One Smart Mother is Nina Sutton’s guide supporting the journey of women as they transition to motherhood. Her practice and radio show are dedicated to women’s issues, particularly surrounding motherhood. Nina delves into subjects such as becoming a mother, business/career, child care, health, beauty, wellness, financial, legal issues, and a myriad of other contemporary topics of interest to women.

In addition to her radio show and podcast, you can follow Nina on Twitter, or become a fan of One Smart Mother on Facebook.

In 1986, Nina Sutton established one of the first nanny/child care placement services of its kind in the United States, and has since dedicated her career to helping mothers in all aspects. Click hereto find out more about Nina.

Listen to One Smart Mother Tuesday 9 am, 1490 WGCH. My guest will be Sharon Stenger of Our Hope Place, a place for healing from miscarriage.

www.OurHopePlace.com on Channel 12 News CT this weekend

Laura Racanelli, Co-founder of www.OurHopePlace.com, will be on News 12 Connecticut this weekend on Cablevision’s “12 on Health” with Host Gillian Neff.

Laura & Gillian talk about Our Hope Place (www.OurHopePlace.com a resource dedicated to friends helping friends cope, hope and heal after a miscarriage) and how men & women grieve differently after a loss like a miscarriage.

Connecticut program dates and times to see Laura:

Date: Saturday – October 31 Times: 6:30am, 10am, 1:30pm, 5:30pm

Date: Sunday – November 1 Times: 12:30am, 6:30am, 10am, 12:30 pm, 4pm, 10:30 pm

Feel free to comment on the Our Hope Place blog: http://ourhopeplace.wordpress.com

For most people in the Northeast, October is a time for cool crisp days, hayrides, and pumpkin picking.  Many would be surprised that this October also marks the 20th anniversary of President Regan signing a proclamation invoking a national observance of Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month.

The goal of the proclamation is to increase our understanding  of what it is like to lose an unborn or newborn baby.  The hope was  that through this effort there would be help for bereaved parents and their families.

The statistics about miscarriage are staggering.  One in five pregnancies end in
miscarriage.  This equates to over 1 million miscarriages a year in the United States alone. Miscarriage is a real loss: one that needs to be grieved for.  Importantly it is a different kind of loss in that there are no memories, no stories to reminisce about or pictures to look at.  There is only the loss of potential, the loss of the dreams and hopes of the baby that will never be fulfilled.

While miscarriage is common, it is not commonly discussed.  There are many reasons why.  Fear of not knowing what to say or saying the wrong thing.  Fear of reminding the person of their loss. Feeling uncomfortable discussing a difficult situation.

To learn how to help someone, visit www.OurHopePlace.com

I am writing as I consume the last of my apple cider vinegar in water (not too tasty, in fact, I would say YUCK).  Why am I drinking this yucky ACV?  What could possibly worth it?  It is the one of the so called natural remedy I have started over the past few years.

More importantly, my drinking apple cider got me wondering about  natural remedies and miscarriage and  infertility – and why didn’t I think of this before?

About 2 1/2 years ago I  exchanged daily seasonal allergy remedies (used to take them 365 days/yr, and it wasn’t enough) for acupuncture.  I go every 2-3 weeks.  I feel WONDERFUL post treatment!

I use a netti-pot to also help with allergies.  I had heard of netti-pots for quite some time (remember how Oprah loved them), but to be honest the idea grossed me out.  It took a while before I tried it.  In fact the only reason I tried one was because I was desperate to breathe on a business trip (you know bad air plane air and all).  Now I don’t start the day without using the netti-pot.  If you haven’t tried one, I strongly suggest it (get over the gross thinking, like many things the anticipation is worse than the reality).

This past weekend I started to take ACV and acidophilus for acid reflux.  It has only been a few days, but things are looking up.  And I feel great!

Today I went for a laser treatment (quick, in office procedure, no pain) – seems I have a (sorry this might be TMI) a little fungus on my toenail (a very mild case, not like what you see in the “before pics”) —  seems one too many pedicures.  Oh, the tragedy of it all…  how do I survive without my mani-pedi?    My podiatrist suggested, if I MUST still get a mani-pedi, I should bring benedictine (you know that little brown bottle, when you were little your parents likely put it on your cuts), and put a few drops in the water.  Even if I see someone clean the basin, I should not be satisfied.  That is because, there is water inside the unit, in the jets and they can’t clean in there…  yuck.  The dr really knows how to ruin a good mani-pedi.

So if I am willing to subject myself to drinking ACV (yuck), getting stuck with pins (actually this isn’t so bad), flushing my sinuses, choosing a laser over meds (which I hear can have some not so great side effects), and foregoing mani-pedis (sob), I wonder what natural remedies people have used for miscarriage and infertility.  And I wonder, why didn’t I ever think of this before???

So, I am off to learn more (my first quick search on google resulted in over 288,000 pages).  If you have any ideas, please post, or visit me at OurHopePlace.com (contact us).  Not sure what I will learn, but it should be an interesting journey.

Dear OurHopePlace.com,

Wanted to write regarding, “How men and women grieve differently”.

