So after much waffling back and forth about what to do my husband and I decided to trust in God and I quit my job. It was very difficult for many reasons, but I feel pretty good about it. I think. My husband is this close to getting a full time job that has health insurance. We haven't had insurance for me and 2 of my kids for about a month now. Scary. And in the course of that month those two kids have managed to get sick and/or fall down the stairs several times requiring sick visits and an ER run, all uninsured. I have indeed applied for State benefits concerning health care and food stamps but its absolutely insane what they make you go through. I applied a month ago and still have not gotten them every piece of paper they need to cover their asses when they finally help me out. I also am trying to get help through the hospital which is more expeditious than the Quest for the Holy Grail would be. Paperwork I didn't even know existed is needed for these and they let you know that if ANYTHING is left blank or missing a freaking cross on a "t" they will instantly reject you.
And so, beside all of that, I am now making the leap (and its quite a gap mind you) from Busy Worker Bee to Susie Homemaker. Wow what a different world. Yes, it is nice to not have to hear an alarm going off every morning (curiously I sleep right through Kris' alarm). And I can watch all the daytime TV I want (LOL furiously), and I have several hours during the day in which I can go where I want, do what I want, and eat what I want. I do feel like I'm playing hookey every single day. Like I'm not supposed to be here and that I am screwing off while everyone else is working hard.
BUT I am also doing dishes, laundry, vacuuming, nursing a baby about 8 times a day, changing diapers, cleaning up cat vomit, and TRYING TO COOK. I am going to be turning this blog into a place I can log my adventures in Cooking for Dummies and Housecleaning for ....Chumps? Dimwits? I entered "Dummy" into the Thesaurus.com search and came up with lots of not nice synonyms...sorry about that!!
ScienceDaily (Dec. 3, 2009) — Breastfeeding a child may lower a woman's risk of developing metabolic syndrome, a condition linked to heart disease and diabetes in women, according to a Kaiser Permanente study that was published today online ahead of print and will appear in the February issue of Diabetes, a journal of the American Diabetes Association.
Breastfeeding a child lowers risk by 39 to 56 percent (depending on the duration of breastfeeding) for women without gestational diabetes, and 44 to 86 percent (depending on the duration of breastfeeding) for women with gestational diabetes, researchers said. Investigators looked at durations that included 0-1 month of lactation up to greater than 9 months of lactation.
Previous research has shown that lactating women have more favorable blood levels of glucose and lipids within several weeks after delivery than women who were not lactating. Other studies have reported much weaker protective associations of breastfeeding with the presence of metabolic syndrome and diabetes in middle-aged and older women.