ALASKA HIGHWAY NEWS
A12 | OP-ED | THURSDAY, JULY 8, 2021
A week late? Try these tips By A.M. Cullen
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hat last stretch of pregnancy can feel like forever, and when your due date comes and goes it can feel frustrating. If you’re like me, who was pushing eight days overdue in the peak of summer heat last August, you’ll try anything to get that baby out! Though there’s no magic home remedy guaranteed start labour, if you’re currently feeling like a grumpy beached whale, here’s a list of things to try to get things moving along. Between doctoral advice at the birthing clinic, tips from veteran mothers, and Hail Mary ideas from the corners of the internet, I read about them all as I sat sprawled on my couch with the fan in my face 41 weeks pregnant. GET WALKING The number one piece of advice I heard from doctors and friends was exercise. Anything that will get your heart rate up without overexerting yourself will do. I went trekking all over Fort St. John last summer. The gravity from walking may help draw the baby down to your pelvis and start to push on your cervix. When that happens, your body starts releasing oxytocin, which is a hormone that starts labour. Need an incentive? Find a friend to walk with you or walk to your favourite coffee shop (Whole Wheat and Honey was a favourite destination point of mine).
#MOMLIFE ASK YOUR DOCTOR FOR A MEMBRANE SWEEP Research has found that membrane sweeps can increase the likelihood of spontaneous labour and reduce the need for other methods of induction, like medication. The doctor’s goal is to separate the fetal membranes from your cervix, which tells your brain that it’s time for labour and in response will start releasing labour-inducing hormones. All the doctors at the Birthing Clinic are great and will talk you through it if you’re nervous. Advice from a veteran: if you’ve got a resident doctor for your appointment, you can ask their supervising physician to ‘double check’ their sweep. Sometimes those newbies can be a little too gentle and, if you’re going to the trouble (and slight discomfort) of getting a sweep, you want to make sure they get ‘er done. EAT SOME SPICY FOOD We were told by a few experienced moms that eating spicy foods can induce labour. Some believe that the spicy foods can irritate your intestines and in turn induce contractions. I know I’ll take any excuse for some spicy take-out, so order some chicken curry from Spicy Fusion or a chimichanga from Chilliz Fried Chicken and Tacos tonight. GO GET A PEDI Will painted nails induce
labour? No — but a foot massage might! Some argue that acupressure, a practice that involves putting pressure on different parts of the body, can stimulate uterine contractions. I don’t know what officially started my labour, but I did go get a pedicure from Q-Nails the afternoon before my labour started... Even if a pedi doesn’t get things moving for you, my arguments stands that when you’re in the thick of labour and look like a sweaty, angry, tired mess, at least your feet will look fabulous. UP YOUR OXYTOCIN We know that oxytocin is the magic hormone, and though these activities are unlikely to produce enough to officially start labour, they can make your feel a bit better in those last days. A few oxytocin-boosting activities include: listening to music, petting a dog, hugging your partner, trying some yoga, get a massage (time for your hubby to step up!), telling someone how much you care about them, eating your favourite foods, go do random acts of kindness, and meditating. LAST THOUGHTS Though it can feel like an endless waiting game near the end, don’t forget that baby can’t stay in there forever and when they’re ready, they’ll make their grand entrance. Be patient, Mama, you’re almost there. A.M. Cullen lives and writes in Fort St. John
A.M. CULLEN PHOTO
A.M. Cullen: “Though it can feel like an endless waiting game near the end, don’t forget that baby can’t stay in there forever and when they’re ready, they’ll make their grand entrance.”
