Can you believe we’re on the brink of 2010? Unreal…I remember so vividly ten years ago when we were turning over into a new millennium. The excitement and the trepidation about what the turn-over would bring.
There is more unease and unsettle around as we approach this new year. A lot of the news is not good. Food shortages, unemployment, credit woes…everywhere you turn there is bad and depressing news.
Let’s shut that out for a bit and concentrate on the GOOD that is happening!
Ex-Conjoined Twins Leave Hospital for Birthday
Formerly conjoined twins Trishna and Krishna were discharged from an Australian hospital five weeks after their separation surgery. They are home in time to celebrate their third birthday. The girls were joined at the top of their heads and they also shared brain tissue and blood vessels before they were separated in a 30-hour operation.
The twin sisters have made amazing progress since the November 17 surgery. They were using walkers to move around the hospital.
“I look forward to seeing them live a long and happy life; that’s my wish for them,” neurosurgeon Wirginia Maixner stated.
They will spend their birthday at home in Melbourne. The girls will stay in Melbourne to receive outpatient care at the hospital.
Mom Fights, Gets the Delivery She Wants
When she was seven months pregnant with her fourth baby, Joy Szabo learned that the hospital where she was planning to deliver was going to require her to have a Cesarean due to her previous Cesarean history.
After pleading her case before hospital executives and being adamantly denied her right to a VBAC, Szabo and her husband decided to move their family six hours away to be near a hospital that would allow her to have a vaginal birth — three weeks prior to her due date.
On December 5, Marcus Anthony was born in Phoenix in an uncomplicated vaginal delivery. The baby weighed seven pounds, 13 ounces.
The Szabos’ story has a happy ending. It illustrates an alarming trend; however. The C-section rate is now one in three and women who want vaginal births sometimes have to fight for them.
America’s Top Donors of 2009
The top donation in 2009 was a $350 million payment Bill and Melinda Gates made to their foundation for construction of a new 900,000-square-foot headquarters in Seattle. Here is list of Americans who donated $30 million or more to charitable institutions in 2009:
George Soros: $155 million
Michael R. Bloomberg: $125 million
William P. Clements Jr.: $100 million
J. Ronald Terwilliger: $100 million
Raymond A. Rich: $85 million
Julian H. Robertson Jr. and Josie Robertson: $69.5 million
Patrick Soon-Shiong and Michele B. Chan: $65 million
John W. and Susan G. Jackson: $50 million
Pierre and Pam Omidyar: $50 million
Jay A. Precourt: $50 million
