&#%^*%$)@^&"^)&#$(^&#$^")$&%*#@&%($*&^)#$

Manitoba News Release............................................................
March 30, 2007

PROVINCIAL TASK FORCE TO REVIEW MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH-CARE SERVICES IN MANITOBA

A new provincial task force will review maternal and child health-care services in Manitoba and make recommendations for the future, Health Minister Theresa Oswald announced today."Manitoba's maternal and child health-care services are an important component of the overall health- care system and the Manitoba Mother and Child Health-care Task Force will review how these services are delivered in Manitoba," said Oswald. "They will also develop recommendations around both primary care and prevention initiatives that will strengthen these services and create lasting change in maternal and child health care in Manitoba."The Manitoba Mother and Child Health-care Task Force will be co-chaired by Dr. Brian Postl, CEO of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, and Marie O'Neill, CEO of the Burntwood Regional Health Authority. Membership of the task force will include representation from all regional health authorities, Manitoba Health, Manitoba Family Services and Housing, Healthy Child Manitoba, the First Nation Inuit Health Branch, doctors, nurses, midwives, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, the Manitoba Métis Federation and the Women's Health Clinic.The goals include ensuring the long-term sustainability of a maternal and child health-care system, enhancing access to care services, promoting collaboration across RHAs in the development and adoption of best practices, and enhancing prevention and health promotion throughout the province. The task force will consult with and review relevant reports by stakeholders and governing bodies and make recommendations to the deputy minister of health regarding:· providing maternal/newborn and child health-care and service delivery provincially;· providing provincial planning and co-ordination of human resources in maternal and child health services;· working toward closing the gap in services for Aboriginal child health and maternity care and address cross-jurisdictional barriers to care;· linking with professional bodies around continuing and collaborative education;· promoting best practices across regions;· promoting health promotion and prevention; · identifying service needs for children with disabilities and chronic illness; and· developing strategies for reducing wait times for services for children."Through Healthy Child Manitoba, we have worked to develop co-ordinated and supportive services for children and youth across Manitoba," said Oswald. "The recommendations from this task force will build on those successes and continue our work with the regional health authorities and our other partners to support quality health-care services across the province."




I am beyond LIVID! I AM SO ANGRY AT THIS!!!!! We HAD a report... WE HAVE A REPORT!!!! It outlines all kinds of great goals to achieve for our province.
THIS (@$^&)(%^&%)$(*(%^*(%%&$#@!@ POLITICIAN IS SCREWING IT UP AGAIN!!!!!!!
Lucky for us, the opposition health critic took our letters seriously and made them announce this early and very publicly. bwaa haa haaaaa! I am so going to continue on my letter writing campaign (already did the MLA, and of course the woman above, who I have asked 4 times now for the report! ahem.... now the health critic is going to go and get a big cyber hug and smooch and Thanks for making the A section of the paper!

By the way, this is an election year. Part of the report outlines all the maternal and natal morbidity and mortality rates for Manitoba. I have to say, IT SUCKS! We are inching into scary territory. But that is what happens when you finally decide to count the poor, culturally segregated and geographically distant groups of people who deserve better care more than the rest of us. And how about the rise in unassisted births? Just this past week, another baby died. I can't speak to whether or not an ambulance ride to the hospital / caesarean section would have saved baby. This is the second loss for this family. I personally think that there are some fatal genetic issues going on... As I said, I wasn't there. But I will be for the funeral if I can pawn off md on a friend for the morning!
Which brings me to another part of the report (I got to thumb through it for about 5 minutes once...) which outlines a training program for midwives in Manitoba. Most people just can't move to the programs, which by the way are overwhelmed too! Anyhooo.... it also says that Manitoba needs X amount of midwives to properly serve the populations! AND ALL RHA's should have midwives... right now we are woefully below all those recommendations.
*granted I'm not sure if I'd train to be a midwife even if the school was a bus ride or two away... but still! C'mon! TOO
excuse me while I continue ranting and raving and completely melting down over this.
I've taken to swearing in German... so the monsters don't get too used to the other words I was using earlier.

Good grief...

It is 2 in the afternoon and I am so wiped out I could just curl up and snooze until next Saturday!
Think it is the rainy grey weather that is doing it to me... at least the snow is about 80% gone. woo hoo... just the soggy dead grass covered in bird seed husks to cope with... blech.
I am "supposed" to be upstairs tackling the boys closet... you know where I shoved everything that is too big for m2 and too small for m1?! Yeah, that is the one. yup. Should be up there. uh huh. Usually I love sorting these things... not today though. Not so interested. Husband even took m1 to the library and the md is snoozing.... hey yeah. That is the excuse! Md might wake up!
Okay, okay... I'll go and start in. That way tonight I can actually sit down and do something nice, like sleep or read or watch bad t.v. ... though there really isn't anything on tonight is there?
bah.
Thanks for the diversion everyone.
not sure what kind of label to give this... I'm not all that crabby... the house, sort of... meh. Whatever.

new wave puritan?

