Category: Science

  • The Birth II

    We were lucky enough to find a superb Gynaecologist who delivered our baby. Through every step of the process he helped and guided us while still managing to instil great confidence. The day eventually came when we parted ways – a healthy Baby Boy had been born and the Doctor moved on to other patients. […]

  • A Tale of Colic from a far-off-land

    In Kenya, Gusii babies get a condition called Enyancha (The Lake) in which their genitals are supposedly disturbed by the wind moving off Lake Victoria. Deborah Jackson

  • The Umbilical Cord

    At the birth, I was instructed by the Doctor on where to cut the Umbilical Cord. What wasn’t mentioned, and what did not cross my mind, is what happens to the rest of the cord – the part between where I cut it, and Baby. For those not familiar, the cord is approximately thumb-like in […]

  • How early is early?

    I am getting a little concerned, as my wife keeps telling me she thinks ‘blimp’ will come early. That on its own doesn’t worry me, but her mobility – or lack of – has reduced an awful lot recently. Obviously health-wise, it would be better for ‘blimp’ to come later rather then sooner – but […]

  • Antenatal

    We are currently in the middle of attending our antenatal classes, and last night the topic was around the actual birth itself. The class was given by an amazing South African midwife who you could tell just had a passion for her job – the two hours went by so quickly. Among all the stories […]

  • Island Living or Talking Italian – Decision made

    I feel sad and happy all at once. We picked our names a long time ago and a lot of thought went into them. And now one has gone, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be used again at some point in the future. Today we went for scan number 4, and this time they […]

  • Movement

    We’ve just been to the first scan, or at least the first scan I have been too. In real terms this is the third scan. And it was moving – amazing. Little hands and feet, good looking jaw bone. Even ended up with a DVD afterwards of the pictures: (link updated as wasn’t working) Totally […]

  • Dates, Dates and more Dates

    We’ve just had the first Doctor appointment together – and they have given us a document which basically plans out the future. Dates for scans, dates for check-ups, dates for visiting the hospital, dates for everything. Planning them all so I can attend each one is going to be tricky. And what makes things worse […]

  • Simple Question, No Accurate Answer Part 2

    Update: Dr. Naegele, circa 1850, determined that the average length of human gestation was approximately 266 days from conception. He assumed that the average woman had cycles that lasted 28 days and that she ovulated on Day 14 of her cycle. He used his data to come up with a mathematical calculation for due dates: ((LMP […]

  • Simple Question, No Accurate Answer

    I thought that to find out a due date, the calculation would be quite simple. In the past I have always heard about the 40 weeks of pregnancy and assumed that there was an exact science around this. Obviously, I realise now, this is not the case. The popular method of doing this seems to […]