Pregnancy

Category: Pregnancy

Birthing A Book- The Final Push- 8 hours Left

Birthing A Book- The Final Push- 8 hours Left

indiegogo_logo_detailI am in the last 8 hours of my Pink Tent campaign, an effort to eradicate the stigma of herpes and to support and empower women on their journey towards wellness. This campaign has been a long 6 weeks, moving at the pace of a snail, but I do believe that I have learned a great deal.

The evening before we launched this campaign, I found out that I was pregnant. What a surprise! I couldn’t believe that 2012 would hold the blessings of birthing a book AND birthing a baby. I knew that 2012 was to be full of surprises, but I had no idea that they could be this magnificent. While the project appeared to be a failure, it forced me to turn inward toward the new life that was growing inside of me.

My focus on marketing my project and “making it happen” quickly shifted to a state of utter surrender and non attachment. Of course I wanted the campaign to be successful, but the health of our baby and our growing family was the most important thing to me. I will never forget the feeling I had when I found out that I was pregnant again. I felt whole, like a huge part of my life was complete. This baby spirit was a brilliant, loving presence in my life. I felt like my journey as a mother was complete, for in 9 1/2 months I would be holding the new edition to our family. Just as fast as this spirit came in, it left.

One week ago I miscarried our 10 week old baby. We were devastated! How could it be? Why? I have spent the last week grieving and exploring the spiritual lessons at hand for me. I had never even considered this to be a possibility for us and I guess no one ever does.

Here we are now with 8 hours left in the campaign. At this point, we have raised $1615 and we are grateful for every bit of it. The reality of it is that we took this project on and thought that that it would serve women around the world. With such a huge vision, we spent tens of thousands of dollars to bring this to market. I have spent the last year and a half writing this book and have spent the past 10 years learning about best practices in business. With so many women in the world suffering from herpes, I would have thought this campaign would have been better supported. I guess I never realized how radical our vision was to support women with herpes, despite the fact that 1 in 4 have it.

I have written the book and all I need is enough money to do a final proofread and layout. I am driven to complete this book and to be a light unto a suffering world of women who question their ability to ever find love again, including self love, a gift beyond measure. We still have $1800 in accounts receivable, $1400 in editing costs and about $2000 for a final layout. This does not include the funds needed to market the book. I have promised the completion of this book to several women and I need to complete this birthing process. This book has been growing inside me since 1997, when I contracted herpes and even then I knew that I would turn this tragedy into something positive. I want women with herpes to learn how to reclaim their lives, learn radical forgiveness and to discover self love and intimacy. It would be very easy for my husband and I to give up at this time, refund our Indiegogo supporters and pay off our accounts receivable.

Bottom line is that I need to birth this book and make a final push. I still don’t quiet understand why we lost our child during this process, but I will not lose this book that has been growing inside of me. I want to contribute to the world of women who are suffering and I am determined to make this happen. Please help me make the final push by contributing to www.Indiegogo.com/PinkTent. I need your help!

Live. Love. Thrive.

Dr. Kelly

www.PinkTent.com    

Facts About Pregnancy and Genital Herpes

Facts About Genital Herpes and Pregnancy

pregnancyDid you know?

Neonatal herpes (herpes of a newborn) is not even considered a reportable disease according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) www.cdc.gov The CDC is a branch of our public health system whose sole purpose is to monitor diseases worldwide.  If the CDC does not list neonatal herpes as a reportable disease, then I think it is fair to say that you do not need to be overly concerned about the potential of a newborn dying from genital herpes.  However, neonatal herpes is something you need to be educated about so that you can decrease the likelihood of transmission. 

 

Here are some facts that I hope you will find comforting.

 –  A recent three year study in Canada (2000–2003) revealed a neonatal HSV incidence of 5.9 per 100,000 live births (.00006%) and a case fatality rate of 15.5%.  As you can see, neonatal herpes is extremely rare!

– Herpes during pregnancy is common.  One third to one fourth of all pregnant women have herpes and yet 90% don’t know it

–  80%-90% of neonatal herpes cases is from women who didn’t know they had it.  Therefore, women who know they have herpes can greatly reduce the risk of transmission.

–  Most neonatal herpes is managed effectively with treatment

I am happy to say that I have had genital herpes for 14 years and that I was able to have a home birth and deliver a beautiful, healthy baby girl. This was the most empowering, miraculous moments of my life. The ability to give birth naturally is truly a gift from God.

Top 10 Herpes Facts (Sex Health Guru)

Top 10 Herpes Facts (Sex Health Guru)

I just saw this video for the first time and was disturbed by some of its content. While most of the video is accurate, below is a list of the things I found to be bothersome and inaccurate.

1. While the herpes virus could be passed on by inanimate objects like towels and toilet seats, there has never been a confirmed case of this transmission. Herpes mainly spreads through skin to skin contact. By all means, though, wash your sex toys with soap and water.

2. The herpes virus can be passed onto a newborn through birth, but this is very rare. If a mother is infected with genital herpes before she gets pregnant, her unborn child will receive antibodies to the herpes virus. This offers the baby some protection to the virus. The danger to the unborn child is usually from a mother who acquires herpes during her last trimester and she does not tell her doctor. Get the facts before you go into fear. If you are a woman who suffers from genital herpes, know that you can manage it effectively with your healthcare provider. A C-section is NOT your only option.

Genital Herpes – What is the risk of neonatal herpes?

Genital Herpes – What is the Risk of Neonatal Herpes?

Are you worried about passing on herpes to your unborn child? Watch this video and learn more.

Here are some more facts that I hope you will find comforting.

 –  A recent three year study in Canada (2000–2003) revealed a neonatal HSV incidence of 5.9 per 100,000 live births (.00006%) As you can see, neonatal herpes is extremely rare!

–  80%-90% of neonatal herpes cases are from women who didn’t know they had it.  Therefore, women who know they have herpes can greatly reduce the risk of transmission.

–  Most neonatal herpes is managed effectively with treatment. Some women opt to use suppressive antiviral therapy during week 36 of gestation.

I am happy to say giving birth was the most empowering, miraculous moment of my life. The ability to give birth naturally is truly a gift from God.

Please do not allow the fear of neonatal herpes to consume you. Educate yourself and enjoy your pregnancy. These are magical times…embrace them!

Reference:

Kropp RY, Wong T, Cormier L, Ringrose A, Buron S, Embree JE, Steben M, et al., “Neonatal Herpes Simplex Virus Infections in Canada: Results of a 3-year National Prospective Study.” Pediatrics, June 2006, p. 1955-62 117 (6).