I feel very blessed and lucky to live in the USA. No, I’m not going all jingoistic on you, I swear, but I am grateful for modern medicine. Healthcare here in the States is a sticky issue, and one I won’t rant and rant about today, because I’m gonna talk about women who don’t have access, even via the emergency room, to obstetric care. This one’s near to me, because when I had my son, I hemorrhaged pretty severely. It’s not fun, even if you don’t die from it.

May 09, 2008
Simple Innovation Saves Women’s Lives

Around the globe, 500,000 women die every year from complications related to giving birth. The most common cause is obstetrical hemorrhage, or heavy bleeding, which can cause death in two hours or less.

Consider that in many rural areas a hospital can be hours or even days away, and the urgency of medical attention becomes clear. Given this dire situation, some health researchers are working on promoting the adoption of less-invasive, evidenced-based medical practices to prevent excess bleeding from occurring during childbirth and simple innovations that can help stem the blood flow when there is a problem.

One low-tech device that can be used to help women who are hemorrhaging and who don’t have immediate access to maternity care interventions is the LifeWrap. Also known as a non-pneumatic anti shock garment (NASG), the LifeWrap — which resembles a partial wet suit — is made of neoprene and Velcro, and it literally wraps around the lower body, using pressure to treat shock, resuscitate, stabilize and prevent further bleeding in women with obstetric hemorrhage.

Check out a video here to see how it works.

Dr. Suellen Miller, director of Safe Motherhood Programs at the UCSF BIxby Programs for Global Reproductive Health, is currently conducting foundation-funded studies of the LifeWrap to treat maternal hemorrhage in Nigeria, Mexico, Egypt, Zambia and Zimbabwe. She is also working with Pathfinder International on a postpartum hemorrhage project in India.

What has the research shown so far?

In 2004, Suellen Miller, Dr. Paul Hensleigh, and their Egyptian colleagues, conducted a pilot study at four large hospitals in Egypt. Study participants who suffered severe obstetrical hemorrhage and shock were treated according to standard management or standard management AND the LifeWrap.

There was a 50% decrease in bleeding for the women treated with standard care AND the LifeWrap. 75% fewer women in the LifeWrap died or had severe maternal morbidity.

That’s super impressive, but as the LifeWrap website points out, larger studies are needed, especially for funding.

These studies would provide the scientific, clinical and statistical evidence required by donor and advisory agencies (World Health Organization, UNICEF, UNFPA, USAID) before they will contribute the funds necessary to distribute the LifeWrap globally.

With Mother’s Day around the corner, now’s a great time to make a donation to LifeWrap to help speed up distribution — $160 buys one LifeWrap, which can be used up to 50 times.

In other news this week, a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health study that was published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that relatively inexpensive interventions helped health care providers in Latin America improve the way they treat mothers during labor and delivery, especially when it came to reducing blood loss.

The teaching techniques focused on behavioral change strategies aimed at modifying practices. According to the study, researchers were able to reduce the number and severity of episiotomies at public hospitals in Argentina and Uruguay and increase the use of the hormone oxytocin – which is given to mothers to make their uterus shrink and bleed less during the third stage of labor.

“Both of these changes greatly reduced the amount of blood mothers lost during childbirth, with mothers in the intervention hospitals losing 44 percent less blood,” said Marci Campbell, a professor in the UNC School of Public Health whose research focuses on health interventions.

“This randomized trial showed that knowledge alone does not change behavior,” Campbell said. “It takes the combination of opinion leaders, personal visits, reminders, and support to change behavior. This change is especially important for developing countries where maternal hemorrhage is a major health threat. However, the intervention also could be beneficial in developed countries, including many parts of the United States, where rates of routine episiotomy are still above optimal.”

Source: http://ourbodiesourblog.org/blog/2008/05/simple_innovation_saves_womens_lives.php

John Goodman kicks a ninja’s ass.

Speed Racer: The Movie - WYNTK (Ladies’ Edition)
Matthew Fox (aka Jack from Lost) kicks a ninja’s ass, SHIRTLESS.

Film viewing is enhanced by drinking a large margarita beforehand.

