Rat Songs

The following post was written during the early morning of Feb 11. Kay had been induced the day before, her water had broken a few hours before, she was sleeping and I was...

Rats sing to one another. I think that is a beautiful thing to know (and not just because I am a. Irish and b. a former addict to South Korean noraebang (karaoke))!
Click here to hear a rat singing to you now!
And click here for a lovely Rat Song by Margaret Atwood.

The results of one of StormyD's NSTs (Non-Stress Tests). These were done everyday.

A little while ago, Kay had an awesome conversation with an obstetrics researcher. He designed an experiment to test the effect that the stress of a pregnant mom's partner might have on the foetus. In his study, a pregnant momma rat was housed with a non-pregnant female. And although this may sound like a beautiful ratsbian relationship complete with mini-Uhaul and lots of rat-cuddles, the partner rat was actually being used as an experimental control. What they found, was that when the partner came back from her 15mins of 'being stressed' she sang the I'm Stressed Song to the momma rat.

StormyD on Feb 4th!

Kay and StormyD have been monitored very closely for 5 weeks now. The first picture up there is of a Non-Stress Test of StormyD, done everyday to check heart rate (which has been averaging at about 140) and heart rate accelerations (which get up to 155 or 160). It has been a crazy time, indeed!

I am not, however, singing the I'm Stressed Song! At least I sure hope I'm not!

And the sweet song of the flute mixed... 
And the sound of the castanets, and then the maidens 
sang a sacred song 
and a wondrous echo reached the heavens...
The Complete Poems of Sappho