Pregnancy Syllabus

Welcome to Being Pregnant 101

This is a self directed 9ish month course.

Text books and Resources:

• What to Expect When Your Expecting by Heidi Murkoff (Medical Birth Book) This is a somewhat depressing book about how mother and baby develop, and all the medical things that can go wrong.
• Ina May's Guide of Childbirth by Ina May (Natural Birth Book) This is a book about natural childbirth that probably is the reason why natural childbirth is seen as hokey and anti-science, but it has a variety of stories, not all of which are weird.
• The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding by Diane Wiessinger (Nursing Book) This book is an unsubtle advertisement for La Leche League and is so pro nursing that it disparages any other life choices, but it also has a ton of good advice and how-to information.
• The Calm Birth School by Liz Stanford (Online Hypnobirthing Class) A series of positive, down-to-earth, convenient 15-20 minute videos that cover preparing for labor, breathing techniques, and how father can help out, but a little basic.
• The Pregnancy Podcast by Vanessa Merten (Podcast) A series of ongoing episodes that cover topics from detailing the steps of a c-section, to sleeping suggestions with an emphasis on informed consent and a healthy focus on peer-reviewed articles and real scientific studies.

First Trimester Learning Objectives:

• Learn about how pregnancy progresses and the changes in your body.
• Learn about labor and different methods of labor.
• Learn about medical interventions.
• Choose which interventions you want and why.

First Trimester Assignments:

• Know how to keep a secret.
• Choose a medical care provider.
• Be very very tired.

Second Trimester Learning Objectives:

• Choose a laboring method.
• Practice calming techniques.
• Learn to feel baby move.
• Learn about baby products.

Second Trimester Assignments:

• Start to see belly grow.
• Change medical care provider.

Third Trimester Learning Objectives:

• Learn about nursing and infant care.

Third Trimester Assignments:

• Be uncomfortable.
• Gather baby supplies.
• Wait.

Location Sentimentality

If someone asks me if I remember a specific person in a classroom I often ask them where they were sitting. I’m more likely to know who they are referring to if I know where they were. Telling me what they were wearing or what they look like is rarely helpful. Basically location is very important to trigger my memory.

It works the same way with memories. I’m far more likely to remember and share memories when I return to the location in which the situation occurred.

The other day Jeremy was laughing at me for keeping a book mark that was really just a scrap of paper, but I explained who gave it to me and the circumstances surrounding it. He said maybe it is a good thing that I was keeping it because I have such a location based memory and that item triggers my memory just like a location would. 

This made me wonder... Do the people that are considered to be the most sentimental also have locational memories? Are those 2 linked? 

Where Did All the Coming of Age Rituals Go?

 I watched a YouTube video the other day that brought up (almost as a side note) how many of the rising generation (the Millennials shall I say) prefer not to grow up. They even use the term "adulting" to discuss how hard "real life" things like insurance and having a full time job are. I have been guilty of this myself.

This made me start thinking about how in the past and/or other cultures have dramatic and significant coming of age rituals/customs/etc that often involved a change of dress or other physical appearance (short dresses to long dresses, braids to free hair and/or buns, tattoos, etc), and actions of independence (prestige hunting, overnight camping alone, earning money outside the home, courting etc.).

Now however, it seems like most rituals that involved change of dress and appearance have entirely disappeared from our Western culture. And the rituals involving independence have been assimilated into the benefits of teenage years without the responsibility. For example teenagers date and have jobs but the jobs are predominately to pay for things like recreation and their own car not for the support of their family or themselves and dating is not generally with the view of marriage (at least anytime soon... not that that is a bad thing but that used to be the only time you courted).

I wonder if this lack of ritual change from childhood to adulthood that makes the transition to adulthood so undiscernible has lead to the increased attitude that adulting is just hard and not something that is desirable...

Magpie Tendencies

 Jeremy has started calling me a magpie. I don't blame him. I'm often picking up forgotten tent pegs, smashed pennies and at least looking at what sort of trash is poking out of the ground. He doesn't mind. It means I'm also good at spying rubber boas and pretty green beetles.

