#gynecologist heavy periods new york

[janeyseymour]

Once A Mom (Or Mom Friend)...

Prompt: Jenna is visiting Becky and Dawn and Lulu comes to Jane with a problem.

I’m not sure I did such a great job with following this prompt, but I tried ?? I don’t even know what this is anymore, but I hope you enjoy!

Once a mom (or mom friend), always a mom (or mom friend).

Jenna was out of town taking care of business in Kentucky, but because it was the middle of the school year for Lulu, the girl couldn’t go with her. What Jenna wasn’t prepared for was Lulu getting her period for the first time.

“Jenna!” Jim yelled through the phone. “Lulu is a nightmare. You need to come back. Now. Please.”

“Why is she a nightmare?” The baker was confused. Her precious angel was never a nightmare. 

“I don’t know! She’s been talking back nonstop, and then she locked herself in the bathroom. She’s been in there for like two hours, and our second needs a shower! I’ve tried getting her out, but she’s refusing! She won’t even talk to me now.” Jim was clearly stressed. “What the hell am I supposed to do?”

“Can you see if she’ll talk to me?” Jenna tried.

“I can try.” Jim stood from the couch and walked to the bathroom door. “Lu, honey. Mama’s on the phone. Do you want to talk to her?” The bathroom door opened slightly, a hand grabbed the phone, and then the door was slammed.

“Go away Dad!” Lulu yelled through the door before whispering into the phone. “Mama?”

“Hey hun. Dad tells me you’re giving him a hard time, but that’s not like you. Is there anything going on I should know about?” Jenna spoke into the phone gently. It wasn’t often that Lulu acted out, but when she did, there was almost always a reason.

“I got my period,” Lulu huffed out. “I was feeling gross the past couple days, but I thought it would go away. This morning I woke up, and I got it. I don’t know what to do, but it feels weird going to Dad for something like this.”

“Hun, your father is a gynecologist. He delivered you, remember?”

“That makes it even weirder Ma.” The baker chuckled at the deadpan in her daughter’s voice. 

“Can you please just come home? Please.”

“Sweetheart, I wish I could, but Mama’s got to deal with a few things here. I’ll be home tomorrow.”

“So what am I supposed to do? I can’t find any of the- you know,” The girl trailed off.

“Oh shit.” Jenna had taken the tampons and pads with her. “I think there are a few pads in the bottom drawer in my bedroom that might last you until I get home, but they might not. Do you think you could ask Dad to get you some from the store?”

“No! That’s weird Mom.”

“What if he took you?”

“That’s even weirder. Please, just come home.”

“Hun, you know if I could, I would be there right now. It’s always hard when you can’t come with me to Kentucky.”

“Okay. I’ll uh, figure it out.”

“It’s all going to be okay sweetheart. Do you think you could give the phone back to Dad now?”

“Yeah. I’m sorry I’m causing trouble,” Lulu said sheepishly. 

“It’s okay honey. I know this stuff is stressful, especially since I’m not home. I’ll figure it out. Just relax, I love you.”

“I love you too Mama. I can’t wait for you to come home.” She unlocked the door and yelled for her father, placing the phone on the floor before closing it again.

“Jenna?” Jim picked up the phone.

“Lulu got her period, but she’s feeling awkward about having you do anything about it.”

“Oh.”

“I mean, I understand. I don’t think I would’ve gone to my father about this stuff either.”

“Should I go pick up some things?” Jim wasn’t really sure what to do in this situation. He had always hoped and prayed Jenna would be around when this day came.

“She thinks it’s weird, and she probably won’t be happy if you come home with supplies after talking to me and telling me it’s weird.”

“Well, what am I supposed to do?” the gynecologist sighed into the phone.

“I don’t know. I’ll figure it out. Give me a few minutes, and I’ll call you back when I think of something.”

“Okay. I love you.” Jenna reciprocated the feeling and hung up. The brunette paced back and forth.

“Damn, you look like shit girl,” Becky commented.

“What’s wrong hun? Somethin’ with Lulu?” Dawn tried, more cautiously than her boisterous friend.

“Lu got her period, and she doesn’t want Jim to help at all.”

“Oh.” Dawn’s mouth formed an ‘O’. “And you’re not there.”

“Yes Dawn, I know I’m not there. That’s kind of the issue.”

“Well, what about Jane? Is she still in New York?” Becky leaned over the counter to look at her frazzled friend.

“Now that’s not a bad idea. Do you guys think you could handle my tables while I call her real quick?”

“I mean, I suppose I could,” Becky draped herself dramatically over the counter. “Oh, so much work.”

“You’re so dramatic,” Jenna laughed as she walked into the bathroom to call her blonde friend.

“Hello?” Jane’s chipper voice came through.

“Hey Jane, it’s Jenna.”

“Oh hey! How’s it going out in Kentucky?”

“It’s just as I remember it, but I’m actually calling about something else.”

“Oh. What’s up?”

“I need to ask you a favor.”

“I don’t really know how I can help you when you’re all the way in the middle of nowhere, but I can try?”

“Lulu got her period.”

“Oh.”

“And she’s too awkward to have Jim do anything about it. Do you think you could just like, go check up on her? Maybe take her to get pads or something if you can coerce her out of the house?”

“I’m on it. Anything else?”

“Thank you for always being willing to help out.”

“You know I’m always going to be around for you, Jim and the girls. I’ll head over now.” Jane grabbed her keys and made her way out the door.

“Hey. Did you figure it out?” Jim asked his wife. 

“Jane’s coming over to see if she can get through to Lu. Whatever happens, let it happen. Okay?” 

“If Jane can get her out of the bathroom, I’ll be amazed.”

“Okay. I have to get back to my tables, but I love you.”

“I love you too. Bye.”

Jane pulled up to the Pomatter-Hunterson household and took a deep breath. She didn’t know what she was going to do today, but this certainly was throwing her for a loop. She walked up to the front door and knocked.

“You’re a lifesaver,” Jim got out as he whipped the door open. “She’s either in the bathroom or her room, but she refuses to talk to me. Good luck.” Jane nodded her head before heading up the stairs. The bathroom was closed, but she could distinctly hear the littlest Pomatter-Hunterson singing. Lulu was in her room. 

“Lulu?” She knocked on the door gently. “It’s Jane. Do you think you could open the door for me?”

“Aunt Janey? What are you doing here?” Lulu called from the other side of the door.

“Your mama told me what’s going on and asked if I’d come check up on you. Do you think I could come in? If not, that’s okay too. I just want to make sure you’re alright and you don’t need anything.” Jane wasn’t going to push the girl into anything she didn’t want to do.

“You can come in,” Lulu granted the woman permission. 

Jane pushed the door open, and her eyes fell on the girl with tear stains down her face, curled up in a ball on her bed. 

“Oh sweet girl,” Jane sighed. “Periods suck, don’t they?”

“I just want my Mama,” Lulu tried to say without sounding like a little girl.

“I know love. Is it okay with you if I sit?” The girl nodded and patted the spot on the bed next to her. 

“I’m sorry for wasting your time. I’ll be okay if you have things to do.”

“Sweetheart, you’re not wasting my time. You know I always have time for you and your sweet family.”

“I just feel bad and-” The not-so-little girl’s eyes snapped shut. “Shit.”

“Lu,” Jane chided. She knew Jenna wasn’t fond of her daughter cursing.

“I’m sorry. My stomach just really hurts.”

“Cramps are a bitch, aren’t they?” Jane laughed.

“You just told me not to curse Aunt Janey.”

“If you don’t tell your mama I cursed, I won’t tell her you did either.”

“Deal.”

“Did you take anything for the cramps?”

“I haven't done anything except yell at Dad, cry in the bathroom for like an hour, and then find one of the pads Mama said was around here. There’s only like two more though.”

“Well, why don’t we get some tylenol for you, and we can go to the store and grab some pads. Then, we can have a Lulu and Aunt Janey day?”

“Okay,” Lulu agreed. 

As the two were heading out the door, both Jim and the younger daughter silently thanked Jane for taking the monster that Lulu had become.

“I don’t even know what to get.” Lulu looked at the various types of feminine products she might need.

“Well uh, how, uh, heavy is it?” Jane asked awkwardly.

“I don’t know. It’s my first one, remember?”

“It’s better safe than sorry,” Jane muttered as she grabbed the ‘super’ pads.

“Thank you for coming with me. It would’ve been so much weirder with Dad.”

“Well, considering this is pretty awkward for me, I don’t even want to know how your Dad would’ve handled it.”

“Mama told me when her and Dad first met, he was really awkward and went on about how what a woman’s body does is beautiful, and I don't think I would’ve survived that.”

“What the fuck?” the blonde mumbled softly enough, praying that Lulu didn’t hear it. Jane had thought Jim was strange, but certainly not that strange.

“I heard that,” Lulu said matter-of-factly. “Do you always curse this much?”

“If you don’t tell your mama, I’ll let you have ice cream?”

“Wow. You really don’t want Mama knowing you curse.”

“Oh, your mama knows I curse. It’s just a matter of cursing in front of you and your sister.”

“Oh. I’ll take you up on that ice cream.” The two walked to the front of the store, paid for their things, and made their way to the local ice cream parlor. 

“Do you think I could come hang out with you and the girls today instead of going home? Please? If I go home with a giant ass-”

“Lulu,” Jane said sternly.

“If I go home with a giant ass-”

“Lulu!”

“What? You said fuck! Ass isn’t anything compared to that!”

“And now you said fuck!”

“And you said it again,” Lulu pointed out to her surrogate aunt with a smirk.

“I’m an adult!”

“And I’m thirteen! Don’t act like you and Mama weren’t saying those words at my age. Now, if I go home with a giant ass pack of pads, Dad is going to be so weird about it. Can I please come home with you?” The girl looked up at her aunt with pleading eyes.”

“I suppose a girls night wouldn’t be such a bad thing. Let me just call and ask him.”

When Jenna came to pick up her daughter the next day, she knocked on the front door lightly. No one answered. 

“Hello? Is anyone awake?” She unlocked the door with the key the queens had given her. When she walked in, she saw a sight that melted her heart: Her Lulu, along with the rest of the queens, were dead asleep in the living room. The others were spread out around the room, but Lulu was laid across Jane, who had a protective hand on her leg, and Anne, who was curled into the blonde and more than happy to have the young girl using her lap as a pillow. 

“Jane?” The baker made her way over to the silver queen. 

“Huh?” Jane’s eyes snapped open. “Holy- Jesus!”

“Well, that’s not my name,” Jenna laughed.

“You scared the hell out of me!”

“There’s no hell in you to begin with,” the brunette shot back.

“I thought you weren’t coming back until the afternoon?”

“I got done early last night and came home. When Jim told me Lu was here, I ran out the door. He stopped me though, telling me she was so excited to be having a ‘Lulu and her girls’ night. I would’ve been over sooner but uh,” Jenna trailed off. “You know.”

“I do not need to know about your sex life, dear friend of mine.”

“I never said anything about-”

“You and I both know what happens when you two have a night to yourselves, and I am still traumatized from that time you butt dialed me while I had the girls.”

“Jane!” The baker whined. “You swore we’d never talk about it again.”

“There better not be another little one around here in nine months.”

“You suck.”

“You swallow,” Jane shot back with a grin.

“Ooh,” Jenna stifled a laugh. “I knew we were friends for a reason. You’re so dirty.”

“Might I remind you that approximately 75% of your pies are sex related?” Jane shifted from her position on the couch, startling the two sleeping girls on her in the process.

“Jane what the-” Anne started.

“Mama?” Lulu rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she sat up.

“Hi sweet child of mine,” Jenna cooed at her. “How was your sleepover with your girls?”

“As always, amazing. So much better than trying to handle Dad and Liv.”

“Oh hey,” Jane nudged the kid. “Your dad isn’t too bad now, and Livvy is great.”

“Oh? So you want to listen to my dad try to stumble his way through me having my first period?” The teen popped an eyebrow.

