Parenting Roundup

As I've mentioned over at Mama Never Said, this week I've been a little lax on posting. Forgive me, my baby has been trying to hack up his lungs.

Here's a wrap-up of what's been going on in the parenting world:

*A 40-year-old German woman delivered a healthy baby while in a coma.

*In another unconscious-mother story: A British woman credits the sound of her baby's voice in pulling herself out of a five-week coma.

*A new report suggests the number of abortions worldwide has declined, while the number of unintended pregnancies hasn't gone up. This is being attributed to an increased availability of contraceptives. Every country is different though -- read about that here.

* A substitute teacher heavily pressured a 10-year-old student to stand up and say the pledge after he refused based on principle. According to him, our country's lack of gay rights proves that we do not, in fact, have "liberty and justice for all."

* Utah abortion laws are protecting a teenage girl who paid someone to beat her up in order to terminate her pregnancy at seven months. Strangely, while the state's abortion laws forbid legal medical late-term abortion (forcing her to take these extreme measures), these same laws state a woman cannot be prosecuted for seeking an abortion. Happily, the baby survived the beating and is now living in state custody while her mother is on trial.

*This is beyond disturbing.

*Co-sleeping deaths largely attributed to parents using alcohol or drugs.

*Congratulations to Heidi Klum and Seal who welcomed baby girl Lou Sulola Samuel on Oct. 9.