Tiny Life

Charli's first picture. 9 weeks old. Her actual size about the size of a quarter. She was kicking her little numbs like crazy.

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Biologically at conception, there is life.

At conception, all the DNA of a unique person---who has never walked the earth or taken a breath or heart has beaten---is present.

All the information for growth is now present from *this* stage in life until the grave.

Gender is set. Hair and eye color is set. Skin color is set. It's all there. Everything is in place. All that is left is time to grow.

Within hours there is growth---cell division. The baby *continues* to grow tiny bit by tiny bit---without the aid of the mother's body.

Around 10 days after conception, the baby implants to the mother's body and grows rapidly over the next 39 weeks, until the baby triggers labor.

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We ALL start life like this. We ALL start when a single sperm meets up with a single egg, and *huzzah!* there is a new set of DNA in the world that has never been there before.

We ALL start out smaller than this period:

.

ALL of us.

If we ALL start out the same, we ALL follow the same development process, we ALL go through the same stages of growth, and eventually we ALL turn into beautiful kicking newborns, toddlers, kids, preteens, teens, young adults, adults, and elderly.

Comparing a human that is 1 hour old after conception to a human that is 2, 5, 16, 40 weeks old after conception, or to a 1 year old, or to a 7 year old or to any age is an improper comparison that ignores human development.

It is an improper argument to compare any fetal life to a severed arm or other tissue belonging to another person.

It is improper to hold fetal life to the same standards of "living" and "personhood" used for newborns, children, adults.

It is an improper argument to say fetal life is suffering from a disability.

Kind of get what I'm saying people? 1 hour after conception baby is doing what a baby the age of 1 hour after conception can do---growing, and not a whole lot else.

Future Plans: TV Stand = Play Kitchen

So after looking at homemade play kitchens last night, I decided I will one day change my cheap TV stand into a play kitchen.  I drew up plans and everything.  It shall be bee-u-tee-fuuulllll!  One day when I have money to buy a nice TV stand I will start this project. One day. One day... One day......

Here's my plans.

I'll probably make changes when I actually start the project.  Nothing is ever set in stone for me, but I like the gist of what I came up with.  I chose the TV stand since if I mess it up it won't be a big loss because the TV stand has, in my mind, put in its time, and I don't really have any other furniture I want to recycle into a play kitchen.

Play Kitchens Ideas from Da Web

Exploring the web tonight for ideas for the play kitchen I will one day make for de baby.  I am broke right now and she's still a little young, so I got time to plan and analyze this to death.  Poor parenting choices can have dire results.
1) Super Simple Play Kitchen

Nap Time Crafters: Guest Post: Play Stove Top from Tales of the Scottsnaptimecrafters.blogspot.com

Small living friendly and cultivates a child's imagination due to simplicity.  I like that.  I would simplify the burners a bit more to reduce so much sewing and bulkiness.  It would make a great present for kiddos during the holidays for crafty people who make their own presents. 

Here we go!  Found this in a Google Image search.  This is more of what I'm thinking of.  It's not so bulky and even has a sink.  Children will loves!


2) Gorgeous Table Cloth Play Kitchen

Top 10 Posts of 2010 — #6 | Frugal Family Fun Blog

www.frugalfamilyfunblog.com

This is awesome.  Notice the details, like the towel rack?  The kitchen looks like it fits over a TV tray.  I would make this if I had enough fabric lying around.  This is also good for small living since it can be easily packed away.  I imagine 2-3 year olds could set this up themselves without much or any assistance.


3) Recycled Bookshelf Play Kitchen

Kitchen from naptimejournal.blogspot.com


I really like this.  It's clever and has lots of personality.  I may end up doing this with an old bookshelf instead of building my baby a play kitchen or sewing one.  I will not always live in a 512 sq ft sardine can.



4) Sleek Recycled Kitchen

Recycled Play Kitchen
http://boomdone.blogspot.com/

Here we go!  Perfect AND for boys and girls.  Beautiful.  It deserves a minute of appreciation.  This might be my favorite out of wooden play kitchens.

5) Random Wooden Kitchens

It's a little plain, but easy to spruce up.  Painting the counter a different color would be an easy help or adding hooks for oven mitts and  kitchen utensils where the picture hands. I would have cut the top in a decorative way instead of straight. Little curtains pinned up around the picture would help too.

This actually looks fairly expensive.  Anyone else keep thinking the window is real?

Love the shelf.  It needs more accessories or paint.  A little chalk board with chalk on a string would be cute or a sheet of melt for magnets, but those might be a choking hazard for some kids.  More hooks for pot holders!

Gorgeous little play kitchen. It's perfect. I would do nothing to it! ...Probably.

I really hate the legs, but other than that it's good.  Maybe it's intended for boys or people who hate ugly legs like that. Overall, it is a good design for a simple homemade play kitchen. I would build it, but change out the legs.

This is a very nice recycled play kitchen.  I'm digging the colors and the chalk board.

There are a lot of great homemade play kitchens out on the interwebs.  To find these beauts I searched Google Image with the terms "recycled play kitchen," "homemade play kitchen," and "fold up play kitchen." 