“Well, no.” That was probably the last thing Jane wanted to hear.

“See my point?” Lulu chuckled.

“Well, I’m home now, so if your dad starts to say anything stupid, I’ll stop him. Are you ready to head home?”

“But Aunt Janey promised she’d make me waffles.”

“I did,” Jane went to push herself off the couch.

“I can make them,” Jenna offered, already heading to the kitchen. “Especially after taking in my kid for the night. The usual?”

“But-”

“I’m making them.”

[stephenmccull]

Pandemic Highlights Need for Urgent Care Clinics for Women

SAN JOSE — Last spring, only weeks into the pandemic, Christina Garcia was spending her days struggling to help her two young sons adjust to online schooling when she got such a heavy, painful period she could barely stand. After a few days, her vision began to blur and she found herself too weak to open a jar.

This story also ran on Los Angeles Times. It can be republished for free.

Garcia’s regular OB/GYN — like most medical offices at the time — was closed, and she was terrified by the prospect of spending hours waiting in an emergency room shoulder to shoulder with people who might have covid.

By the time she stumbled into the newly opened Bascom OB-GYN urgent care clinic at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, clutching a pillow to her belly, Garcia was pale and dehydrated from blood loss and certain she was dying.

“If I didn’t get to the clinic when I did, I think, things could have ended up very different,” said Garcia, 34, who underwent an emergency hysterectomy for uterine fibroids.

Her story illustrates a long-standing gap in women’s health care. For years, many women with common but urgent conditions like painful urinary tract infections or excessive bleeding in the aftermath of a miscarriage have faced a grim choice between waiting weeks for an appointment with their regular OB-GYN or braving hours in an ER waiting room.

Urgent care OB-GYN clinics have begun popping up around the country in recent years, and the covid pandemic has increased demand. While no data is available on the number of urgent care clinics for women, they are part of a surge of interest in urgent care clinics in general and other alternative models like retail clinics and so-called digital-first health care startups. One of these, the New York-based women’s health startup Tia (“aunt” in Spanish), won $24 million in venture capital funding last spring and is opening physical clinics nationwide.

“It’s clear that access and convenience are increasingly more important to consumers than seeing a specific provider,” said Rob Rohatsch, chief medical officer at Solv, an app that books urgent care appointments.

The Urgent Care Association has reported steadily increasing visits by people who use its members’ walk-in clinics as an alternative to hospital emergency departments. Traffic to these clinics has surged during the past year, according to Solv.

The Bascom clinic had been a nearly decadelong dream of Drs. Cheryl Pan and Anita Sit, two obstetrician-gynecologists at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, a sprawling public hospital that serves as the regional trauma center, treating critical cases like car accident and gunshot victims and relegating people suffering less life-threatening problems to long waits.

“Women — perhaps pregnant or bleeding — could be sitting there 12 to 14 hours, depending on the time of day,” Pan said.

After the onset of the pandemic, doctors worried that women with serious or even deadly issues like Garcia’s might avoid seeking treatment for fear of contracting covid. ER visits plummeted an unprecedented 42% in the early months of the pandemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A June CDC report noted that, while the number of ER visits for heart attacks had increased, visits for nonspecific chest pain had decreased, suggesting that people might be risking their lives by avoiding the ER.

“You can imagine that a woman with three kids at home might be even more scared,” Sit said. “We just couldn’t keep sending women having miscarriages to wait hours in the covid tent.”

Instead, women can now be triaged over the phone and seen within a day or two at the Bascom OB-GYN urgent care clinic — much the way they would at their local Planned Parenthood branch for contraceptives or a sexually transmitted disease screening. Bascom is equipped to treat conditions from severe morning sickness to ectopic pregnancies that require emergency surgery. In its first year, the clinic has treated some 1,300 women and served as a backup to local clinics that provide basic reproductive health services in counties hundreds of miles away.

It’s still in its pilot phase, however, operating weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., which “leaves a big chunk of off-hours that we cannot serve women,” Sit acknowledges.

A handful of other clinics have taken the concept of urgent care for women a step further. Dr. Miriam Mackovic runs Complete Women Care, a chain of four clinics in the Los Angeles area that also has an emergency care center in Long Beach, which is staffed 24/7 with a nurse practitioner and equipped with a lab and a pharmacy. Women who walk in are typically seen within 30 minutes, according to Mackovic, and every patient receives a follow-up call the next day.

One woman who turned up at a Complete Women Care clinic said that, after desperately seeking treatment at an ER one Saturday night for a nasty yeast infection, she got a bill in the mail for $1,500.

“In the middle of the night, urgent care centers are closed. OB-GYN offices are definitely closed. So, what is her option except the ER?” asked Mackovic, an obstetrician-gynecologist who also has an MBA.

Mackovic ticked off cautionary tales of patients who’ve arrived at her clinics from as far away as Arizona and Nevada after suffering for weeks while trying to schedule routine operations for uterine cysts or twisted ovaries.

“The medical advances are here. Most emergencies can be resolved on an outpatient basis — a woman can have a hysterectomy with just a fine incision and be home the same day,” Mackovic said. “But a woman who has a miscarriage calls her OB, who says there’s no openings for weeks, so she goes to the ER, and the physician says: Are you dying? No? Then follow up with your OB-GYN.”

Fees for the uninsured — around 20% of Mackovic’s clientele — run from $100 to around $600, she said.

Women in the United States have for years lagged behind those in other rich countries in both their access to health care and their health status. America has the highest maternal mortality rate among developed nations.

Some women see a doctor only in an emergency.

“We have diagnosed so many cancers in the last few years because women walked in for another reason,” said Dr. Adeeti Gupta, founder and CEO of a chain of open-daily clinics in New York City called Walk In Gyn Care that provides comprehensive care without appointments.

Gupta’s three clinics have grown steadily since she opened them seven years ago, largely out of frustration with the months-long wait for an appointment at her own Queens OB-GYN practice. But after the coronavirus hit the city hard, she has seen an uptick in patients — 40% in one location.

The country needs more accessible, comprehensive women’s health care to treat everything from the menstrual pains of adolescents to the hot flashes of postmenopausal grannies, Gupta said.

“The thing about women,” she said, “is their problems never stop.”

This story was produced by KHN, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation.

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

USE OUR CONTENT

This story can be republished for free (details).

Pandemic Highlights Need for Urgent Care Clinics for Women published first on https://smartdrinkingweb.weebly.com/

[gordonwilliamsweb]

Pandemic Highlights Need for Urgent Care Clinics for Women

SAN JOSE — Last spring, only weeks into the pandemic, Christina Garcia was spending her days struggling to help her two young sons adjust to online schooling when she got such a heavy, painful period she could barely stand. After a few days, her vision began to blur and she found herself too weak to open a jar.

This story also ran on Los Angeles Times. It can be republished for free.

Garcia’s regular OB/GYN — like most medical offices at the time — was closed, and she was terrified by the prospect of spending hours waiting in an emergency room shoulder to shoulder with people who might have covid.

By the time she stumbled into the newly opened Bascom OB-GYN urgent care clinic at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, clutching a pillow to her belly, Garcia was pale and dehydrated from blood loss and certain she was dying.

“If I didn’t get to the clinic when I did, I think, things could have ended up very different,” said Garcia, 34, who underwent an emergency hysterectomy for uterine fibroids.

Her story illustrates a long-standing gap in women’s health care. For years, many women with common but urgent conditions like painful urinary tract infections or excessive bleeding in the aftermath of a miscarriage have faced a grim choice between waiting weeks for an appointment with their regular OB-GYN or braving hours in an ER waiting room.

Urgent care OB-GYN clinics have begun popping up around the country in recent years, and the covid pandemic has increased demand. While no data is available on the number of urgent care clinics for women, they are part of a surge of interest in urgent care clinics in general and other alternative models like retail clinics and so-called digital-first health care startups. One of these, the New York-based women’s health startup Tia (“aunt” in Spanish), won $24 million in venture capital funding last spring and is opening physical clinics nationwide.

“It’s clear that access and convenience are increasingly more important to consumers than seeing a specific provider,” said Rob Rohatsch, chief medical officer at Solv, an app that books urgent care appointments.

The Urgent Care Association has reported steadily increasing visits by people who use its members’ walk-in clinics as an alternative to hospital emergency departments. Traffic to these clinics has surged during the past year, according to Solv.

The Bascom clinic had been a nearly decadelong dream of Drs. Cheryl Pan and Anita Sit, two obstetrician-gynecologists at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, a sprawling public hospital that serves as the regional trauma center, treating critical cases like car accident and gunshot victims and relegating people suffering less life-threatening problems to long waits.

“Women — perhaps pregnant or bleeding — could be sitting there 12 to 14 hours, depending on the time of day,” Pan said.

After the onset of the pandemic, doctors worried that women with serious or even deadly issues like Garcia’s might avoid seeking treatment for fear of contracting covid. ER visits plummeted an unprecedented 42% in the early months of the pandemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A June CDC report noted that, while the number of ER visits for heart attacks had increased, visits for nonspecific chest pain had decreased, suggesting that people might be risking their lives by avoiding the ER.

“You can imagine that a woman with three kids at home might be even more scared,” Sit said. “We just couldn’t keep sending women having miscarriages to wait hours in the covid tent.”

Instead, women can now be triaged over the phone and seen within a day or two at the Bascom OB-GYN urgent care clinic — much the way they would at their local Planned Parenthood branch for contraceptives or a sexually transmitted disease screening. Bascom is equipped to treat conditions from severe morning sickness to ectopic pregnancies that require emergency surgery. In its first year, the clinic has treated some 1,300 women and served as a backup to local clinics that provide basic reproductive health services in counties hundreds of miles away.

It’s still in its pilot phase, however, operating weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., which “leaves a big chunk of off-hours that we cannot serve women,” Sit acknowledges.

A handful of other clinics have taken the concept of urgent care for women a step further. Dr. Miriam Mackovic runs Complete Women Care, a chain of four clinics in the Los Angeles area that also has an emergency care center in Long Beach, which is staffed 24/7 with a nurse practitioner and equipped with a lab and a pharmacy. Women who walk in are typically seen within 30 minutes, according to Mackovic, and every patient receives a follow-up call the next day.

One woman who turned up at a Complete Women Care clinic said that, after desperately seeking treatment at an ER one Saturday night for a nasty yeast infection, she got a bill in the mail for $1,500.

“In the middle of the night, urgent care centers are closed. OB-GYN offices are definitely closed. So, what is her option except the ER?” asked Mackovic, an obstetrician-gynecologist who also has an MBA.

Mackovic ticked off cautionary tales of patients who’ve arrived at her clinics from as far away as Arizona and Nevada after suffering for weeks while trying to schedule routine operations for uterine cysts or twisted ovaries.

“The medical advances are here. Most emergencies can be resolved on an outpatient basis — a woman can have a hysterectomy with just a fine incision and be home the same day,” Mackovic said. “But a woman who has a miscarriage calls her OB, who says there’s no openings for weeks, so she goes to the ER, and the physician says: Are you dying? No? Then follow up with your OB-GYN.”

Fees for the uninsured — around 20% of Mackovic’s clientele — run from $100 to around $600, she said.

Women in the United States have for years lagged behind those in other rich countries in both their access to health care and their health status. America has the highest maternal mortality rate among developed nations.

Some women see a doctor only in an emergency.

“We have diagnosed so many cancers in the last few years because women walked in for another reason,” said Dr. Adeeti Gupta, founder and CEO of a chain of open-daily clinics in New York City called Walk In Gyn Care that provides comprehensive care without appointments.

Gupta’s three clinics have grown steadily since she opened them seven years ago, largely out of frustration with the months-long wait for an appointment at her own Queens OB-GYN practice. But after the coronavirus hit the city hard, she has seen an uptick in patients — 40% in one location.

The country needs more accessible, comprehensive women’s health care to treat everything from the menstrual pains of adolescents to the hot flashes of postmenopausal grannies, Gupta said.

“The thing about women,” she said, “is their problems never stop.”

