After ranting and raving about the anti-vax movement and its total idiocy, I realized that there are a lot of people who just can't look at scientific information and separate out the real stuff from the drivel.

 That's when I remembered that old Chinese proverb:

If you give a mom a scientific paper analysis, you protect her family for the day; if you teach a mom to analyze a scientific paper, you protect her family for a lifetime.

I think something got lost in translation, but you get the basic idea.

So, from time to time (as in, when some great example presents itself and I feel like doing the research), I will be posting some basic information on how to evaluate "scientific" data.

Let me preface this by noting: There's a LOT of bad science out there.

And then there's good science, hyped out of proportion by the media, who can turn even mediocre studies and insignificant results into major news events that get people like Jenny McCarthy all riled up.

As I lay in bed, I instinctively, lovingly, rested my hand on my pregnant belly. Little did I know as I felt the kicking of my unborn baby that in just a few short minutes my life would be changed forever.

The time was getting nearer for our baby to be born. I had been having contractions all day. I figured our baby would be born that night or the next day when I went to my scheduled appointment.

I crawled out of bed to go use the bathroom - again. Anyone who has ever been pregnant knows that this is a ritual done virtually every night in the latter stages of pregnancy. Go to the bathroom, go to bed, wait ten minutes, get up again to use the bathroom, and the cycle continues until you finally fall asleep.

As I sat on the toilet, I began to get excited because I thought my water had broken. But the flow didn’t stop. I called for Steve to come in and turn on the light.

It seems that every few months your children need new shoes and you may try to stretch your budget by fixing their current shoes or by giving them a pair a big sister or brother has discarded.  Unfortunately, either solution may not be good for the feet of the child who needs a shoe fix.  Some health issues caused by improperly fitted, worn out or hand me down shoes include plantar fasciitis, Morton's neuroma, excessive sweating, hammertoes, corns, bunions and blisters.