Then, the other night I started talking about how as a kid we would find all sorts of stuff behind our house (our backyard butted up against a marsh where people often dumped junk). There was an old couch, a TV, a newspaper stand, a pile of shingles and a myriad of tires not to mention smaller treasures. One summer we even found a bathroom sink and I got such a kick out of saying you could find anything back there, even a kitchen sink. I decided I might have discovered some of the foundation of my magpie tendencies.

Then, to exacerbate my magpie tendencies I went into Archaeology where they literally train you to walk around and pick up random things (sometimes trash). Is it any wonder I'm a magpie?

Should Magic Be More Like Sight or Math?

Jeremy and I were talking about magic the other day.
Lord of the Rings and the Narnia series are arguably the first "modern" fantasy stories. In them individuals are either magic users or they are not. It is almost more a racial trait than anything you can learn or develop.
In a lot of popular fantasy series today, like Harry Potter, Star Wars, or Avatar: The Last Airbender, magic is still very much a gift that you have or you don't. It's like the ability to see, speak, or smell. You have it or you don't. Except that learning that magic tends to take a central stage in the plotline. Which is weird... because you don't really have to learn how to see or speak... and that isn't something you can really improve on per se. No matter how keen (or not) your eyes are no one goes about taking classes and learning how to see better (maybe observe more but not how to physically enhance their sight).
So then if magic is now treated more as something to be learned why is it still only some people that magically have the gift? The way magic has to be studied in most common series today it seems like magic should be more like a skill rather than a sense. Anyone can learn math, painting, programming, dance, soccer, writing.... some people are just naturally better at it then others. However, the diligence, desire and persistence someone puts into learning a certain skill often seems to outweigh the actual natural ability, at least in the long run. I think magic should be more of a skill. Anyone can learn it, even if for some people it comes more naturally than others...
So why is magic being dolled out like a sense so common? Perhaps it comes from history... from the idea that things like wealth, privilege, and opportunities for education were for a long time very much a "you have it or you don't" experience. So magic was envisioned the same way.
Then education became more prevalent and learning magic became a way to connect to readers.
But maybe our stories are still out of date and aren't "American Dream"/"Capitalist" enough... Could the next step be the magic can be learned by anyone? Down with the Muggle hierarchy!

I think it is interesting how fiction tends to mimic certain aspects of the real world but just so everyone is clear I actually have nothing against magic systems that are "you have it or you don't" I just think it might be interesting to explore it in the American Dream style.
And also it makes me curious about cultures of Eastern magic.... historical China with their intense government examinations being more important that money or heritage (granted sometimes it goes together) seems like it had at least a broader view of upward mobility than medieval Europe.... so does their stories of magic reflect that?

Is Knowledge Power?

The other night Jeremy and I were camping and we heard a loud yowling call every few minutes. It sounded like nothing either of us had ever heard but it also sounded cat-like. It was a bit disconcerting... aka creepy. We just wished we knew what it was.

The next day with the help of youtube we discovered it was probably a fox yowl. If we had known it was a fox in the middle of the night I think we would have both been a lot more comfortable.

It was interesting because earlier that day we had been talking about how knowing more about something can make something less scary. As well as how learning more about something can make you appreciate it more (I'm sure I've blogged about that before but I can't find it now).

On the flip side we also talked about how sometimes more knowledge brings more anxiety.... because you know better what you are getting into. In some situations the same information can make one person less scared and another person more so.

So when does knowledge make you powerful and when does it cripple you?

Manipulation, Cliff Hangers, and Resumes

Yesterday Jeremy and I were talking about cliff hangers. As a rule I hate cliff hangers. I like chapters because they provide a natural stopping place that makes it easier to stop reading and also makes it easier to find your spot when you pick up again. Cliff hangers, in general, are designed to make you keep reading. When I set a book down in the middle I almost always pick it up again. My putting the book down isn't an insult to the book's excitement or pacing it just means I have a life and things I need to do, other than read (which is sometimes a pity). I decided I hate cliff hangers so much because I feel like the author is manipulating me into challenging my own will power. And too often works. Perhaps if I wasn't so easily swayed by cliff hangers I would hate them less....
Anyway, the overall point to this is I feel like cliff hangers are manipulative (in general) where other writing tactics such as having well developed and engrossing characters or a compelling plot are more about influencing you to keep reading. Influencing isn't nearly so repugnant as manipulating! It's a good thing. I mean what would any form of art be, without the motive of influencing the viewer?
I realized that my hatred of talking myself up and resumes, etc along with being a form of defense might also go back to my hatred of manipulation. I feel like people talk about resumes as a form of manipulation. I don't like that.
But why do I hate manipulation so much anyway. I mean sure it isn't great but why does it offend me? Sometimes I wish I could think of a single childhood experience that would explain the way I am...