This story was produced by KHN, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation.

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

USE OUR CONTENT

This story can be republished for free (details).

Pandemic Highlights Need for Urgent Care Clinics for Women published first on https://nootropicspowdersupplier.tumblr.com/

[teapleaser]

What It Means to Have a Heavy Period

Following quite a while of living with your period, you know some things about your cycle at this point. Despite the fact that there are numerous basic side effects, such as swelling and spasms, every one of us encounters our period in an alternate manner, so it's difficult to state what's typical and so forth. Yet, there are a couple of warnings that you ought to never overlook, as indicated by Alyssa Dweck, MD, a gynecologist in New York, creator of The Complete start to finish For Your V: A Woman's Guide to Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Your Vagina, and the most recent representative for Monistat.

 One thing Dr. is regularly asked is what establishes a hefty period? All the more critically, when does a substantial period become something to address your primary care physician about? It's an inquiry that numerous ladies don't feel great getting some information about blood isn't actually the most charming thing on the planet — however it's a point that should be examined, particularly in the event that you figure you may have a strangely hefty stream.

 "It's so difficult to measure the measure of blood that individuals are passing," Dr. stated, especially on the grounds that it generally seems as though significantly more when it's sitting in a bowl of latrine water. In any case, here's the distinctive factor: "Our typical rule is in case you're splashing through two super tampons or cushions in 60 minutes, that is sufficiently substantial to warrant concern."

 In the event that this sounds recognizable, don't spare a moment addressing your PCP. Having this sort of hefty period, which is actually called menorrhagia, could mean you have a hormonal lopsidedness, which would make the coating of your uterus get excessively thick and result in a ton of blood. It could likewise highlight developments of polyps or fibroids in your uterus, which bring about heavier, longer periods.

 Drink Feminine Wellness Teas for overcome vaginal infections and vaginal odor.

 These are treatable, yet just in the event that you address your PCP and think of a course of action. Something else Dr. says to look out for is "if something changes essentially" in your cycle. On the off chance that your stream out of nowhere gets hefty for no evident explanation and it remains as such for a very long time, plan a meeting with your doc.

 With regards to your Feminine Wellness, it's smarter to decide in favor of alert. Also, you don't have anything to lose by just conversing with your PCP, regardless of whether it turns out there's not much.

[waronbirthcontrol-blog]

How The Nexplanon Changed My Life (EDIT)

When I was 17, my gynecologist diagnosed me with a hormonal bleeding disorder. Specifically, I was diagnosed with ​menorrhagia. Menorrhagia is the medical term for menstrual periods with abnormal uterine bleeding. Vaginal bleeding between periods is one symptom of abnormal uterine bleeding. In addition, I was diagnosed with anemia and had to start taking iron supplements. I remember how embarrassing it was having to stay at home from school for a full week because I was bleeding out from my vagina 7 days non-stop. In those 7 days, I leaked through super tampons as well as heavy duty pads and it was such a nuisance having to change tampons and pads at least 20 times a day. Once my mother realized that I had disgustingly stained my bed with dark , she immediately took my stubborn self to seek my gynecologist because I was not prepared to make a fool of myself and tell my gynecologist that I was staining my bed and clothes due to a having extremely menstrual cycles.

When my mother had asked my gynecologist what would be best for me to stop all of my bleeding, she had recommended birth control. For some odd reason, those two words triggered my mother and made her shake her head while saying, “NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!” In Vietnamese, she said, “I don’t want my daughter being on birth control.” At first, I thought to myself, “What does this woman know about birth control that I don’t know about? BESIDES THE OBVIOUS one answer that you can’t get pregnant with it?!” Because my mother is an old fashioned, traditional Roman Catholic, there was no arguing with this woman. For centuries, the Roman Catholic Church has continued to believe that you must be marriage first before aiming at reproduction. Because I had not educated myself enough on contraception, I had an extremely hard time convincing my mother that I was a virgin who did not want to have sex until marriage.

Fast forward to present day life, at age 22, I am now thriving with the Nexplanon and my period has completely stopped for good (P.S. my mother does not know that I am on the Nexplanon). To my surprise, my experience with getting the Nexplanon insert in my upper arm was not as bad as I thought it would be. All you have to do is sit back tight, relax, and let your doctor/nurse do all the work. Ha, I wish it were that easy. On a serious note, your doctor/nurse will give you a shot of local anesthesia, specifically lidocaine, and you will without a doubt feel a bit of a sharp sting in your upper arm. Once your arm is numbed out completely, your implant will be inserted into your arm and you shouldn’t feel a thing. If you are a big baby like me, I would highly recommend looking away while the Nexplanon is being implanted into your arm. I must also mention, you may or may not experience bruising on your upper arm which can go from 3 days to 3 weeks (I know, what a horrible spoiler alert right?)

Although the Nexplanon has undoubtedly changed my life for the better, sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I had actually stood up to my mom and told her that I want to proceed with receiving any form of a birth control method that would stop my Niagara falls bleeding. Growing up with old fashioned and overprotective parents was not easy, especially with being the first born and the only girl in a Vietnamese family. My baby brother had everything handed to him growing up, and it wasn’t fair knowing that he was 15 and was allowed to date girls, with no curfew, and even receive a “small” allowance every week while I was 17 and balancing out sports, school, work, with no type of freedom in my life. Why did my mother oppose to me having the Nexplanon and what made her stick to her decision? Did she think that I would all of a sudden get super horny on birth control and would all of a sudden have this high sex drive? Did she think that I would actually get pregnant if I took birth control? If I was bleeding out to death and had this hormonal bleeding disorder, what made it so hard for her to look past the fact that I wouldn’t be doing anything “dumb” once I received birth control? And what does that say about her beliefs compared to my OBGYN’s? Even a medical professional couldn’t get my mother to agree with me to start with birth control. Instead, I took hella pills to get my bleeding to stop, on top of iron supplements. I find it insane to believe that my brother, being a boy, he doesn’t have to worry about having his period and can practically do anything he wants because it’s a “mans” world out there, and it’s easy for him to go out and whip his penis and have sex with whoever he wants, but as a Vietnamese girl, I have to abide by the Catholic rules and listen to what my parents say because what they say is always apparently right? NONSENSE. This is MY body, therefore, I SHOULD have a RIGHT to CHOOSE what I WANT to do WITH my body, and with WHOM or WHAT I choose to do it with. 

Sources:

Janes Due Process. 2017. “Nexplanon: My Experience Getting the Implant.” Retrieved June 1, 2019. (https://janesdueprocess.org/blog/nexplanon-experience-getting-implant/)

Good Rx. 2018. “Nexplanon Pros and Cons: My First-Hand Experience With the Birth Control Implant.” Retrieved June 1, 2019. (https://www.goodrx.com/blog/nexplanon-pro-cons-first-hand-experience-birth-control-implant/)

Mayo Clinic. 2017. “Menorrhagia (heavy menstrual bleeding).” Retrieved June 1, 2019. (https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/menorrhagia/symptoms-causes/syc-20352829)

Eig, J. (2014). The birth of the pill: How four crusaders reinvented sex and launched a revolution. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. (Class source)

Giuseppe Benagiano, Carlo Bastianelli & Manuela Farris (2007). Contraception: A social revolution, The European Journal of Contraception & Reproductive Health Care. (Class source)

[yourcycleyourfood]

9 Period Mistakes You're Probably Making

1. Not Tracking Your Period

Don't make the mistake of thinking that the only women who keep a close eye on their cycles are the ones who are trying to get pregnant. By tracking your period, the heaviness of your flow, and the kind of cramps you're experiencing, you and your OBGYN will be able to identify any irregularities that may come along. Use a handy app like MyCycles on your phone — I promise you it will change your life. You'll have a better sense of what to expect emotionally and physically week to week, and can even plan your vacations around when you'll be ovulating, months in advance.

2. Not Washing Your Hands Often Enough

You get super up close and personal with yourself when you get your period — changing tampons, keeping the area clean, etc. Most of us only wash our hands after inserting a tampon or menstrual cup. But Alyssa Dweck, a gynecologist from Westchester, New York and author of V is for Vagina, says we need to lather up much more often in order to protect our pussy from the germs that constantly surround us. If you're going to be touching your vagina, make sure to wash your hands before as well.

3. Forgetting To Look At The Color Of Your Blood

The stuff you empty out of your Diva cup could be trying to send you an important message, so don't cringe away from it. Color and texture of menstrual blood matters. Bright red is a good sign, dark colors probably just mean it's old blood that took a while to come out, and occasional clotting is normal — but see a doctor if you run into heavy clots more often than not. The second you see orange, or orange with red streaks, call your OBGYN; it could mean there are fluids from the cervix mixed in there, and you're battling an infection.

4. Taking Pain Relievers After Cramps Start

Life is hard enough as it is, people. Why wait until you're in the fetal position before you reach for that ibuprofen? Doctors say it's significantly less effective if you pop a few over-the-counter painkillers after the cramps have kicked in. This is another reason tracking your cycle comes in handy — you can just set a reminder for three or four days before the PMS hits, and just like that, you've beat your period at its own game.

5. Using Scented Products

That vag of yours works very hard to keep itself clean, so give it a break if you catch a whiff of a little odor. Don't be put off by it, either — it's natural, as your pH levels are going through some temporary ups and downs. Focus on cleaning your vagina naturally and safely, instead of using tampons or washes that are artificially scented. Those perfumes, which are full of chemicals, could irritate you in your sensitive lady parts, making everything feel even worse.

6. Not Consuming Enough Iron

Jaclyn London, senior dietician at Mount Sinai Hospital in NYC, told Women's Health that the majority of women say they crave things like a big, juicy hamburger when they're on their periods. It's wildly common for us to be low on iron during that time of the month, and even though most of us already know this to be true, we're not doing enough to replenish ourselves. If you're not a meat eater, grab some beans or spinach, or take supplements. Still feel totally wiped out? Chat with your doc and get some blood tests done to make sure you're not anemic.

7. Freaking Out If You're A Little Early Or Late

It sounds counterintuitive, but small irregularities are pretty regular. You don't need to tearfully Skype your OBGYN in the middle of the night if your period shows up several days early, especially if you're on the younger side, as it takes several years to fall into a consistent menstrual cycle. Being irregular all the time, on the other hand, is worth a visit to the doctor, because you could face some trouble getting pregnant in the future, or you might be suffering from a condition like PCOS.

8. Eating The Wrong Kinds Of Sugar

You crave sugar when you're PMSing, right? Of course you do, because you're a totally normal woman! Science clearly says that our blood sugar levels go out of whack during menstruation, so it's standard to pine after that extra packet of cookies. But chances are, you're not making the best decision in your dessert selection. By eating the processed, refined sugars packed into store-bought doughnuts and ice cream, you worsen your mood swings and cause immune system imbalances.

Do your ovaries a favor and bake yourself some delicious brownies instead — made from natural, organic ingredients — or pile some fruit on top of Greek yogurt.

9. Not Resting Enough

We tend to push ourselves through a busy week even if we don't feel so hot. It's time to stop this madness and gift ourselves the opportunity to rest. When I say "rest," though, I do not speak of a Netflix binge, as tempting as it sounds. You need real, actual sleep when you're on your period; your body is working overtime, and it deserves a break. If you don't answer nature's call, you will be more cranky, more anxious, and more prone to eating those unfriendly kinds of sugars. 

by Gina M. Florio

via Bustle

want to eat in tune with your menstrual cycle? follow yourcycleyourfood

[suitairbus3-blog]

Signs you’ve got an ovarian cyst you shouldn’t ignore

© bee32 Gynecologists share the ovarian cyst symptoms, from pelvic pain to urinary urgency and painful sex, that all women need to know about. Think of ovarian cysts as the pimples of the reproductive system: mostly benign, sometimes painful, and annoying AF.

Usually, your ovaries (those reproductive organs where eggs are produced) chug along according to schedule. But sometimes, they can develop ovarian cysts-tiny fluid- or tissue-filled sacs that are typically NBD...until, well, they're a really big deal.

