@S1-A.ARPA,@MIT-MC.ARPA:smith@UDel-Dewey.ARPA (07/21/85)
From: smith@UDel-Dewey.ARPA It seems to me that Steve Kallis is quite right about conceiving in space -- it isn't a very gravity assisted event. What about delivery though? The actual "labor" is aptly named since it is a muscular event, but what about the (necessary) time when the baby "drops". I'm neither biologist nor doctor enough to rate even an opinion about this, but it seems that it COULD involve gravity. Does anyone who knows any more about this have any ideas? art smith (smith@udel-dewey.arpa)
nemo@rochester.UUCP (Wolfe) (07/22/85)
> ... What about delivery though? The actual > "labor" is aptly named since it is a muscular event, but what about the > time when the baby "drops". ...it seems that it COULD involve gravity. > Does anyone who knows any more about this have any ideas? > art smith It should be called "push/pull" these days. The woman is flat on her back and the baby is pulled out (forceps!) once she pushes it far enough. I would expect the amniotic fluid and other mess of that nature to be more of a problem in a zero-g environment. Perhaps a steady air flow drawing escaped fluids into a trap would be suitable. Sometimes the neonate has some fluid in the lungs that must be drained (hence the holding upside down bit). Perhaps a large, slow centrifuge could do the trick here ("No no! I said 8 rpm, not 80!"). Nemo -- Internet: nemo@rochester.arpa UUCP: {decvax, allegra, seismo, cmcl2}!rochester!nemo Phone: [USA] (716) 275-5766 work, 232-4690 home USMail: 104 Tremont Circle; Rochester, NY 14608 School: Department of Computer Science; University of Rochester; Rochester, NY 14627
sck@elsie.UUCP (Steve Kaufman) (07/23/85)
In article <10626@rochester.UUCP>, nemo@rochester.UUCP (Wolfe) writes: > It should be called "push/pull" these days. The woman is flat on her back > and the baby is pulled out (forceps!) once she pushes it far enough. > As I imagine "nemo" already knows, forceps are used in only a minority of births.
wscott@joevax.UUCP (W. Scott Meeks) (07/29/85)
_Time_Enough_for_Love_ by Heinlein had an interesting scene involving a delivery aboard a spaceship. For the most part, travel took place in zero g, but during the delivery Lazarus Long (the protagonist of the whole book, I don't remember the woman's name but I think she was his current wife) fired the ships rockets (actually I think they were variable thrusters so that the transition was smooth) at the appropriate moment so that the baby, in effect, had a "gravity assist."
@S1-A.ARPA,@MIT-MC.ARPA:jrv@mitre-bedford (08/02/85)
From: jrv@Mitre-Bedford > _Time_Enough_for_Love_ by Heinlein had an interesting scene involving a delivery > aboard a spaceship. For the most part, travel took place in zero g, but during > the delivery Lazarus Long (the protagonist of the whole book, I don't remember > the woman's name but I think she was his current wife) ... No, I believe she was in the arms of her husband at the time, though. > ...fired the ships rockets > (actually I think they were variable thrusters so that the transition was > smooth) at the appropriate moment so that the baby, in effect, had a "gravity > assist." As I remember, he merely adjusted the artificial gravity. - Jim Van Zandt