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

MIA

So we were all healthy enough to head off to the homestead these last few days... with this view from the van.

Much to my horror... I'd forgotten to tell my "lets chat daily friend"... so yeah, the messages were piled on the voicemail.. and yeah, I GOT GUILT!
My dad seems to be doing okay. This is the timeframe that we were told he'd either go downhill rapidly or coast some more...
Fingers crossed and actively hoping for the coasting. Managed to sneak in three milkshakes and some good chocolate. I finally flipped out on my mother about 24 hours in... "he has been sick for nine years. he has been sick for the last three months. LET HIM HAVE THE D$^N milkshake!" among other issues... but we all love to spend time being bad parents with our own parents now don't we?
snort.
Came home to our super beautiful house. LOVE LOVE LOVE THE HOUSE! Must get to posting some more photos on the other blog. Like ones with our furniture in it? That would be nice huh? Any hoo, snow is almost completely gone... and none of it is in my basement. How lovely is that? I'll tell you. IT IS AMAZING! Did I mention that I love my house.
Tomorrow is post office day. Woo hoo... then downward in fun and happy fuzzy feelings... pay some bills and hope to live to the next paycheque kind of month again. ugh. This money thing really sucks.
Have some posts I mean to link to... will get around to that later. I am missing the second monster. He informed me this morning that he was "staying at gran and grandpas, you go mum". Okay... huh. I feel loved? I feel like monster #1 and a lot out of sorts. Haven't had m2 out of my life since the fall...
here is hoping they don't let him go back and pick this one up for keeps! Took us twenty minutes to convince him to get it off his lap!


You were born this morning? WOW!

We can play in the water too!

In an effort to let the md explore her world some more, last night I let her loose outside. First foray into the wilds since going bi-pedal in our quest to take what little is left of my sanity...
We too can be cool... in water... just wish it was this kind of a set up instead!

FREEDOM!

OOOOOOOOHHH!

SMACK, SMACK, SMACK!

MAA! your mittens suck!

me? mean?! REALLY?

*WARNING!!! I am link a holic this evening...
beware! If you've read all the drivel before, feel free to not
click. But the IAI said I'm mean... so I decided to ramble and link
and ramble some more. I don't get bullets, so I use words, not great
words, but words. And she says that bullets are wasted on the stupid... so
there!
AND, despite the grumbling I do here. I DO NOT Pull this kind of
attitude with anyone other than those nearest and dearest MWAH!!!
LOVE YOU ALL FOR PUTTING UP WITH MY INANE BIRTHY ISSUES! Dear techie friend said she needed a "suck it up princess
(this is supposed to hurt) doula", the name stuck... but I have yet to
actually use it, in labour, with anyone. I respect that people have the
right to do what they feel is best for themselves and their unborn children...
but when they refuse to take any control, education or responsibility... I get
irritated... ahem mean.

Okay, so maybe I'm a little mean...
I prefer to think that I am more along the lines of brutally honest, emotionally honest? Ummm smarter? C'mon I AM! in this case!!!
sigh...
Okay, so I'm getting some glee out of the fates biting her in the butt.
Lets take a look at reality though...
Today a friend called to ask my opinion on what to say to someone who has had a second trimester miscarriage/fetal demise/whatever you want to call it... IT SUCKS. Something this friend and I share in common as well though... I think we spent more time discussing the stupid things (and amazingly beautiful gestures)that were said to us... not sure if I was any help at all really.
So yeah, here was a wanted baby, a person happy to be pregnant. And now they aren't. *and I use the plural, because no one ever acknowledged husbands feelings when we lost a pregnancy at 11 weeks.

But there is the whiny car pool gal, who openly admits to not liking children.
Whines about not enough "me time".
Is miserable because the cat broke a Christmas ornament... and meows too much... and isn't allowed in their room because it wants too much attention.
Read What to Expect like a BIBLE... despite asking my husband what books he'd recommend.
*he told her to burn it! She did not.
Tried to tell her OB that she did not want an episiotomy (whoa... she actually knew what she was talking about with that one? How bizarre) and had the OB laugh at her.
AND YET SHE STAYED THE COURSE!

