Birth Days

Provides information on what you need to know about one's birthday, includes lucky numbers, health scents, gems, symbols, and favorable foods

The Millers, an ordinary American family, are travelling to a small island off the coast of Maine where they will celebrate their father's 75th birthday. All three adult children are expecting children of their own and at the same time find themselves at major crossroads in their lives. As the Miller family gathers, an unexpected incident shatters the celebrations and it seems that nobody will emerge quite the same. Written with great emotional and psychological insight, The Birthdays is a journey into the harrowing and redemptive heart of family life.This story of marriage and impending parenthood is certain to establish Heidi Pitlor as a rare new voice in fiction.

I delivered twenty babies in the summer of 1977. I was hardly more than a baby myself, just turned twenty-four and starting my third year of medical school."-from Birth Day So began Mark Sloan's three-decades-long exploration of the wonders and oddities of human childbirth. Pediatrician, husband, and father, the author has attended nearly three thousand births since that long-ago summer, encountering everything from routine deliveries to tense labor-room dramas. In Birth Day, Sloan draws on his personal and professional experience to weave the strands of memoir, history, science, and culture into a fascinating-and often funny-tapestry of this fundamental human passage. Birth Day takes the reader on a remarkable journey, from the dawn of human history to the quiet efficiency of a modern operating room; from Aristotle and Julius Caesar to a trailblazing, cross-dressing British army surgeon; from a recent past filled with the horrors of childbirth gone wrong to a present day, in which every pregnancy is expected to end happily. Some of Birth Day's many topics include - The evolution of human childbirth-or, why do gorillas have it so easy? - The first five minutes of life-scuba divers, astronauts, and the amazing adaptations that transform a fetus into an air-breathing, out-in-the-world baby - Cesarean section-a look at its origins, its future, and how it came to be the most frequently performed operation in American hospitals - Pain and politics-the age-old quest for painless childbirth, starring Adam and Eve, Queen Victoria, a nineteenth-century medical brawl, and the rise of today's "epidural monoculture" - Daddies-raging paternal hormones, hidden anxieties, and the emotional evolution of men (including the author, his father, and grandfather) as they approach fatherhood - The five senses at birth-does light enter the womb? how loud is it in there? what is a newborn baby searching for with those first anxious glances? - A tour of the newborn body-springy skulls, hairy ears, innies and outies, the advantages (and disadvantages) of looking like your father, and why the United States is one of the world's most circumcised nations Delightfully instructive and entertaining, Birth Day offers a fresh, sometimes irreverent take on a universally familiar topic. Warm, reassuring, and packed with stories from the author's work and life, this unique book is one pediatrician's meditation on the hiding-in-plain-sight marvels of human birth.

"Every child in the world has a birthday. But how children celebrate this occasion depends on where they live. In this latest addition to the Around the World series, award-winning author Margriet Ruurs explores the fascinating ways that children experience birthdays. You'll meet fourteen kids from different countries, each celebrating a birthday according to their local traditions. Bram from Belgium never gets to sleep in on his birthday - his family wakes him up by clanging pots and pans. For Ninoshka in India, it's important to give thanks to the Hindu gods and share sweets with her classmates. And some kids don't celebrate their birthdays at all. Instead, Phúc Khang in Vietnam celebrates Tet, when everyone in the country turns one year older. A world map that pinpoints the countries in the book, a Note to Parents and Teachers with interactive activities and a glossary of foreign words and phrases help to enrich the reading experience. Based on interviews with real people from each country, Birthdays Around the World is an invitation to experience a different culture, think about your own birthday celebrations and even learn how to say "Happy Birthday" in another language (like Hawaiian: "Hau oli la hanau" [ho-O-lee LA HA-now])!"--

Inspired by memories of fantastic family birthday parties, mother-and-daughter team Nikki Tate and Dani Tate-Stratton researched the history of birthdays in order to answer such questions as, How much does where you grow up influence the way you celebrate getting a year older? Have people always celebrated birthdays? The more they investigated, the more they realized that there's a lot more to birthdays than cake, presents, a few games and perhaps a goody bag. They discovered there are as many ways to observe birthdays as there are places in which to do it.

Begin a journey to self-discovery through astrology, numerology and Tarot, guided by the bestselling Seeing Stars author, Stella Andromeda. Each of the 366 profiles incorporates astrological insights, numerology and a Tarot card reading specifically selected for that date. Learn to understand how you respond to life and its challenges, what predisposition you may already be aware of or what will be revealed as you mature and the way you approach your closest relationships. AstroBirthdays provides intriguing birthdate information not just about you, but also about partners, family, friends and work colleagues.

Anna Prouse, an Italian journalist, emergency medic, and born adventurer, gives us a view of today's Iraq not seen elsewhere. She writes of death and destruction, but also looks beyond the chaos to see Iraqis as the real people they are, and to find the Iraqi and foreign communities working together to bring forth a new nation. Her wit and compassion make her book an engaging and delightful experience. --Publisher's description.