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Natural Sleep Aids for Menopause
Lying in bed, wide awake, I watched the clock. It was 3:00 a.m., and then 4:00 a.m. passed. Finally, around 5:00 a.m., I fell asleep– only to be awakened by my 5:30 alarm. I wearily climbed out of bed to begin my day. Does this sound familiar? During perimenopause, as our hormone production drops, our […]
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Six Lessons I Learned When I Stopped Dyeing My Hair
I was 14 when I discovered the joy of coloring my hair. It was the 80s, and I spent my summer days baking in the sun, my hair drenched in Sun-In and my skin slathered with baby oil. By the end of that summer, I felt pretty for the first time, with my hair and […]
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Breastfeeding and a Hysterectomy: My Life at 33
Where did you think you wanted to be at 33? A wife with a few kids, stay-at-home mom, dinner on the table every night for the perfect husband? Yeah, that’s what I wanted too. Only that’s not what my body had planned for me. My body decided to rupture a cyst attached to my left […]
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Sure Signs That You’re A Midlifer
When I was twenty-one and fresh out of school, I viewed people in their late 40s and 50s as one step away from taking a permanent dirt nap. I’d heard my parents and their middle-aged friends complain about body aches, constant fatigue, and the best places to shop for life insurance—-and I smugly thought, “I’ll […]
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How I Stopped Hating Kegels
Like most women, I gave Kegel exercises a few tries over the years, then gave up fast because it was mostly an exercise in frustration. But when little bladder leaks became bigger ones, I decided to take another look at this popular technique for strengthening pelvic floor muscles. This time, I took a more scientific […]
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14 Weird Body Changes To Expect When You’re Perimenopausal
Perimenopause is described as the transitional period before a woman hits menopause, and it can last four years or more. The average age it occurs is the mid-40s—which is horrible timing for mothers of tweens and teens. All those raging hormones under one roof are not for the faint of heart! Estrogen levels begin to […]
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I Never Thought Much About Menopause | Discovering the truth
Can you or anyone explain to me who “they” are? I’m not sure who “they” are, but I have found that throughout my 50 years of living, “they” seem to lie… A LOT! I have spent probably more time than I should be trying to find out who “they” are and what makes them an […]
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Domestic Violence in Midlife: How to Recognize and Respond
Middle age is often considered a time of stability and reflection. For many people, it is a time when they have finally reached the completion of many of life’s goals. The kids are grown, the nest is empty, and it’s time to start focusing on those “someday” plans to buy an RV and embark on […]
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Chronic Illness & the Myth of Super Mom
Most mothers are coined “superhuman”. They get the most done in a small amount of time. Well, that’s what most of us see. But there is a whole other side to their “super humanness” that we don’t see and, quite frankly, that most moms don’t get to embrace. It’s like they are faultless. This ideal […]
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10 Tips for Parents from a College Professor
As a college professor for over ten years and a mother for more than fifteen, I have seen my share of successful and unsuccessful students. I am aware of strategies that work to help students succeed. Here I will discuss the top 10 tips for parents on how they can assist their college-bound teens to […]
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Stitches in Time: From Samplers to Surgery
Navigating Modern Motherhood and Medicine My daughter strolls into the kitchen, AirPods akimbo as she listens to a call, a stethoscope wagging around her neck. An OB-GYN in her second year of residency, she beelines for the refrigerator like a child home from school. I find her something to eat and stand back, marveling that […]
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Mommy Wars 2.0
If the acronyms UB or YBM mean nothing to do, congratulations, you may have made it through the naughts unscathed. However, if, like so many of us, you were enlightened, informed, intimidated, and insulted on anonymous mommy message boards, I have bad news for you. The Mommy Wars are not over. And they are no […]
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STFU: Coffee and Wine
Children need love, shelter, structure, food, and more. Moms, however, need only coffee and wine. This has annoyed me almost since I first had kids. It bugs me in two directions. On one hand, it is the Mommy Martyrdom Myth. Our lives are just so, so hard. On the other hand, it feels like mom’s […]
Menopause is hot.
