Four years and two months have simply flown by.

I came here an excited but nervous new anchor, and learned so much.

Through the tornado and floods of 2008, through the elections, the crime reports, the RAGBRAI tours, the happy times and the tragic times, I have learned this: there is still much good in the world.

There were some days it was very hard to read certain headlines.

But I could always count on a positive event and a positive story around the next corner.

The KWWL Today in Iowa team. I've loved working with Jeff Eliasoph and meteorologist Eileen Loan "dark and early". Eileen wakes up at 12:30 a.m. to prepare the forecast.

From two grandsons raising money for their grandmother who lost her belongings in the flood, to a 92-year-old man deciding to skydive for the first time, you have put a smile on my face and in my heart.

I will miss you, eastern Iowa.

Thank you for letting me help you wake up every morning.

You have shown me that light is stronger than dark, and good more powerful than evil.

It is time for me to move on.

You are in good hands with Jeff Eliasoph and Natasha Chughtai.  - They are really great.

Best wishes!

Follow me on Facebook!

My great co-anchor Jeff Eliasoph and me emceeing The Family and Children's Council of Black Hawk County's annual fundraiser. Thanks to many people's generosity, it was a great success.

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For several years I have had the honor of helping homeless animals find a safe and loving home on the News at Noon.

Waverly Pet Rescue is a tireless helper of homeless and abandoned animals, rescuing many from “death row” at shelters and finding them foster homes until they can find a loving permanent home.

Loveable, faithful pets like Charlie would be euthanized if it weren't for Waverly Pet Rescue and other wonderful shelters and rescues. By the way, Charlie is up for adoption!

If an animal has ever touched your life for the better, please click here, and vote for Waverly Pet Rescue. Click on the button that says “Vote Now”.

Sponsors of these votes pay for food for shelter animals.

It’s free and it’s quick!

And, if you’d like to meet the fantastic Charlie, or other loveable cats and dogs, go to Waverly Pet Rescue’s site here.

Thank you!

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Ahh, the weekend.  I just spotted a picture on my phone that took me back and I had to share. 

My little kitchen assistant.

Of course, Monday’s here and it’s time to work, but I think my cortisol levels decreased when I saw this image, so I decided to share.

My little sous chef.

There’s nothing like deciding to make brownies for a friend, and having some time to do it.

My aunt taught me that when children want to help, allow them to do it, even if they might make mistakes or slow you down… because this will encourage them to continue helping through the years, instead of learning that mom or dad doesn’t want them in the kitchen (or wherever it is).

So when Felicity held up her arms to me while I was stirring, I decided to teach her to stir.

She also helped herself to a taste of the batter… can’t say I didn’t do the same.

Judging by the expression on her face, I think she liked it.

Like mother like daughter.

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I decided to take my husband to the regional Emmy Awards in Minneapolis, just for fun September 24.

Team effort: with my husband Jason after Today in Iowa won the Emmy for Best Daytime Newscast!

When the host read “Winner for best daytime newscast medium market: Today in Iowa” I must admit I was pleasantly surprised.  

There was some great competition out there – from Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota.

But our team worked really hard on the February 2 snowstorm.

I’ll never forget standing outside in the bitter cold at 4:40 a.m.

The Emmy almost makes it worth it.

Holding that statuette is pretty cool.

I’m glad my husband Jason was with me – it’s always nice to have someone to share in your happiness.

Anchor, gentleman and Energizer Bunny Ron Steele received the prestigious Silver Circle Award for his nearly 40 years of work in broadcast news.

Celebrating with Ron Steele and winners from our sister stations. Ron received the prestigious Silver Circle Award for nearly 40 years of broadcast journalism!

He still has the energy of a new reporter!

I am so glad he received this distinction – he deserves it and then some.

Just wanted to share some pictures – it was a fun night.

And a bit of an “inner-child” moment.

I grew up admiring many broadcasters in the Minneapolis market, and to be there as a working peer was just a dream come true.

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He’s studied at New England Conservatory and teaches at Harvard.

Who knew playing jazz trumpet for a bunch of french cows would be my cousin’s ticket to national headlines?

I am so proud - he went from playing trumpet at my wedding, to cows in France, to Network News.

Recently my cousin Daniel Henderson and friends appeared (via YouTube) on the Today Show, Good Morning America, Conan O’Brien and more, all for taking a few minutes with the strangely-amused bovines.

Watch it here – he’s the trumpeter.

He and his jazz trio played at my wedding – it was awesome.

I always knew he was “la creme de la creme”…

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No matter how hard expectant moms try, labor and delivery rarely go as planned.

Sometimes this results in emergency C-sections, but a growing number of moms who say the rate of C-sections has risen dramatically, sometimes with dangerous complications.

I interviewed mother of two Jennifer Rusch, who says the birth of her first son Caleb didn’t go as planned. 

Although most surgeries go well, doctors want moms to know C-sections are serious abdominal surgeries with serious risks. Maternal deaths have risen along with rates of C-sections.

To see the story, click here.

“Eventually I was in a situation where I was having a caesarean section that I probably didn’t need if I made decisions differently earlier in my labor,” she said.

