There are some pretty great sounds in this life....
Birds on a crisp spring morning...or dusky summer evening...I love birds singing.
My child laughing with my husband - pretty amazing sound.
My husband singing...he has a beautiful voice!
But, I think the sweetest sound I've ever heard was the sound of a heartbeat.
It wasn't my heart, nor my husband's, nor my son's....
It was my baby - still tucked away inside of me.
And I heard it today!
Today, it was officially confirmed that we have a baby on the way. I had taken many tests, thrown up a time or two, ate a lot of mustard covered things to satisfy certain cravings.
But today I heard the heartbeat....
A long time of infertility, a miscarriage, so many prayers, tears, and heartache...to be answered quelled in one sweet sound...a beating baby's heart.
We are so blessed to have this baby however long God lets us. We know life can be there one minute and not the next. We are honored to have made it this far.
Our God is gracious...He is Healer and Comforter...and we thank Him!
I heard the sweetest sound today....a precious heartbeat that I love so much already...
From my blog in November after my miscarriage - Psalm 20:4 "May He grant you your heart's desire and fulfill all your plans!" vs 9b "May He answer us when we call."
All full of joy and glowing emotions,
Becca H.
Thursday, April 21, 2016
BBQ bacon green beans
bbq bacon green beans for home size.
3/4 cup of ketchup
2 Tbsp + 2tsp of mustard
2 Tbsp + 1 tsp brown sugar.
^mix together. (use organic if you can- that is what I did)
cook about 1/3-1/2 pound of bacon. SAVE GREASE. cook about half an onion in the grease until soft and clear. Put bacon, onions, and grease into the ketchup sauce and put that in blender or use immersion blender to break up bacon and onions in the sauce. You don't want it smooth, but you might not want it super chunky.
Use 1 14.5 oz can of del monte green beans and about 1/3 cup of sauce. This recipe should make enough for 3-4 cans. I use del monte because they are non-gmo, use sea salt, and I believe BPA-free can lining. I doubt this would come out the same with fresh/frozen beans. Bake in the oven at 375 for about 20 - 40 minutes. I have only baked this in a convection oven - both at my job where we made this in NJ and my job in FL. So let me know if bake time or temp is off :-P I also had to DRASTICALLY reduce this recipe, so it might not taste quite the same. The original recipe used gallons as quantities.
Hope that helps and it tastes awesome...
3/4 cup of ketchup
2 Tbsp + 2tsp of mustard
2 Tbsp + 1 tsp brown sugar.
^mix together. (use organic if you can- that is what I did)
cook about 1/3-1/2 pound of bacon. SAVE GREASE. cook about half an onion in the grease until soft and clear. Put bacon, onions, and grease into the ketchup sauce and put that in blender or use immersion blender to break up bacon and onions in the sauce. You don't want it smooth, but you might not want it super chunky.
Hope that helps and it tastes awesome...
Monday, April 11, 2016
Another health rant....Vaccines, then and now...30 years...
I often hear how "I was vaccinated and turned out fine"...and how, by this logic, vaccinating infants today is the same as vaccinating 30 years ago. Well, my mom recently found my vaccine records from when I was an infant 30 years ago, and I would like to bring some clarity to this myth.
First of all, newborn Hep B vaccination was not a thing in '86. Hep B campaigns didn't start till 1991 in most countries and were not found to be effective as the cause for the decline in the disease. (source) And Hep B vaccination is thought to wear off, even with the "complete series" being done on infants, in as little as 15 years.(source) So if you are trying to protect your infant from drug/prostitution related disease, like hep b, it will probably wear off by the time your infant is a teenager or adult and becomes sexually active. In my mind, if the 3 doses don't work for long term protection, I have doubts about them working at all. Another interesting study on the hep b vaccine - here. And here is one showing adjuvants in the hep b vaccine cause auto-immune disease - here. Keep in mind many of the adjuvants in hep b vaccine are the very same in many other vaccines...aluminum specifically...I'll talk about that more towards the end.
