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Yes, you read that right. A little early for Halloween, sure, but this is one of those stories too weird--and creepy--to not be true. A Greater Manchester man who police and family thought was dead re-entered their lives after his son spotted him on television. The man, John Delaney, was believed to have died in April of 2000. Police accidentally misidentified a body as his and his family had a funeral for him, cremating the body of what they believed to be the patriarch in 2003.

Delaney had actually suffered a head injury and been admitted to a hospital days later. He suffered amnesia and was unable to give medical professionals his name. He was transferred to a home and stayed there for eight years before his son identified him while watching a show about missing people.

The son, John Renehan, said that while his father had been cremated, he "knew" the man he saw on television was his father. And he was right. Goes to show you have to trust your instincts sometimes. Now the family is happily reunited in what is truly an amazing story for the books. Sadly, the body of the person who was believed to be Delaney and subsequently cremated, has yet to be identified.

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Wipes. Once you have a child, it seems impossible to get away from using them. They're everywhere and made to use for everything baby related. And there are so many different kinds to choose from, you find yourself sampling until you find the "right" wipe for your family. Some prefer the all-natural variety, some prefer antibacterial. Others prefer the sensitive skin version, and some just go for whatever is cheapest. Heck, you can even make your own baby wipes at home.

But, are wipes all they're cracked up to be? Are they really safe for all the uses for which they are available? I use them to wipe up during a diaper change. And I use them to wipe my hands. And I use them to wipe down the table after my son has his meal. And I've been known on occasion to use them to wipe his face after said meal. I've used them to wipe his nose instead of traditional tissues because they keep the skin on his nose from drying out.

My husband came home from Costco with a box of 700 wipes. Yes, 700. And all for the low cost of like $17. But are they good for the environment? Do they disintegrate or pile up in a landfill somewhere like everything else? Is it worth it for the convenience? And what about the organic versions versus the regular kind? Is there any real advantage to using chlorine-free wipes as opposed to generic ones? So many questions, so many wipes. They're invaluable when it comes to diaper changing duties, but other than that are they really worth it? I come from the cloth napkin world where little is thrown away or not reused, but I love the cleanliness and simplicity of the wipe. Is there any middle ground?

What is your favorite type of wipe, or have you found a way to get things (and your kids) clean without them?

According to a new report, actress Leighton Meester was essentially born in prison. The Gossip Girl star's mother was allegedly in prison serving time in federal prison in Texas for drug-related charges when her now-famous daughter was born.

Mom was allowed to live in a half-way house until little Leighton was three months old, but then had to serve out the rest of her sentence behind bars. The report appears in the questionable if anything Star magazine, where it is noted Leighton was raised by a relative until mom was released.

The magazine also claims other members of Meester's family, including her grandfather, spent time in the slammer, again for drug-related charges. Do we believe it? Sure, why not--plenty of women have had children while in prison. Can't stop mother nature. Do we care? That I'm not so sure about. With Gossip Girl's second season opening to its largest audience ever, I doubt the show needed such a publicity stunt, but they got one anyway!

Suicide rates among the nation's youth continue to climb. Many experts fear the reason for this is due to fewer antidepressants being prescribed. After a fifteen-year decline the rates are climbing--what was seen as a possibly random increase in 2004 was repeated in 2005. The outcome of the study of 2004 and 2005 tracked outcomes based on actual instances from 1996 through 2003. After more than a decade of decline, suicide rates among those from 10-19 years of age skyrocketed by 18% in 2004, the largest increase in a one-year time period over fifteen years. Researcher Jeff Bridge feels, based on this study, that we could be on the verge of a public health crisis.

Bridges sites possible reasons for the increase, including online and social networking as well as returning from deployment overseas in Iraq along with the controversy over giving youth antidepressants. In a 2003 a public health advisory was issued noting children who were prescribed SSRIs, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, were more likely to attempt suicide or engage in suicidal behavior. The result was the black box information on such medicines as well as doctors being less confident in prescribing them. In another study, however, Bridge noted that such treatment could be beneficial for children in the short-term.

According to Diana Zuckerman, National Research Center for Women & Families, children may be more likely to attempt suicide now due to the lagging economy, the stress of not having enough money for college and because those with depression go undiagnosed. She also noted a factor could be that families aren't spending enough time together.

Children born to men who are older than the ripe old age of 30 are more likely to suffer from bipolar disorder, according to a new study. The results of the study, published in the Archives of General Psychology, suggest that the risk increases as the age of the father increases. Bipolar disorder is more commonly known as manic depression. Symptoms of the disorder include periods of extreme happiness offset by mood swings of severe depression and hopelessness.

