Folic Acid

23 Jan 2012: I am at work today.  And I have to start reading about all this.  Thank goodness for the web and Google.  In spite of my skepticism on the results, I decided to educate myself on this  whole pregnancy thing. After all, it is always good to know. 

 First search, ‘How do I know my wife is pregnant’?  Google seems to read my mind. One of the first links I see is, How to calculate the date of delivery.  

Wow! Too fast, I must say. But my enthusiasm got the better off me. They do have a few questions.  

The first day of last menstruation.  14^th December it is.  I entered the date, and it says,

Your due date is:

September 19th, 2012

You have a 5% chance that this will be the exact date of birth

Between September 15th, 2012 and September 22nd, 2012

There is a 50% chance that your due date will be between these dates

Between September 12th, 2012 and September 26th, 2012

There is a 80% likelihood of giving birth somewhere between these two dates

 How complicated is that.  Did they have to use calculus to work these numbers out?

All this is too much at this time.  Far too much! I am not even sure if Ingrid is pregnant, and due dates are floating in my head. First things first!  

We must go to a hospital and do a proper test.  Chances are that it will be negative. 

Still, let me just read about the whole pregnancy thing.  After all, information is always good. Back to Google!   An hour passes by, and I have printed over 150 pages of information.  Pregnancy Calendar, Healthy Eating Habits for pregnant women, even how to look after a pregnant cow!

Apprantly, Folic Acid is very important during the early stages of pregnancy.  And if she is pregnant, we are on week 6.  How on earth is one supposed to know all this?  And what on earth is Folic Acid?  Let me educate myself on this.  Wikipedia! Here I come…

Folic Acid is a B vitamin (B9) found mostly in leafy green vegetables. So cows will never need folic acid! Something learnt there.

As for human baby development is it compulsory that women get around 400 micro grams daily prior to conception.  A bit too late for that now, isn't it?   It reduces the risk that the baby will be born with a serious neural tube defect.  What that means is,  an incomplete development of the brain and spinal cord.  Ah! now it all falls in place. George Bush Jr, must have been deprived of folic acid. Kind of explains a lot on his intelligence.