2 Things I Read For You — Nov 21, 2017

This is TL;DR (Too Long, Didn’t Read) Twosdays, where I summarize two interesting articles from the InterWebs.  Slightly different than roundups on other blogs, I’ll tell you what you need to know about the article and discuss its significance.

This concept is inspired by my father, who sends everyone in the family articles links by email, by my older brother, who sends articles so long I never read them, and my wife, who became tired of me sending her articles, and has been telling me “TL;DR” for years.

The first article will be from other bloggers, to highlight the writings of interesting people you otherwise may not discover.  I’ll also provide a link to another article of theirs, because I want you to visit their site to find the rest of their great content.

The second summary will be from “traditional” news outlets.  I read news voraciously — I have online subscriptions to 3 major newspapers (conservative and liberal — WSJ, NYTimes, WaPo) and most non-news junkies will not regularly read all three.  I’ll also sneak in articles from other “traditional” news outlets.

I plan to do this 2-4x/month. If no one reads these or cares for it then I’ll scrap it.  Click here to read all of them over time.

#1

Source: Chief Mom Officer

Title: Frugal Fun With “Not A Box”

Summary: The best gifts in life are not necessarily free, but they are also not necessarily gifts.  Imagination isn’t a gift — it’s something our children already have.  We just need to provide them the keys to unlock it and use it.  In this post, Chief Mom Officer discusses how her three sons of varying ages (same boat as us!) can have an amazing time with “Not A Box” — as their imagination turns leftover materials into a variety of other playthings.  Buying them something new when they need something “new” isn’t always the best option; sometimes you can find a better item at a better price somewhere besides

Conclusion: The holidays are coming up — remember that purchasing shiny new objects in glistening packages purchased from your favorite retailer is not a requirement to make your kids happy, stimulate their imagination, or have a good holiday.  It’s easy for kids to get caught up in material goods, and easy for adults to do so as well.  Our kids will receive some new items during the holidays, but we already do quite a bit of hand-me-downs within the family.  We have bags of clothes being passed down from oldest to middle to youngest.  At some point Rogue Two may not appreciate wearing Rogue One’s old underwear, but right now we’re golden.

Speaking of boxes — neighbors of ours recently gave us a huge box — from a new bathtub they purchased.  They do not have kids in the home anymore and they thought our kids would enjoy playing with it.  The box is almost six feet long and about 2.5 feet wide and tall.  It’s been in our living room for weeks, and is slowly evolving.  It’s been transformed into a bus, with windows, doors that open/close, 1st/2nd class seating sections, and more.  It’s been broken and repaired with tape multiple times — the convertible roof is currently closed with duct tape.  It’s awesome

Read This Also: Breadwinning, Six Figure, Millionaire Moms — interviews of successful women mothers, because the personal finance blogosphere is dominated by men, someone needs to tell stories from the other side.

#2

Source: Pediatrics (Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics)

Title: Two-Year Neurodevelopmental Outcome of an Infant Born at 21 Weeks’ 4 Days’ Gestation

Summary: This is a case report — a description of a single patient published in a medical journal.  It describes the outcomes of a baby who was born extremely prematurely — only 21 4/7 weeks pregnancy (as a reminder, 37-40 weeks is considered “term”).  This baby is the first  neonate to be born this early, survive, and have a good outcome (that we know of).  She not only survived, but is doing very well.  The majority of babies who are born this early do not survive even a few hours.  Many hospitals will not even attempt to resuscitate a baby born this early (many come out not breathing) because the risk of death or significant long-term complications (severe developmental delay, minimal quality of life, etc) is so high.

Conclusion: I picked this article a few weeks ago. Since then it has been featured by CNN, USA Today, Today, and The Daily Mall, as well as other news outlets (I even saw it was picked up by some place in New Zealand). I guess everyone else thought it was a big deal.  Despite it having it achieved international fame status, I am still highlighting it for a pretty awesome reason: the doctor who took care of this baby and wrote this case report is my older brother. Amazing job, big bro!

While this child has done very well, it is not reason enough to resuscitate every infant born this prematurely, as the preponderance will still not survive, or will still have bad outcomes.  Neonatology as a field is advancing, and physician’s are getting better and better at helping these extremely premature neonates not only survive, but thrive, however this case is pushing the boundaries of what people believe is possible.  It should prompt a discussion at many centers over how to approach the discussions with parents when their children are born extremely prematurely.  “[P]eople need to be very cautious about concluding from a single case that routinely resuscitating babies born in the 21st week of gestation is the best approach, Ahmad warned. Don’t assume one positive outcome will be the outcome for other infants, he noted.”

Share your thoughts in the comment section below.  If you find value in these TL;DR posts, please let me know — comment, share, email me, or otherwise let me know you want to see more of them!