Month: May 2012

I’m pregnant… Do I get my baby Stem cells, do I buy it or not?:

Have you ever thought of getting your future baby  cord stem cells? Do they Work? Is it worth it…

Well, for disclosure purposes, we did… I will walk you up our, thoughts, ideas and of course the bottom line. On a daily basis we here about all this weird diseases, and how they start from nowhere and they would be saved by stem cells… First of all, stem cell are the type of cells that can potentially  be converted to any cell of the body, technology and medicine has been advancing to cover and to be used for more than 70 diseases, and the potential is limitless , but  sadly, we are not there yet. Making this point, you can potentially, at birth , have a little assurance that in the future, the list will grow and you will have in a  storage somewhere, blood and/or tissue of your baby that could save his/her life. The idea is incredible, but not that simple. We ask ourselves:

1) Do we want to have it? The answer was simple (and probably all parents will say the same thing) YES YES YES AND YES! Even that the possibility is really  low,  it’s worth it “to protect your baby”   (I imagine that is part of why  these companies marketing, they got us…),   is like buying  life insurance… You aspect not to use it but it’s good to have it.

2)  What’s the cost? It was a decision “make it or break it” moment… There are a couple of big names… From public to private companies,  with different plans, offers and guarantees. And with monthly plans …  My advice: call every company, ask them to send you information, look at the numbers (how many times the clients have needed the  cells and how many times they actually worked, how long have they been in business, ask for everything…  And If you need more questions to ask just send me a msg, I can gladly help you out) .. We found a nice price, that was the number that we had in our minds,  and we  chose a  company that had good numbers, good quality, long-standing, and a nice  $ package…  You need to consider that if doing this, if your household budget will be painfully affected, DON’T DO IT… I will explain why later on…

3) Ok… Now, we want this, we have a nice company and a payment plan, do I need to pay for the “special offer” to prepay 20 years for storage? I  don’t think it’s worth it, at the  speed that technology is moving forward, this technology will be obsolete , my best guess is more or less 10 years, when the medicine nobel price will  be “how to create tissue, organs and  fix disease with skin cells” (I chose skin cells because they are  relatively easy to collect… It could be anything…). For this reason, we chose NOT to pay the 20 year something prepaid package.

After you sign up, they will send you a kit, it has everything that you need to know, and the human salesperson, that will be in contact with you will explain  everything, and most Obstetrics doctors will know what to do with it… IT’S IMPERATIVE TO HAVE IT IN YOUR “WAY OUT BAG” for the hospital.

        4) AND WHAT DO WE DO IF WE DON’T, FOR ANY REASON DO IT, WOULD WE BE BAD PARENTS AND OUR BABY WILL DIE FROM A HORRIBLE DISEASE  BECAUSE WE DID NOT DID IT? The real answer is NO.  Now there is new technology to extract from the “baby teeth” cells that could be potentially used for most of the diseases.

G-d willing, we would never need to use it… But it will be stored,  somewhere safe  and in our mind will have a check mark, right there with life /disability insurance, looking only to protect our family

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ARE YOU PLANNING TO BREAST FEED YOUR KID

ARE YOU PLANNING TO BREAST FEED YOUR KIDS?
If the answer is yes… Do you know how to start? What are the common pitfalls??? Justa couple of ideas:
1) READ READ AND READ
2) Ask people that have done it, you need to be motivated… Trust me… A bottle of “formula” sounds sexy at a 3am feeding with a crying daughter!
3) Understand that you will have learning process… And that not all anatomies are a like… ANY COMMENTS?? ANY TIPS FOR NEW BREASTFEEDING PARENTS???

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Summary of week 2: A PARENTS LIFE CYCLE WITH A NEWBORN: Poop, sleep and eat…

The first adrenaline rush, the sleep deprivation starts to sync in (that by the way, everybody that thinks that a “doctor”  lasts  longer without quality of sleep because of the “training that we did”, ARE MISTAKEN… That training only last for 72 hours… After that, we become humans again…. hehehehe),  timing is everything… My life cycles are 3-4 hour cycles of poop, sleep and eat when I’m at home, and having those AMAZING and REFRESHING conversation with my wife of how we really don’t believe that we have a daughter, that little package that was in my wife’s “tummy” that moved and we saw her grow… That with Alizas’s smile gives me energy to conquer the world!

