls flock to the Vanity drove me to hide out in JC Penney. I was no longer a hip singleton in the latest fashions. I had to trade it all in for the postpartum “Mom Tracksuit”.

After I returned back to work and had the chance to converse with adults once again, I realized how ridiculous I was and going out with baby became a little easier.

We took trips to the library, local parks, the Children’s Museum, playgrounds and coffee shops, just to give me something to do that didn’t involve cleaning the house or doing too many loads of laundry. When summer rolled around we spent many hours at the beach and even went to a few summer concerts at the city band shell in Pfiffner Park.

It’s tough to find baby-friendly activities in the small town I live in. I wish I had a resource like The Rookie Mom’s Handbook when Dawson was an infant.

After the births of their first babies, authors Heather Gibbs Flett and Whitney Moss found that their days were becoming rather dull. So they challenged each other to post their favorite activities on their shared blog, Rookie Moms, until they reached one activity for each day of the baby’s first year.

I discovered the Rookie Moms blog through the BlogHer Ad Network and began reading it daily. I’m so excited that their best activities and ideas have been turned into a book. Definitely a must read for when the second Bebe de la Dana Files arrives (you know, Some Day). The Rookie Mom’s Handbook would make a great shower gift, too!

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This post is part of a blog blast sponsored by the Parent Bloggers Network. PBN is collaborating with Heather Gibbs Flett and Whitney Moss, authors of The Rookie Mom’s Handbook and fellow PBN bloggers, to inspire new moms to have more fun during their first year of motherhood.

Would you like to participate? Write a post about your “[insert word]” outings from your rookie mom year. Post anytime this weekend - Friday, May 9 through Sunday, May 11. Make sure to link http://www.rookiemoms.com and http://blog.parentbloggers.comparentbloggers@gmail.com. somewhere in your post. Then email the link to your post to

PBN will be linking them up on their blog all weekend long, so be creative with your title! Two winners will receive a fantastic gift bag filled with more than $250 worth of goodies for moms, including the brand new BABYBJÖRN® Baby Carrier Synergy, a child’s gardening kit from Smith & Hawken, a baby tshirt from Scout Organic Baby, and of course, a copy of The Rookie Mom’s Handbook. Plus, Heather and Whitney will choose their three favorite posts and feature them on their website!

April 30, 2008

Let’s Catch Up, Shall We?

It’s been five days since my last entry, but it feels like five years. I’ve struggled to find the appropriate words upon my return to the blogosphere after this short hiatus (I’m referring to my error in judgment at BlogHer last week).

I could write an entire post, expressing my sorrow for offending so many people, but I’ve made my sincerest apologies both publicly and privately and I feel it’s best to use all of the wonderful resources, book recommendations, blog references and advice given to me, so that I may learn from my mistake.

I’m very grateful for all of the support many of you have given me, in spite of my grave offense, and I appreciate every phone call, every blog comment, and every e-mail that has been sent my way. I have tried my best to respond to everyone. If I haven’t gotten back to you, it is because my heart is overflowing from the kindness. I’m terribly sorry if I’ve missed the opportunity to thank you personally. Please know how grateful I am.

The last few days have been insanely busy. In addition to catching up on all matters online, I’ve been trying to keep up with life in general.

So far this week, I have enrolled Dawson in preschool for this fall, scheduled doctor and dentist appointments for myself and Dawson, gone grocery shopping, weeded the flower beds, caught up on laundry, watched Juno, Atonement and 27 Dresses (I loved all three movies), and spent some much needed time with my family.

Earlier this morning I went to Best Buy and bought a brand new laptop. Doug and I received our stimulus (rebate?) check and decided to spend half the money on a new garage door (ours is as old as the house and only opens manually, which is a total pain in the ass in the winter) and then we split the remaining money in half to spend as we wished. My wish was a faster laptop as the old one still runs Windows 2000.

I bought a Gateway laptop and it’s Garnet Red in color. I love it. I’ll take a picture of it soon. The cool thing is that it has a built-in webcam. I have the urge to do a blog chat, but it’s late and my hair is a mess (excuses, I know).

This afternoon my mother-in-law and I took a trip to Sam’s Club. Dawson came along as well and he was so excited to ride in Grandma’s new mini-van because it has a DVD player. He was able to watch SpongeBob SquarePants (of course!), and my MIL and I were able to carry on a conversation without constant demands and whines of a 3-year-old.

Also, I went over to Johnson’s Baby Cause, a charitable organization (through Global Giving) which is hosting a celebrity auction on e-bay. I bid on this travel system just for the heck of it. I don’t even need a stroller/car seat combo, but I thought it would be fun to win it and tell everyone I know that my favorite co-host of The View used this item. More about this here. (And more about this fun PBN blog blast here.)

That’s about all I’ve been up to these days. Now, I just have to catch up on your blogs and the world will be right again.