How do babies breathe under water?

Jeff and I decided to try a new restaurant in Clarksburg this evening. While the food was good (not great but not much special), the conversation at the next table drove us out of the restaurant as soon as we paid the check.

At the next table, with a quick observation, you can tell it is two couples - one most likely in their late forties and one in their late fifties. These four people were discussing lots of stuff, including politics, which is a totally different blog, but just about everything they discussed made me think, how in the world can these people be as rich as they appear given the fact that they seem like idiots???

I caught the tail end of one topic of conversation, of which I can safely say I was not eavesdropping. It took concentration to not listen to these loud mouths. Anyway, the group was discussing a water birth. For those of you who are a little confused, there are women who choose to give birth in a pool of water as opposed to the mainstream ways. I have to say, I have given that thought in the past. It might be something to look into should I become pregnant, but I would say that for me, it will not be a choice. To have a child, Jeff and I are going to have to have a retina specialist, a plastic surgeon, a psychiatrist, and, oh yeah, and OBGYN...

Anyway, back to my rant. The older man of the couple asks, "How can you give birth in water? How does the baby breathe? I mean when it comes out and takes that first *insert heavy wooshing breathing noise* in, won't it get a mouth full of water? Don't babies breathe while they are in the womb?"

OKAY - just how STUPID does this guy seem? Babies breathing in the womb. In F-L-U-I-D!? Anyway, needless to say I started laughing and laughing just a little too loud. I immediately got myself in check to make sure they didn't know I was laughing at them. At the rate of "stupid" at that table, though, I sincerely doubt that they would have known that I wasn't just laughing at a joke that Jeff just told...

So, here are a couple things I looked up to back up the fact that babies DO NOT breathe in the womb and when they are birthed into water, they still do not breathe in!

Factoid 1:

Babies cannot drown because they are supplied with oxygen via their umbilical cord, which plugs into the placenta and collects oxygen from the mother's bloodstream.

Babies do, however, make small breathing movements, although their lungs are not expanded. The birth process helps to ensure that any fluid that has been inhaled in utero is expelled by squeezing the baby hard on its way out!

Factoid 2:

The amniotic fluid is the clear, slightly yellowish fluid within the amniotic sac that surrounds the baby in the uterus. The baby grows in this amniotic sac, surrounded by the amniotic fluid, as he learns to move his limbs, open his eyes and breathe. Amniotic fluid levels generally sit at approximately 800ml through most of the pregnancy, dropping slightly in most cases to about 600ml by the time a woman reaches the 40 week mark.
Amniotic fluid also helps your baby develop his lungs. While in the womb your baby practices breathing by breathing in and out the water in the amniotic sac. The baby swallows and inhales the amniotic fluid and replaces the volume in the amniotic sac by urinating and exhaling the liquid.
http://www.babiesonline.com/articles/pre...


Factoid 3:

A baby is born under water the baby water will experience a gentle introduction to the world, with the softness and warmth of the water on its skin, and with muffled sounds and lights - quite similar to being in the womb.

At delivery, the baby must accustom itself to several huge changes - the experience of being born, the sensation of gravity and feeling its own body weight, new sense impressions, and breathing in the air. With an underwater birth, these experiences are introduced more gradually. Buoyancy counteracts the force of gravity, senses are muffled and the baby doesn't take a breath straight away - breathing does not commence until the baby's face meets the cool air.

Estelle -

Tue Jul 22, 5:42 PM ET

LOS ANGELES - Estelle Getty, the diminutive actress who spent 40 years struggling for success before landing a role of a lifetime in 1985 as the sarcastic octogenarian Sophia on TV's "The Golden Girls," has died. She was 84.

Getty, who suffered from advanced dementia, died at about 5:30 a.m. Tuesday at her Hollywood Boulevard home, said her son, Carl Gettleman of Santa Monica.

"Estelle always wanted to be an actress, and she achieved that goal beyond her dreams," former "Golden Girls" co-star Rue McClanahan told The Associated Press. "Don't feel sad about her passing. She will always be with us in her crowning achievement, Sophia."

"The Golden Girls," featuring four female retirees sharing a house in Miami, grew out of NBC programming chief Brandon Tartikoff's belief that television was ignoring its older viewers.

Three of its stars had already appeared in previous series: Bea Arthur in "Maude," Betty White in "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and McClanahan in "Mama's Family." The last character to be cast was Sophia Petrillo, the feisty 80-something mother of Arthur's character.

