From NPR: Why Morning-After Pill Won’t Stop All Unintended Pregnancies

Women of all ages will soon be able to buy emergency contraceptives over the counter without a prescription, now that the Obama administration has decided to stop fighting a judge’s order to make the drugs more easily available.

–Click here to read the rest of the article

21 Weeks

Every week, I get an e-mail update (or read an online update) of the Pipsqueak’s likely progression. Most weeks I find it fascinating to discover that some of the aches, pains, and other adventures I’m experiencing are normal issues that pop up at that time. I am now 21 weeks and here is what Baby Center had to say:

You’re probably feeling pretty comfortable these days. You’re not too big yet, and the usual discomforts associated with early pregnancy are, for the most part, gone.

Noooooo! Hahaha. For the most part I am feeling a lot better than I did. I still have aches in my pelvis when I am lying down but it is not nearly as bad as it was. Nausea is infrequent. My fatigue seems to have come back, although I am still only getting 9-10 hours of sleep a day and not the 13 I was averaging during the first trimester.

BUT. I now have dizzy spells, I get more muscle aches from doing work, and I feel HUGE. A few days ago I realized that my belly would be getting bigger and I nearly panicked. I’m not concerned about how I look but it already feels as if my insides are all squashed up and the Pipsqueak is already finding it fun to plop down on my bladder. The fact that these feelings are going to get worse just make my mind reel.

But then I hear horror stories about other pregnancies and realize I’m still not doing that badly. As I mentioned on Facebook, however, I still look forward to that future when our babies are born in artificial wombs. I would love the kid just as much.

Happy Belated Father’s Day

This Be The Verse

It seems inappropriate to have a blog about pregnancy without posting one of my favorite poems. I have tried to keep this blog fairly PG, so beware of strong language ahead. Consider it poetic license.

This Be the Verse
by Philip Larkin

They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
      They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
      And add some extra, just for you.

But they were fucked up in their turn
      By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
      And half at one another’s throats.

Man hands on misery to man.
      It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
      And don’t have any kids yourself.

Movie and a Baby: What to Expect When You’re Expecting

I did not have high expectations for What to Expect When You’re Expecting. It has the sort of ensemble cast that generally guarantees a formulaic script, non-existent directing, mediocre acting, and very few genuine laughs. Wellll…a lot of the movie feels like every other lackluster ensemble comedy from the past 15 years but there are a few moments of genuine insights and really, Joe Manganiello makes anything better.

What I found most valuable about the movie was the honest (at heart) portrayal of how every journey to parenthood is different. It displayed a pregnancy from a one-night-stand, a celebrity pregnancy, a general crappy pregnancy, a perfect pregnancy, and an adoption. We saw excited parents, reluctant parents, young parents, an older parent, and even a miscarriage. It was real.

In one of the first baby books I read, Girlfriend’s Guide to Pregnancy, mentioned that you seem to see pregnant women everywhere once you become pregnant. It’s just like when you buy a new car and it suddenly seems like everyone has the same car. I swear I see 10 pregnant women a day, and they are all super thin and super glowy. But pregnancy isn’t all roses for everyone (though it is for some) and though this scene close to the climax of the film didn’t make me laugh-out-loud as much as the writers’ may have hoped it would, I did appreciate it’s honesty. Obviously this is a spoiler:

It’s a Girl! Mwahahaha

The day we were all waiting for finally arrived. I patiently ooed and awwed over the various developing limbs and organs of my little Pipsqueak as the technician attacked my belly with her ultrasound wound. She knew what we were really there, though, typing “It’s a Girl!!!!!” as she took a still of the image focused on the area between the Pipsqueak’s legs. I am hoping this is the only such photo of my daughter in that position that will ever be existence.

I had hoped for a daughter, which meant I thought I was having a son. I bet it was a boy but prayed it would be a girl. When I was first pregnant, the child who came to me in flashes when I showered, and laid awake at night attempting to sleep was a little girl. So I think in a way I always knew and I always loved her. 

I am still plagued by all of the typical worries that something will go wrong, that it is prideful of me to think that everything will be okay. But in my heart I know they will. I know God made her for me and me for her and that no matter how much of a screw-up I may be, she will be loved and cared for always.

Parenting Tips from Rob Delaney

Parenting is eating a dirt covered banana your toddler serves you to avoid a tantrum and liking it.

— rob delaney (@robdelaney) June 1, 2013

 

Parenting a toddler –> 7am: “Don’t put that in your mouth!” • 4pm: “Eat 5 cigarette butts, I don’t give a shit.”

— rob delaney (@robdelaney) June 1, 2013