I think doctors (of the more progressive sort) and midwives these days will tell women to have a glass of wine or two in order to slow down labor. But a drip! That is something else. (And doesn't LB have a story about her mom being told to sit home and drink gin?)
"wrecked a few marriages"
Back then, the wedding vows said "till eth do us part".
I'm knee deep in baby season -- this week I'm visiting a friend at home with her newborn, and another friend in the hospital, where she expects to be for two days after giving birth. What's the appropriate gift to bring in each case? For the friend at home, I'll probably bring food, like a savory pie or something, because I bet she and her husband are too busy and tired to cook. But what about for the friend in the ward? Are you even allowed to bring food to the hospital? And anyway, they already feed you there. But flowers and baby gifts would probably just be a hassle to pack up and take home.
I think it's too late to stop the labor, Heebs, but go ahead and have a drink anyway.
Right, for the one in the hospital, unless she'd like something specific and consumable, I wouldn't bring something that needs to be lugged home. What about a card that says "Planning on dropping off a chicken pot pie once you're at home!" or whatever?
What about a card that says "Planning on dropping off a chicken pot pie once you're at home!"
That could be taken as inviting yourself to use their commode.
Also, shouldn't you be sleepy or something?
flowers and baby gifts would probably just be a hassle to pack up and take home
This is correct.
I am sleepy! I should lay off the ethanol. But it's nice to be reintroduced to society.
Back then, the wedding vows said "till eth do us part".
Isn't there some kind of Stuxnet thing we could use to make Stanley stop? Tweety, help?
Apparently, pre-1981, doctors used to halt preterm labor by putting women on an IV alcohol drip.
Oh sure, when a doctor syas to do it, it's healthy, but if you do it for yourself, suddenly you have a problem.
I just had a look in JSTOR. American Journal of Nursing, 1955:
Various commercial solutions of 5 percent ethyl alcohol solutions for intravenous use are now given routinely, not only for their analgesic effect, but also for temporary maintenance of nutrition in both operative and nonoperative patients, on our neurosurgical service.
This might be a practice that was already out of date when Jammies's mom was active. Wasn't that the case with another pregnancy practice discussed here - heavy sedation, maybe?
2: My sister got that advice. It did seem odd after she had carefully avoided alchohol for all her pregnancy. Then she went into labor prematurely anyway.
But, a happy ending! My niece turned out to be perfect.
Didn't the pilot episode of Quantum Leap hinge on the labor-stalling application of EtOH?
Didn't the pilot episode of Quantum Leap hinge on the labor-stalling application of EtOH?
There's no nerd like an old nerd.
Found a good overview: chapter starting page 57 of this book.
In the late 1960s, maternal intravenous infusion of ethyl alcohol was found to be effective in arresting preterm labor. In a controlled study, Zlatnick and Fuchs found that this procedure successfully postponed delivery in 80% of women treated. With the arrival of beta agonists, magnesium sulfare, and other tocolytic agents, the use of ethyl alcohol was discontinued in 1980.
Dammit! Pwned by Annelid. I was going to bring up QL. Didn't know it was the pilot, though.
I know a very progressive doc who doesnt recommend wine to slow down labor.
helpy-chalk: I was a little kid when QL debuted... and I never liked BTVS.
Don't worry, Ginger Yellow. You and Annelid are both tied for impressive nerdiness to me.
Don't listen to heebie. She's totally hammered.
Even a hammered heebie is right twice a day.
24: If that is true, what other thing have you been right about today? And if you correctly relate it, will you not be swallowed up by the universe in a paradox?
22 is the only thing correct that I have said or will say today.
What about a card that says "Planning on dropping off a chicken pot pie once you're at home!"
I think a little ticket/certificate, made in Word and redeemable for one treat, lunch date or home-cooked meal of her choice, would be great. If I were in that situation I would probably think flowers were the short end of the stick compared to a friend willing to say, "Tell me what you want as a present, whether frivolous or practical."
