I would like to talk about violence. I have experienced violence as a young child from a family member. I have unconditional love for this person and she still is a huge part of my life. As a child, I learned to cope with the abuse by trying to stay out of trouble. When I became a teenager, the abuse became more frequent because I was a mouthy teen and this added fuel to the fire. I spent most of my life trying to do things to please this person and make her happy. I wanted approval from this person and it seemed I could not get the approval I wanted, but when I became an adult it brought a different type of relationship with her.
 I would like to learn more about children of Israel. How do they live with all the disaster and violence within their country? How do their parents protect them and provide for them with the violence and poverty among them.

The public health topic I chose to blog about is breastfeeding. This has been a topic of conversation between my colleagues and I. She informed me about a plan the Mayor of NY would like to put into affect for many hospitals in September.
 Mayor Michael Bloomberg would like to have the baby formula in many participating hospitals to lock up their formula and allow nurses to distribute the formula only upon a mother's or doctor's request. The mother will need to be well informed of why experts believe that breast milk is best for their babies. They will be treating the formula as any other drug, they must be locked up and the staff must sign it out in order to distribute it.
I believe breast feeding is the way to go, but I am not quite sure how the public will respond to such a demand. I have five children, four of which I breast fed. I bonded with my first child just as I did my other four children. I chose to breast feed because it was easier, and it seemed to be the healthier way to go. I believe that many mothers may be scared with their first child or maybe they do not have adequate information regarding breastfeeding. Many places in the world may not have a choice of whether to breast or bottle feed their infants. 

Women of Afghanistan feel ashamed to ask their mothers anything about labor and deliver because they are too ashamed. Many women have midwives to help deliver their babies, but do not have the proper equipment to do so. Some women would have several days to travel to make it to the closest clinic for deliver but have a difficult time finding a way there other than on foot.

I have 5 children and each one of them was a wonderful experience, but the one I think about so often is my daughter who is now 13 years old. When I was a couple of months pregnant, the doctor thought I was having a miscarriage. He even did an ultrasound to check the baby for any movement and the flutter of her heart. There was nothing, just a small, lifeless being. I was devastated, but I had a sense of peace fall over me. As soon as the peaceful feeling happened, my little girl flipped over and her heart began to beat once again!!! Babies are amazing and true gifts.