A little shout-out to lefthandedtoons.com:

This cartoon has been brought to you by Friday the 13th of February, the creepy day just before Valentine's.

Birth:

The Surprising History of How We Are Born
by Tina Cassidy



This book has pretty much everything I ever wanted to know about giving birth, and a lot of things I didn't. Wow. It made me want to go up to every woman that I know and ask, "So...You've had a baby, right? How did that go for you? What did you do with the placenta?"

Cassidy covered a lot of territory--the rise of the obstetrician, the fall of the midwife, the invention of forceps, what kind of drugs have been used to combat pain, even hypnobirth. Ofttimes the history of childbirth was a sad one, with high mortality rates and ill-educated doctors who treated women as chattel. It is great to live during a time where I have options and recognized rights, not to mention a high likelihood of survival.

I now have a fairly good idea about what I want my experience to be like (when I get around to having it). I do not want to give birth in a hospital or via cesarean. I do not want drugs. I would like my husband to be there, as well as a female family member/friend and a midwife. I would like to keep my baby with me, and stay no longer than a day or two. Will I get what I want? That depends on where I am when I go into labor, I suppose, and what resources are in my area. We shall see.

Just a Bit o' Fun

I went sledding with Matt and David, and it was good times. I hit a big rock at the bottom. Yes, I sound weird.

Books so far...

Here is a list of the books I read in January:

Keturah and Lord Death
Outliers
The City of Ember
Their Eyes Were Watching God
The People of Sparks
The Friday Night Knitting Club
The Prophet of Yonwood
Howl's Moving Castle
I Capture the Castle
The Mysterious Benedict Society
The Diamond of Darkhold
Alas, Babylon
The Bell Jar
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

That's a total of fourteen. Not bad for a start... I think that January may end up as a bit of an anomaly. As I continue throughout the year I'll probably slow down a tad, depending on the length of the books I read. I think the average for this month was 300 pages, which isn't really that long. Bets on February, anyone?