Children in Literature

I have read several books lately with prominent children characters and they have all felt a little unrealistic, which seems to be fairly common in literature. The children are either too oblivious and/or dumb (Boy in the Striped Pajamas) or to perfect (Little Men). It seems weird that writing accurate children is such a common problem considering all authors were children at some point. So here are a couple of suppositions admit why I think children might be difficult to write.
There seems to be something about the human mind that has a hard time remembering what it was like to not remember or understand certain things. It's one thing to remember when you learned something but quite another to remember what it felt like. I remember staying up late pondering and pondering how my parents could be named Mommy and Daddy as well as have other real names. Thank goodness for my brother's friend who had the same name as my father, that was my break through. Despite remembering this though I have no idea how I would portray this realization in a first point of view of a child and not make myself sound really dumb.
Plus children develop so quickly that unless you are frequently around them it is difficult to gauge whether a child character is acting age appropriately. Once I wrote about a 4 year old "tottering" around. I was quickly advised that 2 year olds totter, 4 year olds run.
It impresses me all the more when you come across an author who accurately portrays children, and even more impressed when the children grow up accurately.

A Field Journal of Danger and Destitution: Or Grocery Shopping During the Covid-19 Pandemic*

March 14
Disaster has struck. The shelves that once held bread, ketchup, cereal, mac&cheese, noodles, frozen food and cans of soup, vegetables, and tomato products can only be identified by a lonely dented box, or a forlorn can. The "bath tissue" aisle is a barren wasteland. Shower scrubbies hanging from empty shelves are the forgotten banners of an abandoned battlefield.
Glory be! The fresh vegetables are untouched, and a few bags of tortillas remain.

March 24
Possibly, but unlikely infected, are we in danger? or are we the danger?
Don't over shop! But where are the people?
Signs posted everywhere warn of rationing. Only two boxes of eggs, containers of hand soap, and packages of toilet paper are allowed per person. Too bad those items have already been hunted to extinction.
Other signs proclaim a curfew to protect us? or them? from the ravenous hoards.

March 31
Fourteen days, and the danger has been neutralized.
War paint dispensers stand at the doors. Workers wipe down each cart touched by a human finger.
Cereal, and noodles have returned to the shelves.

April 3
Fellow combatants shield their faces. Lines are drawn in the sand.... on the floor, with tape.
Over the loud speaker they announce "Stay two carts away from each other or the world will die!"
Do we fear the enemy? or each other?

April 11
The war paint and the wipes have disappeared. A thin layer of plastic in the form of a loose plastic glove is all that stands between me and infection. I'll take infection.
Aisles have returned to normal except for that of the toilet paper. It remains a scar on the otherwise restocked shelves.
Mounds of water bottles sit untouched and ignored. Unless of course, they are gone by tomorrow.






*Sometimes fake drama is entertaining :)

More Experience, Less Planning?

It has been a long time since I've done an actual sewing project and not just a small something with needle and thread. And I don't think I've ever done a sewing project without someone with significantly more experience handy to give me advice and help.
That's why I'm out of practice.
But I tried my hand at sewing again and I made these covers for some hassocks that I'm recyling/making. The first one I cut out on one day and then spent 2 or 3 other days sewing it haphazardly, with a lot of unpicking. As a child I had a fierce aversion to pins, and I refused to use them in my sewing projects.... when I finally succeeded in some satisfactory corners this time around it was only because I finally sunk to such depths as to actually use pins. They were very helpful, and I think I only stuck myself once!
I realized a lot of things I go into a little haphazardly. As in I'll just chuck some shapes together in inkscape and they play around with them a bit and I just expect them to work out and look good enough.
Or I sketch something halfway and then play around with paint on top of it until I think it looks decent. But I don't generally plan out my projects in detail before I just kind of go for it. That is probably why I will never become a truly skilled artist. I don't want to put in the work.
But I'm usually fairly satisfied with the outcome, so it works.
However, sewing doesn't seem to work quite as well with this approach. I'm assuming that has more to do with my lack of experience and expertise then with sewing, because I'm pretty sure that is how my sister sews...
My second hassock I cut out, and pinned and sewed all in the same day without any unpicking... crazy what a little experience, and a little bit of slowing down can accomplish!