Hold on, tell me a little more about ovarian cysts

“The vast majority of ovarian cysts are benign, follicular cysts that come and go with your cycle and need no further management,” says Taraneh Shirazian, M.D., a gynecologist at NYU Langone Health, specializing in minimally invasive gynecologic surgery. You likely don't even notice them-according to the Office on Women's Health (OWH), most women make at least one cyst each month, due to their regular periods.

But sometimes, the cysts are too large, there are too many, or they just don't go away on their own, says Shirazian. In those cases, surgery could be required so they don't become cancerous or cause too many hellish symptoms.

© Getty RF - Getty Images ovarian cyst symptoms And "hellish" isn't an understatement-if a cyst (or cysts) start causing issues, you'll feel it; and, left untreated, problematic cysts could rupture or even grow large enough to make your ovary twist around the fallopian tube, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). That's known as ovarian torsion, which can cause sudden, severe pain and the possible loss of your ovary.

Luckily, those little cysts show signs once they start to go rogue-here's what to look out for, so you can call your doctor ASAP and get things taken care of.

1. You have some pretty awful pelvic pain.

The most common ovarian cyst symptom is pain in the lower right or left side of the pelvis, right where the ovaries are, says Shirazian-and it doesn't go away. “You might feel it when you exercise, you might feel it when you’re sexually active, but it will be a pain in that specific place that is constant and stays even after your menstrual cycle goes away.”

If the pain becomes severe or even unbearable, it's a sign that you might have an ovarian torsion, says Shirazian. When that happens, it cuts off the ovary's blood supply, which causes really bad pain, says Shirazian-the type that will send you straight to the emergency room (hopefully).

2. You're feeling super-bloated.

Swelling is obviously a vague symptom, but it can be related to ovarian cysts depending on their size. “Most women experience cysts under 10 centimeters. But some cysts can grow to be very big, like the size of a watermelon,” says Eloise Chapman-Davis, M.D., a gynecological oncologist at Weill Cornell Medicine and New York-Presbyterian.

“Many women will write that off as weight gain, but abdominal pain and bloating could be the result of a mass growing in the stomach. So if the weight is only in your stomach, or you can't figure out any reason you'd be gaining weight in the first place, that's a red flag.

3. You feel full all the time.

Like with uterine fibroids, ovarian cysts can cause a feeling a heaviness in the abdomen. “A cyst is a mass, and it’s occupying space, which can give you that feeling of pressure,” says Shirazian.

Sure, you can get a somewhat similar feeling with constipation, but unless you have cysts in both ovaries, this sensation will only strike one side of your pelvis. If your bathroom habits are fine, but you've been feeling this way for two to three weeks, it's worth finding out if an ovarian cyst might be to blame, Chapman-Davis says.

4. You don't want to have sex because it hurts.

Here's the thing: Sex should never hurt, so if it does, it means something is up. If you’re having penetrative sex and you feel pain on one side versus the other, there’s a chance it could be related to an ovarian cyst.

“Some cysts, when they become big, can fall behind the uterus, and in that case are sitting right by your cervix,” says Chapman-Davis. “So you might feel pain with deep penetration.” Endometriomas (ovarian cysts related to endometriosis) can also cause pain during sex, because they’re located closer to the cervix, she adds.

5. You feel like you have to go pee all the time (but sometimes can't go).

Another symptom of ovarian cysts that many women mention, according to Chapman-Davis, is feeling the urge to pee all of the time. “If the cyst is pushing against your bladder, you may feel like you have to urinate,” she says. ���Or some women feel that they need to go more frequently, but it’s harder for them to go,” because of a blockage by the cyst.

6. You have constant back or leg pain.

Of course, back or leg pain could be attributed to a ton of different things, but if your doc has ruled everything else out, it might be worth exploring an ovarian cyst as a reason.

Ovarian cysts can hurt your back or legs when they become too big.“You don’t have that much room in your pelvis, so when a cyst gets too large, depending on where it is in the pelvis, it can lead to back or leg pain,” says Chapman-Davis, explaining that cysts can compress the nerves that run along the back of your pelvis.

7. You're experiencing bleeding outside of your normal cycle.

When ovarian cysts develop, they can mess with your hormones-women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), which basically means they develop tons of little cysts on their ovaries, can often experience irregular bleeding, whether due to frequent ovulation or a lack of ovulation.

That's because of an imbalance of estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone, says Alyssa Dweck, M.D., ob-gyn and author of The Complete A to Z for Your V. If you're experiencing other symptoms commonly associated with PCOS, like weight gain, fertility issues, and acne, it's best to bring it up to your doc.

Source: http://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/7-signs-you’ve-got-an-ovarian-cyst-you-shouldn’t-ignore/ar-BBPgB2L?srcref=rss

[im-still-writing-out-of-time]

Lost- Aaron Burr x Reader

I’m gonna warn you, you might need tissues.

Dedicated to Erin Nicole. 

Tw: pregnancy loss, angst, etc. 

Masterlist

Aaron sat at his desk staring at the pregnancy test. Those two little lines meant that there really was a baby in there. He had waited for so long to have a child and now you were pregnant. He stared at the plastic test wondering; would it be a boy? A girl? Would she look like you or him? He stared at the picture of you on his desk lovingly. Finally, he placed the pink and white test carefully in the middle drawer of his desk. He loved you with all of his heart when he married you, but with every passing day, he seemed to fall in love with you more and more.

He was smiling as he worked, even when Alexander burst through his office doors. “Burr, I- What’s got you so happy?”

“I can’t just smile? What do you need Alexander?”

“I uh… I don’t remember,” he ducked out of the room, confusion written on his face. Aaron didn’t know why, but almost nothing could ruin his day. He worked until almost lunchtime. Only three more hours and he could go home to your smiling face. He walked out into the main room, cubicles bunched up in the center a smile on his face. You were about six weeks pregnant, with a little peanut, his little baby. You had found out last night, and he hadn’t stopped smiling since. He was so excited to become a father.

He walked with a bounce in his step, his coworkers in the cubicles stopping the clacking of their keyboards to watch him as he walked to the break room and pushed the door open, sashaying inside.

Alexander was inside, a stack of papers beside him, a hardly-touched sandwich in front of him. “Your smile has been bugging me all day. Why are you so happy?”

“It’s just a good day, Alexander.”

“Are you getting laid tonight or something? Have a date night planned? Why are you so happy?”

Aaron just smiled as he felt his phone buzzing against his leg. He dug around his pockets until he found his phone, your picture on the screen. “It’s my wife,” he beamed. “Hey babe,” he said to you.

“Aaron, come home now. Something’s wrong with the baby.”

The smile immediately dropped from his face. “What do you mean?” His tone was a mixture of emotions, none of them good; somber, fearful, confused. Alexander watched on as your husband began bouncing anxiously as you talked on the phone.

“I don’t know. I have this intense stabbing pain through my stomach and back. I’m bleeding and everything hurts, Aaron. Come home.”  He couldn’t see you, but you were on your knees in the living room, your head resting on the couch cushion, arms above your head, your stomach avoiding touching anything. He ran to the door, fumbling with the knob, trying to turn it but his nerves preventing him from functioning properly.

“I’ll be home as soon as possible. I’m heading home now.” He finally grasped the knob and turned it, pushing the door open and sprinting across the floor to his office. Alexander stalked to his office and locked everything away where it belonged and grabbed his coat, beating a jittery Aaron to the elevator.

“Where are we going?” he asked as Aaron walked over to the elevator, the door already open from Alexander pressing the button, the men walked in and Aaron pressed the ‘basement’ button three times, slamming his finger down harder each time.

“I’m going home to my wife. Something’s wrong and she needs me there.”

“Okay, first,” Alexander began. “You drive here every day, despite the fact that it’s New York City and you could just as easily use public transit. Because of that, your car is here, and you need it to get home. Secondly, the way you’re bouncing and jittering, there’s no way I could morally allow you to drive home in your condition. Therefore, I’m going to drive you to your house. And then I’m going to help with whatever you need help with. And you’re going to let me because y-”

“God, don’t you ever fucking shut up? Fine. You can drive me, just shut the hell up for once.”

Alexander, for once, took him seriously. Whatever you told him you needed had to have been important, otherwise, his mood wouldn’t have made a complete 180. The door opened to the car lot and Alexander grabbed the keys from Aaron’s hands, unlocking the car as they walked closer. Aaron jumped in the passenger seat and his hands shook as he clipped his seat belt.

The ride to the house was almost silent other than the sound of Aaron’s fingers drumming against ��the door. “Something’s wrong with the baby. We have to bring her to the hospital.” His voice was quiet, full of emotion as his face darted back and forth, between Alexander’s face and the road, trying to gauge his reaction.

“The baby. That explains the smile.”

“She’s six weeks pregnant and she’s got these pains going through her stomach and back. And she said they aren’t the normal pains. And she’s crying and I don’t know what to do.” By now, Aaron was crying, his voice was wavering and his body was shaking.

“What you need to do right now is calm down,” Alexander said, glancing at Aaron. “If you’re crying, she’ll be a mess. If you act like it’ll all be okay, and convince her that the doctors will help, she’ll be more calm.” Aaron sat in the seat, trying not to cry, trying to regulate his breathing, but ultimately making himself more tense. “Dude, I said calm down, not wind yourself so tight that you’ll burst.”

Alexander pulled the car into the driveway and Aaron was running to the house before the car was even in park. He found you on the floor in the living room, your head resting on the couch, arms above your head. Your body was swaying back and forth, shaking from your sobs. He ran to you, kneeling down to your level. “(Y/N), talk to me. What do you need?”

“We need to go to the hospital,” you sobbed. “I called the doctor. He said-” You let out a groan of pain as a stabbing sensation ran through your lower torso. “Just take me.”

Aaron picked you up and brought you to the door. He had read a lot about pregnancy, but he knew this wasn’t normal pain. He cradled you close to him, meeting Alexander at your front door. Alexander? You thought. He rushed to the back of the Aaron’s car, where Aaron slid inside, still cradling you in his arms.  "No matter what,“ he whispered. “I’ll love you. I promise.” He closed his eyes and pressed his lips against the top of your head, nose buried in your hair. “I love you so, so much, (Y/N).”

Alexander made it to the hospital in record time, somehow managing to miss the lunchtime rush. “I’ll go park and wait in the car. Let me know what happens, okay?” Aaron maneuvered you both out of the car, setting you down on the pavement. “Good luck, you two.”

“Thank you,” you breathed before the pain ripped through your core.

Aaron lead you to the emergency room, calling for help as you collapsed just inside the door. “Somebody help us, please. Help my wife.” An attending from the emergency room grabbed a wheelchair and ran over as Aaron picked you up, placing you in the wheelchair. Your hands wrapped around yourself, cradling your lower abdomen.

“Aaron,” you whimpered.

“I know, darling. I know.”

She was brought into a room and undressed, Aaron and an orderly helping her into a thin hospital gown. The doctor took her vitals and examined her, all while she cried out in pain from the contracting that tore through her. “Mrs Burr, I’m sorry to have to say this, but you’re miscarrying.”

“What?” you whispered, the emotional and physical pain evident in your voice.

“The cramping you feel is contracting. It’s your body trying to get rid of the embryo.”

You cast your eyes away from Aaron, the tears running down your face. This was your fault. It had to be your fault. You had both wanted a baby for so long, and the timing was never right, and now that you were finally pregnant, you fucked up and miscarried. It had to have been your fault.

“I’m sorry, Mrs Burr. Sometimes these things just happen. I’ll get you a script for the pain, and you’ll have to have a follow up appointment with your gynecologist. You’re going to bleed a bit, but it shouldn’t be much heavier than a period. The cramping should get better after a couple days. After a full regular cycle, so when you get a normal period- no extra cramping, as heavy as usual- you can start trying again, but if your gynecologist recommends otherwise, follow his orders. I’ll get you that script, but other than that, there’s not much else I can do. I’m sorry. We’ll keep you until the pain medicine kicks in.”  