26: tell me lies, now.
4,27: How about: do you need your lawn mowed/dishes washed? Something like that. A minor but real worry removed!
I think a little ticket/certificate, made in Word and redeemable for one treat, lunch date or home-cooked meal of her choice, would be great.
But unless it was expertly phrased or merely proposed some mutual social outing, I can't imagine ever actually cashing in on such a coupon. It would seem demanding to cash in on a home-cooked meal without the ticket-maker re-initiating the offer.
This is to 28.
You should definitely do a front page post now, heebie-geebie. Early April 1st.
I feel like it's worth commenting for what is maybe the second time in many years of reading to share with you that when I was in labor for FOUR FUCKING DAYS last year at one point I called my doctor about how I could maybe get some sleep, and she said to drink a bottle of wine.
"Oh, a glass of wine, ok."
"No, no drink the whole bottle. If you come in, we'll just put you on morphine for theraputic rest, and the wine can't be any worse for the baby."
And then I told my husband the baby was the milkman's and then I drank some more wine and then I went and got the morphine anyway.
So, for the friend in the hospital, maybe call in advance and ask what they want me to bring over, and unless they specifically request something I might visit empty-handed? And then ply them with food once they get back home?
jms, one thing about the friend you're visiting at home: Either bring something that can be frozen or check with them, because it's very possible that other people have dropped off food and they'll need to put some of it away. Either way, bringing two servings of something is especially nice; make 2 smaller potpies or divide soup into 2 containers, etc., so they can look forward to another night they won't have to cook.
Just give cash. Take out a big wad of twenties and throw a few the new babies.
32: I don't think flowers are a bad idea, as a little gift. They'll be nice to have while she's stuck there, and after that she can donate them to the nurses' station or another patient. (I don't think I've ever -- when dealing with my mom and dad -- taken flowers home. They've always just been moved along in the hospital.)
Just give cash. Take out a big wad of twenties and throw a few the new babies.
So, my wife was pregnant after many moons of trying and fading hopes; then unpregnant, to which much appreciated sympathy hereabouts. We've now moved on the black comedy of it all: approximately fifteen minutes after stopping birth control, my sister is pregnant.
Here, too, a bottle of wine is prescribed. The party line from our house has been that "happiness is the most prominent among our emotions." Sis gets it.
Take out a big wad of twenties and throw a few the new babies.
Yeah, show them you mean business.
Every time I see the post title, I think, "You know, like WordPerfect or PageMaker."
Chocolate. Ideally Belgian, Swiss if you can't get it.
This is the consensus of new mothers I have known (don't know many these days, but I expect it'll come around again soon, lots of people's kids are all grown up). Light, quick, addictive.
34: No, but the morphine was.
38: You could also try "drunkeness is the most prominent among our emotions."
I like you, VGB. Stick around some.
Heebie used up her second right comment of the day in 29. This:
Either bring something that can be frozen or check with them, because it's very possible that other people have dropped off food and they'll need to put some of it away.
is good except for the checking with them part, because they won't want to keep tabs on who's bringing what when. What worked for us was having friends and cow-orkers coordinate the schedule and just bring us food. Also what AG said, do their dishes, clean their bathroom, do the laundry.
What worked for us was having friends and cow-orkers coordinate the schedule and just bring us food.
The perfect gift for jms—the labor of superintendence!
43: That would not help me learn all of administrative law in the next 10 days, which apparently I need to do. On the other hand, can I possibly really need to do that? I bet a bottle of wine can help me decide.
46. Prominent among the words of wisdom I have learned in a checkered life is, "Let's have a drink and discuss it."
Is Heebie saying "Calm down, baby-doll" to her new babies in that bald-old-man-in-a-tracksuit-voice? Because that would be awesome.
By "babies" I mean both the one new baby and the broader, world-encompassing numbers of "baby-dolls."
