From My Notes on Birth Day

When I first discovered I was pregnant, I got super into the consumption of as much pregnancy-birth-baby literature as possible. I bought a bunch of books and read them as if it were my duty. I'm more relaxed now because I sort of got my fill. I do have to come back to a few books in the next few months, but I'm happily engrossed in the tales of race, oil and football in west Texas right now.

One of the best books I've read so far is called Birth Day and is all about the science behind birth.

One of the things that has totally affected me are studies on the importance of having another woman in the delivery room with you. The longest labors are those that have just the mother and father. The shortest are those that have the mother, father and a close relative or friend of the mother who helps with laboring. The intermediate in length labors are those that have the mom and dad and literally another woman just sitting in the corner not helping! Just the presence of another woman helps the laboring mother! After reading that, I invited my mom and Natan's mom to the delivery room with me (do NOT want my dad or Natan's dad in there). The author basically goes through how women have always given birth surrounded by other women, and it's only recently that fathers have been allowed in the delivery room, but it is still something done best with other women (best meaning shortest labor).

Some other tidbits of information that I liked reading about:
--Nipples smell like amniotic fluid after birth so a baby can find them to feed.
--Babies like the sound of their mothers voice best (duh), but also the sounds of music: specifically rhythm. In reality, however, they mostly hear gastrointestinal workings.
--Some of the early studies on fetal hearing involved sticking a decibel detector into a newly empty womb! Can you imagine signing up for that?
--babies can learn in the womb! Sound studies have shown that babies can learn patterns (they do these experiments by playing loud noises followed by vibrations. The baby learns to anticipate vibration after the noise (as measured by heart rate changes)).