“Thank you doctor,” said Aaron. His voice was low, pained. He had held your hand the entire time and even now he held it, even though he should be staying away from you. You killed his baby. It was all your fault. “(Y/N), I love you.”

You stay silent. He shouldn’t. This was all your fault. “I love you,” you finally mumbled, your voice void of emotion. You could finally feel the medicine they gave you working, and you finally had some relief from the pain. You sighed as the medicine sent relief through you, your abdominal muscles aching from the cramping it had been going through for so long.

The doctor came back in, a pill vial in his hands. “Take this every four hours, just one pill, up to six a day. I’ve made an appointment for you to follow up with your gynecologist in three weeks.” He handed you a packet of papers, the words glaring at you from the front page: Dealing With a Miscarriage. Your heart stuttered- you could hear it on the monitor. This was all becoming more real with every passing minute: you had killed your baby.

The room began to spin and everything began to blur. Your eyes welled with tears, your eyelids fluttering as they began to close. You were vaguely aware of Aaron squeezing your hand, and the doctor trying to talk to you, but all you could hear was the pounding of your heart. You just wanted to be left alone. Why couldn’t they leave you alone? Someone was shining a light in your eyes, but it wasn’t bothering you. It was barely a light glow. You closed your eyes and laid on your side, away from Aaron. You could feel the bleeding between your legs but you blocked out everything. You didn’t care about anything anymore.

“(Y/N)!”

“What?” You screamed. “What could you possibly want from me?!” You were sobbing. “I killed our baby.”

Aaron was behind you, still holding your hand as you whipped back around. The anger in your eyes finally caused him to let go and shrink back, sitting in the seat in the corner of the room. “Let’s just go home. I have your discharge papers.”

His movements were robotic as he helped you out of the gown and into your street clothes. You could see the emptiness behind his eyes and you just assumed it was because you snapped at him. You didn’t mean it… “Aaron-”

“It’s fine. Let’s just go home.” His shoulders slumped. He let you walk in front of him, he walked on the side of the sidewalk, he led you across the crosswalk and even opened the car door for you, sitting you in the passenger seat beside Alexander while he crawled in the back. You leaned your head against the window as Aaron sat behind you, a blank stare on his face. “Can you bring us home Alexander? We’ll drop (Y/N) off, then I’ll bring you home.”

The car stayed silent the entire way home. Even at home, Aaron jumped out, opened the door for you, and walked you to the house, getting you comfortable on the couch before kissing you on the cheek and leaving. He walked to the car in silence. He still had the packet of papers in his hand; he hadn’t let them go even as he walked you to the house.

The two minute ride to Alexander’s house was silent, and Aaron stared at the papers in his hands. Alexander pulled into his driveway and put the car in park, turning it off and grabbing the keys before he climbed out. “Come on. You’re coming inside.”

“She lost the baby.”

“I know. Come on. You’re going in.” Alexander walked around and opened the door, ripping the packet of papers from Aaron’s hands, tossing them back in the car. He grabbed Aaron’s hands and pulled him from the car, slamming the door behind him. “You’re going inside with me, and we’re going to talk. You can’t keep this bottled in or you’ll run yourself into a hole in the ground.”

Aaron pulled his hands from Alexander’s. “Why do you care?” He asked. “Why does it matter to you if I run myself into the ground?”

Alexander unlocked the front door and pushed it open. Eliza was in the kitchen cooking food, a baby Philip sleeping in the playpen near the front walkway. “Just follow me.” He tossed Aaron’s keys on the counter, grabbed Philip carefully, and carried him to his office, Burr sluggishly trudging behind him.

“Alexander, if you’re just going to rub it in my face, I’m leaving.”

“No, I’m not doing that. I promise. I’m an ass, not that much of an ass. Sit down. I’ll pour you a drink.” He maneuvered around his office, Philip in one arm, his other grabbing a pair of glasses and some whiskey from a cupboard.

“I can’t drink. I gotta drive myself home.” He wanted to, but he knew better than to drink and drive.

“Aaron, it’s one drink. And if you don’t trust yourself driving after that, Eliza can take you home.” He poured the whiskey into the glasses. “I want you to hold Pip for me,” he said, laying the infant in Aaron’s arms.

Aaron’s hands cradled the newborn’s head, and he smiled sadly. He would love to experience this with you. But for now, that was just a dream. “Alexander what’s all the point in this?”

“That little smile you just had. That was the point. You still want children, I’m assuming. Don’t let this little bump in the road tear you and (Y/N) apart. You’ll have your baby one day. But you have to talk to each other. This whole icing each other out thing? It’s gonna make things worse.” He took a swig from his glass. “I can almost guarantee she blames herself for losing the baby and that’s why she was harsh to you.” Aaron’s head jerked up. He hadn’t told Alexander about that.

“How did you-?”

“I’ve lived it,” he said sadly. “I lived the harsh snaps and the mood swings. I dealt with her feelings of guilt and my thousands of questions. And that little man you’re holding in your arms? He’s what came out of all that heartbreak. When Eliza miscarried, we were both inconsolable. She blamed herself and I wanted answers.” He chugged the rest of his drink. “Did you know that one in four pregnancies ends in a miscarriage? Twenty-five percent. We came through it, and you will too, but you’ll both have to learn to trust each other and talk.”

Aaron nodded his head and drank the half glass of whiskey in one gulp. “I gotta go home,” he said, standing up and handing Philip over to Alexander.

Alexander smiled at him. “Yeah you do. Go. Talk to your wife, hold her when she cries and let her know it’s not your fault. When she’s done blaming herself, she’ll help you too.”

Aaron wrapped his arms around Alexander quickly, Philip still sleeping between them. “Thank you Alexander. You do actually have a human soul under that never-ending robot exterior.” He ran down the hallway and swiped his keys from the counter. “Goodbye Eliza,” he called as he slipped his coat back on.

“Leaving so soon?”

“I’ve gotta go talk to my wife,” he said, running out the door. He jumped into his car and made it home in less than a minute. He sat in the car for a minute before gathering his courage and walking inside. He expected to find you waiting for him, awake, but you were sleeping on the couch, your hands wrapped around your empty womb.

Aaron took one look at you and all his courage fell away from him. He came home wanting to talk, but seeing your tear stained face, your arms covering your abdomen, made his desolation and pain come rushing back to him. You had taken your pregnancy test, laid it on the coffee table, and smashed it to bits. He drew a blanket over your body and sank to his knees in front of the coffee table, his hands fumbling with the broken pieces of the pregnancy test, trying to put it back together, willing it to reassemble. His hands shook as he began to sob, and he dropped the pieces and buried his face in his hands.  

You woke up with a start. Your quiet house had been invaded by the sound of sobbing. Your husband sat on his knees, his hands covering his face in front of the coffee table, in front of the test you had smashed in a fit of rage.

“Aaron, I’m so sorry,” you whispered. Now he would definitely blame you.

His head darted up from his hands, and his hands moved back to his face, as if controlled by a magnet, to wipe away his tears. “My love,” he said, his voice hoarse and shaking. “I didn’t know you were awake.”

“You were crying,” you whispered. “It woke me up.” You wrapped your arms around him, crying into his work shirt. “I’m so sorry I lost her.”

He shook his head at you. “It’s not your fault. These things just happen sometimes.” He kissed your forehead, pressing his lips and leaving them there, resting just below your hairline. “How do you feel?”

“Empty,” you whispered as your voice broke. “How ‘bout you?” You moved yourself to lay on his chest, his arms comforting as they wrapped around you.

“I don’t know,” he said, his voice cracking. “I just feel…”

“Heart-broken?” You offered.

“Lost.”

So I know that not all miscarriages are like this, but this is based of my personal story, with a few key differences. I didn’t go to the hospital or my doctor, and I didn’t have my fiance by my side. So all those feelings that both Aaron and the reader are feeling are based off of what I felt, and what I’m still feeling eight months after the fact. I want to thank Sinclair for being there for me the last couple of nights when I was breaking down writing this, you’re the real MVP, and I’m so glad you’re my best friend. 

[bigyack-com]

Abortion by Telemedicine: A Growing Option as Access to Clinics Wanes

Ashley Dale was grateful she could end her pregnancy at home.As her 3-year-old daughter played nearby, she spoke by video from her living room in Hawaii with Dr. Bliss Kaneshiro, an obstetrician-gynecologist, who was a 200-mile plane ride away in Honolulu. The doctor explained that two medicines that would be mailed to Ms. Dale would halt her pregnancy and cause a miscarriage.“Does it sound like what you want to do in terms of terminating the pregnancy?” Dr. Kaneshiro asked gently. Ms. Dale, who said she would love to have another baby, had wrestled with the decision, but circumstances involving an estranged boyfriend had made the choice clear: “It does,” she replied.Now, the coronavirus pandemic is catapulting demand for telemedicine abortion to a new level, with much of the nation under strict stay-at-home advisories and as several states, including Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas, have sought to suspend access to surgical abortions during the crisis.The telemedicine program that Ms. Dale participated in has been allowed to operate as a research study for several years under a special arrangement with the Food and Drug Administration. It allows women seeking abortions to have video consultations with certified doctors and then receive abortion pills by mail to take on their own.Over the past year, the program, called TelAbortion, has expanded from serving five states to serving 13, adding two of those — Illinois and Maryland — as the coronavirus crisis exploded. Not including those new states, about twice as many women had abortions through the program in March and April as in January and February.To accommodate women during the pandemic, TelAbortion is “working to expand to new states as fast as possible,” said Dr. Elizabeth Raymond, senior medical associate at Gynuity Health Projects, which runs the program. It is also hearing from more women in neighboring states seeking to cross state lines so TelAbortion can serve them.As of April 22, TelAbortion had mailed a total of 841 packages containing abortion pills and confirmed 611 completed abortions, Dr. Raymond said. Another 216 participants were either still in the follow-up process or have not been in contact to confirm their results. The program’s growth is significant enough that Republican senators recently introduced a bill to ban telemedicine abortion.The F.D.A., which has allowed TelAbortion to continue operating during the Trump administration, declined to answer questions from The New York Times about the program.The F.D.A. rules, however, do not specify that providers must see patients in person, so some clinics have begun allowing women to come in for video consultations with certified doctors based elsewhere. TelAbortion goes further, offering telemedicine consultations to women at home (or anywhere), mailing them pills and following up after women take them.In interviews, seven women who terminated pregnancies through TelAbortion described the conflicting emotions and intricate logistics that can accompany a decision to have an abortion, and their reasons for choosing to do it through telemedicine.Ms. Dale, a single mother, was about to start a job at a storage center when she became pregnant last year. She would have had to fly to Honolulu, incurring expenses for travel and child care.“The alternative would be to wait for a doctor to come to my island in three weeks,” Ms. Dale, 35, told Dr. Kaneshiro during her consultation, which she allowed a Times reporter to observe. By then, she would be too pregnant for a medication abortion.But many TelAbortion patients live near clinics. Shiloh Kirby, 24, of Denver, who said she had become pregnant after being raped at a party, chose TelAbortion for convenience and privacy. She conducted her video consultation while sitting in her car in the parking lot of the hardware store where she worked.Dawn, 30, a divorced mother of two who asked to be identified only by her first name, was terrified that the debilitating postpartum depression she experienced after her children’s births would return if she continued her pregnancy. And she worried protesters at her local Planned Parenthood in Salem, Ore., might recognize her.“I just don’t want to deal with that ridicule,” she said.

