Tooth three emerges, and a recollection

Cooper's third tooth was officially out and sharp as a knife on Sunday. Today he figured out how to grind his new top tooth on his bottom teeth, which as you might guess makes a remarkably grating and horrible noise. But I suspect the novelty will wear off shortly and he'll stop.

I just remembered something from wedding #4 that we attended. There was a woman there who drank just enough to talk A LOT and yet still make sense. A chatty drinker, shall we say. She was telling me about how her husband wants to wait a few more years to have kids, but she wants to get started now. I was nodding courteously when she suddenly said, "You need to tell me if it hurts as much as they say it does." I said, "Well it really depends on the person, circumstances, medications, and that kind of thing. For some people it really doesn't hurt very much- and you could be one of those people."

To which she said, "Well how can it NOT hurt if they slice you open all the way to your @$$shole?"

I remember being puzzled. Weren't we talking about having a baby here? Call me slow on the uptake if you want, but I didn't realize for a few ticks that she was assuming, or perhaps had been told, that everyone that has a baby vaginally has to have a very, very, big episiotomy.

I replied with something to the effect of, "Well not everyone gets an incision. Most people's bodies just can stretch, or sometimes they tear a little. Personally, I had a small incision- but I had local anesthesia so it really wasn't bad at all. It healed really quickly, too."

In retrospect I am sad that this question came up. Here is a woman my age, well educated, who thought that in order to have a baby you must surgically have your nether-regions ripped asunder. That is crazy. People's misconceptions are sort of depressing sometimes.