My wife has died. I am a man, and I grieve as a man. “Be strong, don’t show your feelings, and never cry,” I was told growing up. As soon as she died I cried hard, alone. I’ve felt like crying since then, but I am able to stop myself. It’s strange, but I feel more angry than anything else. I don’t understand why she had to die! Should I have seen this coming? Could I have taken better care of her? My wife was my confidant, and now I have no one to listen to me. I can’t discuss anything personal with my buddies. They would not understand, and there is no way you would catch me going to one of those grief groups. If only I could do something concrete to help me feel better. I remember–she always wanted a pink dogwood planted in our yard. I could put all the photos I took of our travels in a special album. Bill lost his wife several months ago. He is not a talker either, but we could play golf and afterwards maybe get something to eat.

My husband has died. I am a woman, and I grieve as a woman. I am so thankful I can cry and not feel guilty. My dear friends mean so much at a time like this, especially the two who are widows. They let me talk about him and find things for us to do together. Sometimes we just cry as they hold me, and that feels so good. There is a grief support group at Hospice, and I will join. The leader might suggest books on how to handle my grief and what I might expect. Maybe later I can actually grow from this awful and terrible experience. But I must protect my children in every way I can. I can’t sleep and I don’t want to eat. Maybe I should make an appointment with my doctor to see if she can help. I must stay strong for the children. Somehow I will get through this, and begin to live again.

Marta Felber, Author

Grief Expressed When a Mate Dies

Finding Your Way After Your Spouse Dies

www.LifeWords.com

TO:  OurHopePlace.com,

I wanted to share my loss…

In 2005 I lost my Mom after an extended illness, less than one month later my husband died after a tragic accident. I found myself a widow the same time as my father.  Dad kept his feelings inside more than I did initially and further into this journey through grief.   I tended to just let all my feelings out without holding back, the  crying, anger and dispair.   I grieved my loss openly with family and friends, Dad kept more to himself.  I learned to ask for help from household tasks to financial concerns, Dad tended to take care of things himself unless I suggested I help with something specific.  Dad tended to become more isolated than did I.  I would call friends for dinner or other activities, Dad did not.  Men and women do grieve differently, but I believe both want to talk about those they’ve lost because it keeps those cherished memories alive.

JoAnne Funch founder of http://www.heartachetohealing.com/blog a site offering resources, support, and to help and inspire those who are suffering through life transitions by sharing her personal story of surviving loss.

Once in a while I write on something that, in my mind, is really important.   Indulge me in one (more) of those moments…

I was watching the news and heard they have some gene learning for Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBF).  This is great news!  I applaud the scientists from The Cancer Institute at NYU Langone Medical Center  (and the other teams that are working with them) who have identified a key gene—eIF4G1.  They found you, you little gene…  hopefully it is only a matter of time until they find a way to get you.

Do you know about IBF?  It is deadly, it is fast moving, it is often missed by doctor, it is often mistaken for an infection…  it DOESN”T show itself as a lump… do you know that – not all breast cancer involves a lump.  Everyone needs to know this.

Click on the website, see the learning, see the short write up on IBF…  share this with all the women you know.  Maybe it will save someone’s life.

Dear OurHopePlace,

I am a Bereavement and Palliative Support counselor.  I work with men and women in my line of passion. Men grieve more task oriented and women are generally more emotive. This is not tried and true.  

Grief is your emotions associated with loss and Mourning is to express these emotions!

It is fine that we grieve but if we don’t mourn we have not done our work. HELEN KELLER said “The Only Way to Get to The Other Side is to Go Through the Door.” “ This is so true of Grief.” You have to go through the door of grief and let yourself feel pain rather than take a shortcut and avoid and go around grief…If not your unresolved lossest will come back later and bite you in the bum later.  

Akin to an overflowing linen closet that finally falls to the floor. You will have to deal with each loss one by one. 

Remember it is never too late to mourn! To heal you have to feel whether you are male or female. While we can say that many men will go their workshop and pound out their feelings of sorrow ..,there will be still other men that are sensitive and emotive. The same is true of women. Grief is individual and dependent on so many factors. Think of our thumbprint. (individual and different and unique).

Grief is the hardest work that we will ever do in our lifetime. To be healthy we need to GRIEVE and MOURN well ….so we can LIVE WELL and LOVE WELL.

Please log onto my website www.astringofhope.com.

Warm regards,

Audrey

Hello OurHopePlace,

I am a Grief and Wellness Specialist. I have a health & wellness center located in Frederick, Maryland.  I see Men, Women and Children for a variety of grief issues from Death, Health, Home, Job, Finances and so on. My website is www.naturalSOULutions.com

What I have found most about Men versus Women is the inability to share their deep feelings and know that is OK. Not only do they not share them with their wife’s or families they also keep them hidden from close friends unlike women you tend to discuss their grief with sisters and girl friends. They tend to bury their selves in their work and hold it all in. Men in our society have been taught that they are supposed to be tough and that men do not cry famous quotes ”Only Sissy’s Cry”. They then pass this on to their sons not knowing better because this is how they were taught and raised. My famous quote to Men and Women is ”Men and Women have the same internal organs and everyone heart grieves the same”  there is no difference between how Men and Women feel inside but there is a world of difference in how they express their emotions or I should say how they do not express their emotions.

I looked at your website it is wonderful, it is amazing how you have created such a wonderful avenue for others to relate and express their emotions through your own tragedy.

Many Blessings,

Sharon Welch, Grief and Wellness Specialist

Natural SOULutions Health & Wellness Center