Expanding across the country

Based on state laws governing telemedicine and abortion, Dr. Raymond estimated TelAbortion might be legal in slightly over half of the states, including some conservative ones. It now serves Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Washington.The doctors (and nurses or midwives in some states) who do TelAbortion’s video consultations must be licensed in states where medication is mailed, but do not have to practice there. Likewise, patients do not have to live in the states that TelAbortion serves; they just have to be in one of them during the videoconference and provide an address there — that of a friend, relative, even a motel or post office — to which pills can be shipped.“We have had patients who cross state lines in order to receive TelAbortions,” Dr. Raymond said. More are expected to do so during the pandemic. This month, a woman from Texas drove 10 hours in snowy weather to New Mexico, where she stayed in a motel for her videoconference and to receive the pills.The organization that provides TelAbortion services in Georgia, carafem, has expanded recently to Maryland and Illinois, and it is running digital ads that are expected to reach women in some nearby states like Missouri and Ohio, which have more abortion restrictions, said Melissa Grant, carafem’s chief operations officer.In May, shortly after Georgia’s governor signed one of the country’s strictest abortion laws (which is now being challenged in court), Lee, 37, who lives near Atlanta, discovered she was seven weeks pregnant.Lee, who asked to be identified only by a shortened version of her first name, said the pregnancy had shocked her because she took birth control pills regularly. She decided to terminate the pregnancy because she had recently cut ties with her boyfriend after he was arrested on drug charges, she said.She kept her decision from her family members, who she said were strongly against abortion. And she feared protesters would castigate her if she visited an abortion clinic.“No one goes through life saying, ‘I’m going to grow up and get an abortion,’” Lee said. “So you’re already struggling with that and then to have someone tell you that you’re going to hell or that you’re killing babies, it’s horrible.���She found carafem, and videoconferenced in her office at lunchtime with a doctor in another state.During such consultations, doctors explain that most women do not experience discomfort from mifepristone, which blocks a hormone necessary for pregnancy to develop. Cramping and bleeding, resembling a heavy period, occur after the expulsion of fetal tissue caused by the second drug, misoprostol, which is taken up to 48 hours later. After several hours, bleeding dwindles but might continue for two weeks. In rare cases, women can develop fevers, infections or extensive bleeding requiring medical attention.Lee received a package marked only with her name and address; it contained the pills, tea bags, peppermints, maxipads, prescription ibuprofen and nausea medication.“Just everything you could need,” she said. “It was so comforting.”TelAbortion reports that of the 611 completed abortions documented through April 22, most were accomplished with only the pills and without complications. In 26 cases, aspiration was performed to finish the termination.Dr. Raymond said 46 women went to emergency rooms or urgent care centers with issues that appear just as likely to have occurred if the women had followed the common practice of visiting abortion clinics for consultations, taking the first medication there and the second at home. Two women went before receiving the pills and two before taking them, either because of morning sickness or because they thought they were miscarrying. Fifteen ended up needing no medical treatment. Some were given medicine for pain or nausea.Three were hospitalized, all successfully treated: two women had excessive bleeding, and another had a seizure after an aspiration, Dr. Raymond said.Eleven women decided not to have abortions and did not take the pills they were sent. Another woman continued her pregnancy after the medication failed, as did another after vomiting the mifepristone. Sixteen women have undergone two telabortions, Dr. Raymond said.Of the women The Times interviewed, only Dawn, who said she has anxiety, called the 24-hour TelAbortion line for emotional support.“It was after I took the pills,” Dawn said. “I felt like my body, my hormones essentially crashed. And because I suffer from mental health issues, just everything was just kind of out of whack and I started really panicking bad. I called the nurse and she just sat on the phone with me.”

Complex decisions

TelAbortion typically charges $200 to $375 for consultations and pills. Women must also pay for an ultrasound and lab tests, obtained from any provider. During the coronavirus pandemic, TelAbortion may waive its requirement for an ultrasound to gauge the gestational age of the pregnancy if women are unable to visit a doctor to obtain one, Dr. Raymond said. In some states, some or all of the costs are covered by private insurance or Medicaid. For women facing financial hardship, like Ms. Kirby in Denver, the program taps abortion grant networks.Some patients said the teleconsultations helped them navigate the complex feelings that abortion can evoke.Leigh, a 28-year-old construction inspector in Denver, who asked to be identified only by her middle name, said she considered herself “totally pro-life.”But, she said, she also has depression, which became so severe after she had a baby two years ago that she sometimes felt suicidal. Doctors, she said, “didn’t trust me alone with my baby.”Last March, after discovering she was pregnant and consulting her fiancé, she called Planned Parenthood. “I said, ��I don’t want to be this person, but I need to abort this pregnancy,’” Leigh said.She chose the TelAbortion option. After taking the first medication, she attended a previously scheduled photo shoot for engagement pictures with her fiancé, then took the second medication that evening.Conducting her follow-up call from a field on a job site, Leigh told the doctor, Kristina Tocce, medical director of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, that she felt compelled to abort “no matter how much I hate myself.”When she sees a baby now, she says she still sometimes wonders, “‘Did I make the wrong choice?’”“I wanted to keep my baby, but I just couldn’t,” she said.During Ms. Dale’s videoconference in Hawaii, Dr. Kaneshiro spoke calmly.“It is pretty normal to pass some blood clots that maybe are even the size of a quarter,” she said.“I’m prepared because I actually had a miscarriage last year at four months along,” Ms. Dale replied.“This will not be that bad — I mean, at this stage of pregnancy, the actual embryo is smaller than the size of a grain of rice,” Dr. Kaneshiro said. “It’s very unlikely to see anything that’s recognizable as a pregnancy.”“OK, that’s good,” said Ms. Dale, then eight and a half weeks pregnant.“It doesn’t affect future pregnancies, so it doesn’t have any long-term effects,” Dr. Kaneshiro said.“OK, that was one of my questions, thank you,” Ms. Dale said.“Mommy, mommy!” called her daughter, Sophia, bouncing into the living room from a bedroom filled with Legos and a pop-up castle.“She’s beautiful,” Dr. Kaneshiro said.Ms. Dale’s consultation and lab tests were covered by Hawaii public assistance. The pills, which cost her $135, arrived by certified mail. She placed them on a table near two pregnancy ultrasound photos.“OK, this is happening,” Ms. Dale said she told herself. “I’m doing this.”Her reasons partly involved disagreements with her estranged boyfriend, the father of Sophia, now 4. Their strained relationship made Ms. Dale believe she would have to raise their second child alone.“I’ve got a beautiful daughter and I’d really love to have another one,” she said. “But it’s just not feasible for my sanity, and I feel like I’d basically be guaranteeing us to live in poverty.”On the back of an ultrasound picture, she wrote: “Never forget why you had to make the hard decision to let this baby go.” She swallowed the pill.She had Sophia stay at her mother’s house and took the other tablets, which she said felt like chalk in her mouth. To distract from seven hours of cramping and heavy bleeding, she watched back-to-back “Matrix” movies.“It’s not like it was easy,” she reflected later, “but at the same time it’s pretty clearly the right choice.” Read the full article

[sexednyc]

Where and How to Get an Abortion Safely in NYC

When deciding where to get an abortion or what type to get, it comes down to what makes you comfortable and what will keep you physically and emotionally healthy. It is a personal decision that should be made by you and you alone — though talking with trusted friends, family members, or a counselor can be useful as they can help unpack feelings and considerations that often come along with the procedure. The process is different for everyone, and there is no specific way to feel about the choice you make.

It can be tough for people to find information on how to get an abortion, because due to the stigma surrounding the subject information can be limited or hard to find. With that in mind, and with other states and lawmakers debating the legality of abortion, I thought it would be helpful to provide facts and options for women in New York.

A pregnant person in New York is able to get an abortion in two different ways. 

1) If it is early enough, you can choose the abortion pill, which is effective within the first ten weeks of pregnancy. The abortion pill is a two-step process of taking taking two different medications — mifepristone and misoprostol. You take the mifepristone pill in the clinic; you are able to take the misoprostol at home. The first pill will block your body’s progesterone, which is a hormone your body needs to remain pregnant. The second will cause cramping and bleeding to empty the uterus. Once you take the second pill, you will have symptoms similar to a heavy period. The bleeding should begin within 24 hours of taking the second pill. 

2) If you are past ten weeks, the pill will not be effective, but you are still able to have an in-clinic abortion. In-clinic abortions can be performed up to 24 weeks into the pregnancy. According to Planned Parenthood, it is best to seek help sooner, if you are able to, because pregnancies after 16 weeks may be more difficult to terminate and can require more visits. The actual procedure takes around ten minutes in-clinic. 

Abortions feel different for everyone. Some people say that there is a bit of discomfort, but other people report that they did feel pain. Doctors will administer pain and numbing medication to help with this. Typically, nurses will be in the procedure room with you to talk you through the process and offer emotional support. 

I spoke with Anna Miller*, 21, who had an abortion by way of the pill in January 2019. She was five weeks along and decided the pill would be the best option for her situation. She found her gynecologist, Gramercy Gynecology, through the app ZocDoc. 

“The gynecologist was fantastic,” she said. “She was super-comforting and talked me through my options, before referring me to a clinic*. She never tried to talk me out of it and she provided with all the information about the pill and in-clinic abortions.” 

“I decided to get the abortion pill; this was a personal choice that made me the most comfortable,” Miller said. The cost was $500 because it wasn’t covered by her insurance, but the final cost is different for different insurance providers. 

“I was able to get into the gynecologist within the week I found out I was pregnant, and then she referred me to the clinic, which I was able to get into within a week,” she said. 

Miller said that she went to the clinic, and they took her to a room to take the first pill. 

“It literally looked like somebody’s bedroom, with decorations and everything. It was very comfortable and didn’t feel too medical.” 

This process was discreet, according to Miller. She paid while she was at the clinic, so bills were never sent to her house; any follow-up calls from the clinic were never left over voicemail, to keep her information confidential. 

In terms of finding an abortion clinic and scheduling an appointment, it is fairly easy to do in New York. It’s a good idea to start by calling your gynecologist to see if they perform abortions. Even if they don’t, often times they will refer you to a clinic that does. If you do not have a gynecologist, a simple way to find one is by using the app ZocDoc. Here, you can enter your insurance information and search for providers in your area. New York state abortion laws are relatively unrestrictive, and most health care providers are forthcoming with information to make the process as easy as it can be. 

Planned Parenthood is a good option, because they can provide low-cost procedures depending on your insurance provider. Also, depending on your financial status, providers often will work with you to find cost-effective options. Planned Parenthood, for instance, will review your financial information and talk you through payment options. Depending on your income level, the procedure could be free. Recently, in an attempt to make abortions more accessible to low-income people or people not covered with insurance, New York City allocated $250,000 to clinics to perform abortions on those who cannot afford it. 

If you would like more information, visit plannedparenthood.org, eastsidegynecology.com, einstein.yu.edu, or gramercygynecology.com. These clinics don’t all perform abortions, but are able to refer you to safe and reputable clinics and provide all the information and prior tests you need. 

[nyconabudget-me-blog]

Where and How to Get An Abortion Safely in NYC

When deciding where to get an abortion or what type to get, it comes down to what makes you comfortable and what will keep you physically and emotionally healthy. It is a personal decision that should be made by you and you alone — though talking with trusted friends, family members, or a counselor can be useful as they can help unpack feelings and considerations that often come along with the procedure. The process is different for everyone, and there is no specific way to feel about the choice you make.

It can be tough for people to find information on how to get an abortion, because due to the stigma surrounding the subject information can be limited or hard to find. With that in mind, and with other states and lawmakers debating the legality of abortion, I thought it would be helpful to provide facts and options for women in New York.

A pregnant person in New York is able to get an abortion in two different ways. 

1) If it is early enough, you can choose the abortion pill, which is effective within the first ten weeks of pregnancy. The abortion pill is a two-step process of taking taking two different medications — mifepristone and misoprostol. You take the mifepristone pill in the clinic; you are able to take the misoprostol at home. The first pill will block your body’s progesterone, which is a hormone your body needs to remain pregnant. The second will cause cramping and bleeding to empty the uterus. Once you take the second pill, you will have symptoms similar to a heavy period. The bleeding should begin within 24 hours of taking the second pill. 

