Muslim woman arrested for refusing to remove hijab

Ok this is just stupid. Alhamdullilah the sister stuck to her beliefs.

Click here to watch video: Muslim arrested over scarf 

4 month old mom...still hormonal?

Emaan is four months now and I must say that life as a mom these past few months has been nothing less than interesting. Yes I am constantly on call, and even though my husband is very understanding and is always willing to help out, I just can’t take it when he does things differently with Emaan. I mean, the tiniest squeal and I’m there advising him. I know it’s weird because sometimes I really want someone else to watch her for a while, but at the same time I feel guilty and feel that there is no one more capable than me to take care of her. Yes, it’s not uncommon for a mother to feel that way. However, I must admit that for my sanity I must distance my self from Emaan once in a while. In fact it is more important for her than it is for me. For example, today I was having some sort of a break down. I was upset because I didn’t have a career like my friends from high school do, and when I spoke to my husband about it he responded in a way that just broke me apart. I think he said something along the lines of, “Why are you worried about something like that?” I don’t know what I wanted to hear and I was just so frustrated. Nonetheless, even though I would never in my life take it out on my daughter, I think she sensed that I was upset and that made her very fussy. At one point I had to go to the bathroom and I left her in her play gym and she cried and cried and cried till she was completely red, which she almost NEVER does. Emaan’s a very calm and patient baby so when I heard her cry like that I thought something was seriously wrong. It wasn’t. I just wasn’t handling her right even though I was still playing with her and stuff. Her aunty came over and started playing with the same toys as I do and Emaan’s face just lit up. It hurt.

You know being a mother brings about so many different emotions. It’s such a new world. I’ve always been a deep thinker, but I have never thought about myself and about my future as deeply and intensely as I have after having Emaan. I became very upset today about being a mom and thought very low of myself. I mean most of my peers are ‘professionals.’ They all have jobs, and are climbing high in their respective fields. Me on the other hand, I’m a stay-at-home mom who makes double layered chocolate cakes, and spends her afternoon organizing the spare bedroom. I know it’s a societal thing. I know that I am very easily influenced by other people and by the norm. I just need to figure out a way to be strong enough to feel good about where I am today. I mean, I have to say that when Emaan smiles at me, and babbles when I sing to her, and when I see her dozing as I nurse her..there is no happier feeling. You know it is a lot work being a mother and a wife, but it’s so rewarding. It’s just that.. it bothers me that it isn’t recognized. It bothers me so much that a woman who becomes a doctor is so much more important to society than a woman who chooses to stay at home and establish the most fundamental infrastructure in society, her family. It bothers me so much that women who are trying to plow through professions that have been long held by men down play the role that has been so crucial in our societies. I mean, I’m not saying that it isn’t important for women to fan out and include themselves in different areas, but at the same time they really shouldn’t mock those women who choose to remain the rock that holds their family together as backward women.

I hate feeling this way and I hate trying to explain my choices in life and I hate trying to defend myself. I hate being told that my life is easy and I hate it when the women around me make fun and say “I don’t stay at home all day like some people…I have to work.” Am I useless because I don’t earn money? I get so engrossed in their comments and take it so personally sometimes that I really do beat myself up about not earning money. Then I become extremely depressed because I am physically unable to leave Emaan and work. I just can’t leave her. So basically I sit in my own thoughts and let them rot in my brain until I give up and unwillingly drag myself to reality and realize that this is how it is. Ofcourse then it gets worse when the joy in my life gives my daily reward to someone else like Emaan did today with her aunty. I know I know..I’m being ridiculous. I’m a mom and I’m a wife. I stay at home and I cook and clean. Love it or hate it..that’s how it is. But for goodness sake please don’t ridicule me for my reality. Please…allow me to wrap my head around my life and let me enjoy it.

Pros and Cons of Immunization

Cons:

Vaccines found to contain mercury; are vaccines safe?
Discusses the dangers of mercury in vaccines which are linked to several diseases including autism.

The great thimerosal cover-up: Mercury, vaccines, autism and your child's health
Discusses the preserving agent used in vaccines, thimerosal.

Pros:

Haemophilus influenzae type b conjugate vaccines: a review of efficacy data
"Conclusions. Particularly where vaccine coverage is high, it is now likely that Hib disease can be eliminated using Hib conjugate vaccines in infancy."

Immunization and Vaccines

My thoughts:

Current thoughts on the risks and benefits of immunisation.

