Kyra and I started attending a parenting class at Meriter Hospital last night. It was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed learning more about the birthing experience. We watched a video of a birth, and I was surprised to see that, once the head is through, the baby comes out rather quickly. And to think that if we didn't have such large brains, giving birth would be so much easier and faster! It is remarkable that the birthing process and brain capacity evolved together. So if you like being able to think, thank your mother for giving you space to develop the capacity to do so!
In a related entry, the journal author "Female Science Professor" recalled how, during her pregnancy, she developed gestational diabetes and decided to closely monitor her blood sugar and related data. She extensively graphed her data, and her doctors were amazed by data management abilities and what I would say was her unique approach to coping with her diabetes.
I thought this was very interesting as I had considered graphing some of the data from Kyra's pregnancy. I had thought of graphing her weight, but I didn't want her to feel even more self-concious about it. Measuring her abdomen would also be interesting, espeically in correlation to her weight. Other data we could graph could include her blood pressure, her pulse rate, or various occurrences (fetal movement and/or position, illness, sleep difficulty, etc.). If I did start collecting data, I would like to post some of it online here.
Any other ideas for data we could collect? What esle could we do with this data?
A bit of pseudoscience to end the entry: A new report came out last week about how mother's brain activity changes depending on the mood of the child. Like other reports about the brain activity and behavior connection, this report makes claims that it really cannot support. Just because there is brain activity in a certain area does not mean it is related to this or that activity, behavior, emotion, being a mother, or babies. There is something interesting going on, but we really aren't 100% certain what these indications of activity mean, much less what the connection is to behavior or anything else. This type of science is very interpretive or subjective, so it's hard to say what all this means. Nonetheless, the connection is there and it is interesting, but we have to be careful in interpreting meaning.
In a related entry, the journal author "Female Science Professor" recalled how, during her pregnancy, she developed gestational diabetes and decided to closely monitor her blood sugar and related data. She extensively graphed her data, and her doctors were amazed by data management abilities and what I would say was her unique approach to coping with her diabetes.
I thought this was very interesting as I had considered graphing some of the data from Kyra's pregnancy. I had thought of graphing her weight, but I didn't want her to feel even more self-concious about it. Measuring her abdomen would also be interesting, espeically in correlation to her weight. Other data we could graph could include her blood pressure, her pulse rate, or various occurrences (fetal movement and/or position, illness, sleep difficulty, etc.). If I did start collecting data, I would like to post some of it online here.
Any other ideas for data we could collect? What esle could we do with this data?
A bit of pseudoscience to end the entry: A new report came out last week about how mother's brain activity changes depending on the mood of the child. Like other reports about the brain activity and behavior connection, this report makes claims that it really cannot support. Just because there is brain activity in a certain area does not mean it is related to this or that activity, behavior, emotion, being a mother, or babies. There is something interesting going on, but we really aren't 100% certain what these indications of activity mean, much less what the connection is to behavior or anything else. This type of science is very interpretive or subjective, so it's hard to say what all this means. Nonetheless, the connection is there and it is interesting, but we have to be careful in interpreting meaning.
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