2) If you are past ten weeks, the pill will not be effective, but you are still able to have an in-clinic abortion. In-clinic abortions can be performed up to 24 weeks into the pregnancy. According to Planned Parenthood, it is best to seek help sooner, if you are able to, because pregnancies after 16 weeks may be more difficult to terminate and can require more visits. The actual procedure takes around ten minutes in-clinic. 

Abortions feel different for everyone. Some people say that there is a bit of discomfort, but other people report that they did feel pain. Doctors will administer pain and numbing medication to help with this. Typically, nurses will be in the procedure room with you to talk you through the process and offer emotional support. 

I spoke with Anna Miller*, 21, who had an abortion by way of the pill in January 2019. She was five weeks along and decided the pill would be the best option for her situation. She found her gynecologist, Gramercy Gynecology, through the app ZocDoc. 

“The gynecologist was fantastic,” she said. “She was super-comforting and talked me through my options, before referring me to a clinic*. She never tried to talk me out of it and she provided with all the information about the pill and in-clinic abortions.” 

“I decided to get the abortion pill; this was a personal choice that made me the most comfortable,” Miller said. The cost was $500 because it wasn’t covered by her insurance, but the final cost is different for different insurance providers. 

“I was able to get into the gynecologist within the week I found out I was pregnant, and then she referred me to the clinic, which I was able to get into within a week,” she said. 

Miller said that she went to the clinic, and they took her to a room to take the first pill. 

“It literally looked like somebody’s bedroom, with decorations and everything. It was very comfortable and didn’t feel too medical.” 

This process was discreet, according to Miller. She paid while she was at the clinic, so bills were never sent to her house; any follow-up calls from the clinic were never left over voicemail, to keep her information confidential. 

In terms of finding an abortion clinic and scheduling an appointment, it is fairly easy to do in New York. It’s a good idea to start by calling your gynecologist to see if they perform abortions. Even if they don’t, often times they will refer you to a clinic that does. If you do not have a gynecologist, a simple way to find one is by using the app ZocDoc. Here, you can enter your insurance information and search for providers in your area. New York state abortion laws are relatively unrestrictive, and most health care providers are forthcoming with information to make the process as easy as it can be. 

Planned Parenthood is a good option, because they can provide low-cost procedures depending on your insurance provider. Also, depending on your financial status, providers often will work with you to find cost-effective options. Planned Parenthood, for instance, will review your financial information and talk you through payment options. Depending on your income level, the procedure could be free. Recently, in an attempt to make abortions more accessible to low-income people or people not covered with insurance, New York City allocated $250,000 to clinics to perform abortions on those who cannot afford it. 

If you would like more information, visit plannedparenthood.org, eastsidegynecology.com, einstein.yu.edu, or gramercygynecology.com. These clinics don’t all perform abortions, but are able to refer you to safe and reputable clinics and provide all the information and prior tests you need. 

[jessicakehoe]

Wonder Women: 4 Canadians Changing the Face of Health & Beauty

They move us. They shake us. They make us laugh. They make us think. In addition to our October cover star Annie Murphy, we’re highlighting the Canadian women—across fashion, culture, beauty and more—who are impressing us the most right now.

MIMI CHOI, MAKEUP ARTIST

Everything can feel like an illusion on Instagram, and the looks that Mimi Choi creates are exactly that. Using her own face and body as a canvas, the Vancouver-based makeup artist has gone viral on the platform for her mind-bending portraits that fall somewhere between surrealism and special effects. Her work has not only racked up more than a million followers (as well as complimentary DMs from Marc Jacobs) but also landed her partnerships with cosmetics brands like M.A.C and Make Up For Ever, redefined Instagram makeup and inspired a new genre of face painting. It’s a surprising turn of events for Choi, who only a few years back was working at a Montessori preschool teaching mathematics and making crafts out of pencil shavings and toilet paper rolls while doing bridal makeup on weekends. Much like Isamaya Ffrench, an artist Choi admires who started her makeup artistry training painting faces at children’s birthday parties, Choi developed an interest in a career outside the classroom through her work with young students. “I realized that I really enjoy teaching art and discovered my creativity,” she says. At 28, she quit her job and enrolled in makeup school. Illusion makeup wasn’t part of the curriculum, says Choi, so she started experimenting with the technique on the side. One night, inspired by a motion-photography image she’d seen that captured a person running, she painted several blurry eyes on her face. “I remember posting it and then going to sleep. When I woke up in the morning, I was like ‘Holy cow!’” During the night, she’d acquired thousands of likes and followers, and within weeks, artists from all over the world started recreating what she had done.

Since then, Choi has dabbled in a range of different looks inspired by everything from food (sushi and spaghetti and meatballs) to nature (ocean waves and pandas). But the majority of her work skews creepy, mined from the terrifying visions she has during spells of sleep paralysis, which she has suffered from since childhood. And she still does wedding makeup from time to time. “Bridal makeup is kind of an illusion, too,” she says. “You’re tweaking the person’s natural beauty and revealing a different layer of themselves.”

Each image Choi paints on her skin is a culmination of as many as eight hours of brush wielding and painstaking makeup application as she sits inches from her mirror, fuelled by green tea and chocolate. “I don’t need to take breaks, and I don’t talk,” she says. That’s one of the reasons Choi finds being the subject easier than working with one—she worries about the well-being of whomever is occupying her makeup chair. But the time commitment and stamina required to sit still for long stretches wasn’t an issue for Ezra Miller, whose face Choi transformed for this year’s Met Gala.

Choi’s list of go-to products is surprisingly lean (unlike makeup artist Pat McGrath’s; she totes up to 75 bags during fashion week). “When people see my kit, they say ‘That’s it?’” Choi isn’t precious about her art either: Once she has snapped a masterpiece, she washes it right off. Except for that time when she was in New York and decided to walk to pick up takeout after a long day of shooting. “The restaurant was five minutes away, but it took me an hour to get there because everyone was stopping me and asking if they could touch my face.” —Sarah Daniel

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You can do nothing for me but work on yourself. I can do nothing for you but work on myself.

A post shared by ＭＩＭＩ ＣＨＯＩ (@mimles) on Sep 25, 2019 at 7:17am PDT

DR. JEN GUNTER, OBSTETRICIAN AND GYNECOLOGIST

You may think that calling out a $250-million wellness empire headed by Gwyneth Paltrow on its wild claims is a straight-up power move. However, Dr. Jen Gunter is simply on a mission to shed light on the pervasive myths and misinformation (both online and off) surrounding women’s health.

The Winnipeg-born, San Francisco-based obstetrician and gynecologist, who has specialized in vulvar and vaginal diseases for nearly three decades, never intended on making a living by debunking pseudo-science and sensational health claims touted by celebs. That is, until she gave birth prematurely to her twin sons. Like anyone with access to a computer, Gunter sought to educate herself by searching for information online only to be faced with pages upon pages of false claims and methods not backed up by science. “I started to think, ‘If there’s that much misinformation about prematurity, then what the hell are MY patients reading about women’s health?’” she says over the phone.

Fondly referred to as Twitter’s resident gynecologist, Gunter highlights the truths about women’s health not only on the social media platform but also on her blog and in two columns (weekly and monthly) that she pens for The New York Times. She recently released her first book, The Vagina Bible, which provides fact-checked and medically backed information on anything and everything you need to know about women’s health. “There is so much patriarchal messaging in everything surrounding the ‘dirty’ aspect of women’s bodies,” says Gunter. “And that’s because telling women they are dirty is profitable.” Needless to say, Gunter touches on the harms of douches and wipes, the purpose of having hair down there and more.

As for her other projects, Gunter is writing a book on menopause and currently stars in her very own CBC show called Jensplaining, which focuses on debunking common myths and issues (“like your life is over when you hit menopause or the fact that people can’t even say the word ‘period’”). As the old phrase states, knowledge is power, and Gunter is making it her life’s work to ensure that women are armed with facts in order to regain power over the choices they make about their bodies. —D’Loraine Miranda

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My latest for @nytimes While PCOS is associated with infertility, there are many medical reasons why it matters outside of fertility. Follow the link above to read more.

A post shared by Jen Gunter (@drjengunter) on Oct 5, 2019 at 2:08pm PDT

ROSE-MARIE SWIFT, FOUNDER OF RMS BEAUTY

Severe health challenges led Rose-Marie Swift to discover that the toxic chemicals and heavy metals in her system were also in the beauty products she used. So the West Vancouver native created an organic colour-cosmetics line that is now sold worldwide.

What did you recently learn that had a powerful effect on your life? “Knowledge is power, but there is knowledge outside of education and experience, and that is listening to your intuition. I intuitively knew answers, but I ignored them and made mistakes that I regretted. Now, I actually listen to my intuition, which has had a major impact on my life. I totally trust it now.”

Do you believe in the power of admitting a mistake? “I am the first one to admit when I have made a mistake. Ego and stubbornness are a turnoff, and they get you nowhere.”

How do you use your power for good? “As a makeup artist in the industry for over 36 years, I learned through experience that power­ful elements are available via Mother Nature and that the knowledge of their power was not being truly recognized by today’s beauty industry. I used that knowledge and passion for health as well as the planet to create my brand. I strongly believe that every woman should have access to clean beauty so she never has to compromise her health.”

Your brand is turning 10 this year and has been a pioneer in clean beauty. What was the biggest challenge you faced? “Every aspect of creating my brand was a challenge, but the hardest one was changing the mindset of people regarding the questionable/debatable ingredients [used] in the cosmetics industry and breaking through the ‘all cosmetics are safe for you’ programming.” —Lesa Hannah

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and they said it couldn’t be done. developed by an industry icon, the first make-up brand to put skin first. whoever said natural color cosmetics couldn't be high-performance, luxurious or seductive? clean since 2009. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ tap to hear more of our story from founder rose-marie swift. ☝️🔈 #rms10years

A post shared by rms beauty • organic beauty (@rmsbeauty) on Jul 30, 2019 at 7:33am PDT

DR. DONNA MAY KIMMALIARDJUK, CARDIAC SURGEON

Dr. Donna May Kimmaliardjuk is from Chesterfield Inlet, a Nunavut community of about 400. Worried about the resources allocated to education in the North, her parents moved the family to Ottawa. Kimmaliardjuk became Canada’s first Inuk cardiac surgeon. “It’s important for Indigenous Canadians and non-Indigenous Canadians to see Indigenous folks achieving remarkable things and in positions of leadership,” she said after winning an Indspire Youth Award for motivating the next generation. —Lindsay Cooper

I’m really honoured to have been included in this project. If there’s a girl who wants to a surgeon too, she can. Video: Breaking Barriers: Canada’s first Inuk cardiac surgeon gets to the heart of the matter /via @globeandmail https://t.co/UZLktAwyRy

— Donna May Kimmaliardjuk (@DKimmaliardjuk) September 3, 2019

The post Wonder Women: 4 Canadians Changing the Face of Health & Beauty appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Wonder Women: 4 Canadians Changing the Face of Health & Beauty published first on https://borboletabags.tumblr.com/

[health-and-felicidad]

A Guide to Choosing the Best Holistic Doctor for Your Needs

When you feel unwell, you probably make an appointment with your GP, who likely prescribes a pill to help you get better. But these days, there’s a roster of other docs who are taking alternative, more holistic approaches. And instead of medication, they’re recommending treatments with herbs, meditation, and acupuncture.

“Conventional medicine has taught doctors how to put out the fire,” says Alka Gupta, MD, a codirector of the Integrative Health and Wellbeing Program at New York-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine. “But they often don’t get to the bottom of why that fire started in the first place. Holistic approaches try to find the root cause of symptoms, by looking at the whole person.”

Choosing a holistic-minded provider isn’t always simple, however. The terminology used can be, well, muddy. Some can serve as your primary physician, while others practice a more complementary brand of medicine (and should be seen in addition to your MD). The options get confusing, which is why we put together this list of practitioners. Read on to learn what they do and how to ensure you get the best care.

RELATED: These Celebrities Believe in the Healing Powers of Crystals—Should We?

