The real unanswered question here is why? I want the boyfriend's side of the story. The LW makes it sound as though this "let's make her jealous" thing was just some sadistic exercise.

But I doubt it. Why were they doing this? What were you two ~already~ fighting about when he took this swipe at you? Perhaps you were fighting over your irrational jealousy? Perhaps something else. But it was something. His motivation, I'm guessing, was based on SOMETHING.

So what did the LW leave out of her preposterously immature and whiny letter?

Wow, it's distressing to read how horrified people are of childbirth, and especially sad when it comes from a woman who is going to give birth in a month.

300,000 women give birth every day. Every one of them is the product of births going backwards through thousands of generations of moms who gave birth. You're the daughter of a daughter of a daughter of a daughter... The knowledge of how to do it is ingrained into your genes. It is not a medical emergency. It is not "gross." It shouldn't be "scary." It's beautiful. It's epic. It's heroic. Powerful.

Watching my wife give birth is the single coolest thing I've ever seen anyone do, and I saw Michael Jordan play basketball, fer cryin' out loud.

She's obviously letting her petty feelings about her husband and his new family sway her.

This is the only chance - once it happens it can't happen again - for your daughter to be there when her baby brother or sister is born. Childbirth is a beautiful, empowered, feminine miracle. It has the chance to connect your daughter to her own feminine power AND connect her in a very special way with her father, step-mother and new baby sibling.

And you'd deprive her of that because you're petty and jealous? Be a big person and do what's right by your daughter. Let her be there.

Even though you don't like sharing her, she IS a part of your husband's new family, and as a part of that family, she should be there.

Just as I'm getting excited as all hell that the best Democrat to run in my lifetime, Barack Obama, appears to have some surging momentum - the kind of run that makes crowds at basketball games rise to their feet and scream with glee - it's all very boring to Salon. ho hum. Poor Walter Shapiro. This incredible Saturday-Sunday-Tuesday run by the Obama campaign is about as exciting for him as watching paint dry.

If I ever lose so much hope in life that I can't get excited about the real possibility we could have a transformative, historical Presidency, then just put me out of my misery.

Sometimes I really feel that I should embrace the ethic that it's always wrong to criticize officials. That we need to learn how to shrug it off. That bad calls happen to everyone from time to time. It's especially annoying when your team wins, and the other team blames the refs.

But then stuff like this happens, and I remember that refs are (somehow cosmically?) there for us to villify. They are a horrible bunch of people, and the only proper response to them is a big fat rotten egg in the side of the head during a timeout.

Thank goodness they always remind us we'll be kicked out for that.

But really, refs, man. Gotta hate 'em.

I'm stunned, but Cary's answer is dead on. Stop with the navel-gazing and let your partner know that you're incapable of fidelity. There's a good chance he'll say, "whew. So am I. Let's drop the pretense and have an open relationship." Then the two of you can live happily ever after.

Anytime I go to yoga class, I'm always self-conscious about being the only male in there. I worry that the women in the class feel their space is being invaded by some lecherous, big, hairy guy.

Thankfully most people don't hold it against you if you're male, have body hair or sweat when you exercise.

Thankfully, most people aren't like Ms. Price.

And I'll still go to class knowing that most of the people there accept me in their circle but a few cruel people don't. I'll feel sorry for the latter.

Please take into account also that the "In Rainbows" box cost 40 UK Pounds. So selling a certain amount at that price is slightly more impressive than selling cd's alone.

If you're not within driving distance of a hospital, then home birth is a bad option. Of course, using that table saw if you're not within driving distance of a hospital is equally stupid.

Having said that, anyone who doesn't have to go to a hospital but chooses to is buying Snake Oil 2008. 300,000 people give birth every single day, and almost none of them have an MD present. A pregnant woman is not "sick." Giving birth is not a medical emergency. It's a normal, healthy event. There is nothing to fear here.

Medical professionals see every situation and consider what they need to do to make things better. The fact that doctors think we all need them all of the time is just part of being a doctor and seeing the world through those lenses. It's not their faults anymore than any other profession's similarly tainted perspectives (cops see crooks, investment bankers don't think you're investing enough, etc.)

Fun home birth fact: your baby will be exposed to less potentially infectious bacteria in your house than in a hospital. (Sick people are at the hospital, while you're essentially alone in your house inside the bacterial stew with which your bodies are already familiar.)