One little thing that really gets under my skin if you must know is the title, “The Wife.” When I hear it, it rings through me, moving and shifting my electrons in just the wrong way. I’m sure most of you wives or mothers out there on planet earth don’t really mind it. But I […]
Science Of The Soft Spot: The Anterior Fontanelle, Part 1
The soft spot on the top of my baby’s head is one of my favorite places to run my hand. I don’t know why exactly but it seems one of those places on him that truly represents his baby-hood. One way I know that his infancy isn’t quite gone and my baby days aren’t over […]
Verbatim: Pink Ones, White Ones, Good Ones
Exam room 3. Me at the computer, a 16 year old patient sitting on the exam table. We’re discussing her starting oral contraceptive pills for birth control. After her exam and a lengthy discussion, we talk about the pink ones, the white ones, the row of green ones, the ring, the depo shot, and the […]
Hopes, Dreams, And Predictions
Twenty Ten, Two Thousand Ten. However you say it, we have arrived. Welcome back to school days. The rigor of productivity. We had the tantrum of the century this AM at our house which we’ve decided to include in our new in-home, Swanson special list of “mega-tantrums.” In medicine, mega is inserted into terminology as […]
The Juggle: Working And Breastfeeding
A study in Pediatrics highlighting the importance of breastfeeding and the challenges for working moms was published earlier in 2009. Today, it circulated through a business journal and got some more attention. I read the study today for the first time. Then I re-read it a number of times. I talk about breastfeeding with moms and parents […]
Magic
Sometimes good health feels like magic. Lately more than ever. I’ve had a number of friends and family diagnosed with serious medical problems and medical set-backs in the last few weeks. Like patients that I have been fortunate enough to care for with serious illness, it scares me, makes me sad, sometimes wakes me up […]
If It Were My Child: H1N1 Shots, Yes!
I heard about the recall of about 800,000 doses of H1N1 shots intended for children 6-35 months today. The news doesn’t scare me at all. Zilch-o. Zippo. Zero. And I scare easily. I jump in the seat in the movie theater when it’s loud or dark or someone does something scary. Really. This recall does […]
Verbatim: Talking About Talking About Sex
3 year-old boy, overheard when talking to his dad: “My penis! When I pull on it, I can make it longer and longer.” Yes, this is real. Today, Dec 7, 2009. You heard it here first. This is my glamorous life. Instant proof that curiosity about the body and sex is a normal part of your […]
Loving Number 2 Just Like Number 1: Prioritizing Your Pregnancy
Before O (my second baby boy) was born I couldn’t really fathom loving him like I did, F (my first born). I’m not alone in this, I know. One of my friends recently told me she was so bewildered by the idea of number two that when she, her husband, her first son and her […]
