*crossposted at BlogHer.com

My uterus and colon are totally awesome and you should want to GAWK at photos of them.

What? What do you mean that’s too much information? Looking at my insides is WAY COOL and rather fascinating, if I do say so myself.

Yes, I’m about to show you what I mean … so look away now if you don’t want to see the inside of my body …

Alright: So as it turns out, some of you didn’t really want to see my innards and had some issues when, after my last surgery, I shared that photo of my insides on Twitter and Facebook. Is it too much?

How about this one of one of my laparoscopic incisions?

For you … maybe. Maybe it was too much. But for me? It was just what the doctor ordered. I needed to talk about what was happening to my body. I needed to tell you everything, show you everything, have you talk back to me about it and give me that virtual “Oh honey, I’ve been there” or “don’t worry, it will be ok.”

I wasn’t really going for grossing you out. OK, maybe that was a little fun, but it wasn’t my end goal. I needed to commiserate and feel that virtual hug. Plus, I thought my internal organs were kinda cool.

I’m not the only one getting up close and personal online. Yvette showed off her six-and-a-half pound fibroid tumor to the world too. Yes. I clicked. It’s disgusting but important. She wanted us to see what had been plaguing her body. Just like I wanted you to see what had been ravaging mine.

LOOK. SEE! THIS IS WHY I HURT! THIS IS WHY I COMPLAIN! — that’s really the message I’m sending when I take shots of my IV-laden arms that make me look like a junkie or my kids making me smile in my hospital bed.

When you are scared, sick, and worried … sometimes all you can do is reach out to your friends. That’s what this whole “oversharing” thing is all about. I know some times it’s over the top, but when I posted those photos, I had messages from other women about how they were going through something similar. We traded war stories. We traded tips. It reassured me in my time of need, and I reassured them they were not alone.

It’s why I blog. It’s why I tweet. It’s why I Facebook. It’s why I am here.

The communities surrounding any given disease or diagnosis are nothing shy of essential support systems to help you through. Even if I don’t normally talk doctors and procedures (and trust me, I’d much rather be talking politics and parenting), I easily found an entire community ready to talk hysterectomy, fibroid, colitis, diverticulitis and auto-immune disorders as I struggled with what happened to my body.

Over and over again, people recommended to me sites like HysterSisters and gave me their tips for dealing with colitis and gastro issues. Over and over again people also admonished me for ruining their appetite and giving them more information about my life than they really wanted.

But I have to be honest … for the those people upset with me … too bad, get over it, or just go ahead and cut your ties with my social networks. I have another surgery coming up in a few weeks, and I NEED to talk about it. I NEED to find others like me to feel less alone. I NEED my community for that virtual hug.

I also need to overshare, because it’s the only way I know how to be real and for you to know the true me. TMI FTW.

Contributing Editor Erin Kotecki Vest also blogs at Queen of Spain blog where she’s lamenting about losing her gall bladder, part of her colon, and most likely her uterus on June 24th, 2010.

Politics & News Contributing Editor Erin Kotecki Vest

I want you to head on over to BlogHer today and leave a comment about a book that changed your life.

BlogHer and BookRenter, a company that rents textbooks to college students, have joined forces because we know that books makes a difference.

From May 3-28, together we are working to make a difference in children’s lives by generating new books for children who need them most — via the nonprofit organization First Book.

Want to help? For every answer we receive in the comments to the following question, one book will be donated…

I know you have one.

If you do, you can make a difference to a child- and it’s really, super easy.

crossposted at BlogHer.com

Fear? I eat fear for breakfast.

Nature? Beautiful and wild and beloved.

Cows? Awesome creatures that moo and wander and eat grass.

Did Erin hit her head?

No. It’s just all those scary thoughts I had about visiting the Pioneer Woman’s ranch in Oklahoma were entirely unfounded and insane. All right, maybe it’s a lot easier to handle acres upon acres of beautiful open land when you are lounging in the Lodge. Maybe “roughing it” isn’t so bad with fabulous friends to laugh and talk with. And maybe, just maybe, when a cowboy invites you to go light a hill on fire and chase a bull, you jump and squee with glee and all the fear you had leaves your head and you snag your CEO’s baseball cap and run like a child into the vast plains.