Of course I'm betting that she will have a complete and total breakdown before leaving the hospital.
I am also betting that one of them is now going to break with the plan and get desperate for another one... just because this one isn't the gender they wanted...
I can guarantee that the kid will be on formula by the end of the first week. She is so not ready to be up all night with a demanding baby... not that I was ever pleased with that situation either... but I have doubts that she will stick it out, or ask for help if things aren't going well.
Despite all the mean things I'm saying out loud ... do not get me started on the name! Who names their kid after the "dumb one" from a pop culture sitcom? Really, no joke. Add it to the incredibly Ukrainian last name... it just sounds bad. bad. bad.
So despite the mean things...
I feel sorry for that baby.
I feel sorry that it's parents didn't think this through a bit more.
I'm sorry that it will be a source of stress and frustration and a lot of resentment... because it was all those things even before the birth.
I'm sorry baby. Wish I could help your mama... I tried. Sorry.

It arrived.

The child has come...
The dad seemed a little shocked when I said that I was glad everything went well and wow! It's great that his wife and child will be home later on today.
I think the sheer size of baby (not all that hideous, but on the larger side of weights) indicates that she may have been sectioned or at least snipped up in the nether regions. Poor little carpool gal... SNORT!
So it arrived at 41w 2d.
snicker.... sending her home today... that would be too delish!

Warning..... I'm retchedly ill.... ickyness ahead!

So on Sunday mornings wee hours (and no we certainly did not celebrate St. Patricks Day with anything green or alcoholic) my gastro-intestinal track decided to take a turn for the worse. Finally a few hours later, about five-ish as I sat at one end of the bathroom... my stomach thought it best to spew its contents the short space across into the sink.
Much
more
conducive.

By nine, I was feeling better.
By noon, I was almost human.
By two I was sitting at the ballet, sucking on mints... feeling pretty good.

As of two hours ago, I'm back to square one.
As I sat down to type this. all I could think was

If only I could just throw up again...

Lucky me. My body listened.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to lie on the bed and wait 5 to 7 minutes for the next "wave of nausea, heaving, retching" hell I'm enduring... and think of how I'm going to get the biggest monster to school without dying..... which in all honesty would be more conducive right now!

In honour of St. Patricks Day..

This article had me hacking up a lung I was laughing so hard! *
This is clever religious humour at its best!!!!

*the simple act of breathing can bring this on too....

Slacking...

Been slacking on the blog, with the friends (thank you for the call dear techie friend! Don't know if we will get to cheese therapy before your go off on your big trip!) & on the home front.
bah.
Have I mentioned that I am still sick?
Yes, still hacking up what is left of my ravaged lungs on a fairly regular basis throughout the day and night.
double bah.
On the list of things to do:
polish off presentation that was in January, but is now in April.
make muffins, cookies, snack like things so I will not continue to shovel things I've bought into my children.
make a lasagna for a family (from husbands work), who are in the midst of what do you mean cancer, to what do you mean there isn't any treatment, to what do you mean there is no hope? This is a family member, not the actual person on staff... but still...
DAMN IT!
Mock Tori Spelling who was rushed to hospital in labour before the darn kid slipped out the wrong way.... Why? WHY can't "celebrities" just let things be? Why do they have to be sheeple? following the herd mentality of major abdominal surgery?! end rant
finish at least one sewing project.
learn to walk on the ice with grace... instead of clomping along hoping that I'm not going to go flying!
stop coughing.
*so we can at least spend some time with our families over the break...
We are supposed to go to the ballet this weekend.
I am less than impressed... I do not want to hack through it. I DO NOT WANT TO GO!!! and yet, we can't return the tickets.
bah bah bah...

Welcome to daylight saving time.

Somehow the monsters getting up at 5:30 isn't quite so hideous now that it is actually 6:30....
right?

not.

Been trying to get out a post since the weekend.
Not working too well.