So hep b vaccination wasn't a thing...in fact, the entire infant schedule of today wasn't a thing. HiB, IPV, Hep B, DTaP, Rotavirus, and PCV-13, plus flu shot at 6 months - I received NONE of those as an infant...and survived! Wow! I received DTP and OPV at the 2,4,6 month appointments. Both of those vaccines have been pulled from the US market because of so many adverse reactions...again, I say, Wow...I survived! OPV is still used in other countries and it still causes problems there too... (source, source1) DTP caused a lot of problems, so it was pulled, and DTaP became the vaccine of choice. It changed from a whole-cell pertussis bacteria, to an acellular pertussis bacteria(aP). It provides a "chunk" of the bacteria, instead of the whole thing. I can't even find the ingredients in the DPT/DTP vaccine...it's as if it ceased to exist once DTaP became available in 1996. It took a LONG time for the government to admit these were problematic and dangerous...I actually have a childhood friend who almost died from the DTP....anyways...
For the ease of my comparison I will refer to "1986" simply as my schedule...not the actual year they were given in, but the schedule I was subjected to, as a 1986 baby.
so to compare:
1986: DPT, OPV - 4 antigens at 2,4,6 months(I actually was given OPV at 2,4 months, 3rd at 18 months.)
2016: HiB, IPV, Hep B, DTaP, Rotavirus, and PCV-13 (plus flu at 6 months) - ~23-27 antigens at 2,4,6 months old.
So yeah, no...ZERO similarities. So the "I was vaxed and was fine" doesn't apply...because children today aren't even getting the same vaccines and not remotely on the same schedule. So that's the first 6 months...let's continue...
My next vaccine series was given at 15 months - MMR, but it seems to be that they were separated into 3 separate vaccines - M, M, and R monovalent vaccines no longer available, as of Oct 21, 2009. MMR and Varicella, Hep A, IPV, PCV-13, Hep B, DTaP, and Flu would all be given at the current schedule's 15 month appointment. Side note, MMR is almost always given in the MMR+V vaccine DESPITE the CDC's recommendation of separating the two into separate shots. Depending on the doctor, there is a 1 year check up where most of these are given at 12 months(DTaP generally is held off until 15 months, but all the other ones can be given and are recommended at 12 months).
So to compare 1 year old vaccines:
1986: M, M, and R monovalent vaccines at 15 months.
2016: MMR II, Varicella, Hep A, IPV, PCV-13, Hep B, and Flu vaccines at 12 months, or at 15 months, including DTaP also.
1986: DTP and OPV at 18 months.
2016: Hep A, Flu, and any others that may not have been given at the 12/15 month appointments at 18 months.
At two years old, the schedule seems to slow down quite a bit...I actually got a HiB vaccine at this point, and the norm is to give it to infants now. It had just been licensed a mere two months before I received it. Flu shot is also recommended from 6 months till death nowadays, and wasn't when I was little....and didn't die of flu. Something to keep in mind with the HiB shot, is that it only "covers" strain B. Only about 1-4 dozen cases of the B strain happen each year in children under 5 - so it is really rare. (source - CDC 2015) HOWEVER, hundreds of cases non-serotype b and unknown serotype happen every year. Hundreds of cases, amongst millions of <5 year old children is STILL rare. My point is, the strain the vaccine protects against is very VERY unlikely to be caught by your child, vaccinated or not.
Again, comparing 2-3 year olds vaccines:
1986: HiB given at 2 years.
2016: Flu shot given at 2 and 3 years old, as many as four shots in 6 month intervals.
4 years old...the big "kindergarten shots". Again, I was given M, M, and R monovalent shots, a DT "booster". And a current "kindergartener" - DTaP, IPV, Flu, MMR, Varicella(generally MMR+V). This is the 5th dose of DTaP...you'd think that their protection level against those diseases would be high...so high, there would be amazing immunity to pertussis especially. (Diphtheria basically doesn't exist in America, less than 1 case per year, and tetanus is non-communicable, which is why I focus on the pertussis portion). It has been shown, in the NEJM that protection "wanes" after the 5th dose...which makes me think that the first 4 doses don't provide any protection anyways....Wouldn't extra doses elicit a BETTER protection? More antibodies equal more protection...right?! There are also NUMEROUS cases where outbreaks occur in 100%, or at the very least 95%+ vaccinated population. (source, source1, source2, source3, source4)
The "kindergarten" shots (given between 4-6 years old):
1986: M, M, R, and DT.
2016: DTaP, IPV, Flu, MMR, Varicella.
