When I was finally able to sort of sit down last night, the TV was on TNT. I always have the TV on for background noise. Silence is weird to me so it’s always on, but I rarely pay attention. When I did, the show that was on was a new series called “Heartland”.

The premise of the show involves organ transplants. One of the story lines last night included a uterus transplant. Before you think this is quite out there, the first transplant was done in Saudi Arabia in 2002. See this article in the New York Times.

In the story line, this procedure was met with great controversy, as it is in the New York Times article. The woman had to have a hysterectomy, but wanted to have a child. She already had biological children so the topic became even hotter. Why not just adopt? One of the doctors was talking with another doctor and said that he was an adoptive parent, but what he said next was so poignant to those of us who have adopted after infertility.

He said that he and his wife have three beautiful children who are adopted, and they feel that they are their children in every sense of the word, but that his wife grieves constantly because she was never able to become pregnant.

Kudos to the show for acknowledging adoption as an option, and for pointing out the heartbreak involved for some adoptive parents.

Another part of the story line involved Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS). I wanted to blog about this topic anyway, and since it was involved in this show it fit nicely. Here was one woman struggling to get pregnant and trying “every trick in the book” while another mother was in danger of losing her son. In the storyline, the mother was the one who shook the baby boy and ended up being charged, but also gave other babies the gift of life by donating her baby’s organs.

I have an amazing friend who has two adopted children who have SBS, and she is in the process of adopting a third. I admire here in such a huge way. She is an incredibly strong mom. She fights hard for her kids, and if someone tells her that her kids can’t do something, you can bet they will do it. Visit her Myspace page to learn more about her kids and SBS.

SBS is a totally preventable “illness” and is a form of child abuse that rarely gets discussed. You might hear it lumped in with physical abuse. Here are some statistics that I found:

The average age of a shaken baby is under nine months old, with the majority being between five and nine months.

According to the American Medical Association, approximately 1300 children experience “severe or fatal head trauma” every year as a result of abuse.

Shaking a baby for as little as five seconds can result in damage.

Falls can not cause the same damage as SBS. A child would have to fall several stories in order to produce the same damage. Even a fall down a flight of stairs would not cause SBS like symptoms.

Damage ranges from mild (learning disorders) to severe (death).

Approximately 60% of shaken babies are male.

Federal law mandates that children under three receive speech or physical therapy through the Department of Health, and children over three can receive therapy through the school district.

For more information check out the following websites -

The National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome

Kid’s Health for Parents

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

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