Dam sirens dismantled A set of 25-year-old dam breach warning sirens in Hudson’s Hope are set to be dismantled this week. The sirens were scheduled to be taken down last Tuesday but work has been rescheduled to this Tuesday due to the record-breaking heat wave. Originally installed in 1996 by BC Hydro following the discovery of a sinkhole in the top of the W.A.C. Bennett Dam, the seven sirens around the community were in-
tended to warn residents of a potential breach. The sirens have since become severely outdated and require manual activation by staff at each site. Since 2019, the District of Hudson’s Hope has been part in the North East BC Emergency and Public Alerts system, which sends emergency alerts by phone, email, and text. To sign up for emergency and public alerts, visit the PRRD’s website. editor@ahnfsj.ca
Will we ever learn? Managing our trees and forests
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or the second time in just under 100 years, the community of Lytton has burned. Sad, tragic, and our hearts go out to all those who lost their homes, business and for some, their lives. Same for those now being threatened by numerous other fires across our Province. Sad, but in truth and reality, wildfires in our communities are part of our history, and inevitable in our future. Along with regular fire updates are the usual stories about this being our the new normal and how climate change is responsible, that these fires are somehow someone else’s fault, that we must blame others for our tragedies, that government is not doing enough, that industrial forestry should be held to account for what they have done to our forests, that fire wasn’t an issue before colonization, and so on and so on. Alternate viewpoints are predicable, as nothing like an eager news media to report from the disgruntled to add to the human touch. When this summer ends and fires give way to snow, we will see calls for government to conduct another fire review, just like the last time, and then after months of work and at great expense, the same announcements will be made once again. Government will promise to do more, to spend more and that they genuinely care and believe about rural people and their safety from wildfire. Problem is that humans can only solve part of the problem, the rest we must learn to live with. We, as people and communities need to understand that despite all our best efforts, when Mother Nature says it is time to burn, she will get her way and the unfortunate will pay the price. Already there are more vigorous calls to eliminate fossil fuels, as if that will really make any difference in whether our forests burn or not. We could ban every internal combustible engine and gas furnace in Canada, and all walk or ride a bike or horse, but all that would do is let
EVAN SAUGSTAD next summers fires get bigger. Increased temperatures only mean the risk increases and does not mean that wildfire goes away. We could ban industrial forestry and let the trees get bigger and older so that when they eventually burn, they burn hotter and quicker. That won’t change much either. We could double, or quadruple our wildfire fighting forces and that would only mean we douse more fires when they are small, but in the end, we would still see some fires do their own thing when circumstances dictate, when numbers and intensity overwhelm our ability to respond. So, what is the answer? Is there even one? Yes, and it is called get used to fire as being part of our environment. Wildfire always has and always will be part of our lives, despite what the climate change activists preach, or how government responds. If we wish to live in the hottest and driest parts of the province, or carve out a homestead in the middle of the boreal forest, wildfire risk is real and given time, will happen. Our biggest problem is that we love our trees, no matter that they are responsible for our greatest wildfires. We fight like hell when someone wishes to cut trees down adjacent our communities. Local governments make regulations that their residents cannot remove trees unless approved. We are allowed/encouraged to plant and irrigate trees for part of the year to ensure they grow big and tall, then when the fire danger is greatest, along come water restrictions to ensure they dry out and become ready to burn. Some give rebates to plant more trees, and not always the ones that are most fire resistant. We refuse to enforce bylaws requiring private
property owners to keep yards clean and free of debris, to prune trees so no branches reach ground level, or that one must irrigate their lands and mow their grass to ensure no fire can burn. As a forest-dependent province, it would be heresy to require new home be built of fireproof materials. Despite the obstacles, we do need to get smarter, and in many cases, meaner with how we regulate fire, trees and our environment. Ever looked at the late 1800s photos of the Lytton area, or Okanagan? Not many trees in those photos and for good reasons. Fires used to be a regular part of their lifecycle and we got rid of that. Hot and the dry weather used to prevent many trees from growing, but irrigation systems fixed that. Now we have more trees than ever growing where they historically never used to. For centuries people used fire to modify the forests where we lived. Some used fire for hunting opportunities by attracting more animals to the new and nutritious growth, others to create dead wood for fuel, and others for their own safety. We also used to harvest forests in and adjacent to our communities, but not so much anymore. Today we are infatuated with having trees everywhere, as if they are some
panaceas to life, and to think Premier Justin wants us to plant even more. Try doing a prescribed burn that puts smoke into a community and see what happens. Heaven forbid, the howl and lawsuits that would come from those with little tolerance for smoke or inconvenience. Or should a fire become a bit overachieving, that shack in the back forty instantly becomes a milliondollar payout. No way around it, we have little desire to manage trees and forests in and around our communities, and even less willingness to spend the millions and millions of taxpayers’ dollars to keep our forests and communities “fireproof.” If we wish to have less fire, then we need to have fewer trees. Trees are not needed everywhere, are not always good for our lives and trees always represent a threat and danger. And closer to home, and for all our rural subdivisions who so liked to carve their homes into what was once a forest, remember the adage: every tree will eventually fall, only a matter of time, and that is 100% certain. Just takes a good storm to make things happen. Evan Saugstad lives in Fort St. John.