That's it. My shots are done. I DID get a DTaP before a missions trip in 2002, followed by contracting whooping cough in 2003(four DTP and a recent DTaP and still got whooping cough!) I also got a Hep B vaccine in 2004, before living in the dorm at college, I might have gotten all three rounds, I don't really recall and can't find the documentation. So let's continue on this comparison...
5-11 years old:
1986: none.
2016: annual flu shots.
Then we get to the "7th grade" shots. Another TDaP - only this is the adult version, instead of the DTaP. The meningococcal - a completely unnecessary vaccine. Your child is more likely to get typhoid fever than this form of meningitis. Literally. And here's a helpful link that helped me evaluate the facts about it. Flu, yet again...and then there's the infamous HPV. The American college of Pediatrics thinks you should asses the risks of HPV with the risks of the shot- which include ovarian failure and menopause - in teens! (source) It has been shown to cause you to be susceptible to more dangerous and virulent strains AND in the study, 11% of the HPV-4 women still got the strains of HPV they were vaxed against, vs. 20% of the unvaxed. (source) So really, the risk between unvaxed and vaxed is pretty clear - might as well not get vaccinated for it. It is recommended for boys now too. According to the CDC, HPV generally clears itself out, with no health risks. Having pap smears every THREE years will even be frequent enough to detect HPV and treat it if there is an abnormal pap smear. You can easily google dangers of HPV vaccine and hear and watch horror stories of this vaccine damaging hundreds of women, killing over 100. Japan doesn't recommend it for their girls anymore, either. I believe there are lawsuits from several countries suing Merck over this vaccine as well. I hope that I have given you enough info to avoid these vaccines.
12 years old:
1986: none.
2016: TDaP, Meningococcal, flu, and HPV.
This is a pretty accurate visual comparison:
First of all, newborn Hep B vaccination was not a thing in '86. Hep B campaigns didn't start till 1991 in most countries and were not found to be effective as the cause for the decline in the disease. (source) And Hep B vaccination is thought to wear off, even with the "complete series" being done on infants, in as little as 15 years.(source) So if you are trying to protect your infant from drug/prostitution related disease, like hep b, it will probably wear off by the time your infant is a teenager or adult and becomes sexually active. In my mind, if the 3 doses don't work for long term protection, I have doubts about them working at all. Another interesting study on the hep b vaccine - here. And here is one showing adjuvants in the hep b vaccine cause auto-immune disease - here. Keep in mind many of the adjuvants in hep b vaccine are the very same in many other vaccines...aluminum specifically...I'll talk about that more towards the end.
So hep b vaccination wasn't a thing...in fact, the entire infant schedule of today wasn't a thing. HiB, IPV, Hep B, DTaP, Rotavirus, and PCV-13, plus flu shot at 6 months - I received NONE of those as an infant...and survived! Wow! I received DTP and OPV at the 2,4,6 month appointments. Both of those vaccines have been pulled from the US market because of so many adverse reactions...again, I say, Wow...I survived! OPV is still used in other countries and it still causes problems there too... (source, source1) DTP caused a lot of problems, so it was pulled, and DTaP became the vaccine of choice. It changed from a whole-cell pertussis bacteria, to an acellular pertussis bacteria(aP). It provides a "chunk" of the bacteria, instead of the whole thing. I can't even find the ingredients in the DPT/DTP vaccine...it's as if it ceased to exist once DTaP became available in 1996. It took a LONG time for the government to admit these were problematic and dangerous...I actually have a childhood friend who almost died from the DTP....anyways...
For the ease of my comparison I will refer to "1986" simply as my schedule...not the actual year they were given in, but the schedule I was subjected to, as a 1986 baby.
so to compare:
1986: DPT, OPV - 4 antigens at 2,4,6 months(I actually was given OPV at 2,4 months, 3rd at 18 months.)
2016: HiB, IPV, Hep B, DTaP, Rotavirus, and PCV-13 (plus flu at 6 months) - ~23-27 antigens at 2,4,6 months old.
So yeah, no...ZERO similarities. So the "I was vaxed and was fine" doesn't apply...because children today aren't even getting the same vaccines and not remotely on the same schedule. So that's the first 6 months...let's continue...
