many things make a post
October 20, 2009
* I had to read this piece by Susannah Breslin about the porn industry in pieces because I found it profoundly depressing. Still, it's an amazing piece of work.
* Further proof that nature evolves to fit any niche. Also, further proof that scientific images can be stunning.
* A cocktail for your Harry Potter-themed Halloween party.
* I can't figure out if this update on the Clue board game is the best thing ever or a sign that something has gone horribly wrong.
* Yet another thing to go see the next time you're in New York.
* The Harper's Weekly Review is especially amusing this week, especially in the last graf.
* I think so many writers also suffer from depression because it's good if you already live with a certain amount of despair and have mechanisms already in place to deal with it.
* Golfers make the best lovers?
* It's said that when you have to compare your opponent to Hitler, you've already lost the debate. The same can be true when you compare an unfortunate situation to rape.
* Judith Warner nails it. Sample quote: "This is the cruelty of middle age, I find: just when things have gotten good — really, really, consistently good — I have become aware that they will end."
* Three things that made me laugh hard enough that I scared the cats: the very, very end of this video from "Modern Family;" this Cute Overload post; and this Sarah Haskins Target Women video.
That Breslin article, especially the opening scene, just made my stomach roil. Interesting, yes. Informative, heck yeah. Depressing as all get out? Yup yup yup.
Posted by: Melanie | October 20, 2009 at 02:29 PM
Larimore is right that C-section is not like rape. However. While you can't always have birth your way, it really would help if hospital staff would actually READ one's birth plan. (JE must have said "Did you actually read our birth plan," to at least 3 different nurses while I was laboring.)
It's nice that Larimore can say, "... my doctor gave me the choice between a C-section and a VBAC. After talking to her and looking at the risks—and there are risks with either method—I decided on the C-section." That sounds like a nice calm up-front conversation. I think where women and their partners perceive that hospital staff are forcing their wills on patients is where there isn't enough communication of what's happening when unexpected stuff happens.
We know now why G went to NICU, but at the time, it was a lot of us asking to see/hold our new baby, and getting a lot of vague stuff about "still working on him," "needing to be observed," and "isn't ready for us to see him in NICU." What we should have heard was, "there's fluid in your son's lungs, we need to work on clearing it... It's probably just amniotic fluid, but there is a rare chance is could be an infection and we'd like to observe him in the NICU." That information came to us in bits and pieces over the course of a couple days. I realize they were trying not to scare us, but not knowing what was going on was way scarier.
Likewise, there was a sense that we weren't being heard over my IV issues. "No routine IV" was on the birth plan b/c I'm a colossally bad stick. And yet they tried to put in a routine IV from the moment I arrived. Five sticks, several blown veins, an infiltration, a case of phlebitis, and a course of antibiotics later, I feel vindicated in the belly-aching I did over my IV, which ended up being needed anyway. It wasn't all about keeping me safe; there was a hefty dose of covering their collective asses in there.
Posted by: Trish | October 20, 2009 at 03:02 PM
OK the CLUE game thing took me to a this year's winner of the rube goldberg competition. THANK YOU! The competition for this happens every yr at my alma mater. Good memories.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyqWhwL_CTE
Posted by: anj | October 20, 2009 at 03:31 PM
I've got some fuel for the folks in Stockholm. I'm pretty sure my dog would be 100% more loveable if they went.
Posted by: Anna | October 20, 2009 at 03:40 PM
I have been singing that moonlight song ALL WEEK.
Posted by: Heather | October 20, 2009 at 04:28 PM