For my mom, who is awesome:

and my Grandma, from whom I get my curly locks and stubborn temperament:

I can hear you laughing at my hair. You just wish you’d had hair that fierce back in the 80s.

While we’re discussing fab moms and flashbacks, here’s my baby godmother, who scanned a pic of us back in the 90s: cut for unrepentant substance use frizz:

ETA: Baby godmother is the woman with the big grin and middle finger waving freely. *G*

Hey Gloria!

I’m reading Son of the Morning right now and it’s AWESOME! I hope the Naked Gentleman worked out as well for you!

Incidentally, gentle readers, I must mention just how fabulous Sally MacKensie’s Naked series is - Kayleigh Jamison got me started on them and now we’re going through the whole series! They are Regency through and through, and while more risque than a traditional Cartland, but it’s appropriate for a Regency, if that makes sense. It’s got the playful banter and underlying sexual tension and it’s…like chocolate mousse - decadent and light as air.

I’ll post more about Son of the Morning later, but for now I’m totally sucked into it. The hero’s a hunky Scot, and there’s time travel, and Grace, the heroine is awesome - intelligent and attractive, but not too much - not Mary Sue perfect.

Well, hopefully it’s the tail end of the season, but I know I’m one of many laid-up with the flu/bronchial muck that won’t go away, so here’s what I was reading during my convalescence.

I bought some more eBooks. And some cookbooks. Let’s talk about the cookbooks first, because I know y’all really want to see some sexy vegan cupcakes:

Nom nom nom! The Sithling helped me decorate them, which is why the pattern on some of them is a bit eclectic. He’s an artist, my boy…These were fab and delicious, and (shh!) lo-fat. In fact, I’ll post the recipe, once I get a little more up to speed, since I’m trying to spread the Joy of Vegan Sex, er cooking. The cupcake recipe is from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I also ordered the Veganomicon! It is every bit as fab as the hype suggests. Every recipe I’ve tried thus far has been fab. It’s got “nom” right in the middle of its name, and don’t you want a cookbook that references the Evil Dead movies?? Of course you do!

Oh yeah, other reading materials. I bought eBooks. I totally succumbed to the FluffSide and bought Mindy Klasky’s Girls’ Guide to Witchcraft. I know, I know, just buy a friggin’ MJD book and be done w/it, right? But really, when you’re drinking herbal tea and pondering ’hey, i think i know now why Anakin went all batshit…’, fluff is good. I also bought Gina Showalter’s The Nymph King because Candice Gilmer has recommended her and being that she’s a woman of good taste, I figured it was time to give Gina a try.

Hmm, anything else? Not that I can really think of right now. I’m gonna go back to my herbal tea and fluff. Take care, darlings.

-H

This Smart Bitches review made me laugh so hard I coughed…ok, all laughing makes me cough, but it was worth it.

For the authors and feminists on the f-list, here’s a deep thought for you: http://jezebel.com/369256/is-a-female+only-literature-prize-sexist

From the article:

Still Life scribe A.S. Byatt bitched about the prize to the Times of London,saying, “Such a prize was never needed” because it ghettoizes women’s literature…[However] In the past ten years, three women have been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction (for those counting at home, that’s 30%).

Idon’t know how I feel about this, honestly. I write romance, which is the red-headed stepchild of the publishing industry, and the most poo-ed on of all genres. Like it or not, if your work is oriented toward women’s issues, you are ghettoized. (Romance sells more than half the paperbacks in the USA, btw) I had my MIL tell me that she didn’t consider my work romance, and she meant it as a compliment,because in her words, “It has a plot.”

I’d also like to add that when I met Susan Sizemore at a convention she straight up told us that if you’re a woman and you want to write something other than romance,it’s not bad to write the romance first, because it’s much easier to get your foot in the door there, and then branch out into other genres.

There are actually a lot of romances that have plots now, that don’t center on sheiks or sekrit babies. But that’s a rant for another day. I guess this is like my feelings on the Romance Writers of America, where I agree with the goal, but I’m not so thrilled by the execution. So what do you think, gentle readers? Does having our own award put us in our own lipstick ghetto? Or are we liberating ourselves from sexism?

Good morning, gentle readers. I feel a little better today. Thank you again for all the well-wishes. I have an assortment of blog-o-sphere goodness to share with you all.  May none of you get this icky flu bug.