44: I pretty much meant, "Do you have anything for dinner tonight, or are you going to end up eating handfuls of unboiled macaroni sprinkled with powdered cheese?", but, yeah, coordinating is best.
|| Isn't this the principal of Sally and Newt's school? |>
51: Yes, but if I pretend I can't see it, maybe it will go away.
52: I think it has to be! Good work, oudemia!
53: That worked for me, but then I never got as far as applying.
53: I used a related strategy for avoiding snow shoveling and it worked just fine.
46: Administrative law was my least favorite class. I feel for you.
52, 54: Yep (just Sally, not yet Newt but we were planning), and let me tell you I'm cross -- it's a new school still, and while I'm loving it it's organizationally rickety. I have no idea what's going to happen to it without that guy.
If no more shoes drop about his actions, firing him seems like an overreaction: the worst thing we've got is an office romance between a supervisor and an employee (he says it didn't start until after she quit, but assume that's bullshit) with no allegations of harassment. That sounds reprimandy, not firing-class.
52. Marin-Reyes baby-sat for the principal's son for free and escorted the child to Puerto Rico on a school trip, investigators found.
She also was allowed to live rent-free in his apartment for about nine months when previous tenants had paid $700 to $1,000 in rent a month, the report said.
So what have they done wrong? Apparently he let his girlfriend move in and mind his kid occasionally. This is a firing offense why?
He hired her, although I haven't heard allegations that they were involved when he hired her. I don't actually know what the DOE regulations are, but assuming they prohibit involvements with people you're supervising, which seems possible, there's your wrongdoing.
I don't understand why it's being couched as if the babysitting were the issue, though; certainly if he was giving her a place to stay rent free, a little babysitting in return isn't extortion.
57: I like the subject matter fine, surprisingly enough since I hate everything. It's just the intolerable wind-up to exams when everyone around me is busy internalizing information in the incredibly efficient ways that they all learned at boarding school and I am like, I guess I shouldn't have spent so much of my semester on that ethanol drip.
Yeah, it seems very mild, whereas one might have expected him to be fired over the permission-slip-free drowning trip.
61: My only advice is short outlines. One of those hundred-fifty page suckers won't do you much more good than the casebook: if you spend your studying time writing a good ten page outline, you'll be in good shape. And when in doubt, cite Chevron.
He hired her, although I haven't heard allegations that they were involved when he hired her.
Regardless of when he hired her, that's a good way to take everybody who ever felt slighted by you and hand them a club to hit you with.
58: Your new interim principal is, according to that article, my 9th or 10th or whatever grade trigonometry teacher. Small world? Or not? I don't know. Medium-sized world.
40: GAH. This comment is like a knife to my heart, because in my office we're required to use WordPerfect.
62: There were permission slips, although they may not have mentioned swimming.
In keeping with paranoid conspiracy theories, I'm wondering if the leadership in the school system has decided they're not crazy about the existence of an academically rigorous STEM-focused middle/high school serving Manhattan north of 96th, and are planning to phase it out or dumb it down, and that Dr. M's firing is a first step. I guess I'll know after I've had some time with the new principal, and Sally can always jump to Stuy or Bronx Science in ninth.
64: Huh. If you had any memories of him that you wanted to write out at great length, either in comments or in an email to me ( ElizardB@hotmail.com ), I'd be fascinated.
STEM-focused
Science, Technology, Envy, and Math?
||
Last night I and two others watched Bresson's Pickpocket, and I and one of the other two both commented on the beauty of the main female character. Today I learn that at the time of filming she was 16. Ought I feel creepy?
|>
71: Engineering.
72: Not in NY State, I don't think. In California, I believe you now have to register as a sex offender.
69: You have no idea. *headdesk*
67. Why? If questioned, what would they say? I mean, the RAF was prejudiced in favour of biplanes for far too long, but they at least had a (specious) argument.
75: Oh, man. You're still using desks, too? That's awful. We've got these free-floating iCubicles, made from unicorn blood and the grindings from Steve Jobs' wolf fangs. They're awesome!