Rusch says even though she made the best choice with the information at hand, she and Caleb had some negative complications.

“The effects were I couldn’t hold my baby right after birth, in fact it took about 8 hours before I could hold him without help,” she said. “He had a lot of upper respiratory issues in his first year.”

The experience caused Rusch to help form a northeast Iowa chapter of “International Caesarean Awareness Network” or ICAN.

She wants more mothers to know the risks of C-sections and possible ways to avoid them.

Dr. Susan Lipinski at Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo confirms there have been an increase nationally in C-sections in the last few decades.

Some states have a rate as high as 38 percent. Iowa sits at 30 percent, although Covenant Medical Center’s rate is 24 percent.

Lipinski says more women are getting C-sections with their first child, and it creates a kind of domino effect, leading to more C-sections.

One of the main reasons behind a cesarean birth: obesity and its related diseases like pre-eclampsia, which raises a mother’s blood pressure, and diabetes.

“As we see more and more folks who are overweight and obese, we are seeing much higher rates of these diseases,” she said.

Dr. Lipinski also says many women simply want to plan ahead, and therefore plan to be induced.

“Folks don’t want to wait till their due date, not knowing when to get child care, they want to tell the family when to come, there are a lot of elective inductions done,” she said.

She says mothers have the right to request a C-section, as long as they understand the possible risks.

“Babies born after labor typically do better than babies born in C-sections,” she said. “C-section is a serious abdominal surgery that has potential risks, potential for large blood loss and potential for complications.”

Doctors say most surgeries go well, but with an increase in C-sections, there is also an increase in mothers dying, especially with successive surgeries because of scar complications and tearing.

“The first C-section is not always the risky one, it’s the second, third, fourth down the road that we keep escalating risks to moms,” Lipinski said.

There are options for women like Jennifer Rusch who first had a C-section.

She said she researched a great deal and decided to deliver second son Adrian by VBAC, or vaginal birth after cesarean.

“We’re doing far too many C-sections and we really, as women, need to be advocates for ourselves and ask the right questions so we can make informed choices,” Rusch said.

The birth went well, and Rusch wants to help other expectant moms understand their options so their baby’s birth leaves mom and baby as healthy as possible.

The World Health Organization recommends C-sections stay within 10 to 15 percent of births.

So what can mothers do to best prepare for labor? well, it starts before getting pregnant.

Doctors say when planning a pregnancy, get as close to your ideal weight as you can reasonably achieve.

The northeast Iowa chapter of the International Cesarean Awareness Network meets at Sartori Hospital in Cedar Falls on the 4th Tuesday evening of each month and provides free childcare.

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Imagine expecting a baby and having absolutely nothing to give them – no diapers, no blanket, nothing.

Many mothers in foreign countries find themselves in this situation.

A group from Waterloo and Cedar Falls is working to change that. 

To view their inspiring story, click here.

Smiles and happy chatter fill St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Cedar Falls, but it was heartbreaking images from Nicaragua that inspired these volunteers to unite and help.

“We were heartsick, wondering what we could do to help these people who are below poverty level, who have absolutely nothing,” Sherrie Dreyer, volunteer, said.

Dreyer, a retired educator and grandmother, said after viewing a presentation by the Downtown Waterloo Rotary Club called “Children of the Dump,” depicting life in Nicaragua after Hurricane Mitch struck in 1998, her PEO chapter decided they had to help.

Particularly expectant moms and their newborns.

“I feel committed about helping women who are in extreme poverty, to raise them a level to maybe poverty, and get them started in their lives with a child,” Patty Achey Cutts, organizer, said.

Learning that the mothers have nothing to give their babies, these volunteers began to make reusable cloth diapers out of donated T-shirts, some complete with Iowan logos.

They also collect baby supplies like wash cloths, baby shampoo, lotion and more to put into a layette, or baby gift package.

The layettes are sent from Waterloo to a woman’s refuge center called Belin in Chinandega in northwest Nicaragua.

“Women in Nicaragua have few chances to use a hospital, many walk 100 miles. They can only get in four hours before delivery, and can only stay 6 hours after,” Cutts said.

“Some of them have walked two or three days to get to Chinandega, and they have nothing other than a baby. They were sleeping in a park waiting to go into labor,” David Buck, Rotary Club volunteer, said.

Because of the harsh conditions for new moms and babies, the Waterloo Rotary Club supports the Belin Women’s Refuge, which has gone from 12 to 48 beds.

Women can arrive two weeks before delivery. A nurse is on hand 24 hours a day, and a doctor visits daily.

The women take Lamaze classes and personal and newborn care classes.

Organizer Patty Achey Cutts says these tools make a lasting difference.

“I’ve seen their faces,” she said. “They are so humble, so grateful to have something to give their child to embrace them, and to start their new life.”

These volunteers hope the joy they found in making these layettes brings a smile to the waiting mothers and babies half a world away.

“As a grandma, that’s pretty close to our hearts,” Dreyer said.

This group made 240 diapers.

Although a thousand women pass through the women’s refuge in Nicaragua each year.