"Our mother-daughter relationship was one of the greatest comic duos ever, and I will miss her," Arthur said in a statement.

When she auditioned, Getty was appearing on stage in Hollywood as the carping Jewish mother in Harvey Fierstein's play "Torch Song Trilogy." In her early 60s, she flunked her "Golden Girls" test twice because it was believed she didn't look old enough to play 80.

"I could understand that," she told an interviewer a year after the show debuted. "I walk fast, I move fast, I talk fast."

She came prepared for the third audition, however, wearing dowdy clothes and telling an NBC makeup artist, "To you this is just a job. To me it's my entire career down the toilet unless you make me look 80." The artist did, Getty got the job and won two Emmys.

"The only comfort at this moment is that although Estelle has moved on, Sophia will always be with us," White said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

"The Golden Girls" culminated a long struggle for success during which Getty worked low-paying office jobs to help support her family while she tried to make it as a stage actress.

"I knew I could be seduced by success in another field, so I'd say, 'Don't promote me, please,'" she recalled.

She also appeared in small parts in a handful of films and TV movies during that time, including "Tootsie," "Deadly Force" and "Victims for Victims: The Theresa Saldana Story."

After her success in "The Golden Girls," other roles came her way. She played Cher's mother in "Mask," Sylvester Stallone's in "Stop or My Mom Will Shoot" and Barry Manilow's in the TV film "Copacabana." Other credits included "Mannequin" and "Stuart Little" (as the voice of Grandma Estelle).

"The Golden Girls," which ran from 1985 to 1992, was an immediate hit, and Sophia, who began as a minor character, soon evolved into a major one.

Audiences particularly loved the verbal zingers Getty would hurl at the other three. When McClanahan's libidinous character Blanche once complained that her life was an open book, Sophia shot back, "Your life's an open blouse."

"I always told her she should be a standup comic. She was so funny in person," McClanahan recalled. "She would always say, 'Why couldn't we make these characters Jewish? Why am I Sicilian?'"

Getty had gained a knack for one-liners in her late teens when she did standup comedy at a Catskills hotel. Female comedians were rare in those days, however, and she bombed.

Undeterred, she continued to pursue a career in entertainment, and while her parents were encouraging, her father also insisted that she learn office skills so she would have something to fall back on.

Born Estelle Scher to Polish immigrants in New York, Getty fell in love with theater when she saw a vaudeville show at age 4.

She married New York businessman Arthur Gettleman (the source of her stage name) in 1947, and they had two sons, Carl and Barry. The marriage prevailed despite her long absences on the road and in "The Golden Girls."

Getty was evasive about her height, acknowledging only that she was "under 5 feet and under 100 pounds."

McClanahan said her nickname for Getty was "Slats."

"Because she was so short, itty-bitty," she said.

In addition to her son Carl, Getty is survived by son Barry Gettleman, of Miami; a brother, David Scher of London; and a sister, Rosilyn Howard of Las Vegas.

A couple of good trailers...

A Righteous Kill: Robert Deniro and and Al Pacino...a cop movie, but looks like a good one.



Burn After Reading: Pitt, Clooney, Malkovich...a smarty-funny movie, or so it appears.

"The Dark Knight" is a must see.

Just a quick little blog to tell everyone to go see The Dark Knight. What an awesome freakin' movie! It was a thrill ride from beginning to end. It is definitely the best Batman movie I've seen.

Heath Ledger's Joker might never be topped. He truly out-did Jack Nicholson, but, then again, it is very difficult to compare the two. Each Joker is nothing alike.

There were a few surprises and a few things I had figured out, but even while the violence wasn't "in-your-face" gross, it was implied, and it was awful to think about. The Joker's first magic "trick" was totally out of left field for me. It was a bit, um, shocking.

Anyway, I'm not going to give away anything, but if you can get out there and see it, go! We didn't watch the prequel to this movie and got along just fine. We want to watch Batman Begins when we get a chance, but I am so glad we went to see this one.

Go, go, GO!

When will we fall down...

She said I'm fine, I'm okay cover up your trembling hands
There's indecision when you know you ain't got nothing left
For the last time conscience calls
For a good friend I was never there at all
When will we fall
When will we fall down

Jump back, got to get out of here
Been too long this time
Jump back, got to get out of here
When will, when will we fall down

****

It's interesting how much music influences our lives, even if you can't play, read, or sing a note. Music is related to my memories. All the songs I hear bring back some sort of memory, even if it is just the fact that I remember it playing on VH1 in my high school art class. Well, on the way home I hear the above song. Two of the few people who read this blog will know 1. what the song is, 2. who recorded the song, and 3. some of the memories I also feel.

