By: ClaudiaCenter
Cool pics, annoying script ("practicing?"). Re comments -- I can't stand the language slip when a pregnant woman becomes the "mother." There's always a way to use the word "woman" with modifiers.
View ArticleBy: nickyskye
Word ideas based on conceiving and prenatal. Would you like to try and conceive together? Conceptual? ;-) Conceptive? ie "I'm conceptive" (pre 3rd trimester). The fetus being a concept ;-) until the...
View ArticleBy: squirrel
What's the term for a, um, "nounified" adjective? (Grammar certainly isn't my strong suit.) Too bad pregnant doesn't have one. I propose "pregnance".
View ArticleBy: nickyskye
A participle is a verbal adjective. An adjectival modifier, as a noun; like computer, used as an adjective, i.e. a computer company, a Giorgia peach.
View ArticleBy: Ethereal Bligh
Good points, nickyskye. "Mother-to-be" is objectionably presumptive to apply to someone who intends an abortion. But who does this? What's the term for a, um, "nounified" adjective? (Grammar certainly...
View ArticleBy: nickyskye
amberglow, I agree with squirrel. Mind boggling. squirrel, If the language leaned toward the pro-life perspective, as you seem to suggest, then we would simply call her a mother the moment she...
View ArticleBy: squirrel
You're right about the clumsiness of mother-to-be, EB, but I wouldn't use "mother" for a pregnant woman (who isn't already a mother) strictly because I'm superstitious. I'm the knock-wood type, and you...
View ArticleBy: Ethereal Bligh
"Pregnant women who intend to give birth are called mothers-to-be, which is technically correct" Hmm. Funny that for all that I've already said, I don't conform to this convention—if it is a...
View ArticleBy: Ethereal Bligh
"...as you said yourself, 'in fact would have liked to have had a child'" Yes, but I was very careful in what I wrote to indicate that I did not, and do not, think of the fetus as that child. When I...
View ArticleBy: squirrel
I'd say that colloquial English is about as accurate as it's liable to get on the subject of pregnancy, nickyskye. Pregnant women who intend to give birth are called mothers-to-be, which is technically...
View ArticleBy: nickyskye
Always interesting for me when you share your stories EB. When a couple decide, in advance, to procreate, the conversation usually begins with, "Would you like to have a baby?" or "Would you like to...
View ArticleBy: amberglow
As a shock tactic, a national group that opposes abortion plans to fly a billboard-size picture of an aborted fetus over Cleveland beginning Monday. The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, which frequently...
View ArticleBy: Ethereal Bligh
I'm always uncomfortable with personalization of the fetus in the first or even second trimesters. I reserve judgment about it when a mother does it—the emotional and physiological context for many is...
View ArticleBy: Mental Wimp
I have a 28-year-old daughter and a 25-year-old daughter, and I still worry about them daily.
View ArticleBy: brain_drain
I enjoyed this site, despite the limitations and cheesy tone of the narrative. Thanks leapingsheep.
View ArticleBy: amberglow
this one, for instance, has the metal stand clearly visible in the background. (it's from an anti-abortion site, and has a note stating it's "fair use", but it's actually not)
View ArticleBy: amberglow
Ironic bit of trivia: sweet and pleasant pictures like that tend to be pictures of aborted fetuses, while the propaganda pics used by the anti-abortion crowd are usually actually pictures of...
View ArticleBy: bitter-girl.com
Tumtums sure are fun to raspberry. Just ask Pooty Poot (aka Vladimir Putin in Bush-nickname-world), who, inexplicably, took time out to kiss some random kid's stomach near the Kremlin.
View ArticleBy: squirrel
Well said, scrump. I wanted to address those issues, too, but didn't want to overly dominate the thread. You expressed my sentiments very well.
View ArticleBy: scrump
Wow, I feel sorry for anyone who looks at these pictures and sees nothing but politics.And I feel sorry for someone who can't see the clearly rhetorical bent of the language accompanying the pictures....
View ArticleBy: squirrel
Good point in your last paragraph, nickyskye. I tend to agree with you. I've raspberried many a tumtum of my own. Your point is especially useful because it distinguishes between revulsion at baby talk...
View ArticleBy: nickyskye
Pregnancy.org sounds like a practical and decent site for people who want to have a child. I too was disturbed by the ballerina/baseball stereotyping and in light of that backward thinking, worried as...
View ArticleBy: mr.marx
"All content and design copyrighted © 2005 Julie Snyder." I think this guy would beg to differ.
