My second cousin Nancy was in-town over the weekend for her husband's company Christmas party. She is the one who I recently met who has been sharing Simonds family photos. We had tea at her hotel...the Hotel Palomar (my first time there even though I've driven past many times). The top picture is the two of us in front of their hotel Christmas tree. The bottom picture--OH MY GOSH...my first time to see a picture of me looking pregnant. I think I'm having a baby!
6 comments:
expectant mothers are the most beautiful of all women
I can see little buddha smiling for the camera.
You look so happy! I hope you and your cousin had a wonderful visit.
You look beautiful and already have that "glow"!
Hey Kathryn!
We just found your blog (again) a couple of weeks ago. It is fun to keep up with you and we are very excited to find out that you are pregnant! Congratulations, a million times over.
Childbirth is truly an amazing, once in a lifetime (or twice & so on..), experience and all the more fun to keep the gender a big ol' surprise!
Best Wishes,
Meredith & Chris
Why Pregnant Women Don't Topple
By SETH BORENSTEIN - AP Science Writer
WASHINGTON(AP) With all that growing weight up front, how is it that pregnant women don't lose their balance and topple over? Scientists think they've found the answer: There's are slight differences between women and men in one lower back vertebrae and a joint in the hip, which allow women to adjust their center of gravity.
This elegant evolutionary engineering is seen only in female humans and our immediate ancestors who walked on two feet, but not in chimps and apes, according to a study published in Thursday's journal Nature.
"That's a big load that's pulling you forward," said Liza Shapiro, an anthropology professor at the University of Texas and the only one of the study's three authors who has actually been pregnant. "You experience discomfort. Maybe it would be a lot worse if (the design changes) were not there."
Harvard anthropology researcher Katherine Whitcomb found two physical differences in male and female backs that until now had gone unnoticed: One lower lumbar vertebrae is wedged-shaped in women and more square in men; and a key hip joint is 14 percent larger in women than men when body size is taken into account.
The researchers did engineering tests that show how those slight changes allow women to carry the additional and growing load without toppling over _ and typically without disabling back pain.
"When you think about it, women make it look so very damn easy," Whitcomb said. "They are experiencing a pretty impressive challenge. Evolution has tinkered ... to the point where they can deal with the challenge.
"It's absolutely beautiful," she said. "A little bit of tinkering can have a profound effect."
Walking on two feet separates humans from most other animals. And while anthropologists still debate the evolutionary benefit of walking on two feet, there are notable costs, such as pain for pregnant females. Animals on all fours can better handle the extra belly weight.
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