This song brings back some (still) raw emotion for me. It reminds me of a friend. A friend I called my younger brother, a friend who I was there for so many times and who let me down - hard, and fast. This guy was significantly younger than me (that's why we had the little brother/big sister thing going...that and the fact that neither of us had that type of sibling). Anyway, I befriended this guy, found him to be a great person, and thought he would be a good try-out for the band Jeff, Lloyd, and Luke were trying to re-form. Well, he fit. Amazingly enough, at the time, all four of us thought we could mold and shape him into what we all wanted...the guys wanted a good singer and I wanted a good friend.

He turned out to be neither. Actually, what I perceived as depth in his personality I found to be extremely shallow and easily swayed. Imagine jumping into a 2 ft. pool thinking it is a 20ft one. Yeah, I got hurt. It still hurts.

The four of us found out that we were terribly wrong about everything we thought we had found in this individual. The guys had to finally had to make a decision to cut him from the band because his heart wasn't into it. He wasn't trying to be what they needed. Even the covers he wanted to try, like this song, he was incapable of garnering enough interest to be able to sing them without sounding like what a dog's ass must sound when he scoots it across the carpet.

A couple years later, I learned, the hard way, that I he wasn't the close friend I thought he was.

I have let these feelings go for a long time. After he was cut from the band, I maintained contact with him and eventually brought him back around, full circle to all four of us. We were all back together and good friends. Then, when my friend was having some major changes and troubles in his life, I was there for him. I called him on a day that no one else did; I had him over to my home to feed and talk with him. Both Jeff and I opened our hearts and our doors to him. So, the friendship went on.

Towards the last six months I was in contact with this guy, he met another girl (which a girl was his major problem before this). I got all these questions from him, both sober and drunk, "should I go out with her?", "do you think it is too early to move in with her?", "am I being too possessive with her?"...the list goes on. Well, I wasn't fond of the new girl from the start, but I gave her a chance. I tried to weigh the options with him, both positive and negative. I offered my advice without the candy coating. He listened and appreciated my advice, but he got in deep with this girl. He was in so deep that he wasn't looking back.

So, months go by and Jeff and I are meeting this couple as a couple (eating dinner and such). We are all supposed to be good friends, right? I find out some information on the girl that is on a public docket, and it is nothing to be upset about, and she went ballistic that I knew and tried to help her. I get this nasty message from her on Myspace very late one night after coming in from a band gig. I played the safe road and apologized if I had offended her. I did not apologize for my actions - only for offending her.

Well, after that. Guess what? No contact from either of them. I tried emailing or messaging this guy a couple more times over the course of months. The first one was civil, decent, and let him know I was concerned. The next one was a little more irritated, and the third was just a down-right "screw you" message. I was provoking him and challenging him to contact me. He didn't. HE IS SPINELESS. So, this girl was able to walk all over him to the point that he changed his friends, his life path, his ideas and ideals, and his entire being. This girl didn't seem the one to stay around for anything more than two years. So, in the summer of 2009, I wonder if he will still have her and his child around. That used to worry me. Now it is just sad.

After all of this, I was upset. Then I got pissed. Then I was hurt. Until now, I finally let it go. I was able to tell myself that I was not losing a friend. A friend would have stayed a friend regardless of a petty disagreement. Until today, when I heard this song did I really think about him. I don't think since I have no longer talked to him have I heard a song from this band. Well, there it was on Sirius on my way home.

You know what I did? I turned it up full volume and enjoyed it because for once, he wasn't singing it.

Bad days

Well, here I am whining and crying, bitching and moaning, and all other manners of having a bad day to come home to several friends who have worse problems than me for now. I should be so very thankful for what I have, and I am, but today was the pits. Errr.

Don't Shrink My Clothes in the Hot Water Honey

"Don't shrink my clothes in the hot water, honey."

Go to this site to hear the song: www.myspace.com/weedhawks

I love this song. It is actually my profile song right now on Myspace. We heard this duo at Allburghers several months ago. I really enjoyed watching them. :) Good act and would highly recommend.

More health news...

...the update is on my Myspace page. I have more control of the privacy of the information on that page.