The reason for the connection? According to Emma Frans of Sweden, who led the study, it could be that older men have more degraded sperm. The Swedish research team used a national medical registry of 14,000 who had the disorder along with five people without the disorder for each person in the registry to uncover the connection. After factoring for the mother's age, the results indicated that those with fathers over 30 had an 11% increase in risk and those with fathers as old as 55 had a 37% increased risk. Frans was quick to point out that the results shouldn't keep older men from fathering children all together, but that they should be aware of the increased risks.

Older fathers have also been linked to autism and schizophrenia.

You know that old nighttime saying, "Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite"? Well it turns out bedbugs aren't an imaginary creature designed to keep kids from wandering out of their beds at night.

Bedbugs are tiny, real insects that suck blood from people in their beds as they sleep. Our sister blog That's Fit just shared the educational-yet-horrifying information that some colleges are suffering from bedbug infestations. You know, because between the booze, boys, and bills, college parents didn't have ENOUGH to worry about.

If your college student suspects they have bedbugs as roomies, here are the steps to take:

• Pretend you don't know about the problem and transfer to a different university (Just kidding, although that would probably be my first response.)
• Reduce clutter to eliminate hiding places for the bugs.
• Thoroughly clean house using a high-powered vacuum cleaner and a stiff brush to remove bugs from cracks in the floor.
• Dismantle beds to find hiding places.
• Wash the bedding. Seal up mattresses and box springs by taping any holes or other places where bugs could exit. Wrap the mattresses and box springs in heavy plastic covers and seal them. Dumping mattresses on the street could result in making the problem worse by spreading it to others.
• To keep bugs from traveling from the floor to the bed and anyone attempting to sleep, set the bed frame legs in containers of mineral oil and do not let the blankets touch the floor.
• Caulk and seal all holes and cracks around pipes, electrical outlets, and around baseboards and cove moldings.
• If you are a tenant, work with your landlord to solve the problem. If you are a homeowner, you might consider calling a licensed pest control operator.
• There are a number of products and kits you can purchase to treat the problem. Some involve chemical pesticides, others depend upon organic means of control, such as insecticidal dusts that tear away the bug's protective coating, causing it to die. These products can be found on the internet.
• If you suspect you have had a bedbug encounter during a trip out of the country, it's possible you have transported the little fellows or their eggs in your luggage. Leaving your luggage in a closed car for several hours in a hot summer sun should kill them. Meanwhile, it's a good idea to have clothing professionally laundered in a commercial bug-killing solution immediately upon your return, preferably before you bring the clothing home. Inspect, vacuum, and scrub your empty suitcase with a stiff brush to remove any eggs.

Of course the easiest way to deal with bedbugs is to not get them in the first place. That's why the best idea is to keep your kids little and at home with you. When someone figures out how to do, this please let me know ASAP.

The most common birth defect found in newborn boys is undescended testes. This condition may affect up to 8% of males and is also believed to be linked with infertility issues and as a risk factor for testicular cancer later in life. Research on rats found that the reproductive system of male fetuses could suffer damage starting as early at eight weeks' gestation by some chemicals, including those found in many cosmetics. During the time window of 8-12 weeks gestation, the male reproductive system is being established and certain hormones are being activated.

But researchers feel they may have found a simple way for expectant mothers to possibly spare their sons the from heartaches of infertility and health issues down the road: lay off perfume.

"Women could stop using body creams and perfumes. Although we do not have conclusive evidence that they do harm, there are components about which there are question marks; for example it could be certain combinations of chemicals. If you are thinking about how a baby might be exposed, that's one way, and it's something positive you can do. It might have no consequence, but it's something positive women can do for their baby."

It's pretty amazing that the more things are studied, the more brilliant the apparent protections Mother Nature seems to have built-in to protect fetuses during pregnancy appear. Coffee, alcohol, and perfume are three common nausea triggers among newly pregnant woman.

Did you have a nausea trigger? In the name of research, let us know in the comments!

With my first pregnancy, everything was done by the book. My OBGYNs were staunchly against inducing until a full two weeks after my due date. They were also against scheduling a C-section barring there was no medical reason to do so. In other words, they viewed pregnancy and birth as a natural thing that should happen when good and ready, not something that needed to be scheduled in time for a tennis match or dinner plans (theirs or mine).

This time around, nearly twenty months later, I received a slightly different tune. My child is due relatively near Halloween (my father's birthday and my favorite day of the year). I'd inquired if the two-week rule still applied as I thought there would be a slight possibility my child could be born on Halloween. My OBGYN wanted to know if I wanted to schedule an induction. She noted that a woman had recently done so because of childcare issues--she had to have the baby at a certain time in order to find someone to watch her other child.