I need to ask forgiveness to every parent that I have given encouragement  from the first newborn visit… I always tell you that the first month is hard, I DID NOT UNDERSTAND HOW HARD  WAS IT! Sorry! Now my empathy level has changed, I can actually  see the tired faces of my parents…  And I really appreciate and THANK MY INCREDIBLE WIFE  for the  caring  and love at 3am to my daughter and my extra sleeping time that she creates for me!

What I learn this week  for the  THE UNOFFICIAL MANUAL ON HOW A PEDIATRICIAN BECOMES A FATHER:

1) Team work and time off for everyone…

2) Safety list when your baby is crying (feeding, burping, diaper, rock and everything else…) have a mental list, that will help you troubleshoot your baby

3) Hear all, Read all… The best advice is the proven REAL ADVICE …  Some old stories  from grandma have changed in the past 30 years… (Back to sleep, demand feeding vs organic feeding,  vaccines, etc etc)

4) THERE IS ALWAYS TIME FOR A HUG AND KISS TO YOUR LOVE ONES…  THANK THEM…

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THE UNOFFICIAL MANUAL ON HOW A PEDIATRICIAN BECOMES A FATHER

 Everything started 44 weeks ago. Our life changed since that moment…  My wife showed the power of life, today, after 8 hours  of labour  that ended up  in a C/-section , If my wife tells me that she has pain, I WILL BELIEVE  HER! Anyway, going back to the topic, I have been part of deliveries and C- Section for at least 8 years, when you see your loved one, the monitor and the pain, face to face, everything changes. We went more than 39 weeks, we had an induction and after 8 hours of continuing labour ended in C/s, with a smile in everybody, having no complications for my wife or our daughter…

That was was the beginning of an idea… Trying to correlate the “teachings” and education that I have gave to all my patients, families and friends. My first clash with reality was “breast is best”, but really we undermine the importance of having previous information, motivational and equipment to accomplish that. We did have a double problem, my baby was coombs positive and this was our first time breastfeeding.

 As a pediatrician, one of the simple things in life is, in this cases, to offer “more food” to have urine and bowel movements in order to decrease the “bili” levels, for does how choose formula is an a straight protocol, from bottle to mouth, but when you are breastfeeding and you only recover 2ml of colostrum (and I need to confess, is really hard to collect every drop, and sometimes, in the darkness of the room, once I drop the container, losing that priceless material)… The colostrum is the main source of energy to any newborn, enough to make them continue ticking, of when you actually need bowel movements and you have risk factors (and only breastfeeding) you need to be disciplined enough (we were waking up every 2 hours), and as every body knows, is not “2 real hours”, 1 hour of breastfeeding/waking up 1 hour of real life…

Any way… For the first week I have learn that:

1) Breastfeeding is important and can be done, but society, pediatricians and the family need to be motivated!

2) Family support is a key factor to success

3) I don’t know how created newborn clothing.. They are simply not smart.

4) Probably there is a correlation in pediatrics only, “the more kids you have, the better Peds doctor you are…”

5) How do you “sleep” the last month of pregnancy if you have everything in your mind plus you can actually wake up having your baby already delivered in your bed (that was my nightmare!!!)

I will try to post the crazy/interesting/facts/etc that I’m learning, THE UNOFFICIAL MANUAL ON HOW A PEDIATRICIAN BECOMES A FATHER

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NEWS!

I have the honor to share with you that I have been nominated as one of the finalist for Champions of Change, a nomination  from the White House that acknowledge people that have made an impact in Social Arena.
On the same tone, I participated at the White House Policy Briefing for The National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA) and invited to be part of the A. Gene Copello Physician Leadership Summit of the National Physician Alliance.
Please feel free to email me or send me your comments
Ilan
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