Habits and Productivity

I hear people talk about hos hard it is for them to read their scriptures everyday, or have morning prayers or remember to do certain things. I have a hard time relating to that because I'm so habit driven. When I start a habit, it's pretty easy to continue... Then I married Jeremy.
He is not a habit person. He struggles to create habits, and once he's started them, it is easy for him to fall out of the habit again. This is like a real thing! I'm apparently just weird, that habits are so defined for me.
Kind of related: I have always been more productive in the morning. I find it a lot harder to be disciplined and motivated in the evenings. I have recently started to use this to my advantage and I've started going in to work later so that I can work on my writing in the morning. Jeremy is more productive in the evenings. He doesn't like to read his scriptures in the morning because he doesn't get as much out of it. It's a little mind boggling for me.
These differences have been really good for me to see, and I think it makes me more sympathetic to people who struggle with creating habits and are not very productive in the morning.
What??? People aren't all the same???

Chitons: Memories and Learning

A couple of weeks ago we went to California and we got to go to the beach.
We went tidepooling... or investigating around tide pools. I don't remember ever doing that before on the Pacific Ocean. It was really fun and I enjoyed using my waterproof camera.

Closed anemone without a pebble covering

Partially closed anemone with pebble covering, (they were usually covered with sand and pebbles when they were out of the water to protect themselves from drying out and predators.

Open anemone

Bivalves on rocks

Chiton (the green one in the groove or "home scar". They are a type of mollusk with 8 plates and they crawl around when the tide is in and eat algae and other stuff, (herbivores) with their "radula" (tongue) that is encrusted with magnetite. This means their tongue is very raspy and so they can eat stuff by rasping it off the rocks.

Here is a chiton so you can see the underside. (not my thumb :) )

Here is a snail that had pretty green flesh. Jeremy is good at finding stuff like this. I like doing stuff like this with him.

Here is a fish who really thought he was camouflaged but I got really close.

Swimming crab

Anyway, it was really fun and reminded me a lot of some books my Mom used to read to me by Holling Clancy Holling, particularly "Pagoo" which talks about tide pool life. It made me want to read it again.

Also I was fascinated by the chitons and had to do some research about them. They are weird little critters. I couldn't find out anywhere if they actually carve out little holes for themselves or if just by returning to the same spot all the time they cause a hole to form. Almost all of the ones we saw, and we found a lot, were in little holes.

Winter War

Storm swoops in

Snow's ally

Troops cover the ground

Lay siege to the world

Conquest

Snowmen rally

The honor guard

Sun's Herald charges

Clouds retreat

Snowdrifts fade

Honor guard stands alone

Storm's return their only hope

Unrelenting Sun

Water drips to ground

Snow's Defeat

​

The day of a big storm I was waiting at my bus stop, right in front of a carwash. Between customers (because people were washing clean cars while it was snowing????) one of the car wash attendants made this snowman. The next couple of days I watched as the snowman melted, and I wrote the poem above. I think it is really cool when creativity inspires creativity.

On Darwin and the Origin of Species from Someone Who Actually Read it.... Or Listened to It