I mean, the RAF was prejudiced in favour of biplanes for far too long
Really, they were just non-discriminatory and seemed prejudiced in favor of biplanes only in comparison to others of the same era.
67ff: About ten years ago I was in the hallway at the local immigration office and realized suddenly that I was hearing the sound of typewriters all around. Even then it was mind-boggling.
68: Uh I just emailed you Sketches of an Okay High School Math Teacher but feel like I should note that I have probably not thought about him one single time since being in his class, bc, you know, high school, so my memory is beyond unreliable. In fact, just believe the exact opposite of whatever I say.
In fact, just believe the exact opposite of whatever I say.
Okay, we won't!
72:Yes, for watching that damned sexist French classic art cinema instead of feminist Japanese art cinema. I bet you haven't watched even ten Oshimas. Could have been Diary of a Shinjuku Thief instead. And see, I am not even trying to force my taste for 30s films on you but trying to reach out to your post-modernism.
In other news, recently retired Budget Director Peter Orszag, beloved by beloveds Klein and Yglesias, is in negotiations with Citigroup. Tens to hundreds of millions, and I am certain his future opportunities never crossed his mind during his years in government. He has a new baby to feed.
After he sees the deals Orszag and Summers get, I doubt that Obama will even run for a second term.
in negotiations with Citigroup
They own Citi Field, right? Maybe he'll get to play for the Mets!
I haven't watched even a single Oshima.
My one experience with the Japanese New Wave (Funeral Parade of Roses) didn't exactly leave me wanting more.
This comment is like a knife to my heart, because in my office we're required to use WordPerfect.
My first professional programming project (if you want to call it that) was written for a law office using the WordPerfect macro language -- which is, actually, very robust.
83: That's not how it works, bob. He has to run, but he'll throw the election.
Am I getting the hang of this conspiracy stuff?
86 was to 82, in particular this: feminist Japanese art cinema. . . . Oshimas
I feared 86 was an expression of shock that I didn't love Funeral Parade of Roses.
58: Your new interim principal is, according to that article, my 9th or 10th or whatever grade trigonometry teacher. Small world? Or not? I don't know. Medium-sized world.
That's nothing: the first-year teacher on the infamous drowning trip was my across-the-hall neighbor back in Brooklyn.
Last night I and two others watched Bresson's Pickpocket, and I and one of the other two both commented on the beauty of the main female character. Today I learn that at the time of filming she was 16. Ought I feel creepy?
Well, were there sex scenes? Just for the purposes of answering the moral question, of course.
Speaking of non-sequiturs, I'm now DLing both Pickpocketand Diary of a Shinjuku Thief, because I care about culture.
Laydeez.
91: Really? Was she the kind of idiot you'd expect to take a bunch of kids swimming at an ocean beach with no lifeguard, or do you think it was just a one-time mistake that turned out horribly?
She didn't come across as stupid, but then, my reaction when I heard wasn't exactly stunned disbelief.
I dunno. I'm sympathetic to bad decision-making, because of uncomfortable familiarity; when I read that NYorker piece about parents whose kids died when they forgot they'd locked them in their cars, I thought, "wow, I could totally see myself doing that." A few months ago, I put my plastic eyeglasses in a water-boiler, wanting to do a "we've got to nuke 'em from orbit; it's the only way to be sure"-style disinfection after an awful pinkeye infection. Who could have imagined it would totally melt the glasses!?
95.2: At least you didn't boil your eyes.
Whoa. I don't think I'd fully appreciated just how badly Hu/go Sch/wyzer was acting back in his misspent youth.
"Here's the point: my behavior was hardly a secret. I was drinking and using drugs with many of these same students, and at least in my case, substance abuse tended to render me indiscreet at best. In one among many infamous instances, I served as a faculty advisor for a week-long student government lobbying trip to Washington D.C in the spring of 1997. Seven female students went on the trip -- and I had sex with four of them. Stories about what had happened (drugs and alcohol and group sex were also all involved) spread like wildfire across the campus on our return. I wasn't tenured at the time, and could -- perhaps should -- easily have been terminated."
