we were learning how to calculate projected adult height (for dealing with parents concerned about their children's growth) and to my horror, i realise my height merits clinical investigation.
the magic formula is as below:
(average of parents' height (in cm) + 7cm) then +/- 8.5cm
boys tend to be nearer the upper limit of the 17cm range, and girls nearer the lower limit.
unfortunately for me, i'm a whopping 12cm below the lower limit.
so at the end of the session, i send a furious email to the parentals, roundly chastising them for their failure to meet my growth potential. this was after being breast fed for three years too, mind you! breast is not always best...
but then i went on to the next seminar where we saw the awful impact of spina bifida. the heart-wrenching thing about this is how taking merely 400micrograms of folic acid three months before conception, and for the first trimester, dramatically reduces the risk of spina bifida by 80%. knowing how my folks were ahead of the curve back in the 1980s, i then changed my tune and whatsapped a thank you. however, my gratitude was met with mockery!
so while it's not entirely miraculous that i don't have spina bifida, sometimes even i'm surprised i don't have body dysmorphia...
HAHA your Dad is AWESOME, and I love how you're making practical daily use of newly learnt information. Makes it stick in there good too.. ;) -fish
ReplyDeletehello fishboo, how're your teeth doing? when's the op? eek! haha for the avoidance of doubt, folic acid does dramatically reduce the risk of spina bifida. excess folate, however, does not result in massive derrieres...
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