Carrie Lauth: Well, I would be interested in hearing more about, briefly, how you were able to save $30,000 on obstetrical costs.
Maribel Hernandez: Well one of them and there are many, but one of them was when we had -- we have seven children as I told you, but in that first one, the first two we had, we had come across doctors who just basically ripped my placenta and really caused incredible heartache and damage to me.
As a result of that, I was told that I would never be able to have any children and if I did, I would die. I have seven now and I am very grateful and it is not that I took the doctor's position and I just belittled it, but I tried to understand why he said that.
Well, he was wrong and I am grateful that he was wrong because he was the one that had done the damage, the doctor when he was pulling out the placenta created a lot of injury to me internally. Of course, needless to say, we never went to a man doctor again and that is not to say that all men doctors are bad, but everyone is different and not all men doctors are evil, although I prefer not to go to them.
Anyway, when that happened, we decided, "Oh, we really need to get to apprentices." So, we found some wonderful midwives who allowed us to apprentice under them and as a result of that, the last three births have been wonderful births and births that Pete, my husband, and older children have done. They have been a blessing.
It is just a small word, it is not really what I want to describe it as, not only of course that it saved us because Carrie at that time when this incident did happen with me, the births I was paying for back then were $10,000 for private care delivery. I do not know what they cost for now. So, based on those alone, that is where I got that figure from, but that was just the minimal.
Then we had ear infections and throat infections and we started buying otoscope, stethostocope. It is amazing what a parent can do with a professional grade otoscope. A parent can learn and I think really should learn, exert the effort. I know it is some work involved, but it is really, really not difficult to use.
It is quite simple and it is a lot of fun when you start passing this tool around with caution to your younger children and they start touching and handling say, "Wow. If mom and dad did it, maybe I can do it too," and the money that we have saved by not even seeing a pediatrician who would have and have had in the past tell me "well, this is streptococcus." How could he know that it is a streptococcus infection when he never even tested the bacteria? It is amazing -- the faulty logic that they push on parents and all -- what Pete and I really want to say is that parents can. They can do so much for their families. They just really need to push themselves just a little further.
Carrie Lauth: Yeah and that is a very empowering thing because I have always said that as a parent it is my responsibility to care for my child's health. Now, I may delegate that responsibility to someone from time to time, but the end decision is still mine. It is no one else's. It is not the doctor's. It is not the government.
It is my decision, but it is interesting because I was reading this very popular blog recently and the subject of -- I think it was a measles outbreak that the person was commenting on and they were saying this outbreak is the reason why we need to remind you to make sure your children are vaccinated. I am not sure how you feel about that, but some of the comments were very interesting because one of the commenter said something along the lines of, "Well, parents who question vaccines really have too much time on their hands." I thought well, that is interesting because my experience has been quite opposite. In other words, parents who do not accept the status quo, but really want to know what is going on with their child, they are more likely to be informed and educated about their choices. Do you not find that?
Maribel Hernandez: Oh, I could not agree with you more and I hear the same argument because we vaccinateded our first two and Carrie it was nothing, but infection. I was constantly at the pediatrician.
Some people said to me, "Well, Maribel, that is kind of bad logic because you are using an inductive argument," but you know if you have oil, hot oil and it spills on you, guess what? You are going to get an oil burn. I would take them to the pediatrician and get those vaccine shots and they were so sick as a result of it.
Our older daughter, the 18, had developed this nystagmus, this horizontal nystagmus. It has come under a lot of control now where she can just sit and focus, but she was never the same after that. She was a very playful little baby and very agile. Of course as a parent, I cannot even begin to tell you how horrible I felt.
Why is it Carrie that they make us sign those forms if there is nothing at risk? Well, then if there is nothing at risk, why do you ask me to sign this form? That is very illogical to me and further if you go into the Physician's Drug Reference Manual, I have the 1997 edition, and you look up polio, you will see clearly that their raw material is monkey pus. That is their own textbook. If they want to argue against themselves at least make yourselves clear, but do not lie to the public. It is not fair. So, those arguments are very ludicrous and oftentimes downright lies.
Carrie Lauth: Yeah. Well, if they are so safe then why are they asking you to remove their liability?
Maribel Hernandez: Yeah, right. We can go a step further here. I called the -- there is a 1 800 number for physicians. They are supposed to fill out a form if they want to. It is cool and voluntary. I think it is called MedWatch, but it is in that textbook that I just referenced and it asked the physician if your patient did have a reaction to the vaccine, which is -- I do not think that is a fair word, but if they have had a reaction please let us know. Well, what are you doing with that data?
Well, I decided to call the number and when I did I said, "When reactions are reported, do you make this data available to the public?" "Oh, no, no, no" they told me on the other line. Well, then you know what? That necessarily puts all parents into a first responder. Parents need to be first responders because no one else -- I should not say no one else, but there is not a lot of help for parents.
Parents are thrust into this position to seek out information, to become more savvy if you will, to become learned to not just take things for granted when a professional tells us something. Weigh it, think about it. Does it make sense? Are there any fallacies to it? That is really important.