Scary Nutcase

NOTE: Facebook note posted Monday, August 31, 2009 at 7:05pm. Real story actually happened to me.

Okay, I was talking to my friend on the phone today. My married friend with two kids was having a garage sale in front of her trailer while her mom watched the kids inside. This weird lady showed up. The lady was walking around and acting very strange. She went to her car for a long time and my friend thought she left.

After awhile she came back. She went up to my friend and asked if my friend lived in her trailer alone (creepy, stranger danger!). My friend told her no, that she lived there with her husband and two kids. The lady then started talking about how her husband and her wanted a baby and had tried in vitro fertilization. They used up all their money on it.

The lady gave my friend a card with a phone number on it and told my friend if she knew anyone who was pregnant and wanted to GIVE AWAY their baby to have them call that number. The lady completely weirded out my friend and she was glad her two little kids were inside with their grandma. My friend told the creepy lady that she didn't know anyone.

The lady left, and now my friend is going to call her police friend and see if he can do anything to make sure a crazy lady can't show up and steal her kids (I think one is almost 2 or 3 then the other is almost 1). This could be a real danger. She does have 9 dogs (of all shapes and sizes) and a huge husband that are kept close by at all times, but this woman sounds like one of those real deranged nutscases who stalk women and kill them, cut out their babies and pretend it's theirs.

Scary!

Charli Fae Nimmo - 8/10/10 at 6:38pm, 5lb 9oz, 19.5in by Carol Nimmo on Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 11:57pm

NOTE: Actually I posted this to Facebook as a note on Wednesday August 11, 2010 at 11:57pm. Posting here for memories.

Labored for over 48 hours on 1 hour of sleep. Midwife caught the baby's heartbeat dropping after contractions to as low as 65-ish when normal range is 120-160. Suspected that the baby was on the cord and cutting off circulation, they had me lay on my right side which mostly prevented any heart drop. My blood pressure spiked to 150/110.
Transferred to Medical Center of Plano around 11am, 8/10. Due to baby's condition was forced to labor on right side to keep the baby's heart from dropping after contractions. Ruptured amniotic sac because of my fatigue and discovered thick soupy meconium (poop) in amniotic fluid. Hooked up monitor for baby heart rate and started flushing out womb with saline to clear out meconium (state of the art medical stuff). Monitored for about an hour without drugs, then got an epidural due to exhaustion and to help things relax to progress dilation along. Monitored the baby longer which continued showing dropping heart beat, meaning baby in distress. Heart patterns showed mostly flat heart beat, indicting baby in distress and freaking out.
After four hours, no dilation change. Based on baby's heart distress could not give any pitocin or any medicine to dilate further without hurting the baby. Doctor flat out said the only option left was an emergency c-section. We discussed it and came to the same conclusion that this was the best thing for the baby.
Fast forward an hour later. Anesthesiologist says to Drew, "You want to watch her come out?" And so Drew looked and the doctor was about wrist deep inside my belly. A little bit of squirreling around and pulls out the baby! Baby was covered in meconium, but that wasn't the worst part. Baby was wrapped up in the cord in a way that it criss-crossed her chest and wrapped around her neck. From the way she was facing, she was probably laying on the cord where it crossed itself and it probably held her in place, preventing dilation and any sort of progress.
They took her over to be cleaned off. Wiped off the meconium off her skin, deep suctioned her nose and mouth, then pumped her stomach. Her stomach was full of meconium... They listened to her heart beat and breath sounds --- and were amazed that she had not aspirated anything (even though she was screaming and gurgling through the meconium in her mouth when they brought her out).
And the whole time exhausted Carol was nearly falling asleep during the whole c-section. She only saw baby for a few seconds when Drew brought baby over to let Mommy see before Daddy and baby went to the nursery for a bath.
After baby got cleaned up and Mommy got stitched up and sent to recovery, Daddy brought Baby Charli to Mama to hold her for the first time. Mommy got to hold baby for the first time and eventually let grandparents, aunts, and uncles take turns.
Problems Charli has had since then is drainage in the back of her throat, can't regulate body temperature due to her small size, and having trouble breastfeeding. Nursery was worried about her peeing and pooping. Charli just has one pee diaper after 24 hours, but they said that was fine. Biggest issue is her temperature. She's now in an incubator in the nursery to keep her warm while she sleeps. Breastfeeding improving with every attempt, so hopefully she'll put on some good fat and be able to regulate her body temperature.
Mommy is doing fine, except for the "evil nurses" taking away her baby. Probably will leave hospital on Friday.

Charli

Ugh, re-reading posts on here. Boring. No wonder no one likes my blogging. I don't even like my blogging.

Let's see. My spawnling is 9 1/2 months old now. Cute little booger. We didn't get along very well until about 2 weeks ago. I attempted to take 4 college courses online and the stress of that with the stress of a baby didn't go well.

Charli

Spawnlings

I now have spawnling due July 30th.

Spawnling at 9 weeks on 12/30/09