These are the ramblings of a young married couple in the great City of Chicago.
I’m sure there’s no need to re-hash the same arguments you’ve read on this blog time and time again to explain why this is like a dagger through the heart. It’s just. . . I really thought I was an adult. You know?
Today was Jonah’s due date. It has not quite passed; But aside from some moving he has not made any threats of coming out.
I was hoping he would be out by now, so I delayed making this announcement. We have scheduled his eviction for Monday. I am curious as to why babies like to hang out in utero, but from everything we have read there is no advantage to keeping him in there.
Oh, Our appointment is at 3:30 AM. So, I think we might be up for taking visitors in the late afternoon at the hospital, but I am not the boss of this operation.
Today I heard this report from NPR’s Adam Davidson. It is about Ft. Payne, AL, the former Sock Capital of the World. (It is also the home of the greatest country music group of all time).
Ft. Payne is no longer the Sock Capital of the World because we liberalized trade in socks and removed the tariff in the ’80s. Free trade is good, but if you concentrate of particular jobs it might look devastating. Over half of the sock mill jobs are gone in Ft. Payne. Much of the report concentrated on this.
However, it is not that dismal. At the end there is this gem.
Jimmy Durham, the county economic development officer, shows just how grim things have been for the sock business here.
On street after street, he points to buildings that used to house sock mills, most of which are now gone. With all these businesses shuttered, you might think Durham is in despair about the future of Fort Payne. He isn’t.
Those closed sock factories are reopening as new businesses.
He points to Steadfast, which makes bridges; Ferguson, a major plumbing supply company; a distribution center for Children’s Place; two new metal tube manufacturers; a high-tech label maker. For a town of only 13,000 people, this is a lot of new, good-paying employment. These jobs pay more than sock-making jobs.
In fact, most of 4,000 recently laid-off sock workers quickly found new jobs.
Joscelynn, Is this an example of what Joseph Schumpeter called Creative Destruction?
Dr. Williams explains why so much of what we choose is done peacefully and a few things we choose be come big overblown issues. Any idea on one key difference?
OK, The Tomaw Family needs some spicy food. What are your tastiest and spiciest recipes? We need them pronto, only this week will do.
Did everyone have a good Thanksgiving? Did you give thanks for the good and the bad?
Our special little blessing did not come yesterday, as I was predicting. We have turned to reverse psychology on Jonah. We are telling him about how wonderful it will be for him to not come out. This is a wide departure to our previous plan of coaxing him out with sweet talk.
I thought I found the perfect winter suit for a new Chicago baby. Then, when I unpacked the suit at home, I was reminded of one cold walk home from Frontier Middle School. Does this remind you of another certain infamous parka?
Jacob and I attended our last parenting class at Prentice Women’s Hospital last night. Having signed up for the full five course package, this one, Pediatric Care, was more of a general question and answer session with a Pediatrician. Most of the questions asked were pretty predictable and covered information that we felt we already gleaned from our previous classes. We found the questioning surrounding two topics particularly interesting: 1. SIDS and crib safety 2. Autism and immunizations.
Regarding the first, the pediatrician explained that the crib should contain a mattress and a fitted sheet. End of story. She said there is no practical use for bumper pads. Children do not injure themselves on the bars of a crib and even if they did, broken arm vs. death by suffocation should be an obvious choice.
Jacob and I thought this was pretty common wisdom, but the crowd seemed taken aback at the finality of her word. The questions following all sought out loopholes.
Question: “When does it become safe to use the bumper pads?”
Answer: “Never. SIDS is a concern until 18 months.”
Question: “What if we use a sleep positioner so the baby can’t move?”
Answer: “Sleep positioners can suffocate babies, too. Don’t use those either.”
Question: “We chose our bedding set because we liked the bumper pads. Why do they still design bedding sets with cute bumper pads if we can’t use them?”
Answer: “I don’t know. Don’t use them. Hang them on the wall or something, if you really can’t just part with them.”
For the second topic, the questions were very different. Parents were expecting and looking for assurance from this pediatrician that immunizations will cause their child to be autistic.
Question: “Do immunizations cause autism?”
Answer: “I talk to parents every day about autism. We try to practice what we call ‘evidence based medicine’ and so far there has been no conclusive research to show a link between immunizations and autism. We don’t know what causes autism, but my expectation is that it will come down to genetic and not environmental factors.”
Question: “Then why has there been an increase in autism? Isn’t autism caused by mercury and Thimerosal?”
Answer: “There has been an increase in the diagnosis of autism. We do not yet know what causes autism, but mercury and Thimerosal have been out of vaccines for five years and there has still been an increase in the diagnosis of autism. At least part of this increase can be attributed to over-diagnosis and the fact that 20 years ago autism wasn’t a term that we used. A child which we would now consider to be autistic would have been considered mentally retarded, and we don’t make that diagnosis anymore. Also keep in mind that autism is a spectral disorder and doesn’t mean one thing.”
Question: “But doesn’t it make a difference whether vaccines are given all at once or individually?”
Answer: “No, there is no proven link between autism and vaccines in either case. There is an increased risk of fever when vaccines are given all at once.”
So here’s what struck me: Why were the parents so attached to their bumper pads yet so ready to lay blame on vaccines?
Is it because bumper pads are cute and cuddly and vaccines involve needles and chemicals? Does it have to do with the “organic” mentality that presumes “Western” medicine the root of all ills? Or is it just a matter of heightened publicity surrounding autism? It seems to me that just not using bumper pads is a pretty easy and small sacrifice to make in the name of child safety. Why fight tooth and nail for that one?
Please post the answers to the following in the comments. If you do not know the answer, post a question you think that might make me reveal the answer but not also make me suspicious.
What is my favorite movie?
What is my favorite cartoon character?
What was the name of my first pet?
What is my favorite place to visit?
What is my favorite food?
Who is my cable provider?
What is my password to their site?
Watch this and then try to tell me that East Coast is just as much fun. These dancers don’t need no stinking triple step. (Hat Tip: In the Agora)
