Pregnant Man

I used to be an OB nurse. And nearly every time I worked, I would be completely shocked at the things that patients (or visitors) didn't know. SHOCKED. So I would routinely provide the requested information and then also explain that they could say 'they knew me when' since I was going to get my own tv show, in order to inform the masses of much needed information.

I haven't gotten around to finding someone who wants to put me on tv, but I have a blog. And now will subject you all to all things newborn and obstetrical, otherwise known as "the things I think everyone should know about". You're welcome.

The first thing is not anything that I have any first hand knowledge of, but it is something that I'm sure everyone will be buzzing about by this time tomorrow. Mostly because Oprah's doing a show on it tomorrow. Shut up. You know that you want to know about it too.

So anyway, in case you haven't heard, Oprah is doing a show about a pregnant man. And because I was awake during at least part of my college education, I can inform you of just how such a thing happens.

You have to have a uterus to be pregnant. Shocking, no? And there is pretty much only one way that a man can have a uterus. Which is the same way a woman does - he has to be born with it. Which means that he was born a hermaphrodite. **I stand completely corrected. I either misread or saw incorrect information (you mean all things on the internet aren't true?!) about Mr Thomas Beatie. He was not born a hermaphrodite and instead had sexual reassignment surgery. However the end result is not much different. He is a man with a uterus. Having a baby. My deepest apologies for the incorrect information, I was WRONG. Feel free to mark this as something to come back to, just in case I ever dispute that fact.

Image from: The National Ledger

When a baby is born without an obvious gender, it is typical for the parents to select the gender in which a child is raised. The other gender parts are typically removed (although clearly not always, as he has kept his uterus) and hormone therapy is used to suppliment the missing hormones.

So anyway, this man (who kept his female parts) was inseminated and is now pregnant.

So he is legally male, but he has female parts. My personal feeling is that while calling him a pregnant man is technically correct, it's also misleading. Because this particular man has quite the unique set of circumstances.

So there you have it....the story of the pregnant man. This concludes installment one of "things I think everyone should know".

Love Affair

Everyone knows that I am totally in love with Oprah. Really. I adore her...and I tivo her show every day. Most of the time I keep quiet about my love, but on occasion I do feel the need to proclaim it once again.

And here we are - ready to share the love of Oprah with the world. Yesterday she had a show on about real life heroes. It was fascinating. The show included a 15 year old girl who fought off a bear in her own house, a man who jumped in a lake to save a girl from a submerged car, a mother who saved her children in a tornado, and a unit that had just returned after 7 months in Iraq.

Now, not many people will have the opportunity to fight off a bear in their home. Or anywhere else, for that matter. Although apparently this girl's neighbors had it as a pet. So if you don't know your neighbors, you might want to investigate their pet situation...just in case. But the second story was about a man who jumped in when he heard that a car had rolled into the water at a yacht club. Which brought up the important question - how many people would actually jump in to save someone else? I would think that anyone would, but I'm not so sure that's actually true.

The mother who saved her children will spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair. And the amazing thing is that she isn't bitter about it at all - she says she would do the same thing all over again. And I believe her -- and she has great looking kids to show for it. And the soldiers from Iraq had their family reunions on live TV...and it doesn't matter how you feel about war or peace or anything else. You can't be anything but in awe of people who give up their lives and safety to help out other people. And when the finally get to come home, you can't help but be overjoyed for them and their families.

It was all about everyday people who did things for others without wanting anything in return. Which begs the question...how many people do you know that would do something like that for someone else?