[C Elegans]

Sorry I haven't been posting for a while, I've been quite busy with work and also I've been in Italy for a conference. Now I'm back home and thankfully I will not have to travel any more before the end of the pregnancy. I feel like a walrus.

We know now, from the last ultrasound, that it's a girl we are expecting, so unfortunately we have to exclude Darth Ingemar. Swedish name regulations do not permit giving male names to a females - Ingemar is not an unisex name.

Personally, I feel that "bloody hyperactive somersaulting parasite" is a very suitable name, but I do think it will cause some problems with the name regulations.

Originally Posted by dragon wench

ROFL! We often tell our son he was "hatched." Probably wishful thinking on my part.
Actually, I have long been of the opinion that it would be ideal to place egg and sperm in an aquarium, and then watch it grow... sort of a more... productive version of "sea monkeys."

Exactly! An aquarium would be perfect, and as the fetus grows it could be transferred to an incubator and one could watch it grow.

Originally Posted by Fable

Yes, it really *is* controversial, whether you (or I) espouse it, or not. Accepted medical "truth" here in the US is that you do not sleep with a baby or small child. The chance of suffocation or injury is real.

It is a medical truth according to several large, worldwide cohort studies. The risk for suffocations is only part of it, there is also a significantly increased risk for SIDS, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Whereas the cause for SIDS is still unknown, one strong hypothesis is that some children stops breathing when they get too warm, which happens much more easily if they share bed with an adult.

We had our son sleeping in our bed. It is something we were introduced to during the year we spent in Japan where it is normal for babies and small children to sleep in their parents' beds. To us it made some sense, and given that our son was being nursed it meant I didn't have to get up in the middle of the night to feed him.
I am aware that suffocation is a real concern, but we found we developed a sort of sixth sense as to where he was and how covered up he was at all times.
Another interesting point is that the occurrence of SIDS (crib death) is almost unheard of in Japan. I realise this is wholly unscientific on my part, but I have occasionally wondered as to whether there is a relationship here.

The Scandinavian countries and Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore have the lowest infant mortality in the world. This is interesting considering the relatively large differences in practices in these countries.

For some strange reason, the risk of having your infant sleeping in the same bed as the parents is completely underestimated, more or less ignored, in Sweden. Usually parents don't even get any information this although the SIDS risk when co-sleeping is as large and the risk increase associated with smoking! This is very strange considering Sweden is an extremly health conscious culture in general, and the maternety and infant health care is very developed here.