This just in: childbirth can be traumatic.

So there I was, feeling sorry for myself for having sustained extensive nether-region damage during the birth of my son ten weeks ago AND having the surgery to correct that damage BOTCHED (don't even ask), when I came across this: a Wall Street Journal report from Cindy McCain on the state of things in Rwanda.

I've been struggling with a secret, which is this: I'm really, really not in love with my body right now. I have, been keeping it secret for two reasons: 1) it's totally new to me - I've never really struggled with my body image, even after my last pregnancy, which added padding where no padding had hitherto existed, and so it just feels foreign and weird and (obviously) bad, and 2) it also feels so, I don't know, anti-feminist or anti-woman or anti-me (which, really, collapses into a kind of counter-womanism, to be anti-yourself as a woman) and I just so don't want to be that.

I gave birth six weeks ago. Since then, I've lost a lot of the baby weight. Partly because the baby that I was carrying was so huge that his expulsion from the womb represented a massive weight loss, and partly because I've hardly been able to eat anything since he was born, what with his unremitting need to be held ALL THE TIME HOLY HELL. Hardly anything but cookies, that is, and maybe the odd bagel or two. Which, you know, is not the best post-partum diet.

When I first started breastfeeding my first child, I was totally anxious about nursing in public. Was anyone looking? Was anyone freaked out by my boob? I sought out nursing rooms wherever I could, until it became clear that if I was to move about in the world with my child and not spend all of my time in stuffy nursing rooms or - horror - washroom stalls, I would have to chill out and just bare the booby. And so I did. And it was, mostly, fine.

As we wind down in the primary season, the hub-bub about voter registration will be gone because everyone is all registered to vote, right? Wrong. More registration efforts are about to begin anew to get people ready to vote in the general election in November.

I just spent $2,200 in the blink of an eye...easiest money I ever spent. Check out our BlogHers Act/Global Giving fundraising widget:

Every time I open the newspaper or click open a news feed these days, my heart breaks. Breaks. War, crime, natural disaster: there's always something. And in recent days in particular, with the death toll in Burma climbing while authorities there continue to stymie aid efforts, and now the earthquake in China... I can barely stand to open the newspaper or follow the news links because I know that I'm going to have to hold my breath and press my fists to my eyes to keep from crying.

As I keep reminding anybody who will listen to me, I will - gods willing - give birth in the very near future. It will be my second time 'round the childbirthing block, but I gotta say: this part (the preparing to give birth part, and, I assume, the birthing part itself) is none the easier for having been there before.

After reading Denise's BlogHer post last week that the gift of maternal health is the perfect Mother's Day gift, I thought "this really is perfect!" I blogged it and suggested that not only is it a great cause, but it is also a great consumerism/stuff-free gift, something that I feel, in our consumerism-driven society, is so important, but so ofte

I'm due to give birth in about three weeks. Possibly sooner, if this massive baby gets his way and manages to punch his way out before then. I'll be giving birth in a hospital, attended by our family doctor, and, yes, there will be drugs. Epidural me, baby. PLEASE.

As part of BlogHer's Every Day is Earth Day campaign, I wrote a report earlier this month on buying electronics in an eco-friendly way called Your Electronics and Your Energy Footprint. Today we're moving to the other end of the life cycle of your electronic toys and gadgets. How can you get rid of electronic devices in a way that doesn't harm the environment?