I recently finished listening to the Origin of Species. In all honesty there were plenty of times where I kind of tuned it out, it isn't always the most exciting of books. However I was struck by a couple of things and I'm glad I listened to it.
First, it was really fun to hear Darwin refer to his contemporary scientists. Alfred Russell Wallace, Charles Lyell, Jean-Baptiste Lamark, James Hutton, Carl Linnaeus, and Frederic Cuvier were all mentioned as either contemporaries or relatively recent scientists. Many of these guys who's ideas are reviewed in most modern high school and college science classes were known by and sometimes pen-pals with Darwin. It kind of made them all seem a bit more real.
Second, this is a small thing, but I was surprised at how ambiguous the term "species" was. He talked frequently about how a species is supposedly a group animals that won't interbreed with an outcome of fertile offspring with another species. This is a definition we use today in introductory science classes. He then went on to say, that that definition is bogus. Fertile and sterile offspring happen within species sometimes (look at bees), and not between supposed species in other cases. He spent a long time explaining how the "definition" is wrong but we don't have a better one. The inaccuracy of the species definition is taught today in upper division science classes.... So if Darwin, back in the early 1900s, was talking about how the definition of species is bogus and we still agree... why do we ever even use that definition? 
Third, science was done differently back then. It was fascinating to hear of some of the "experiments" that Darwin or his contemporaries enacted. They were mostly more anecdotal and qualitative rather then quantitative facts. But with that being said you could tell that in experiments like these is where modern science has its roots. Also I was struck with the diversity of Darwin's knowledge. He is one smart dude. He talked in an informed way and often with first hand knowledge about geology, paleontology, biology, botany, entomology, husbandry etc. His examples to fortify his theory of natural selection ranged from ancient gastropods to parasitic ants to mule, pigeon, and plant husbandry to geologic strata. One of the more random but fascinating experiments was on seed germination, when the seeds are collected from dirt that was either attached to logs floating in the ocean, or mud caked onto duck's feet. The range of knowledge was phenomenal... Nowadays, scientists, by necessity a lot more specialized, but it was really cool to hear him talk about it.
Finally, how Darwin approached religion in the actual text was fascinating, especially because of all the hype about "Darwinism" and religion. He was always super respectful of religion, and when he did talk about it, mostly in the final chapters of his book, he focused on how his theory of natural selection really should not be conflicted with religion. I felt like he tried really hard to separate them. However he did make some cool comparisons. He talked about how gravity, perhaps the greatest natural law, is amazing and if God into that into place, why could he not have started natural selection. And if God started the process of natural selection and allows it to continue, and if we look at everything that has happened because of that, why is that not equally awesome, or even more awe inspiring then immutable creation? I agree! Another point he brought up, was that Galileo was persecuted severely be the Catholic Church for proposing a sun-centered universe, but in Darwin's day believing in heliocentrism and religion, even Catholicism, isn't a big deal. Darwin proposed that even if the doctrines or cultures of organized religions at his time sometimes seemed at odds with the idea of natural selection that someday they could be reconciled.
I'm not sure I'm going to make Origin of Species one of those books I reread every couple of years, but I definitely am glad I listened to it once. It gave me a better understanding of the history of science, as well as the implications of the theory of natural selection. It also made me respect Darwin and his struggle with organized religion, and it made me more grateful for the reconciliation I understand between religion and science, particularly evolution.

New Years the New Thanksgiving

Over the Thanksgiving holidays Jeremy and I were talking about Thanksgiving. I like the holiday, especially the history behind it but sometimes I think the way we celebrate it is a little silly.... But then again food isn't really my thing.Anyway I was just talking about how it seems to me from my uneducated point of view, that Thanksgiving was originally not just being grateful in general but being grateful for the outcomes that your own labor and the hand of providence brought about... In other words being grateful for the harvest because of the work that you put in and for what you were able to reap from it. I hope that made some sort of sense... anyway, I was trying to describe this and I was also mourning a little bit that this isn't really how we think of Thanksgiving anymore mostly because we no longer are farmers, when Jeremy said "isn't that what New Years is for?"
So, this New Years, I hope you are able not just to set some new goals but also be grateful for the things that you have accomplished in partnership with God.

This is what I accomplished.

Christmas: A time of Traditions

We set up a Christmas tree this week. It was really fun to see how it all came together.
I really wanted to have a live tree, which we got and smells awesome. It is set in my parents Christmas tree stand, with their star on the top. Jeremy claimed the right to wind the lights on. So he wound some colored lights that his parents had around it. We both prefer colored lights on Christmas trees. I also put my parents bubble lights on our tree, a tradition from my great grandma. Then we both hung our childhood ornaments as well as a few new ones on the tree. At the foot of our tree is a beautiful Christmas tree skirt that my sister made.

I go into all these details because I thought it was so fun how we were able to combine old traditions with a mix of some new ones, that might be our own someday.
That is one cool thing about Christmas, not only is it about connecting and reconnecting with friends and family around us but also with those that have gone before.

Facilitating Lifelong Learning

My dad always says that it doesn’t matter what you don’t know if you know how to learn. Knowing how to learn is a skill that is beneficial throughout life. Educators can increase students’ desire to be life-long learners by creating an environment of curiosity and facilitating involved learning.

