Finland here I come...

A child in Finland being happy as usual. (Kasper/Pempel Reuters) from here.

While trolling on mama congo, a great blog written by two women raising their families in Congo, I stumbled across this fascinating Atlantic piece on why we should all move to Finland.

I want to go there simply for the baby box alone!

I suspect the winters are a bit more brutal than the ones I endure here in LA, so looks like we'll keep paying $1,500 a month for health insurance and not buying a house anytime in the immediate future.

Some other fascinating stories I'm reposting from mama Congo's Friday July 15th post:

Cedar Sinai has something new called "Rock and Roll Birth Program," at first I was like, "Oh no, is this some weird new craze where aging rock stars are becoming certified midwives because I am not into Bret Michaels seeing my vagina.  My fourteen year- old self can't believe I just typed those words.

No, it's actually this really cool new plan that's goal is to get women up and moving around during their labor, or at least changing their positions every twenty minutes or so. I love that Cedar's is adopting a more active role for the mother in the birthing process.

When I was pregnant with S and B, I was very worried that during my labor I would be stuck in the bed, being forced to lie on my back the entire time. I needn't have worried; I never had the urge to get out of bed once. Some women want to roam the halls while they are moving through their labors. Not me, I preferred the "lay in bed and moan like a wounded animal," tactic of pain management. In my defense, I did move every few minutes. I would go from lying back and panting, to lifting up slightly to grab the rails of the bed, death- grip style. Until I got an epidural at around eight centimeters, then I was as cool as a cucumber.

My Bradley Method teacher would be so disappointed.