On Superstition

Apparently doctors and nurses have a tendency to be very superstitious people, and NICU nurses aren't any different. After taking a kid off ECMO, they have a tendency to leave the machine sitting around, for fear that the child will need it again as soon as they wheel it away. The surgeons, similarly, won't come out and give an update to the family until the entire procedure is done, for fear that a thumbs-up or thumbs-down will turn and go the other way.

I've never been a superstitious person....just the opposite. I don't like the idea of superstition, or luck, or anything similar, and I get particularly peeved when something happens to reinforce somebody else's superstition. It's like reinforcing a negative stereotype....it's harder to overcome preconceptions when they've just been supported "in the wild."

Two weeks ago, the day after Andrew was born, I jokingly said that I was going on a "shaving strike," and that I wouldn't shave again until Andrew came home from the hospital. It was mostly done as an excuse to ignore my razor for a few days, and to be funny, because I knew what D's response would be. I actually stuck to it for quite a while....Drew didn't seem to mind, since I couldn't touch him with my face anyway....but let's just say that other members of the household weren't as thrilled. I told Drew what I had said and warned him that I was going to shave, but that it meant he had turned a corner and was on the home stretch, getting better so that we could take him home. I ended up shaving on Thursday.

Now, it's Saturday, and he hasn't had a really GOOD day since I shaved. I know the two are completely mutually exclusive and have nothing to do with each other. I would argue that point forever. But it still annoys me that even the appearance of superstition has been reinforced, and I'm counting on Drew to prove this silly thing wrong.