Reproductive Immunologists (RIs): Who are they?

This is a fairly new, and controversial field of fertility medicine. These doctors look a fertility issues from the point of view of the immune system. If you have, or have a family history of, autoimmune or immune problems such as diabetes, asthma, Lyme, fibromyalgia, thyroid problems, arthritis, this specialty may be of interest to you.

The following is a list of RIs FOR INFORMATIVE PURPOSES ONLY. This is only a starting point, please do your own research and decide. There is also a very informative yahoo group of patients of RIs.

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Information gathered for Immunologysupport group discussions... more

Now in theory, this sounds like a wonderful idea. It gives children a punishment for doing something wrong at school, and eliminates the idea in the child’s head that a suspension is simply some free time off from school. It is also helpful to those families who cannot take time away from work to watch a child at home, who has been suspended.

But what is it that the kids are actually doing while they are sitting in, in-school suspension? My adopted stepson recently had to serve his first stint, for being involved in an altercation as the children were loading... more

And speaking of memetics, here are notes from elsewhere on the web:

Ever had a leprechaun sighting? (I'm sure proponents of the Waldorf School philosophy are not so amused.) Actually, there's a long history... more

Here is the latest news..... It is what I expected. However it sounds like adoptions won't be processed between April 3 and May 3.

So any family who hasn't finished their adoption by April 3 may have to leave Ukraine and return in May. At least that is my opinion based on the translations below.

RUMOR ALERT: I did read on http://www.frua.org/chat_main.html that officials of the Ministry of Family, Youth, and Sports stated no adoptions will be processed during April.

I hope, I hope... more

My mother-in-law religiously clipped out every item of the Personal Health column that Jane Brody writes in the New York Times. I used to follow her columns with some interest, but lately, I've been looking at it with a squinty eye.

Most recently, she had a column on hot flashes, the symptom that occurs at the waning end of fertility. It was called "A Chance Find, and Voilà! Goodbye, Hot Flashes. Hello, Sleep."

Basically, she talked about how, since she can't take artificial hormones like estrogen (yuck--can cause cancer) because she's already... more

Every so often I scan through waiting kids at Adoptuskids.org and dream and think about them. Occasionally I see one that intrigues me, but I haven’t had one that screamed out to my heart - not yet. Maybe the right kid for our family hasn’t come along yet, or maybe our next child will come to us after fostering, like our daughter came. Whatever the case, Adoptuskids is a great place to get information about available waiting foster-adopt kids.

There are lots of links from this page including:

.... a... more

Last night I had two dog training classes back to back, so rather than take Beth and have her be out so late, I had one of Stephanie’s friends babysit her. Eliza has been around Beth some, but not extensively since we lived in another state until recently.

Eliza’s first comment to me upon my return home was, “I have babysat for lots of kids, but have never been around one as amazing as Beth!” And she went on to give me several examples of my daughter’s sunny attitude and flexibility and enthusiasm.

I have said many, many times—I really believe God sent Beth to me because... more

In my case, I did not even consider adoption an option until hearing of the open kind. The idea of traditional closed adoption—not being able to know where my child was or how he was doing—was unfathomable to me. I could not accept the idea of sending my baby out into the world without knowing where he was, who he was with, or if he was okay. Open adoption seemed to solve this problem.

I can remember how the idea came up. My best friend gave me an article from Glamour magazine about a happy open adoption. I’d never heard of it before, but the idea made... more

Here is an awesome new resource for adoptive parents. It is the University of Washington Center for Adoption Medicine website. http://www.adoptmed.org

This site is full of information, including how to have them evaluate a referral, how to schedule an appointment once your child is home (if you live in that area), and perhaps best of all, an “Ask the Doc” blog, where adoptive parents can post questions and have them answered by a doctor who specializes in treating children adopted internationally.

I do realize that not all transracially-adopted... more

There are some counties within the states that allow a person into a room where files are kept. This is becoming less common since records are being stored behind counters with no entry allowed. However, in most counties someone can request a file and a clerk will look it up. Do not mention adoption. If you do, you will not get a file.

Records that are stored locally at the County Courthouse are adoption records. Case workers reports are normally filed under the case number and/or the date of birth. Relinquishments are usually filed under a file number... more