View ArticleBy: Optimus Chyme
I think the site is written for children, too. It is fascinating that at less than a half inch, your little guy (or gal) already is leaving "footprints" on your heart! Barf.
View ArticleBy: squirrel
Wow, I feel sorry for anyone who looks at these pictures and sees nothing but politics. While I'm sure your pity is a smug comfort to you, save it for the needy. I never said that I look at these...
View ArticleBy: bitter-girl.com
Oh, I like babies just fine, leapingsheep. Mention them all you want. And yes, the photos were interesting. But what I find even more interesting is the automatic assumptions the writer makes about...
View ArticleBy: leapingsheep
Wow, I feel sorry for anyone who looks at these pictures and sees nothing but politics. The audience for that web site is people who are pregnant or trying to become pregnant; people who want babies,...
View ArticleBy: Zinger
Yeah, but given the contexts of our current society, and the literally deadly debate currently raging over the abortion issue, it's just not acceptable to assume that those who would use "baby" talk...
View ArticleBy: gorgor_balabala
I'm going to abort this thread before i say something life-killing.
View ArticleBy: squirrel
Well said, EB. Still, I consider your position on the "good faith" (nice pun) use of images with rhetorically saturated contexting to be either disingenuous or näive. I lean toward the former, given...
View ArticleBy: bitter-girl.com
My personal favorite, squirrel: Arm and leg buds appear - While they may not appear to be much at this stage it is ok to dream of the future. Just imagine your ballerina twirling and jumping around...
View ArticleBy: skepticallypleased
Yikes....Perhaps the language is loaded but can't we just appreciate the pictures! You're struck by how empty of a canvas we are even before we begin the cherubic, more frequently thought of as...
View ArticleBy: nickyskye
Interesting point about teleological reasoning. Thanks for the education EB. ...all primates are born neurologically undeveloped at birth. For all intents and purposes they complete their gestation...
View ArticleBy: needs more cowbell
Ironic bit of trivia: sweet and pleasant pictures like that tend to be pictures of aborted fetuses, while the propaganda pics used by the anti-abortion crowd are usually actually pictures of...
View ArticleBy: Ethereal Bligh
"Myeah... nothing loaded about that language. Notice how they start calling it an 'infant' around week 13? This is total anti-choice bullshit. And the "amazing" photos are both dated and postage...
View ArticleBy: Ethereal Bligh
"I always thought the reason for human newborns being not-quite-ripe is because they wouldn't fit through the birth canal if their brains grew any larger." Hmm, but the head is already very close to...
View ArticleBy: squirrel
[Not to detract from the fawning daddy stories... go wild, y'all. I just want to point out the the language makes the political intent of the page very clear: it's more than just pictures, it's...
View ArticleBy: OhPuhLeez
Amazing. My husband and I went through multiple IVFs to conceive our now nearly one year old boy/girl twins. I look back at their ultrasounds frequently - the first ones I have of them are when they...
View ArticleBy: squirrel
Week Ten: Baby is now called a fetus in "medical terms". You, however, may have chosen the name "peanut,""angel,""jumping bean" or simply "miracle." Myeah... nothing loaded about that language. Notice...
View ArticleBy: nickyskye
Really nice to read so many tender-hearted, MeFi dads' stories. greatgefilte, There is one theory that nine months just covers the time it takes for both parents to agree on a name. Another theory,...
View ArticleBy: Kickstart70
Pretty cool. The 3D ultrasound pic on the Wikipedia Ultrasound page is our daughter, now 7 weeks old (and laying in her bassinet beside me right now, farting like a bean taste-tester) :)
View ArticleBy: KevinSkomsvold
Looking at these, its easy to remember how I was, in the delivery room, trying to maintain composure and saying that I wouldn't cut my daughter's umbilical cord. The moment she came out and lay there...
View ArticleBy: porpoise
Those are good representative pics. Too bad most are just thumbnails. Shame they they (mostly?) don't include scale for one to get a better feel for how very small the many of the subjects are. A neat...
View ArticleBy: greatgefilte
nickyskye, that's interesting. I always thought the reason for human newborns being not-quite-ripe is because they wouldn't fit through the birth canal if their brains grew any larger.
View ArticleBy: Blazecock Pileon
I was quite surprised to learn the intestines developed outside the baby. I always thought from developmental biology that the embryo curls up on itself to form a tube that becomes the digestive tract....
View ArticleBy: stew560
Agreed with jonson! I am laying here with my 5 week old and this just amazes me!
View ArticleBy: mullingitover
It's a shame we lose that lizard tail. Imagine what human culture would be like if we hadn't evolved our tails away...
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