So the message was a little different this time around. Have we gotten so busy and our lives so scheduled that we need to induce our labors in order to fit into them? Sure, no one likes the thought of not knowing when the baby will arrive--you could be in the middle of a subway ride or something--but isn't that half the fun and excitement, too? Some would say that fun and excitement have their place, but not when it comes to having a baby. They want to know exactly when and where (usually they've got the why and how figured out).

What about you? Would you or did you schedule an induction for something other than medical reasons or that it was two weeks past your due date? If so, why?

• Tune into your child's behavior and look for signs that something is out of the ordinary. Take note, too, if they radically change their routine for no apparent reason.
• Before jumping in and calling a bully's parents, get your tween or teen to open up and talk about it, letting them have some control over the solution.
• Younger children will need parents to intervene more quickly.
• Inform school authorities immediately.
• Help your child come up with tactics that will put a stop to the bullying, but don't encourage violence or retaliation.
• Encourage social relationships through extra-curricular activities, clubs, and sports, and teach your child how to reach out to others socially.

An Australian school who recently banned cartwheels may be reversing its decision. Both parents and children protested after cartwheels, somersaults and other gymnastics were banned during recess.

According to the school, safety was at the the heart of the decision to ban the "acrobatics." Now officials of the Queensland education system are saying they are willing to be flexible and work toward a balance. Gymnastics were given a risk rating of 2 by the school. Parents became upset when other sports such as soccer, tennis and the ever-popular cricket were also rated with a 2 but allowed to continue.

Was the school trying to do the right thing to protect its students, or did they take things too far? Ever had anything like this happen at your child's school? If so, what was your stance?

Pic by JOVIKA.

It was nearly a half-century ago that science uncovered just how harmful drugs could be to a developing fetus. The threat--thalidomide. I don't even know what thalidomide is, save for the phrase from the Billy Joel song We Didn't Start the Fire, but my parents certainly did, as did the rest of the nation who discovered they were poisoning their unborn children by taking the drug. Today, the environment is decidedly different. We live in a world where information of all kinds is at our fingertips (whether true or not is another matter). The Internet and, frankly, women entering the working world have given us control over knowledge, specifically with what can or does happen to our bodies. We as women, and as the world, know more about conception, pregnancy and birth than we ever did before. So do our doctors. They also know what can go wrong, and seem to take every chance possible to ensure something terrible doesn't happen to an unborn child.

The result? Many women feel like they're nothing more than a "walking uterus" or some ovaries. They feel that doctors forget to treat the whole patient because they're so focused on the damage that could be done by, say, taking a certain medication, if the woman happens to be pregnant (whether she knows it or not). They consider the woman "pre-pregnant." Of course doctors are trying to save and preserve lives. They're also trying to avoid malpractice or other kinds of suits. What they might be missing out on, though, is that a woman is in control of her body. She can avoid getting pregnant if she wants to--especially in order to take a certain medication. Yes, there is the slight chance that she doesn't know she is pregnant, but that's a risk the medical profession might have to be willing to take in order to treat women patients fairly.

This past winter I got strep throat REALLY BAD. (Actually, it's ALWAYS really bad.) We had not been using protection and so there was a slight possibility I could be pregnant. I told the doctor, rather than him asking me, that it was a possibility, so he prescribed a different kind of medication for me. The point? Well, I took control of the situation instead of having someone do it for me. I was the one who did the talking, was aware of and responsible for what was going on with my body. And you know what? I was pregnant. And now I feel a whole heck of a lot better that I got different medication. But, it was my choice--the doctor didn't make any presuppositions about me (smart man, good doctor).

Pic by zimpenfish.

Ah, kids these days. And their parents too. I remember when I was a kid trying to impress people by getting my room clean as quickly as possible or hitting a badminton birdie farther than my dad. Clearly, as an eleven-year-old I had nothing on the girl in this video. Woah. Not only does she dismantle the AR-15 (it's a gun, it's a weapon, it's a killing machine) in fifteen seconds, she puts it back together after that for a combined total time of 53 seconds. The kicker? Not so much that she's a tween or pre-tween herself, but that her father was the one who taught her how to do this, and he's the one who filmed the video.

Both father and daughter seem very pleased by the girl's abilities. My husband summed it up best when he asked me, after I was visibly shocked by the footage, when they took the girl into custody. Who the heck really keeps guns in their house when they have children? And who the heck teaches them how to use them? Better yet, who keeps an AR-15 in the house and teaches his eleven-year-old daughter how to use it?

Who's to say whether there is a mom around, whether she saw the video, and whether or not she knows or cares that her daughter has the technical skills of an assassin. Perhaps it was supposed to be funny, but the video is more terrifying than anything. Children and guns, of any kind, do NOT go together. Plain and simple, guns kill people. And, sadly, more often than not, they kill children.