"Despite a continuous search for safer and more immunogenic vaccines, adverse reactions still occur. Adverse reactions to vaccines are generally mild; severe events resulting in death or permanent damage are rare. In every instance, the benefits of preventing the disease far outweigh the risks of vaccination. In the early days of vaccine development, a number of accidents were associated with faulty production. Most recent problems encountered with the use of vaccines are due to programmatic errors. Because of the large number of doses administered it is probable that there will be some temporal and merely coincidental association between adverse events and vaccine administration. Immunisation has a direct protective effect for the individual and an indirect effect on herd immunity for the community. The major goal of postmarketing surveillance is the early detection of and appropriate response to adverse events in order to curtail a negative impact on immunisation programmes. Risk-benefit analyses for immunisation are faced with a number of potential difficulties; definition of the risks and benefits themselves, individual versus community risks and benefits, and the continuously evolving nature of risks with changes in disease epidemiology. Based on risk-benefit studies, for an individual just as for the community, it may not always be of interest to use the vaccine with the lowest complication rate. Good immunisation programmes should help to decrease the risk of adverse effects."

Duclos P, Bentsi-Enchill A.

Childhood Immunisation Division, Health and Welfare Canada, Ottawa, Ontario.

Emaan at 2 months and 2 weeks

My experience with Emaan's first vaccinations

Assalamu alikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,

InshAllah you are all doing well. I know I haven't written for a while or posted anything, but I'm just enjoying Emaan these days. Alhamdullilah she's almost 2.5 months now and growing day by day. I'm having such an amazing time with her and honestly it feels amazing. My only problem is dealing with these overwhelming emotions towards her. The biggest example is when Emaan went to get her first set of vaccinations.

I went for my 2 month appointment to the doctor's and was completely unaware of the fact that Emaan was due for her first set of vaccinations for DPTpolio (Diptheria, Pertussis, Tuberculosis and Polio) and Hib (Haemophillus influenza type B) or the 5 in 1 as they call it. I was so unprepared that I told the R.PN that there was no way int he world Emaan was going to get her vaccinations that day so she booked an appointment for after the weekend as I had gone on a Friday. I tried to do my research over the weekend and called a friend of mine in the health field to ask if vaccinations at 2 months of age were actually necessary. She told me that if I was exclusively breastfeeding and wasn't planning on going out of the country any time soon then it wasn't really necessary. So on that Monday I called the doc's and said forget it she's not coming. Ofcourse knowing my family doc she called me back and said, "Yumna, it's really important that she gets these vaccines." I know I should have done more research but from the little research that I did I figured that the benefits outweighed the risks. Also, I was planning on going to Toronto and with so many people travelling from overseas I was getting a little paranoid thinking someone might sneeze or cough on her and she may get something. You can't imagine the crazy scenarios my brain was coming up with. Honestly, I was torn between going or not going.

Eventually..I went. Ofcourse my husband was by my side. My sister in law's son, who was born a day before mine, had an appointment before Emaan to get his vaccination. When we arrived there I went in to see my sister in law and found her son latched on to his mom drinking his milk peacefully. I was still pretty nervous. I kept thinking, my poor little baby has no idea what's coming.

As Joanne, the R.PN, came to get us she smiled reassuringly and told me not to worry. Emaan was then put on those horrible examination beds so that Joanne's intern could check her hips and measure Emaan. Ofcourse Emaan being the kind of happy child as she is, was smiling and talking away. She was just tearing my heart into pieces. Finally it was time.

I decided I was going to hold her. Emaan's father gave Emaan a kiss and a tight squeeze then passed her to me. She was to get two needles, one in each leg, and they were going to be put in simultaneously. I couldn't look. I just held Emaan tight in my lap as Omar (Emaan's dad) looked over my shoulder. "1, 2, 3..poke." I heard a short shriek then I looked down at Emaan and her entire face was blood red and her mouth wide open in the middle of a horrible cry. At that moment I began to bawl. I just cried and cried. I held my little baby close to me and just rocked her. Those of you who know me personally can understand that this was one of the most difficult things I had to endure. However, I have to say this..it took less than 2 minutes for Emaan to calm down. I fed her a little and then she was sound a sleep.

Joanne and the intern had left Omar, Emaan and I alone for a while. We had to stay there for 20 minutes any way to see if Emaan was going to get some sort of a reaction. She didn't. In the end it was all ok. But for a new mom like me I hated the experience. I have no idea what I'm going to do when Emaan has her first fall.


..I'll be posting up some research on vaccinations soon. As well as the controversy behind it.

Umm Sulaym

Assalamu alikum wa rahmatullahi wa barkatuh,

Firstly..RAMADAN MUBARAK!!!

I really wanted to do something special this Ramadan for my powerful sisters in Islam, but I'm still getting used to my precious little daughter. She's gorgeous and the apple of my eye BUT she's a handful :D, which of course is expected when you've got a little person who is COMPLETELY defendant on you.

However, here's a little story of one of our heroine's in Islam. Hopefully her story will enlighten you and open your eyes to the power of the Muslima.