And when in doubt, cite Chevron LeBron Kobe.
Oh no, wait. Hmm, maybe I should pay closer attention.
97: There's a category of "Oh, what a sinner I was back then" that really sorta sounds like bragging, doesn't it.
95: Yeah, I didn't mean to be unsympathetic to her, it seems like the sort of bad decision that could happen. That's sort of why I was asking: I've been assuming she was a reasonable person who just got horribly unlucky when she had a bad-judgment moment. But it would be interesting to know if she was obviously the sort of person who was going to do stupid shit.
104 to 102.
To 103: yeah, she didn't seem unusually ir/responsible either way. Shrug.
102: That was kind of my response. That and a prodigious scoop of skepticism.
46: That would not help me learn all of administrative law in the next 10 days, which apparently I need to do. On the other hand, can I possibly really need to do that? I bet a bottle of wine can help me decide.
This won't help with your exam, but dropping the line "Administative law is constitutional law made concrete"--preferably with a German accent--may provide you with hours of entertainment.
109: I AM AN ISLAND. WHAT'S YOUR POINT, HIPPIE?
Let There Be Rock. Wait for the little kids shooting lightning bolts about 2/3 of the way through.
I had that wine, it tooootally,solved everything. Thanks, all!
82:Umm, note, cultural peculiarities aside, that the ten years between 1959's Pickpocket and 1969's Shinjuku Thief were pretty significant in art cinema. I mean, 1969, man. Violent transgression revolution time. Like the difference between Breathless and Joy of Learning. As in worlds that didn't understand each other or themselves, and still don't.
I am going to work my way up thru the Japanese New Wave, and start Oshima at his start, with his films around 1960. Along with the rest, I'm more interested in Yoshida than Oshima. But I don't plan on watching Eros + Massacre without a clear understanding of its contexts.
This comment is like a knife to my heart, because in my office we're required to use WordPerfect.
How could you have let slip the opportunity for a Bon Jovi tie-in?
Knife to the heart
And you're to blame
'Cause you gave WordPerfect
A bad name (bad name)
Shortcut's too hard?
I could write a macro
And then get payyed
A bad wage (bad wage)
For NickS.
And Skidmore. It's cooler, and let's you beat the government. Sometimes.
Of course, all of Administrative Law can be learned in 10 days. If it was on the bar, you'd spend 2 days on it at Barbri.
Are you even allowed to bring food to the hospital?
When I had Rory, the absolutely best thing anyone brought to the hospital was frozen yogurt. They "feed" you in the hospital, but not well. When UNG was hospitalized (during the divorce) I brought him a home-cooked meal and fresh coffee, because that's what a decent person I am. Food is almost always a good thing to bring.
See, Turgid - can I call you 'Turgid'? - I feel like I'm playing my part and you're just playing your game.
117: You mean all these goofballs around me are studying more that. they need to? That's crazy! I guess I'll just watch Pillars of The Earth, again.
Also, coincidentally, I think a great present for a new mom is an iTunes/DVD series that she can distractedly gaze at while trying to figure out breastfeeding. I listened to Paul Fry's lit theory iTunes U course, but in retrospect, not enough Rufus Sewell.
If it was on the bar, you'd spend 2 days on it at Barbri.
In most states, it is, and you do.
120 -- You could have learned torts in 3 days, right?
You could have learned torts in 3 days, right
But not how to think like a tortoise.
I could have learned torts in the time it took me to set of a sqib (squip?) and put out a greengrocer's eye.
I just checked, and we still don't. But they've dropped water law from the list of subjects! Kids these days.
||
Di: In response to your kind offer of a slightly-used CPAP machine, thanks but no thanks. I just went ahead and got the one they offered me. It was expensive (20% deductible = $600), but it has a memory card that they download for follow-up visits and stuff.
