So I've been hating LA down here (I now understand fully why such a strong punk scene came from LA, it is a city that could easily inspire violent tendencies in the best of us,) but I've been loving the time Brit and I have been spending at the various beaches around here. The ocean is amazing for so many reasons; today as we stood in the waves and let ourselves be pushed around by the water, I was contemplating the many lessons the ocean has to teach us. For example, did you know that a pregnant woman's amniotic fluid has the same concentration of salt in it as the ocean does? I was thinking about that as the waves washed over me, as well as the many other natural events which seem to directly relate to the ocean...
For example, the moon controls the tides just as it controls my menses...I typically follow lunar cycles with such accuracy, I keep track of my cycles by looking at the moon every few days or so. I usually bleed on the full moon and I ovulate with the new moon...as the waves crashed into my uterus, I thought about this.
Also, I think the ocean is a great metaphor for how good sex should be; salty, exciting, unpredictable and sometimes, it should knock you off of your feet. (The waves should also be rhythmic and hit you right about groin level...)
I think the waves of the ocean could also be a metaphor for giving birth as well; overwhelming, rhythmic waves crashing over your body, and you have to just give in and let them roll over you or things will be a lot worse. Struggling against waves, like struggling against contractions, just leads to being pulled further under into the undercurrent and coming up with a mouthful of salt water and sand...
Maybe life in general can be compared to the ocean...the more we just learn to surrender and roll with it, the easier it seems to become. Sure, sometimes you still emerge sputtering and dizzy from being tossed around a bit, but if you can learn to body surf, you'll be better off in the end....
I was also wondering how babies open their eyes in utero if amniotic fluid is as salty as the ocean...as the salt water was getting into my eyes, they where burning. If anyone out there has an answer for this question, I'd really like to know!
Anyway, those are my musings about the ocean for the moment...in two days I'll be in El Paso working at the birth center down there with the lovely Katarra...I can hardly wait!
I think I've realized on this trip that Northern California is in desperate need of underground midwives...so I think I'll be moving there shortly....
Love ya,
Carrot
I thought babies couldn't open their eyes until some time after they were born? God, I miss the ocean.
Like what you've read? Well, then here's more:
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/tricia0711
I learned in chemistry back when I was in high school that the water in the ocean is supposed to have the same salinity as your tears, so when you get salt water in your eyes what really burns is the sand and other dirt particles floating around in the water.
I thought that was pretty interesting.
just thought I'd help you out with the salt water question. :)
Spend a minute or two with your eyes open in the ocean water and you will get used to it. The pain goes away. I have scuba dived and you spend a certain amount of safety training with your mask off and looking for it.
I think I learned in a 6'th grade science movie about 40 years ago called "Hemo the Magnificient" that if you reduced the entire human body to a liquid it would be almost identical to sea water.
Amazing that I remember much of what I learned in 6'th grade.
I love it when questions are answered in a group like that.
Babies actually do spend time in the womb with their eyes open...there isn't much to look at in there, but a certain amount of light somehow gets in through all those layers of muscle, skin, fat and other tissue...I remember watching a National Geographic movie about pregnancy where they simulated how much light a baby would see while in the womb; it was a very low level of light, obviously, and reddish in color, but babies do look around a bit while in their moms.
Babies actually do a lot while inside; they take "practice breaths," where they strengthen their abdominal and intercostal muscles and diaphragm by sucking amniotic fluid into their mouths and throats and then spitting it back out again. They also practice sucking by sucking on hands, umbilical cord, a twin if they happen to have one, toes, fingers, whatever is handy really. Some folks say babies dream in the womb as well; what they dream about is a mystery.
Love ya,
Carrot