The Rotary Club has never been able to provide all the women with a layette.

This year they aim to provide 800.

If you would like to help or donate call the Downtown Waterloo Rotary Club at 319-234-1440.

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Most child drownings are preventable.

92-year-old swimming teacher Jen Fielding said it best recently in a KWWL story:

“Everyone should learn to swim because it’s for their own safety. They should be able to save themselves.”

Teaching children to swim is one of the single greatest services we can provide. Even teaching them to swim in their clothes!

Drownings are the second leading cause of accidental injury death for children under the age of 14.

One swimming school in Texas is doing something I thought was really cool – teaching kids (especially young ones) to swim IN THEIR CLOTHES.

Why?

Because most emergencies don’t happen when children are in their swimming attire.

Teacher Jane Emler put it succintly:

“When you talk about pre-schoolers anything can throw them off. And when they practice over and over again with goggles on and a swim suit, they think that’s the only way they swim. So it’s really important that we broaden their understanding that swimming can occur, maybe not as well, but it can occur with your clothes on.”

So Emler holds “Clothesline Day” at her school where kids take the plunge in their every day duds.

To read the story, click here.

Of course, places like the YMCA and community recreation centers offer swimming lessons year round.

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Some parents say they’re concerned not enough children are getting vaccinated, and that is putting infants and other children at risk.

Three-year-old Tyler Grimm of Waverly laughs now, but recently he came down with the chicken pox.

“I had to keep him home from day care, his mother Lilah said.  To watch the story, click here.

Chicken pox was an inconvenience but more so a surprise to mother Lilah, because Tyler had been vaccinated against chicken pox, which made her concerned that not enough parents are immunizing their children.

“Because he was vaccinated, his case was very mild.”

Dr. Brian Sims said, “When we start having a large number of children not being vaccinated, you’re going to see a resurgence in diseases we’re trying to prevent.”

Sims at Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo says unfounded fears of a link between vaccines and autism have led fewer parents to immunize their children from deadly diseases.

“In Japan we have one in four children not getting vaccinated for anything. Specifically the measles, and so I’m aware the measles rates in japan are skyrocketing. Even deaths.”

Sims says cases of measles have emerged in recent years in Iowa, and the rate of whooping cough increased 66 percent last year.

But co-founder of the National Vaccine Information Center Barbara Loe-Fisher said parents still have the right to decide whether to vaccinate or not.

“We feel it’s very important for parents to get all the information they can about the risks and complications of infectious diseases, the risks and complications of vaccines. And then sit down with their doctor, ask questions,” she said.

Grimm says she does respect parents’ rights, but she also wants to make them aware their child could transmit a dangerous disease.

“For a long time all these children’s diseases were eradicated: mumps, measles, whooping cough, we all got our shots,” she said. “It’s just important to get your kids vaccinated.”

Even though chicken pox is generally considered mild compared to other diseases, Dr. Sims said before the vaccine, 200 children would die each year in the U.S. from chicken pox-related infections.

Now after the vaccine, that number has gone down to 20 deaths. Doctors say vaccination risks are increasingly small. Possible reactions include a fever or swelling near the vaccination site.

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Doctors agree: breast milk is simply the best food for babies.

A group of moms support each other in their determination to breastfeed.  To watch their story, click here.

Double the fun and double the feedings.  No problem according to mother of twins Anne Duncan.

“With twins it seemed logical to breast feed. All that formula would be expensive There’s no more natural food that exists,” Duncan said.

Duncan and other moms come to Covenant Medical Center each Wednesday as part of a breastfeeding support group.

This week mother’s milk takes center stage with World Breastfeeding Week.

“It’s beneficial to me, I get to be closer to him,” mother Meagan Slee said. “Something my husband doesn’t get to do. It’s hard to explain the bond.”

“You can see the babies behind me,” Lactation Consultant Rhonda Thompson said, motioning to the group of babies in the room. “They look pretty healthy, pretty good. It’s not unusual for breastfed babies not to be sick at all their first year of life.”

Duncan agrees on the health benefits for twins Leyton and Riley, born six weeks premature. She says the proof is in the doctor’s bill.

“We’ve had less trips to the doctor than not just the average baby, let alone premature baby,” she said.

As part of world breastfeeding week, these moms want to celebrate benefits like bonding, reduction in allergies, reducing the risk of breast cancer in moms and more.

“There’s nothing to lose. Give it a shot. If you really don’t like it, you don’t have to do it,” Thompson said.

Some moms feel so strongly about breastfeeding, they switched employers to do so.

Duncan decided to make that switch.

“There are many businesses that support family values and will give you the opportunity to pump or take a long lunch and nurse your kid,” Duncan said.

Whether it’s time, energy, or even changing jobs, these moms say the benefits of breastfeeding double any sacrifice.

Doctors say once in a while because of medical issues, mothers cannot breastfeed. But they encourage moms to believe in themselves and give it a try.

Stats show about 74 percent of mothers breastfeed nationwide.

American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive breastfeeding the first six months of life, and to continue breastfeeding through the first year, and even beyond if mother and baby choose.

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