1. Kayleigh Jamison and some other fab ladies have a book signing party!

2. Preditors and Editors is being sued. Louise Bohmer has a fairly serious take on it, and PN Elrod…well, see for yourself. I took this more seriously until I saw that she named “Miss Snark” as a defendant. Miss Snark? For Reals?  Has Fandom_Wank got hold of this yet?

3. Alan Wilder, formerly of Depeche Mode, now of Recoil, blogs - Music for the Masses - I think not. I must confess that the title totally hooked me, as Music for the Masses was my first Depeche album. I’ve been a fan of Recoil for a year or so, and hearing a perspective from someone who’s escaped the corporate machine fascinates me.

“And can the musician act as entrepreneur? Is it fair to expect our scatterbrained creative songwriters and virtuosos to also hold a degree in business management? Formulating their own strategies and marketing models as they go? I mean wasn’t this the whole reason record companies and managers came into existence in the first place? From my own experience, simply trying to ’stage manage’ what has been a very small-level experiment has taken up most of the first 3 months of the year - valuable time which I intended to spend composing new music.”

I’ve had this conversation with many a fellow author, and on a lesser level, it’s true of us as well. It’s a criticism leveled at indie presses - some it’s fair, some it’s not. You have to hustle to get your work out there, and yet, the biz end of publishing is draining. It’s why I’m not a publisher anymore. I never wrote. There are other reasons too, my health being a biggie. Don’t worry, I’m not dying, I just need to take better care of myself.

4. That actually brings me to the next question I’ve gotten a lot of lately, which is, am I reopening, either as AA or under another name. No. I am content to be an author. If anyone wants a suggestion of where to place your work, depending on who you are, and your writing style, I am inclined to recommend…

Lachesis Publishing
Loose-ID
Dark Roast Press
Samhain Publishing

I’m not affiliated with any of these houses as an author or admin, that’s just based on observation. I will put as a disclaimer that I know Rhiannon Rhodes of Dark Roast. She was our promo queen, and her vision of what sort of titles she wants to put out is similar to Aphrodite’s in terms of the “hot with plot” delivery. I anticipate good things when they launch. The rest of the rec’s are based on friends of mine who have good experiences with the companies.

5. Finally, people have asked about my own work, and where I’m placing it. I haven’t subbed anywhere yet. I am reediting Immortal Reveries and I want to finish some of the WIPs and then I’ll start subbing. I want to enjoy the craft of writing again. So far I am.

Here’s a random factoid about me: I like to collect dolls that look like my characters. Since my characters are adults, who do you think I end up buying?

Yes, Barbie, the biggest little woman in American dolls. Scary, isn’t it? They even have a Deidre of Ulster Barbie.

Ahem. Anyway, I happened on the Barbie Tarot online and had to share with you all.

Put your beverages down and scroll to the second grouping of Major Arcana.

Yes, that’s really a set of Barbies based on a Jude Deveraux book. Slide your eyes to the right, to #7, the Chariot - “Secret Hearts and Earring Magic Ken”. With all due respect to Dave Barry, I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP. When you can tear your eyes from the pic, read the card interpretation.

You’re welcome.

The Dark Side has cookies, yanno…

Tempted by Megan Hart

Blurb:

I had everything a woman could want…

My husband, James. The house on the lake.

My life. Our perfect life.

And then Alex came to visit.

The first time I saw my husband’s best friend, I didn’t like him. Didn’t like how James changed when he was around, didn’t like how his penetrating eyes followed me everywhere.

But that didn’t stop me from wanting him. And, surprisingly, James didn’t seem to mind.

It was meant to be fun. Something the three of us shared for those hot summer weeks Alex stayed with us. Nobody was supposed to fall in or out of love. I didn’t need another man, not even one who oozed sex like honey and knew all the secrets I didn’t know, the secrets my husband hadn’t shared. After all, we had a perfect life.

And I loved my husband.

But I wasn’t the only one.

I may have to purchase this tome just to verify the slashy goodness, or lack thereof.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, it all starts here, at the Smart Bitches site. And it’s even made Fandom Wank…twice.