My next vaccine series was given at 15 months - MMR, but it seems to be that they were separated into 3 separate vaccines - M, M, and R monovalent vaccines no longer available, as of Oct 21, 2009. MMR and Varicella, Hep A, IPV, PCV-13, Hep B, DTaP, and Flu would all be given at the current schedule's 15 month appointment. Side note, MMR is almost always given in the MMR+V vaccine DESPITE the CDC's recommendation of separating the two into separate shots. Depending on the doctor, there is a 1 year check up where most of these are given at 12 months(DTaP generally is held off until 15 months, but all the other ones can be given and are recommended at 12 months).
So to compare 1 year old vaccines:
1986: M, M, and R monovalent vaccines at 15 months.
2016: MMR II, Varicella, Hep A, IPV, PCV-13, Hep B, and Flu vaccines at 12 months, or at 15 months, including DTaP also.
1986: DTP and OPV at 18 months.
2016: Hep A, Flu, and any others that may not have been given at the 12/15 month appointments at 18 months.
At two years old, the schedule seems to slow down quite a bit...I actually got a HiB vaccine at this point, and the norm is to give it to infants now. It had just been licensed a mere two months before I received it. Flu shot is also recommended from 6 months till death nowadays, and wasn't when I was little....and didn't die of flu. Something to keep in mind with the HiB shot, is that it only "covers" strain B. Only about 1-4 dozen cases of the B strain happen each year in children under 5 - so it is really rare. (source - CDC 2015) HOWEVER, hundreds of cases non-serotype b and unknown serotype happen every year. Hundreds of cases, amongst millions of <5 year old children is STILL rare. My point is, the strain the vaccine protects against is very VERY unlikely to be caught by your child, vaccinated or not.
Again, comparing 2-3 year olds vaccines:
1986: HiB given at 2 years.
2016: Flu shot given at 2 and 3 years old, as many as four shots in 6 month intervals.
4 years old...the big "kindergarten shots". Again, I was given M, M, and R monovalent shots, a DT "booster". And a current "kindergartener" - DTaP, IPV, Flu, MMR, Varicella(generally MMR+V). This is the 5th dose of DTaP...you'd think that their protection level against those diseases would be high...so high, there would be amazing immunity to pertussis especially. (Diphtheria basically doesn't exist in America, less than 1 case per year, and tetanus is non-communicable, which is why I focus on the pertussis portion). It has been shown, in the NEJM that protection "wanes" after the 5th dose...which makes me think that the first 4 doses don't provide any protection anyways....Wouldn't extra doses elicit a BETTER protection? More antibodies equal more protection...right?! There are also NUMEROUS cases where outbreaks occur in 100%, or at the very least 95%+ vaccinated population. (source, source1, source2, source3, source4)
The "kindergarten" shots (given between 4-6 years old):
1986: M, M, R, and DT.
2016: DTaP, IPV, Flu, MMR, Varicella.
That's it. My shots are done. I DID get a DTaP before a missions trip in 2002, followed by contracting whooping cough in 2003(four DTP and a recent DTaP and still got whooping cough!) I also got a Hep B vaccine in 2004, before living in the dorm at college, I might have gotten all three rounds, I don't really recall and can't find the documentation. So let's continue on this comparison...
5-11 years old:
1986: none.
2016: annual flu shots.
Then we get to the "7th grade" shots. Another TDaP - only this is the adult version, instead of the DTaP. The meningococcal - a completely unnecessary vaccine. Your child is more likely to get typhoid fever than this form of meningitis. Literally. And here's a helpful link that helped me evaluate the facts about it. Flu, yet again...and then there's the infamous HPV. The American college of Pediatrics thinks you should asses the risks of HPV with the risks of the shot- which include ovarian failure and menopause - in teens! (source) It has been shown to cause you to be susceptible to more dangerous and virulent strains AND in the study, 11% of the HPV-4 women still got the strains of HPV they were vaxed against, vs. 20% of the unvaxed. (source) So really, the risk between unvaxed and vaxed is pretty clear - might as well not get vaccinated for it. It is recommended for boys now too. According to the CDC, HPV generally clears itself out, with no health risks. Having pap smears every THREE years will even be frequent enough to detect HPV and treat it if there is an abnormal pap smear. You can easily google dangers of HPV vaccine and hear and watch horror stories of this vaccine damaging hundreds of women, killing over 100. Japan doesn't recommend it for their girls anymore, either. I believe there are lawsuits from several countries suing Merck over this vaccine as well. I hope that I have given you enough info to avoid these vaccines.
