A friend of a friend recently had an induction at 37 weeks because the doctors feared her baby would be too large to deliver vaginally if she carried to 40 weeks or beyond. When the baby was weighed, she was just a little over 7 lbs. While this is a bit above average for a baby born at 37 weeks gestation, most babies only gain about 1 pound between 37 and 40 weeks gestation. So, at 40 weeks, the baby would have likely been just over 8 lbs. Too big to deliver vaginally? Probably not.

In fact, the average fetal growth from 37-43 weeks gestation is under 2 lbs. So, is there really an indication to induce before the due date for fear of delivering a large baby? I personally don’t believe so.

Suspecting a large or very large baby is not a medical reason for induction. In a November 2002 press release, ACOG reported that induction of labor for macrosomia (large baby) almost doubled the cesarean rate without improving perinatal outcomes (the health of the baby).2 This statement was based on a study published in Obstetrics & Gynecology.3 Several earlier studies also showed that induction for macrosomia increases, rather than decreases, cesarean section rates without improving the health of the baby.4,5,6 In the professional publication Evaluation of Cesarean Delivery, published by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the authors recommend against induction for large babies in healthy women, concluding that “Induction of labor for suspected macrosomia [large baby] does not improve outcome, expends considerable resources and may increase the cesarean delivery rate.”

And, just to be clear, I’m not addressing whether I think a woman should be able to make the choice to induce or wait for spontaneous labor, regardless of the circumstances. I’m just presenting this to the moms who may have felt pressured by their OB to induce for fear of a large baby. Don’t let someone tell you that you can’t deliver a big baby, and don’t let them tell you that inducing your labor will prevent a cesarean.

I get a little bit annoyed when people say the Federal Vision pushed them into Rome or into Orthodoxy. If this is the case, then it was only because they were ignorant (I use the word literally: “lacking knowledge”) of Christian history, and the Federal Vision exposed them to the history of the Church.

For example, a friend mentioned that it was Jordan’s merit and maturity article that pushed him into Orthodoxy. Fair enough. But it wasn’t Jordan and the FV crowd that pushed him into Orthodoxy. It was exposure to the teaching of the Church Fathers (even though Jordan doesn’t really cite the Fathers, he is just rehashing an old argument); Orthodox Christians have always believed this.

Another friend returned to Rome after reading some exegesis that Rich Lusk had done on some passage or another. Fine, but it wasn’t Lusk’s original thinking. After pointing me to Lusk’s exegesis, I recognized it as a summary of Augustine.

The only thing the FV men are doing is just rehashing old ideas in new ways. Most of it really isn’t anything new. Some of it is really insightful, to be sure. Some work on the Trinity and justification is from a new perspective (!!!!!!!!), but it’s not really new (this serious theological work isn’t the stuff that’s driving people out of Protestantism anyway).

I’m just kind of tired of this. It gives the Southern Presbys something to gloat about, and that gloating stems from their own ignorance too.

Kyrie loves bubble baths and pretty much asks to take one daily. It’s cute.

Bathtime video: Kyrie finds the letter “O”

Bedtime:

Yet another video

Playing outside:

I was thinking in the shower today about the theology of icons in Orthodoxy and Catholicism. It seems to me that icons don’t really make a whole lot of sense in Western theology. There is nothing in the Western view of God that necessitates icons.

They make perfect sense in Eastern theology. You have to have a theology of uncreated energies for theosis and deification to work, which would, in turn, be the only basis for having the ability to communicate with the living dead.

I’m kind of curious how Catholics try to mesh their stance on icons with their theology proper. Anyone?

Rachel and I ventured over to Gabbeaux’s Bayle’s Landing tonight for supper. I was quite impressed. It’s a bit of a hole in the wall, but it’s right on the river, and we were able to eat outside. I opted for a barbecue poboy with jambalaya. Rachel had a shrimp poboy with a side of red beans and rice. Kyrie barely touched her spaghetti and meatballs. The BBQ poboy was pretty awesome, and Rachel loves her red beans and rice. We finished with a dessert of beignets which were almost as good as Cafe Du Monde (actually, they were smaller, which I liked better) and way better than Beignet Cafe (or whatever it’s called now). It was a very enjoyable experience, except for the fact that Kyrie kept pulling off her shirt and getting upset because we wouldn’t let her go in “the pool” (the nasty Oauchita River).

I was reading this article about the morning after pill, and I found two phrases really interesting: 1) the “risk of pregnancy” 2) “emergency contraception.”

The last line says it all,

“Pregnancy is not a disease,” McQuade said. “There is no absolute duty to dispense a non-therapeutic drug, but there is a basic civil right of conscience.”

Finally, at almost 23 months, all four of Kyrie’s eye teeth have popped through. No wonder she seems to be a much better behaved little girl lately. Or maybe discipline is finally working. Either way, I’m so happy with my baby. She’s really growing up. *sigh*

She’s using lots of full sentences and 2 or 3 word phrases, too. I can now understand most of what she says, although I think I’m the only one who can.

We’re giving potty training another try. We had accidents galore yesterday, but none today so far. (And I’m asking her about every 5 minutes if she wants to go potty — eventually she’ll go, right?)

Oh crap. She just peed on the floor.

Thanks to Justin and Naomi Eastwood for these pics:

So apparently we have GA’s for all of our classes, and I have three of them. Nice.

Tomorrow, I begin my seventh year of teaching in the college classroom. Seven years. Here goes nothing. (I mean that, literally.)