The teaching environment is vital for student engagement. As a teacher’s assistant for various professors and classes, students approached me most frequently when there was ambiguity abut assignments. A clear syllabus or online portal with policies, assignments, dates, and rubrics decreases stress for students so that they can focus on learning and not on guessing what the instructor requires of them. In addition, instructor feedback on important papers and tests transforms grades into a learning experience rather than a decree of fate. Organization and feedback enhance the learning environment, but more can be done as well.

Growing up, my home was a learning environment. My mom would look up everything from William Henry Harrison to the Linnaean system in her encyclopedia set, while I begged her not to tell me what she discovered because I didn’t need to know for my homework. Now her spirit of curiosity has rubbed off on me and I recognize that questions from students and self can be the most impelling motivators. A classroom environment based on organization, feedback and curiosity sets the stage for long-term learning.

Life-long learning is encouraged through active teaching which requires students to understand reliable sources, make connections, and explore. As an undergraduate one of my professors assigned a text book that he had written. This made me realize that real researchers are not so distant as they may seem. When instructors assign readings and give lectures not only based on textbooks but also peer reviewed literature it builds students’ confidence in learning from the source, helps them understand what a reliable source is, and gives them an understand of how real research happens. When instructors encourage discussion and other projects that guides students to make connections it helps students remember and apply what they learn. Sometimes when giving tours of paleontology museums I compare extinct animals to Pokémon and suddenly the fossils come to life. Such connections, whether made by the instructor or by students, in groups or individually leads to increased engagement with the material and opportunities for exploration. In my high school physics class, we dropped pumpkins off the school roof to calculate that velocity equals distance over time. This personal experience with equations made the principles understandable. When students are able to explore for themselves, they are more likely to internalize the subject matter. When instructors provide original sources, and opportunities to make connections and explore it leads to active learning.

Learning is enhanced when instructors create an environment of stability and curiosity and then facilitate interactions with the material that is based on original sources, and students’ own application. This type of education can lead to life-long learning, so that when students confront the unknown, they have confidence in their own ability to learn.

Spirit of Curiousity

This is the mandible of Thomomys umbrinus aka a Southern pocket gopher. You can tell it is a 

gopher because of the small bump on the back of the jaw. The base of this bump starts at the "1" and it appears to be for the end of the incisor. Yes that tooth goes all the way back there. 

At work I often spend a lot of time inventorying and cataloging random bones. This can get really boring! but when I am able to keep up an attitude of curiosity it can be really fun. Before inventorying various rodent mandibles I could only recognize them as rodent, now I can tell gopher mandibles from marmots, pack rats, rabbits, and porcupines (granted those are bigger). The process of discovery was really fun and it made me excited to perform the inventory.

My problem is keeping that spirit of curiosity, because it is sometimes difficult to do, and then the monotony press in...

Questions and Observations

Nearly every work day I walk past a replica cast of a giant sloth skeleton. It's pretty impressive, and it is one of the more popular exhibits at the museum.
The other day I came across a large mammal scapula in the museum collections. The animal it was from wasn't identified so I thought I would give it a shot. I googled some mammoth and mastodon scapulas and then realized I had no idea what a giant sloth scapula looks like, despite walking past a beautiful example almost every day! So the next time I walked by, I actually took a closer look.
This experience made me realize two things about questions. First, one reason why questions are so important is because it causes us to actually slow down and make important observations. Second, it is easy to see things (skeletons/objects/problems/infrastructure) as single entities and only when a question comes along do the individual parts become visible.

Perfect for What?

A couple of weeks ago I went with Jeremy to his ecology class. It was fascinating. They talked about various types of photosynthesis (who knew there were multiple types?) and how they were each good for different situations. They also talked about other evolutionary trade offs. I was struck how different animals and plants were perfectly adapted... for their environment. They were all different and all perfect for their situations even though they still have pros and cons. The desert version of photosynthesis keeps plants from loosing water but it makes it so the plants have to grow really slowly, while other types of photosynthesis make it so the plants can grow fast but if they also loose more water.
Sometimes I think it is easy to get caught up in trying to be perfect or wanting the perfect.... something. But the thing is there is no one situation and therefore there is no one perfect solution. Therein lies the beauty. You can be perfect! for your situation.