Still hoping to be a mommy

I started my hepatitis A and B shots today!  I guess that makes the whole thing feel a little bit more real.

I know  I still have a lot of time before I really needed to get started with them, but I didn’t see the point in putting it off.  Even outside of traveling to China eventually, they are both a good idea to get.

I got one in each arm, and they are both a little sore, but not too bad.  I have to go back in a month to get another B shot.

Many people who adopt internationally try to learn a little of the language of the country their child was born in. Many people also try to make sure their kids learn at least a little bit of that language too. Now there is another reason to do that. Some research recently by researchers at Toronto’s York University shows that people who are “fully bilingual and speak both languages every day for most of their lives” can delay the onset of dementia by a few years.

Learning a new language, especially as an adult isn’t easy - I know, I’ve been working on it for a long time and haven’t made much progress.

It’s so much easier to learn as kids, so I hope to teach mine (if this adoption ever goes through!) as much as I can.

The research doesn’t say that it will prevent people from getting dementia like Alzheimer’s disease, just that it can delay it. They aren’t really sure of why. Even if it turns out to not be true - knowing another language can be really helpful for anyone!

And with this really long wait time, learning Mandarin is just one good way to keep myself busy!

I read a news story recently in Reuter’s about how folic acid supplements in early pregnancy can reduce the risk of cleft lip in babies by up to 40 percent.  Cleft lip and palate problems are more common in Asian people anyway.  I also read once that environmental pollutants can also increase the risk, I don’t remember where I read it though, so I could be mistaken.

I wonder how many women in China, especially rural women, have access to  folic acid supplements while they are pregnant?  Folic acid is also high in green leafy vegetables and some other foods, so maybe many Chinese women get enough anyway.   I wonder though if folic acid defiencies are  in part responsible for the large number of cleft babies in China.   On the other hand, with China’s large population I don’t really  know if  the  percent of cleft babies is really that much higher than other places, especially if the asian tendency for it is taken  into account.

The reuter’s article is here - (They don’t keep all pages on their site though, so that link won’t work forever) .