Almost another Monday...

...another weekend has almost passed. I am hanging on to the remains by my fingernails as it is almost 10. *sigh* I have been able to do a few fun things this weekend and get a few housework things finished, so I have accomplished something this weekend, but I want more time!

Amuse-apalooza Winner

Well, this week I went to all three Amuse-apalooza classes at Shelz Studio and had a blast. I even won the big door prize ($100 of Amuse products in a cute little bag). Now I have about 12 different type of Christmas cards that have given me lots of new ideas to make other cards of my own.

I'm thinking about making a mix of cards (birthday, congrats, thanks, etc.) to donate to our family reunion as an auction item. At our family reunion everyone brings something to auction, and that's how we raise the money for the next year's reunion. :)

Anyway, if I had the strength and will power to scan some of the cards, I would, but, nah, at least not tonight.

And, for those of you who are interested in the A Muse Artstamp system, go to http://www.amuseartstamps.com/.

A crying woman

When I was younger and watching a movie with Mom and Dad I always wondered why Mom would cry at something in the movie. In fact, I used to tease her about it. I even remember going to see "A League of Their Own" with my uncle, aunt, cousin, and another cousin...my aunt and cousin (she is only a year older than me) cried at the end! My cousin told me I needed to have a sister to "get it".

Now? Now I can cry at a television commercial! It can't just be hormones or I would have cried for years and years. Just lately a Kleenex commercial can make me want to cry like I lost my best friend! Maybe it takes a woman/person time to get some age on them to understand the workings and dealings of the world to make them cry.

I remember at my grandfather's funeral, my great-grandmother was brought to the funeral home. I was 19 at the time, and it took me that long to figure out the difference between the tears of a young woman and the tears of an older woman. I watched my great-grandmother, with an uncle and my father holding her arms on either side, weep. It was something from deep within. It was a low, deep sound. She didn't scream, although I'm sure she wanted to. She did not curse God. She didn't say hardly a word. She just looked at him, bowed her head and wept. She had lost another son in a life when your children are supposed to out live you. (She lost her first son before he turned one year old. My grandfather was the first living child after him.)

In her life, a young woman is still learning what is worth tears, when not to scream and when not to curse someone's name. As a woman gets older, she observes and absorbs hardships and feelings from the world. She adapts and realizes when it is best to cry alone, cry herself to sleep, and curse the world in the privacy of scrubbing her own bathroom floor. Every woman is taught these lessons differently. Every woman reacts to the lessons differently.

A woman never stops learning the ways of the world in tears, but she becomes wise. This is when she begins to weep, to sob, to cry without tears. Maybe I'm starting to learn.

Waiting...

...it's enough to have to be tested for different things (medical) and then have to wait on the results.

Why So Serious? - "The Dark Knight"

For some reason, Heath's death or not, I'm drawn to "The Dark Knight". I think I would have been drawn to it even if he hadn't died just because it is a role that is totally out of the box for him.

I've went to youtube.com and watched all of the different previews I can. I have read articles, and I have even watched a few short interviews Heath gave before his death.

I think what really interests me is how an actor/person like Heath can pull off the Joker. I have been reading that critics think this portrayal of the Joker is even better than Jack Nicholson's. We have to remember, though, that Jack Nicholson was in the Tim Burton movies. Burton films are always a bit skewed and different.

This new version of the Joker is much closer to his original comic book character. Do a little research and you will find the evolution of the Joker through the years. He was a really bad guy and then a "funny" guy and then just a down-right psycho, not all in that order of course. I don't have great history in the comics, and I'm not going to pretend that I do. :)

I have also read, in my online research, that the production of many advertisements that portrayed the Joker are being pulled. I recall seeing several movie posters and advertisements that somehow showed the Joker and his tag line. I wonder why production has been doing this. I don't think it would just be a measure of respect. It most likely lies in a monetary reason like most everything else in life.

So, if you are like me, you'll be going to the movies to see the new Joker. "Why so serious?"

The new mummy movie...

...okay, up until a few weeks ago, I wasn't aware there was another mummy movie coming to theaters. Usually this would be great news for me because I loved the first two (even though The Rock's movie was 'related' to the mummy movies, I don't associate it with them). I just watched the trailer for the movie, and I'm not yet sold on it.

