Chauvinism

I consider myself a Feminist, and I'm proud of it. I do my best to act accordingly in everything I do, especially when it comes to raising and educating my kids.

Turns out that having a son after three daughters prompts quite a few people around us to offer comments with a blatant chauvinistic flavor. It was truly saddening to see how ingrained chauvinism is in so many people. The precise wording doesn't really matter (an example would be "At last! Now you've finally got a diamond in the family!"), but more importantly - there's no mistaking the intention expressed, that having a boy is better than having a girl.

Needless to say - I don't subscribe to this point of view. I can't imagine I'd ever love my child more (or less) due to their gender. In the beginning, I used to murmur something about a 4th daughter having been equally welcomed. Lately, I've decided to simply ignore such remarks, wishing that I would have been spared hearing them altogether.

Giora

Israel - State of the Nation Report

Disclaimer: if you don't deeply care about Israel, you might want to skip this posting.

I recently became aware of a fascinating report, titled "State of the Nation Report – Society, Economy and Policy 2009" (see full pointers, also to the report in English, at the bottom of this posting), published a few months ago by the Taub Center.

It's not uncommon to read and hear discussions in the media, which are practically based on intuitions, assumptions or even prejudice.

This report is based on hard economic data, examining high-level and long-term trends. I think it makes it an unusually important and educating read.

Not many of you are likely to read the full (very long) document.

Hence, I particularly recommend the first chapter ("A Macro Perspective on Israel's Society and Economy"), and the third chapter ("Israel's Education System - An International Perspective and Recommendations for Reform").

Enjoy,

Giora

English version: http://taubcenter.org.il/index.php/featured-publication/state-of-the-nation-report-society-economy-and-policy-2009/lang/en/

Hebrew version: http://taubcenter.org.il/index.php/featured-publication/state-of-the-nation-report-society-economy-and-policy-2009/lang/he/

Letting Go. And Becoming Happier!

Summary of previous chapters:

- Shahar, a perfect baby otherwise, wasn't successful in nursing.

- In parallel to feeding him expressed breast milk from bottles, we invested tremendous efforts in trying to teach him how to nurse. We employed the most professional lactation consultant one can find, and a lot of emotions, tears, stress, time, money and effort were put into achieving this goal.

- Despite fantastically gaining weight and getting bigger, Shahar hasn't been able to get sufficient milk directly, from his Mom's breast.

A few days ago we decided to let go. And what a transformation this has been for the entire family!

We decided to continue with intensive breast milk pumping, and we hope to avoid any substitutes as long as possible. Anat's body magically produces more-than-enough breast milk (approaching 1 liter a day! We're considering the possibility of no longer purchasing milk in the grocery store ;-)

Expressing milk 6 times a day is labor-intensive (since it doesn't replace the feeding itself), but ironically it seems so much easier than the previous weeks that were marked by the stress of "will he manage to nurse?". Quite like that Jewish folklore tale about the Rabbi and the Goat...

Instead of stressful sessions of attempted nursing, we're all busy enjoying our wonderful baby, who's been growing rapidly, becoming more charming by the day. His sisters, who were very stressed by their parents' gloomy mood, are evidently happier and more relaxed. Heaven!

Giora

Google Instant (and me)

These days I'm on Paternity Leave, and thanks to Google's generosity as an employer, I get fully-paid 4 weeks at home with Shahar - a benefit unheard of in the Israeli market.

Combined with regular vacation and the September Jewish holidays I'll end up being absent from my workplace, and getting to know my new baby, which is certainly a luxury.

Rarely did I use this blog to write about professional matters. But there's a good reason for an exception now. I mentioned to some of you that the months leading to Shahar's birth were particularly hectic at work. Now I can fully explain why...

Last week Google officially launched Google Instant (showing search results with every letter you type).

I encourage you to try it out - it works only in www.google.com (not in www.google.co.il, or in the Toolbar search box etc.). You might find it weird at first, but I strongly believe that once you get used to it, you'll love it.