Also, at my follow-up visit today, I learned that I may have thrown away several thousand dollars worth of used - and still usable - medical equipment, in the form of a ventilator thingy that the old lady who smoked herself to death in my house left here. If I saved it for some reason, apparently I can donate it to the county hospital and they will refurbish it for use by the deserving poor. So maybe you should check with your local county hospital and see if they would like the used CPAP.
||>
Seriously though, isn't this picture of a robin in Manchester cute?: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11887140
I can just hear it stoutly saying: "18 inches? Ah well, musn't grumble."
"18 inches? Ah well, musn't grumble."
apo probably has links for that.
you'd spend 2 days on it at Barbri.
Short people often avoid law school for fear of taunting at bar review. Whenever someone small signs up, they are met with, "Put another shrimp on the Barbri."
Nat: Glad to hear your are set. Getting some decent sleep should make a world of difference for you! I totally don't get how you could turn down sticking your face into the same skeezy mask that the jackass ex-husband of a stranger on the internet breathed all over, but to each their own... I will check out the local hospital. They can probably sterilize it or something.
...sticking your face into the same skeezy mask that the jackass ex-husband of a stranger on the internet breathed all over.
Have considered trying to sell it to someone in Japan?
131: Have considered trying to sell it to someone in Japan?
You know, I'm sure there are many other cultures which have a predilection for taking in one another's washing and sniffing it.
Still, it is amusing to imagine a munch for the habitues of the Craigslist Tokyo and Craigslist Berlin Used Underwear forums.*
*Apo-like, I tested this by searching the MPLS Craigslist. The second hit for the search "underwear" in Clothes/Acc was "Sexy Men's Underwear -- $9 (St. Paul)"
Millard, I've thought of you often post-loss, though I don't know who you are when I see you in your other guise. I'm not going to say anything that offers false hope, but large parts of our adoption wait were brutal on us as individuals and on our relationship. And yes, seeing "less deserving" (angry bias talking!) people fostering and adopting right and left hurt like hell.
I'm so, so thrilled it worked out well for us, because if Mara weren't with us today Lee would have insisted we turn in our license (or keep it open only for our teen pal Rowan) and that would have messed me up to the point our relationship would have been in jeopardy. But instead, this life is spectacular (and exhausting and legally inadequate, but whatever!) and it was all totally luck.
So what am I saying? I'm still hoping for the best for you, for you with each other and with any child who may come. I hope this isn't too maudlin.
Oh, and I love Violet. Stay, please! I need fantastic entertainment when I get my daily chance to catch up ounfogged!
63: I was about to say, isn't Admin just Chevron all the way down? (This is what I'm hoping, anyway. Exam in Admin-Lite in two weeks.)
Oh, and you can use Mead to bring in Skidmore.
I am trying to add value, and I think failing.
||
I'm walking home from a (somewhat distant) bar, having gotten a flat and not feeling like fixing it right now, and I thought "hey! I wonder if I can manage to type a coherent comment while walking?"
We shall see.
|>
You typed > on a phone while walking? Dude!
You can just use a greater-than sign, essear. It's only "<" that you need to escape.
Seriously? I've wasted, like, tens of seconds on that then.
Yeah, "<" is interpreted as the beginning of a tag (even if whitespace follows), but ">" is only interpreted as the end of a tag if a tag has already begun. If it's encountered in another state, no biggie. (I don't know if that's how it's defined in a standard but that's how every browser behaves.) Just as you only need to use """ for '"' in certain contexts.
And I didn't trip and fall, either!
97: got what a fucking douche.
sifu: there's an app to help you type while you walk without falling by showing you the image from the camera. I can't remember what it's called, though.
*Did I just trump x.trapnel for dorkiness?
No one wins in this contest.
But unless it was expertly phrased or merely proposed some mutual social outing, I can't imagine ever actually cashing in on such a coupon. It would seem demanding to cash in on a home-cooked meal without the ticket-maker re-initiating the offer.
I cashed the fuck out of said coupons myself. I didn't even feel a little bad.