I, for one, can’t wait until Hayes gets a bit older and more self-sufficient. This sleep deprivation thing is wearing on us. One of these days he’ll get his license and be able to run errands for us. Sure, we’ve a got little time before then, but if Hayes is anything like this kid, he’ll be running out for beer at… 4? From CNN:4-year-old drives mom’s car to video store I guess someone should have explained Netflix to this kid.
That’s from the newest nurse that has come in to join us. She felt Jen’s stomach and said it felt about as hard as a chin, the forehead being the hardest. According to the nurse, these are of strong intensity. A word about how they measure these things. They hook you up to the monitor which measures the contraction on a scale of 1-100, 100 being highest. This scale means nothing. It merely shows when the contractions are happening, not the intensity. The stomach harness and pain are the real measures. Bummer. We were getting excited when her contractions we up at 60. Now they’re at 44 and Jen is very uncomfortable. She’s doing a great job breathing through them. I’m guessing something is happening down there.
Also, Jen was feeling really guilty about missing the child birth classes we had signed up for. The people in the class were pretty alarmist, sharing all the horror stories they had heard. Kinda freaked Jen out. That, and they scheduled them during the ALCS. I mean, child birth classes or Red Sox? Not a tought choice, people. Anyway, Jen told the nurse that we had missed the classes. She said, that’s ok, they were here to help. Rosemarry filled it in more completely, though, by saying, “It doesn’t matter. People always forget the child birth classes when the pain hits.” Ahhh… nothing like making a good decision.
Today’s Wired article, No Magic for Older Moms, follows up on the recent story about the 66 year-old woman giving birth that I posted about earlier this week. If you dig the science part, it’s a good read, as are most Wired aticles.
If you just want the Cliff’s Notes version, here it is: Like most news stories about older women giving birth, it neglects to give some facts about the birth (such as the eggs were donated) that gives other older women false hope that they can have babies at a later age. In fact, studies indicate that your chances of producing viable eggs at 52 are about 1 in 500. Even the more common in vitro fertilization has a mere 30% success rate. The concensus, at least according to Wired’s sources, is don’t wait too long.
Ok, file this under just plain wrong. A woman in Romania,a childrens book author, can now claim the title of the oldest person to give birth. The baby was only 3lbs 3oz and was delivered via Caesarean section 4 weeks premature. That, after the baby’s twin died in the womb and was removed.
Just to put that into perspective, in 2000 the average life expectancy for a female in Romania was 73.1. So, when and if she reaches that milestone, she’ll have a 7 year old. Better hope he’s ready for a life on his own. I wonder if she named him Oliver Twist.
You can read the whole sordid tale at boston.com
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Interesting story in Sunday’s Boston Globe: Gen X Dad about how we Gen Xers are changing our priorities from workaholics to dads who rival the best moms.
At least that’s what I got from the synopsis. I assume its worth checking out but to be honest, I have yet to read it because I’m… uh… working.
That’s irony.
(pic from Boston Globe)
Awful story on CNN. com today about another Amber Alert. Seems the biological parents of two young children abducted them from their foster home. I just don’t understand why things like this happen. I guess having their children removed from their care wasn’t a good idea after all. Quite obviously they’ve been making well-thought, intelligent decisions in regard to their children. Nothing proves to the world that you are deserving of raising children better than abducting them at gunpoint .
It’s a good thing that they’ve instituted the Amber Alert. Unless you made it a habit of watching the local news or digging through your hometown paper, you rarely heard about this type of thing in the past. In a world where the media is often criminalized, this is an example of how it helps.