This complex project was obviously a huge effort inside Google, and the fruit of many many engineers working together. I'm very proud to say that my team, and myself personally, took an inherent role in driving this project to completion.

If you go to the launch event video, and jump to 49:30 minutes after its start, you'll even hear this explicitly. Prizes to those who would recognize my tiny photo among all the others there ;-)

Those of you who read Hebrew may also look at a relevant TheMarker article.

If you're a tech-geek (like me...), and are interested in some technical details, I recommend the ~10 minutes in that video, starting 37:40 minutes after its beginning.

Othar Hansson and Ben Gomes (with whom I work very closely) gave there what I think was an excellent explanation.

Cheers,

Giora

Getting Better

I realized that since reporting on our difficulties, about how Shahar was not gaining weight, I haven't posted an update. Well, I have an excuse, we were fairly busy...

Bottom line first - things are a lot better now.

Shahar has no serious medical problems, or any inherent growth issues, only some breastfeeding difficulties - he's having a hard time nursing.

Both Anat and I value breastfeeding tremendously, and are willing to go to great lengths in order for our kids to grow on breast milk (see more below).

That being said, 12 days ago, with weight loss and no bowel movements, there could be a lot worse causes, and we were very happy when it became evident that none of them proved to be real.

So, we first gave up (temporarily) on nursing, got Anat pumping breast milk, and myself feeding it to Shahar using a bottle. Within a few days, Shahar started eating beautifully, gaining weight and spraying poop generously...

We then got an excellent lactation consultant involved, and she diagnosed Shahar as having a tied tongue. We consulted a specialist, and ended up snipping Shahar's tied tongue; surprisingly to me, it turns out to be a not-terribly-painful, and fairly standard procedure. Shahar's nursing abilities have started improving as a result, but naturally not magically so. In the last 5 days, Anat is breastfeeding Shahar, with effectiveness mildly increasing by the day, and some fortification of pumped breast milk from a bottle. Typically, the middle-of-the-night meal is bottle-only, to allow Anat some sleep. Most importantly, we're happy that he is drinking only breast milk.

We still have a long way to go until Shahar will comfortably depend on nursing only, gaining weight steadily while doing so, but hopefully we'll get there within a few weeks.

The past week and a half were certainly hectic and challenging, but I believe we're in the right direction.

Cheers,

Giora

Difficulties

Our first 13 days at home with Shahar were so calm and peaceful, that it was hardly believable this was a house with a newborn.

He generally didn't protest about anything - a meal every 3 hours or so, and in between sleeping wrapped inside his favorite baby carrier, on our bodies, was all he was wishing for. Well, at least that's what we thought...

However, today we found out that Shahar hasn't been gaining weight as expected, and he's actually about 350 grams below his birth weight.

We were advised that this, combined with lack of bowel movement in the last 5-6 days, implies that he should be breast fed more, and more often.

So, starting earlier today, Anat has been breast feeding him pretty much continuously, including waking him up every 2 hours if he was still asleep.

Our immediate goal is seeing a bowel movement. Honestly - I never thought I'd ever wait so anxiously to see a diaper full of poop! :-)

We had raised 3 babies, and never had to do anything special in order for them to gain weight as newborns. Certainly a new challenge for us.

Clearly, so little sleep for Anat, with very limited ability of mine to make it easy on her, would make our lives a lot more difficult.

Combine this with circumcision (planned this Friday, after a lot of debate and deliberations we decided the social reality in Israel makes it the right choice for us), a start of a new school year for the girls tomorrow, and the constant stream of envious feelings expressed by Maayan - and we're probably facing a bumpy couple of weeks.

Hopefully sooner rather than later things will get on track again, and we'll end up stronger, knowing we've beaten all the difficulties...

Cheers,

Giora

Photos, mostly of Shahar

Due to popular demand, we've uploaded some recent photos - see http://picasaweb.google.com/AnatGiora/WelcomeShahar#

Enjoy,

Giora