Free Teleclass on Prenatal Testing with Ayelet Schwell

On April 5th, my friend/student/colleague (and pregnant mama) Ayelet Schwell will be offering a FREE teleclass on prenatal testing & screening to help you make informed decisions during your pregnancy (now or in future).

From Ayelet's blog:

In this call you will get:


* an overview of the pre-natal tests that are offered and their purposes
* risks vs. benefits for various tests
* a description of patient rights in the US
* and a special invitation to have access to an exclusive program that will open up the information of pregnancy and birth in a way that has never been available before!

If you want to participate but aren't available at 8PM that night, go ahead and register anyway as you will receive an MP3 of the class the next day, as well as a PDF of the info covered. Here's where to sign up.  And fyi, here is Ayelet's blog.

And here is Ayelet!

My Little Red Book

My Little Red Book is an anthology of stories about first periods, collected from women of all ages from around the world. The author/editor Rachel Kauder Nalebuff was 18 when she put the book together and the profits are being donated to charities promoting women's health and education. Buy it, read it, share it. Get this stuff out of the closet once and for all.

my little red book home page

review in NY Times

Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves

Think about some of thousands of things you probably take for granted:

-sanitary water to drink

-toilets

-ample food of infinite variety

-hot water in the shower, the shower itself 

The list is endless. Now add to the list (if you are a woman) the products you use for menstruation. Whether you have a real period (the result of ovulation, when cycles are unmediated by external hormones) or a fake one (withdrawal bleeding which results when you stop taking your pills or remove your ring or patch or whatever), chances are that you bleed about once a month, and when you do, you use pads or tampons or a reusable cup or something sanitary and cheap that you take completely for granted. Imagine being so poor that you had nothing with which to catch your flow, and little access to water for washing clothes and rags. What would you do? Would you go to school, or work? Now you understand (intellectually) the plight of millions of women around the world. An innovative project, run by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, is helping women in Uganda have access to affordable sanitary pads. It is also providing income for about 60 Congolese refugees who now have an environmentally sustainable way to earn a living, in a model program that they hope to expand to other countries. Check out this article about pads from papyrus.