However. I have distinct issues with blowing out my vagina because of a baby when there are other delivery options.

Word.

If we're facing some part of me getting sliced and stitched up again, and its between a part that has never looked that good anyway and MY FAVORITE PART EVAH guess which one is going under the knife. Go on, guess.

If we're facing some part of me getting sliced and stitched up again, and its between a part that has never looked that good anyway and MY FAVORITE PART EVAH guess which one is going under the knife. Go on, guess.

Interesting piece of trivia: the trauma of birth dramatically elevates the baby's stress-related hormones. It reacts to these hormones in pretty much the opposite direction an adult would experience - its heart rate and breathing activity slow, and certain movements are paralysed. (This is all beneficial if you're currently being squeezed through a birth canal.) They also give a final boost to the baby's lung development. They help absorb excess liquid and promote the release of lung surfactant (that allows gas exchange through the lung's surface area).

The result of this is that babies born naturally start breathing faster and their blood oxygen levels rise more rapidly after birth. They also have higher glucose reserves and can better maintain their body temperature. Babies born by unplanned C-section, who already experienced much of the birth trauma, also experience most of the same effects.

I've been reading a book about an infant's neurological development, found here: [link] It's really quite awesome, and it makes watching Ryan develop so much fun too.

Oh! Here's my favourite one so far. Newborns have a bunch of instinctive reflexes controlled by the limbic system: the startle reflex, the rooting reflex, the stepping reflex (if you stand him on a surface, he'll start his legs marching, knees up one by one), and that thing where if you tickle his foot, his toes flare out instead of curling in. Some other ones too. Anyway, they disappear as the cerebral cortex comes online and allows conscious control. But the stepping reflex disappears pretty quickly, around 6-8 weeks; and experiments have demonstrated that it's not because of the cerebral cortex.

The reason it goes: ok, it's kind of a trick question. The reflex hasn't gone at all. He just can't do it anymore, because his legs are now too fat to lift. (I think that's awesome.) If you stand a bub in waist-deep water, they'll still do the step thing. But under normal circumstances, they're just too much of a chubby bubby.

Huh. Babies = awesome.

billytea, isn't like 3-4am where you are?

billytea, isn't like 3-4am where you are?

Yep. I'm on the night shift with the little man. Who's just woken up and is demanding his feed, so duty calls. Loudly.

Kristin, that dress is gorgeous! Also, ~ma to your grandmother.

Huh. Babies = awesome.

Yes, awesome destroyers of sleep.

Matilda refers to pictures of her bald, infant self as when she "was just a born baby." All infants are born babies.

It's interesting how many more memories I have of Emmett's infancy than Matilda's. His just seemed to go on forever, whereas with her I knew the next step was coming and it's gone more quickly. I wonder if other parents of multiple children experience it like that, or do you keep the starry wonder of first parenthood.

It often seems like JZ and Emmett are more on the same page with Matilda because she's their first baby.

Who's just woken up and is demanding his feed, so duty calls. Loudly.

It's a good thing they're so cute (and their crying so annoying), otherwise babies would never get fed.

It's a good thing they're so cute (and their crying so annoying), otherwise babies would never get fed.

I dvr Big Cat Diary on Animal Planet, and yesterday's ep had a great instance of a too-cute lion cub being all annoying around the adult male lion in his pride, jumping on him while the lion was in mid-feast, then trying to capture his tail, and finally gnawing on the other side of the carcass and getting a swat on the head for his troubles. It was very much "Go away, kid, ya bother me!"

Nope, I have totally forgotten all my second kid's milestones already, and he's only 3 years younger than the first. Whereas the first 8 months or so of Casper are BURNED INTO MY BRAIN.

I mostly come down on this being a benefit for Dillo, rather than a shortcoming. I am so much less stressed out by him.

Also, since it's more head circumference than overall weight that is most, uh, difficult for the mother, I wonder if a melon-headed 7 pounder might be harder than a squishy 10. I know Casper (completely unmolded head after 3 hours pushing, most of an hour freakin' crowned) was much harder on me than Dillo, and he weighed more (but only 10 oz more). But I know second kids are usually easier.