I am beyond crabby. beyond. wayyyyy beyond!
The list feels a little too long these days.
I'm still sick. I can't seem to shake this cough, sore throat, general icky feeling.
I'm exhausted from being up half the night hacking up a lung.
I'm a complete and total disaster as a mother. Monster #1 is going to be the death of me.
My own mother and husband have both freaked on me today... just because I said with absolute resolve that I DON'T CARE anymore. I just can't be bothered caring what is most effective or in his best interests anymore. I'm done trying to be his parent. It isn't working. And today, I do not care. I do not like him, I do not like his behaviour. I do not like having to take him to school every single day and wondering what the heck he has done wrong/had a melt down over in the intervening two and a half hours. Go ahead, have a "meeting to discuss his placement for next year." I'm not participating. I don't do monster #1 anymore. I'm off to try and not screw up the other two too much more than I might have already.
I am going to a conference/meeting/planning thing this weekend to learn how to effectively lobby the government for more midwifery services in my Province.
yet....
I know that midwives are leaving in droves.
I know that midwives are burning out and can't take much more.
I know that the government is trying to implement more "structure" to the existing act.
I know that means that women like myself... will lose a lot as far as midwifery care goes... in fact just thinking about all the things that could go, makes me physically ill. And I'm not even having any more babies!!! But that in itself is a whole other post where I waffle between resolute and practical to HOLY CRAP AM I SAD!
Monster #2 seems like he is always crying/having a fit. oh wait... he is. One of the moms, from m1's class, I've somewhat become friends with is an ASL interpreter. We were joking around about name signs... not just spelling it out with the alphabet. We agreed that his would be the first initial of his name in the sign for fit. Incredibly apt. Spot on really!
According to the chiropractor md's gait has improved tremendously. I don't see it, but I am also around her all day long. Perhaps I should take the chiropractors word for it. So far we are going to wait until April to decide on physiotherapy or not. Dunno, just don't know what to do with this thought.
I called and left a message about getting some help. Was told that I'd have to commit to x number of sessions. I told the person taking the message that I wasn't so sure how much I could do, dependent on our benefits....
BOOM (that would be the other shoe)
oh well then... huh.... you can't expect to get anywhere with what little coverage you have? do you?
As well as I know that we can't just pay out of pocket and submit our receipts later for reimbursement. ha ha ha ha snort gfawwwww. Yeah, okay. One income, three kids... one of them by all accounts lately as a "high needs/special child". Sure... we have money coming out of our butts~
&$^*(%*$#$!

Well then. Let's wait and see if we get a call back, shall we?
Should have stuck to my guns when I called it quits. So.
I Quit.
ahem...
Happy International Day of the Woman tomorrow gang.
I am woman, hear me roar... now that I've got that out of the way, I'm going to curl up in a ball and sob for a while.

Sunday afternoon treat!

So, last night we had the student gang over... somehow they don't think it is pathetic to hang out at our house?!
We ate, we drank a really great wine (anyone else know a 21 year old with great taste in wine?) talked, took some photos and sent them off to Viola girl.
Right now we would have been making our way to the recital. sigh

Husband went off to do some errands with monster #1, while the others are snoozing. I guess m1 fell asleep and so husband brought me this.

I'm happy.

I "should be" across the boarder by now...

This was in my INBOX this morning ... to greet me as I bemoaned the last glimmers of IKEA and Target shopping...


University music student 1, university student 2, Jazz musician music student 3, husband and mom to monsters-
So I just talked to student 1 and found out the plan that you guys had for this weekend. I seriously started crying when I found out - you all mean so much to me - to make those kinds of plans to come down here for my recital - man - I fell so incredibly loved. I totally understand about the roads - it has been crazy here with closing all of the highways in southern Minnesota for 24 hours and all of the schools and everything else. Just the fact that you guys wanted to and then made real live plans to do so is just incredible. I told student 1 that you guys are like family to me, and are even closer to family for me than most of my family. None of my relatives (who all live in Texas) even planned on trying to come. You guys are incredible and I absolutely can not wait to see you all again. Maybe we can figure out another weekend before hand that works for everyone. I love each of you guys so extremely much and you mean so much to me - more than I could hope to describe with words. I love you guys and I hope to talk to you sometime soon!
Take care and stay safe!-

Viola recital gal who we will be missing on Sunday
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eyes." ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry~

stomps, whines and cries even bigger tears!

The trip is a no go.
Weather sucks.
SUCKS I TELL YOU!
*even if it truely does blow over by Saturday... the cleanup will not be done.

sniffle... and not the sick kind.

So monumentally unfair!

stomps foot. whines. cries real tears.

I am sick.
My throat feels like it is on fire.
Husband is in a foul mood today, because he is "tired".
*umm exactly who got up with monster #2 the three times he woke up screaming... and storming into the room and hollering at him to shut up after five minutes of listening to me try to calm him down doesn't count. YOU CHOSE TO GET UP AND BE THE BIG BAD JERK AT THAT POINT!
Monster #1 guzzled a large glass of water and proceeded to throw it up less than five minutes later. Complete with melt down of amazing proportions.
No school again.
Tomorrow is supposed to be a field trip. Husband seems to be under the impression he will go. Yeah, okay.... as a teacher I wouldn't want to take the kid who has been out sick with a fever one day, vomiting the next and well... his general behaviour leaves a lot to be desired.
I have doubts they'll take him. Despite what husband figures is in the best interests of the monster.

Ahh, more arguing tonight, or let me rephrase that...
More of husband speaking to me that I am not behaving in a fit way for raising the monster... or thinking about his best interests or how silly I'm being, of course he will be fine by the morning and then he will go off on his field trip and everything will be just sunshine and roses.

SNORT
Going to drink more lemon drug laden stuff... one of the few good things to come from husband in the last few weeks... he actually remembered to pick up the stuff
Hopefully I'll not get too much more drowsy. But I've got to kill this thing off and quickly!