12 years old:
1986: none.
2016: TDaP, Meningococcal, flu, and HPV.
This is a pretty accurate visual comparison:
We know that chronic childhood illness is CLIMBING. We don't know the cause, but we know that that the mainstream community isn't looking at vaccines as the cause. However, we know over-vaccinating pets is causing huge problems....why is it so hard to believe we are over-vaccinating our babies? Long before the "anti-vax trend", a doctor bravely put together this information about the linkage between type 1 diabetes and vaccines. Diabetes puts you at much greater risk for heart disease, obesity, cancer, etc. This link connects chronic illness with vaccines, but there are plenty of studies that say otherwise, too. I see chronic illness growing. I see vaccines disrupt the immune system. I see some studies saying vaccines are causing chronic disease, and it totally makes sense to me... My husband's family, as well as my own, has lots of diabetes. Our son has 8 great grandparents, 5 of which had diabetes of some kind. One had Parkinson's and skin cancer. The two remaining that are alive currently - one has a severely atrophied brain, and the other has had a variety of problems her whole life. With this genetic linage, I cannot risk diabetes and neural issues for my children. Aluminum is to be avoided for infants, yet, it is the main adjuvant in almost all vaccines and it is heavily linked to nervous system issues and dementia! According to Dr. Sears,
"But wait. You are probably thumbing back through the book right now to see exactly how much aluminum was in each vaccine. Put your thumb away. At the risk of being repetitive I’ll just list it right here again:
"But wait. You are probably thumbing back through the book right now to see exactly how much aluminum was in each vaccine. Put your thumb away. At the risk of being repetitive I’ll just list it right here again:
- Hib (PedVaxHib brand only) – 225 micrograms per shot.
- Hepatitis B – 250 micrograms.
- DTaP – depending on the manufacturer, ranges from 170 to 625 micrograms.
- Pneumococcus – 125 micrograms.
- Hepatitis A – 250 micrograms.
- HPV – 225 micrograms.
- Pentacel (DTaP, HIB and Polio combo vaccine) – 330 micrograms.
- Pediarix (DTaP, Hep B and Polio combo vaccine) – 850 micrograms.
OK, I’ll do the math for you. A newborn who gets a Hepatitis B injection on day one of life would get 250 micrograms of aluminum. This would be repeated at one month of age with the next Hep B shot. When a baby gets the first big round of shots at 2 months, the total dose of aluminum can vary from 295 micrograms (if a non-aluminum HIB and the lowest aluminum brand of DTaP is used) to a whopping 1225 micrograms if the highest aluminum brands are used and Hep B vaccine is also given." And for those of you that don't do metric, 1225 micrograms is 1.2 mg- that's kind of a lot - especially for an infant! And not to mention the other unsavory ingredients you can check out here. Please research...please message me with questions...join a facebook group, like Gentle Informants, to help give you studies to back up this less-than-popular opinion.
So I ask you, are you really "fine"? This 80's generation is afflicted with all kinds of problems like PCOS, food allergies, metabolic disorders, cancers, diabetes, depression, etc. Several 20/30 somethings I know, are on many medications....but this is considered "fine"? And they are now seen in our children! I can't tell you how many birthday parties I cook/bake for, where there are multiple children with life-threatening allergies, and on more than one type of prescription medication. Are "we" really fine? Are our kids "fine"?
I hope this comparison helps you in your journey...I hope you make an informed decision, whether or not you vaccinate.
And I only scratched the surface...
So I ask you, are you really "fine"? This 80's generation is afflicted with all kinds of problems like PCOS, food allergies, metabolic disorders, cancers, diabetes, depression, etc. Several 20/30 somethings I know, are on many medications....but this is considered "fine"? And they are now seen in our children! I can't tell you how many birthday parties I cook/bake for, where there are multiple children with life-threatening allergies, and on more than one type of prescription medication. Are "we" really fine? Are our kids "fine"?
I hope this comparison helps you in your journey...I hope you make an informed decision, whether or not you vaccinate.
And I only scratched the surface...
In health,
Becca H.
P.S. I went through this carefully researched blog without mentioning autism, Dr. Wakefield, or Jenny McCarthy. A non-vaxer isn't always just following a trend...they might just be finding solid research...Becca H.
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