Doctor of Osteopathy

DOs get the same schooling as MDs, plus an extra 200 hours of training in osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM)—hands-on techniques that release tension in the muscles, joints, and nerves to promote healing. Osteopaths can treat all the same ailments as traditional docs (coughs, UTIs, you name it), but they are especially helpful for migraines, back and neck pain, period aches, arthritis, and digestive woes. And there’s good evidence to support OMM: In one study, people who saw a DO for migraines had less frequent attacks than people who only took meds. In another study, low-back-pain sufferers who were treated with OMM were able to take fewer painkillers.

Integrative Physician

These doctors—who usually have an MD or DO—practice a blend of mainstream and holistic medicine. They might prescribe an SSRI for anxiety or an antispasmodic for IBS, but they also recommend science-backed complementary therapies, such as meditation and massage. And you can expect in-depth conversations with your integrative medicine doc. She will take her time getting to know you, so she can suggest meaningful changes to your routine: “Most conventional medicine visits are about 15 minutes, but we usually spend around an hour with each patient,” says Wendy Luo, MD, an integrative medicine fellow-in-training at the University of Kansas Medical Center.

RELATED: What Is a Holistic Gynecologist—and Should You See One?

Holistic Practitioner

This term describes providers who take into account how your lifestyle affects your well-being. But the title says nothing specific about a person’s qualifications. “There’s no formal training or certification that you need to say you’re holistic,” says Ronald Glick, MD, medical director of the Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. A holistic practitioner could have gone to medical school, for example, or completed a six-month coaching program. So if you’re looking for a holistic primary doc, choose one with an MD or DO.

Ayurvedic Doctor

According to the ancient Indian tradition of Ayurveda, your body’s processes are governed by three life energies, or doshas: vata (space and air), pitta (fire and water), and kapha (water and earth). One of your doshas is naturally stronger than the others—but if your doshas slip too far out of balance, health issues can follow. (For example, if vata is your main dosha, you’re likely full of vitality and creativity; when your vata gets too powerful, though, you may suffer from anxiety and insomnia, among other ailments.) An Ayurvedic doctor will help you restore equilibrium, using many remedies that are supported by research. For example, preliminary studies have found that active compounds in turmeric, an Ayurvedic mainstay, are just as effective as ibuprofen for knee pain from osteoarthritis. Other research has shown that breath work called pranayama can reduce anxiety, lower blood pressure, and improve sleep.

Most Ayurvedic practitioners in the U.S. don’t work as primary care physicians. But, alongside your GP, they can help you manage persistent health problems, like eczema, chronic pain, or digestive distress. Narrow your search to MDs or PhDs who completed training at a school recognized by the National Ayurvedic Medical Association.

RELATED: Alternative Therapies for Depression

Naturopathic Doctor

The guiding principle of naturopathy is to encourage the body’s self-healing abilities. Like an MD, a naturopathic doctor (ND) can order blood work, MRIs, and other tests, but she will recommend less-invasive treatments before drugs and surgery. (Note that some naturopathic methods, like nutrient IV infusions and homeopathic remedies, are controversial.) Twenty-two states offer NDs a license to practice if they’ve graduated from an accredited four-year naturopathic medical school. But not all of those states allow NDs to write prescriptions. So if you require an Rx (say, for an inhaler or a steroid), you may also need to see an MD or DO.

Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioner

In a nutshell, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is about balancing two opposing but interdependent forces—yin and yang—and helping your vital energy, or qi, flow freely. Practitioners use many herbal and mind-body remedies, but the most well-known practice is acupuncture; the super-fine needles are thought to remove blockages along the pathways that qi travels. While a TCM practitioner shouldn’t be your main doctor (they’re not trained to do breast exams, for example) acupuncture can be a potent therapy. Research shows that it helps reduce hot flashes and the frequency of migraines, and alleviates lower-back pain and osteoarthritis. A practitioner with the L.Ac degree is licensed to do acupuncture, and has a master’s degree in acupuncture and Oriental medicine.

RELATED: Paying for Alternative Medicine Treatments

The Medical Detectives

All holistic-minded providers search for the original cause of a patient’s symptoms, but certified functional-medicine doctors dig deeper than most: These physicians are MDs or DOs who specialize in solving complex health mysteries. If you are struggling with an undiagnosed problem or a collection of overlapping conditions, consider one of these doctors. (Many of the illnesses they treat are “invisible”—like GI disorders, autoimmune diseases, and migraines.)

Your doc will likely work with you to create a timeline of your life in order to ID any factors that may have contributed to your condition. “Everything my patients do impacts their health,” says Mark Hyman, MD, director of the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine. “It’s up to me to ask investigative questions.”

You’ll probably have lab work done too, to assess hormone and vitamin levels, and to test for things like food allergies, heavy metal overload, and genetic mutations in your DNA.

Based on all the info your physician gathers, she’ll formulate a plan that will almost certainly involve dietary tweaks—as nutrition plays a central role in the functional approach.

“Functional medicine is the future of conventional medicine,” says Dr. Hyman. “But it’s available now.”

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source https://www.health.com/mind-body/types-of-holistic-doctors

[fibroidsurgery-blog]

Fibroid Tumors: What Every Woman Needs To Know

There is probably no woman who does not feel like a wave of terror when her doctor calls the word tumor. But if it is a fibroid tumor, experts say there is little to fear.

"There is virtually no threat to malice - and there are a number of excellent treatment options, as well as the ability to do nothing - so there's really no reason to worry," says Steve Goldstein, MD, Professor of obstetrics and gynecology at NYU medical center.

Fibroid tumors are composed of alternating muscle cells that come together to form a fibrous 'knot' or 'mass' in the uterus. Although all uterine trees are the same, they are categorized according to their location:

Submucosal fibroids are located just below the uterine lining. Intramural fibroids lie between the muscles of the uterine wall. Subserol fibroids extend from the uterine wall into the pelvic cavity.

Fibroids usually occur between 30 and 40 years, with black women at greatest risk. To date, at least one genetic link has been identified, indicating that fibroids can also run in families.

For some women, fibroids do not cause symptoms, but when they do, doctors say that problems often mean heavy menstrual periods and long-term bleeding.

"They can also cause pelvic or abdominal pain or swelling and increased urination," says Aydin Arici, MD, professor of obstetrics and gynecology and director of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at Yale University School of Medicine.

Arici says it is ultimately a combination of your symptoms, the location of the fibroid, and the numbers and size, as well as your age and your fertile potential, which help you determine what is your treatment should be.

Treatment Options: What You Need To Know In the not too distant past physicians routinely performed a hysterectomy for fibroid tumors. And while newer, less invasive treatments are available, studies show this dramatic operation is still being performed today - much more often than necessary.

A panel convened by our own governing body - the American colleges of midwives and gynecologists - found that 76% of all histerectomies performed today do not meet the criteria for this operation. They are done unnecessarily, "says Bartsich, MD, associate professor in obstetrics and gynecology at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center in New York.

"I believe many women give a hysterectomy to fibroid tumors because they lead to them being the only solution - and that's wrong," says Bartsich.

At the same time Goldstein says it is also important to recognize that not all hysterectomies are equal. He says in particular that the latest form of this operation (a supra-cervical hysterectomy) can hold the answer for some women. Why?

In a supra cervical hysterectomy, you only remove the uterine cavity that holds the fibroids and you hit the tubes, ovaries, cervix or vagina, or one of the support muscles in the bladder or pelvis, "says Goldstein. This says that you have no consequences for a traditional hysterectomy, including bladder and sexual dysfunction, or the transition to menopause.

The recovery is also fast. Most women return to normal life within two days from the hospital and within two weeks. It is also a permanent treatment for fibroids that can bring much needed help.

says goldstein: 'my personal choice is always to be treated as small as possible, but at the same time women should not close their ears routinely when the doctor calls hysterectomy, because this type can be extremely helpful and causes No more problems than some of the newer alternatives.'

That said, it is also important that you know all your options. Therefore, WHTT has asked our panel of experts to help us prepare the following guide - a look at some alternative treatments for fibroid tumors. Not all possibilities are good for every woman, the experts we have consulted have unanimously agreed that for each woman there are often one or more alternatives to a hysterectomy.

Option 1: Myomectomy fibroid surgery What it does: only removes the fibroid tumors so that the uterus and all other organs are completely intact. How it is done: The three main approaches include the traditional operation With a large incision on the abdomen, minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery done through pin-hole size incisions, and depending on the site of the fibroid, what can be done by hysteroscopy , an operation performed by the vagina. What it realizes: removes the fibroid tumor and provides relief for up to several years, after which time fibroids can sometimes grow back. Suitable for: women who have fibroid tumors but want to preserve their fertility.

What you should know: "Of the three approaches, hysteroscopy is most effective if you have bleeding or fertility-related problems or recurrent pregnancy loss due to fibroid tumors," says Arici.

With this arici warns that myomectomy can lead to adhesions or scar tissue, which can later affect fertility. "A woman can use IVF to become pregnant after this operation," he says. However, the uterus remains strong enough to sustain a healthy pregnancy, he says.

Option 2: Embolization of uterine art therapy What it is: A radiological procedure that blocks blood flow to the fibroid, causing it to shrink and eventually die. How it is done: A minimally invasive procedure, It involves inserting a catheter into the uterine arteries through which small particles are injected that close the blood supply to the tumor. What it realizes: without blood supply, the fibroid is corrupted and dies. Suitable for: women who have completed childbirth.

What you should know: While doctors agree that this is a safe, smart treatment, that opinion changes dramatically when a woman has not completed her fruitful finish. the reason? "Studies show that obstetric complications are higher after this treatment, including a higher percentage of premature labor," says Arici.

The reason behind these problems, says bartsich, is a compromised blood flow to the uterus. "If you do a good job of blocking blood flow to the fibroid, you also block blood flow to the uterus and that causes problems during pregnancy," says Bartsich WHTT. While he says that some women have a healthy pregnancy after embolization, he believes it is 'risky'.

Option 3: MRI-guided ultrasound What it is: for this procedure, doctors use high-focus ultrasound waves that are converted to heat and destroy the tumor. The MRI is used to direct the radio waves to the tumor site. How it is done: Patients are anesthetized and placed in an MRI machine specially equipped with ultrasound. The procedure can take up to three hours. What it achieves: With heat, it destroys the fibroids, although often two or more sessions are needed. In the past, similar methods have used lasers or a form of electrical current to achieve the same. Best suited for: women who have completed his birth.

What you should know: Although the FDA has recently approved, doctors say that there is insufficient data on the impact on future pregnancy. Bartsich says that risks may include potential damage to other organs and the presence of 'dead' fibroid tissue, which could impede fertility - problems similar to what was found in similar procedures that were ultimately beneficial.

Option 4: Medical management What it is: Medications that shrink fibroids by reducing hormonal stimulation, mainly a gnRH angonist known as lupron. What it achieves: halts the production of steroid hormones, without which fibroids shrink. However, they usually return when the treatment is stopped. Suitable for: women with very small fibroids or those who want to shrink tumors before surgery. Also often used to stop severe bleeding, allowing a woman to build her blood supply for transfusion for a myomectomy.

What you should know: Although this treatment reduces tumors, Goldstein says it is unsafe to use for more than nine months, after which the fibroids usually return. But he says it can be the treatment of choice for women who are very close to the menopause. "If you can stop the bleeding for a year, a woman will have made it to menopause, after which the fibroids will shrink to themselves," says Goldstein WHTT.

Option 5: Medical monitoring What it is: A watchful waiting, at regular intervals the size and the number of fibroids - and any symptoms that arise from this. How it is done: via vaginal ultrasound and a blood test for anemia. What it achieves: It can help to pass a woman to her menopause without treatment, after which hormone levels drop and fibroids disappear. Suitable for: women with minimal symptoms that approach Menopause and who have completed their delivery.

What you should know: If symptoms are not severe, Goldstein says women should be wary of treatment they do not need.

Goldstein adds: "As long as the fibroids do not cause severe pain or heavy bleeding, it is safe to leave them alone - even if they grow quickly."