October 2000 Archives

I can't sleep. My mind keeps spinning horror stories out of my anxiety. Brad and I have reluctantly agreed with our OB that a medical induction is the best thing to do for our son, who is still quite happily and healthily (happy and healthy from all appearances, anyway) hanging out inside of me.

Who knew they still made Creepy Crawlers? The design of the little oven is new, but the molds look exactly like the ones I had way back when. Cool.

We'd all like to think that each decision our doctors make is backed by a certain depth of scientific research. Sadly, though, an awful lot of medicine, especially in obstetrics, seems to be pushed along by a certain kind of medical momentum. We've been reading The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth, by Henci Goer and wondering why we didn't buy it nine months ago. Besides the exclusionary title (I'll save that rant for another day), this is everything I would want in a book on any medical topic: lots of facts backed up by research rather than anecdotes. There should be a whole series of these books covering every medical topic.

Fun fact for today: the "40 week" gestational period everyone bandies about as fact is based on one small study done in the 19th century. In more recent studies, the average for first-time moms in the developed world is a day over 41 weeks.

We ate lunch at the Il Fornaio in Pacific Place downtown. We were seated next to a table of four guys who are obviously playing the start-up game. Three sat and ate, chatting amiably about typical geeky things, while the third carried on business on his cell phone. In the time we were there, he was on the phone for all but a couple minutes talking to (if I've guessed right): a journalist, an investor (or two), and a lawyer. I hope he's having fun.

Pregnancy really does do the oddest things to people. Hang on—I'm not talking about the pregnant women, here. I'm talking about non-pregnant folks and their bizarre notion that pregnancy suddenly changes all rules of social interaction and propriety. I have had not only friends and relatives, but also complete strangers, ask if my cervix has started to dilate yet. When was the last time you asked a stranger about the state of their reproductive organs? (For those of you who may be doctors or nurses, I mean outside the context of your work.) Or even a friend or relative for that matter?

Another long gap without any updates. Maybe this time I'll actually start updating regularly.

We're still waiting for our son to be born. He's now more than a week overdue and Kathy is getting very tired of being pregnant. We keep talking to him, letting him know that as comfortable as he may be in there, there's a great fascinating world of wonder out here for him to explore and learn about, but It seems he's being stubborn (like his mom).