First of all Evie is no longer played by the same actress. Why didn't they just write out her character and write in another? There have been two other movies with the same actress, so it is going to be a stretch of the willing suspension of disbelief for me (never mind the fact that the movie itself is an extreme stretch of willing suspension of disbelief) to ignore the fact that the leading actresses have been switched.

At least they brought back Jonathan...he is my favorite character. I didn't see him much in the trailer but the trailer was focused more on Brendan and Jet and the hordes of evil doers that must be conquered.

Also, there is something else I noticed. This is a third movie in a series. Is it becoming a new rule that the third movies must somehow involve snow? The third pirates movie took the crew through icy temperatures, and the trailer of this movie shows a great deal of snow and ice. I must not be pleased with a severe change in scenery in trilogy movies. I don't remember, but did the third Lord of the Rings movie take the characters through the cold? I will have to do some research on that one, but I'm sure some of you could tell me... (Honestly, the climate changed so many times through the Lord of the Rings trilogy that there could have been cold temps throughout all of them and I just don't remember.)

Anyway, check out the trailer and let me know if you think this movie will compliment or insult the previous two movies.

Link: http://www.themummy.com/

Some more favorite quotes

Others have positively reacted to my scar quote, so here are a few more of my favorites...

" I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet."
~Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar, Chapter 7

"Surviving is important. Thriving is elegant."
~Maya Angelou

"This darkness is for sleeping, for escape; it's where I go when the other places ache with light; this is where I curl up and close my eyes and darkness flows like lava, and I disappear into what, into nothing, into pure dark, into what there is before there is anything else."
~Leslie Pietrzyk

"I am not only from Appalachia; I am of Appalachia."
~Linda Scott DeRosier


...and those are just a few.

My obsession with pink.

I have recently (in the past year) picked up where I left off on my on-again, off-again affair with pink. When I was young, it was my favorite color. As I became a teenager, went to college, and even in the beginning of my young adult life, I shunned it. Now, I am back and as into pink as ever! (You know you love pink when your husband searches for pink topaz for a Christmas present.)

Maybe my re-found obsession with pink began with becoming a pink hat queen. (See the Red Hat Society link if you are not familiar...) I am the queen of my chapter, which is still officially just me. I need to get my girls together soon! Anyway, I dubbed us the Pink Diamonds, so I am the Pink Diamond Queen. I haven't thought up of a clever queen name yet, so that's it for now. For those of you who know me, any suggestions?

Anyway, you can look at this blog, look at my Myspace page, and just see me in general and see where pink pops up and says a cheery hello... Maybe that's one reason I like pink. It always looks cheerful in the most dreadful of situations. Maybe.

What a waste of a blog...all about pink!

You know...

...I have a question. Is it possible to wear thin spots in a DVD? :) I am watching my Sex and the City episodes way too much. I love 'em.

A random thought: For those of you who haven't seen it on my page, I have found a new favorite quote (that I think really suits me)... "Scars are tattoos with better stories." Whatya think?

Happy Fourth!

I feel so unprepared for the fourth this year. I didn't get my usual decorating completed, and that's driving me nuts. I have already passed up one picnic (with my mom's family) earlier today, and Jeff and I have finally pried ourselves off the bed/couch to take showers and go to his aunt's picnic. Usually I will make something to take to picnics, and I haven't done that!

So, we will have to stop somewhere to pick up something to bring to the picnic. I hate showing up empty handed to a picnic or party. SO...that means a trip to Wal-Mart. I really am starting to hate Wal-Mart. It has always been an irritation, but it is becoming one of my least favorite chores, even behind scrubbing the toilet!

Today is just one of those days where I feel like crap, and while it sucks that it is on the fourth, it beats feeling like this on a regular work day.

Just other random thoughts for the day -

Doesn't it suck that it is pouring the rain on the fourth?
It's great that one of my medications is FINALLY in generic form but it is only like a $40 dollar difference when generics are usually so much more economical.
I am about to either scream or cry about a few things going on with work.
This random thought is for June if she is checking this - I really think I like mimosas. !

Thanks for reading my randomness for the day... More bitching and complaining later I'm sure. I hope to sometime post about a book I'm reading, a movie I love, or even just something more academic in nature. So far you are reading daily bitch sessions!

Randomness on pain meds...

...a three-day weekend! Yay! For some reason this week I have been abnormally tired. Who knows what the problem is.

So while I love the long weekend, I hate that May and June have passed as they are both my favorite months, especially June. Here we are in July already! I'm going to have to slow down and enjoy it. How about you?