Carrie Lauth: Yeah. I find it interesting that parents will research things. For instance, you will find parents on message boards that research for hours and hours to find the safest infant car seat, the one that has been tested in crash tests and what does consumer report say and what do the other parents say and this and that, but do not think to research about something that is being injected into their child's body.
I do not understand that. If you hire a contractor to come to your home, let us say, you hire an electrician to come, give you a bit on something wrong with your electrical system, you are going to make really sure that you trust what that person is telling you because it is a huge outlaid cash. You might be spending $6000 or $7000 to have this person rewire your home or change your panel or whatever and you are not just going to sign that check right away. You are going to do some research. You are going to get a second contractor to come out and take a look because this person is earning a living. They have a vested interest in you hiring them.
Well, doctors are just the same and what is interesting about these outbreaks that occur, it has been shown that when vaccine compliance is higher, doctors are less likely to make a diagnosis of, say, pertussis. They are less likely to have that throat cultured and look for pertussis, but when vaccination compliance is lower, they are more likely to do so. So, those numbers are not correct. They are very much viewed by the opinion of the person who is doing the testing or not.
Maribel Hernandez: Is that not true? Their hypothesis always fits so nicely. They frame it. These people know this. There is a textbook, I cannot remember now the name, but I have it. It shows you how they misconstrue data to fit their hypothesis.
Well naturally, when they structure these arguments it looks favorable, but you know what? When you bring the magnifying glass to it, you will see that it is filled with all kinds of illogical fallacies. They just do not make sense and moms, like you were referencing before, moms make up three-fourths of the medical infrastructure of natural medicine.
What I mean by that is a lot of families are starting to put into motion these initiatives. Well, they will take their symptoms and they will start researching. Now, it is true that some moms are more driven than others, but even the moms who were not as highly as driven as the ones who are, they will seek out the other mothers. PEW, I think it is PEW, did a research on that. It was really amazing. Moms leave -- there is no rock they leave unturned.
I think that has a lot to do with that God-given ability that He has given us to love, to nurture, to protect our babies, our families. I am the same way with my husband. Be careful with that because we love woodworking projects, Carrie. We do a lot of stuff outside in the summer and I take the summer for that purpose so we can have a nice fresh air breathing when we are working on woodworking projects.
Mom, she is thrust as to being the first responder when accidents happen, when illnesses happen. Who has to be the first responder? Now, it is not always mom I know. It could be a grandparent or a legal guardian, but it makes just really good, prudent sense for parents to just begin, if they have not, to begin taking those steps, start creating a little library for themselves, getting the resources they need. I am not talking about a first aid kit you could buy at the local Wal-Mart. I am talking about a first aid kit that is going to render you more successful, that will put you better in the driver's seat.
Not too long ago, we had a car accident. A truck rammed into us and hit five cars and my neck was -- we walked away from it alive. Our car was crushed, but to make a long story short, the cervical collar, the collar that goes around your neck, it is called a C-collar, they charged in the hospital, when you get that emergency bill at least here locally, $60. You are only allowed to wear it from the moment you are transported in the car, but when you get to the hospital, they take it off. I said to the paramedic, "Oh, please don’t take it off," because when you immobilize it, it feels so good.
That is why I have splints at home for the fingers, but I was not in the position to run back home. In any case, the point I am trying to make is that when the bill came in, they charged well over $200 for less than 20 minutes to wear that thing around the neck. It just does not make sense and you can purchase it, Carrie, for $20, a brand new one.
So, there are just -- when I speak about first aid supply, I am talking about really just a lot of good supplies the parents can have and they do not have to buy the C-collar. There are so many other good things that they can get, a finger splint, all kinds of good supplies that you are not going to find at a regular Wal-Mart or pharmacy. So, we are going to be covering that in the newsletter too because I want parents to know, "Look, you can put this aside, you can have that." The little herbal eyewash cups. Have you seen them? They are like glass. They come in glass or plastic. It makes it so much easier to deal with infections in the eyes than just using your hand. So, there are lots of neat little stuff. I think parents' first aid box should look more like a paramedic's if you ask me.
Carrie Lauth: Yeah. Well, please tell our listeners how they can visit your site and your blog.
Maribel Hernandez: Just go to www.apmformulators.com and that stands for Alternative PhytoMed Formulators and just sign or send us an E-mail or click on the link that says Join the E loop and we will start sending them out as soon as the folk comes around and we will take questions if the people have any and they want to see a certain subject covered. For example, if somebody is dealing with a certain issue and they wanted that to be addressed, that can be a theme for a certain month.
Carrie Lauth: Well, great. I am looking forward to the information in your newsletter because I have four, but I can only imagine what is in store for me in the future with…
Maribel Hernandez: Well, Carrie, from what I have read, you have got a lot of resources there and I wish would have known what you know when I was younger and I was just starting out to parent. It just makes it so much better when parents start really taking it seriously when they give birth to children and say, "Our babies weren't born with manuals and we really need to help them and take good care of them."
Carrie Lauth: Well, thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing your information and you had an offer there of a free sample of your product, which is wonderful and I am enjoying it very much and I love the smell, too.
Maribel Hernandez: Oh, good. Well, thanks for having us, Carrie. I appreciate it.