The ranch, in short, was to die for. Ree and her Marlboro Man husband were delightful hosts who live in a magical place where wild mustangs roam and cattle abound.

That’s right, while filming Putting it All Together for BlogHer, I wasn’t afraid of my surroundings. I got to chase a bull and light a hill on fire. And I didn’t have an ounce of fear or worry, despite my premonition I’d be curled up in the fetal position, in fact I wanted MORE.

My job is never dull.

Speaking of work, take a look at our finished product. I helped out with the first episode while I wasn’t running around Oklahoma with Ranch Hands. Keep in mind Putting it All Together is about you. Right now the conversation for the next episode is happening over at Susan Wagner’s Friday Play Date, so feel free to chime in.

I get to head back to Ree’s ranch with your ideas in a few weeks. The Marlboro Man has promised another ranch activity, and admittedly I’m over-excited about it. Oh who am I kidding, I CAN’T WAIT! I LOVE COWS!!!

Contributing Editor Erin Kotecki Vest also blogs at Queen of Spain Blog, where she’s trying to convince her husband to sell their Los Angeles home and move to a cattle ranch

Crossposted at BlogHer.com

Recently, I was asked on CNN what lessons politicians like John Edwards could learn from sex scandals. My answer was simple: “Keep your pants on.”

Apparently Rielle Hunter should have been given the same advice during a recent photoshoot with Mark Seliger. Call me crazy, but if you become famous due to a sex scandal with a presidential candidate … you might not want to take pantless photos for a bombshell interview, posed with your love-child’s toys. Even we mommybloggers know enough about brands to call that a boneheaded move.

Image source: GQ

As if sexy photos from someone seen as a homewrecker weren’t enough, the Dora and Barney stuffed toys leaning against her threw in that extra edge of creepy.

Hunter, the mother of Edward’s child, has reportedly told Barbara Walters she now regrets the photos,

“She was in tears when she called,” said Walters, “and said that when she saw the pictures in GQ she screamed for two hours. She said she found the photographs repulsive.”

So Walters says she asked if that was the case why did she pose for them? “She said she trusted Mark Seliger, whom she said is a brillant photographer and quote, ‘I went with the flow,'” recounted Walters.

If you haven’t seen the GQ photo spread and interview of John Edward’s baby mama, go take a peek.

I’m not buying Hunter really regrets these photos. At some point she had to take her pants off and at some point she had to let Barney fall on her leg a bit and act sexy. Sex and the 405 isn’t buying it either,

Oh, my. We’re all about the MILF here at Sex and the 405 but posing half-dressed among your kid’s toys is just a little too … ew. That’s Barney half on your lap, you know? To make matters worse, according to Barbara Walters, Hunter called her hysterically to let her know how disgusted she was about the GQ photos Mark Seliger took of her for the men’s magazine — like she was somehow not a part of the shoot or had any say in the matter. We’ll say to her now what we said to “Johnny” then: you did it, now own it!

Shannon of RightPundits is also skeptical,

Rielle Hunter allowed herself to be interviewed and photographed by GQ magazine; just exactly what John Edwards, the man she supposedly loves, didn’t need. Never mind that in the photos which you can see here, she pimped out their two year old child and allowed semi-racy pictures of herself to be taken. And surprise, surprise; she’s shocked that GQ would have the audacity to run photos of her wearing nothing but a white button up shirt. Are we really to believe that this woman is that naïve?

Bipartisanship at it’s finest — the Right and I agree the Hunter photos are in poor taste and ill-advised! Next time, just follow my advice: Keep your pants on … and maybe stay away from the children’s toys.

Contributing Editor Erin Kotecki Vest also blogs at Queen of Spain blog

Politics & News Contributing Editor Erin Kotecki Vest