My daughter Emaan :)

Assalamu alikum wa rhamatullahi wa baraktuh,

So, I haven't posted anything up for a while..but I suppose I can be excused seeing as I was having a baby and all :P! Alhamdullilah my daughter, Emaan, was born on July 25th, 2008 and 6:33pm at 6.3 lbs. The delivery was very quick alhamdullilah but it left some fluid in Emaan's lungs and also her white blood cell count was found low so she was put on a respirator and given antibiotics. Unfortunately it was a full week before we were able to bring our daughter home. Alhamdullilah she recovered very quickly seeing as she was off the respirator within 10 hours. However, she had to continue taking her full dose of antibiotics to ward off any kind of infection which is why she had to stay the full week. Although she was getting stronger as the days progressed she was still too tired to breastfeed so I had to express milk and feed her through a bottle so that it was easy for her to take it. Plus, my priority at the time was just to feed her, not necessarily get her used to breastfeeding. But as the time for her to come home grew close she did become strong enough to breastfeed and Alhamdullilah it has been 3 weeks since she has had a bottle.

With regards to the labour..like I said it was quick alhamdullilah. The pain I did experience was short-lived and alhamdullilah I had enough energy to be able to concentrate and make the experience the best experience of my life. Really and truly giving birth is one of the greatest privileges a woman has. It is the..COOLEST THING EVER :D! What I enjoyed most was to actually see my daughter hiccuping, because I would always feel her hiccupping inside me and wondered what she looked like so it was lots of fun seeing what I felt.

Anyway..so this the story.. don't worry I'll spare you the details..

So, the day before Emaan was born I had an appointment with my Ob-Gyn, Dr. Aubin. After the appointment she said that it was very possible for me to be going into labour either that night or the next day, which ofcourse shocked my husband and I since my due date was not for another 2 weeks. Nonetheless, we were quite excited..although I really tried to hold off my excitement just in case I wasn't going to go into labour for another 2 weeks since that was also a possibility. Anyway, we did some last minute shopping and went to bed. The next day Omar (my husband) went to work and I woke up and decided to clean up just in case I was going to deliver. I still don't think I was nesting because I've heard women who nest go overboard. So I cleaned the bathrooms, mopped the kitchen, cleaned the bedroom and then took a small nap. I woke up and decided to eat, then I went out for a walk, came home and took a shower. After that I felt something funny and thought my water had broken but wasn't quite sure, so I called the hospital and they advised I go and check it out. I called Omar at work and told him, "Don't get too excited, but I need to go get myself checked out at the hospital..but really don't think that this is it.." Ofcourse Omar was SUPER excited. He rushed home and packed half the fridge and we took off. During the whole trip to the hospital I kept telling Omar, "Really..seriously don't get too excited because I really don't think this is it." Well, we reach the hospital and I tell Omar not to bother taking the hospital bag. We reach the birthing unit and I tell the nurse that I think my water has broken and she tells me that there is a long line up of women waiting to be checked so I'm going to have to wait my turn (yah, not very nice). Anyway at that moment I felt a gush and my water really had broken then. So.....I told Omar to get the hospital bag while I waited in the waiting room. Not 2 minutes had passed and I was crouched on the floor with my head on the chair I was sitting on..crying! I was having contractions...and bad ones! When Omar came with the bag he saw me on the floor and knew immediately that I was having contractions. I remember telling him that I could not do it. He went and told the nurse I was feeling this way and she told him to get me to walk it off. So I took a few steps down the corridor with him and there I was on the floor again crying. Ofcourse all eyes were on me..and I was not only in pain, but I was quite embarassed crouched on the floor like that crying! Anyway, one woman called the nurse and she came and said "Oh no no, we can't have you like this here." .. Honestly, if I could I would have punched her seeing as she was the one who told Omar to get me to 'walk it off.' Anyway, she took me in and I completely forgot what I was supposed to do until she told me to breathe. After that.. well.. after that are details. However, I have to say alhamdullilah I was able to concentrate on the pain and that's what really helped. Oh and I took Nitrous Oxide..or laughing gas..yah actually I think that was what reallllly helped. Also, Omar was excellent. He didn't say a word, he just held my hand :D!

So, Emaan was born and when she was put on my chest she didn't really cry, she grunted. So they took her away from me, did some tests and said she needed to be in special care. In a matter of minutes it went from a packed room with a grunting baby to absolutely no one except me (Omar went with the baby). No..I didn't feel depressed ..I was just overwhelmed and still on adrenaline. Well, I have to say.. that night was extremely hard because I didn't have my daughter in my arms. I just cried. Alhamdullilahi rabbul 'alameen she's okay now though. That week was the longest week of our lives (Omar and I), but alhamdullilah it passed.

Now..we have our little Emaan who had brightened up our lives and given us so much joy. She will be a month old on Monday and we still can't stop oogling over her :D!

InshAllah I will put up stories about how she's growing. For now however, I have to go since I can hear her whimper for her mother :)!