The Lives Between Us (55 page)

http://www.warmemorial.org

Many a winter season, my younger sister
and I played tennis Friday nights with my parents at
Wimbledon Racquet Club
http://www.wimbledonracquetclub.com
.
Don’t ask who won most consistently. Let’s just say, Laura is now a tennis pro and owns
Luv All Tennis
in Royal Oak, Michigan. If you want to brush up on your game, give your kids a healthy, fun workout, prep for high school tennis team, and you live nearby… Laura and her team are amazing!

Kangaroo Care
—Fact

Kangaroo Care has been studied in depth since 1978 when neonatologists Edgar Rey and Hector Martinez first implemented it in Bogota, Columbia. Kangaroo Care consists of placing a diaper- clad premature baby in an upright position on a parent’s bare chest. The baby's head is turned so that the ear is over the parent's heart. Kangaroo Care was found to be an inexpensive and very beneficial experience to babies in Bogota. The mortality rate fell from 70% to 30%.

One of the most astounding benefits is that mothers showed thermal synchrony with the babies. If the preemie got cold, the mother’s temperature would increase to ‘warm’ the baby, and if the baby grew overly warm, Mom’s temperature would decrease to ‘cool’ the child.

Left alone on a warming table, a baby cries more and sleeps less. Kangaroo Care allows the baby to fall into a deep sleep, thereby conserving their energy for far more important things, like growing. Kangarooed babies display less agitation during normal NICU procedures.

Studies have shown KC has proven to reduce crying and help the baby learn to transition from one sleep state to another. There is often a significant reduction in apneas or bradys, and a more stable heart rate with kangarooed preemies. And babies kangarooed are more likely to enjoy breastfeeding success.

Most studies have proven that Kangaroo Care has a major, positive impact on babies and their parents, and is even credited with having as much as a 50% shorter hospital stay than those not kangarooed. Some studies have proven there is no change; but no study has proven that Kangaroo Care has hurt either parent or baby.

May 15
th
is International Kangaroo Care Day. For more information check out
The United States Institute for Kangaroo Care,
http://www.kangaroocareusa.org
.

Mc Swain’s
is an imaginary pub

Fisher Rehabilitation Center
is an imaginary rehab center

1) Should politicians’ lives be completely open to public scrutiny or should they be allowed a certain degree of privacy? Who determines what should be allowed to be private and what should be disclosed?

2) Are you for or against embryonic stem cell therapy and why?

3) Do you think it’s credible that there could be a black market for embryonic stem cells one day?

4) If you were in Faith’s and Peter’s position of having a critically ill child like Niki, would you make the same choice they did, to have another child for the use of its cord blood stem cells? Would you use the last matching embryos to start a back-up Embryonic Stem Cell line for the child’s treatment?

5) Should the US change its policy and start regulating the creation and disposal/use of embryos?

6) Was Skylar truly being a good friend to the Hastingses by writing the article, or was she simply justifying what she did?

7) In the end, were Edward's consequences of giving up his cherished career and living the rest of his life with a secret—a secret capable of destroying his marriage—punishment enough for betraying his constituents and ignoring Noelle’s beliefs and choosing to use ESCs in her therapy?

8) If confronted with a tragedy like Noelle's, do you honestly think you'd be able to take the moral high ground and continue living your beliefs to not destroy embryos for treatment, even if doing so hurt the people you love?

9) How does Skye’s personal loss and Faith's brush with death (twice) affect her relationships and motivate Skye’s actions/beliefs?

10) SPOILER ALERT: This question reveals ending. Do you think Edward paid off Eileen because he was sorry he had to force her to start her life over or because he secretly condoned the use of ESCs, knew all along that she’d used ESCs, and was paying her for keeping quiet and taking the heat for him?

Theresa Rizzo is an award-winning author who writes emotional stories that explore the complexity of relationships and families through real-life trials. Born and raised in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, she now lives outside of Boulder, Colorado with her husband of thirty-two years.

Her debut Book,
He Belongs to Me
, won the 2014 National Indie Excellence Award for romance, the 2014 Readers Crown Award for Mainstream Women’s Fiction, and was awarded a silver medal in the Readers’ Choice Awards. Best selling,
Just Destiny
, was named a finalist in the Chick Lit/Women’s Lit category of the 2014 USA Best Book Award. Learn more about Theresa at
http://www.theresarizzo.com
. Follow Theresa on Twitter
(@Theresa_rizzo)
and
Facebook
.