How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming by Mike Brown

Author:Mike Brown
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Discoveries in science, Pluto (Dwarf planet), Anecdotes, Science, Solar system, 21st Century, Astrophysics & Space Science, United States, Planets, Astronomy, History
ISBN: 9780385531085
Publisher: Random House, Inc.
Published: 2010-12-07T04:58:04.399951+00:00

Chapter Eight

LILAH, AN INTERMISSION

On Thursday, July 7, 2005, I decided to do something that I almost never did—stay home to get work done without the distractions of the people who kept stopping by my office to check on plans for Santa or Easterbunny or Xena, or to chat about nothing in particular. I had about one more day of work to go before I was finished with the first scientific paper about Santa. According to my calculations, Petunia was due within the next few weeks, so I wanted to get the paper out in the next day or two, just to be safe.

Rumors were already starting to circulate within the astronomical community that we were onto something big, and publishing the announcement about Santa quietly seemed like a safe way to deflect attention from the real big announcement that was soon to come.

The Thursday that I stayed home, Diane was at work in what was to be Petunia’s room, putting some last touches on the decorations and furnishings, but I noticed little, since I was deep into the analysis and the explanations in my head. Still, at some point I noticed an unusual groan/sigh from the other room.

“What was that?” I called out to Diane.

“I’m just having a little cramping today. The doctor said I was supposed to expect something like this,” said the ever-cool Diane.

“Are you sure? I’ve never heard you make sounds like that before.”

“Nah. Just what the doctor warned.”

I suggested that, for fun, we do a labor dress rehearsal. I would write down when Diane had little cramps and time them just as we would the real thing.

“Fine,” Diane said, humoring my usual need to assign concrete numbers to everything going on around me.

I went back to work, a little more distracted now.

Fourteen minutes later, I heard the sound again. I remembered my birthing classes. Fourteen minutes was a pretty long interval. There was nothing to worry about. I was not even supposed to really begin timing things until the contractions were less than ten minutes apart. Even then, if contractions are more than five minutes apart you probably have many hours to go. The best thing to do is go on with whatever you should be doing instead. Like finishing a paper.

Diane nonchalantly replied, “Well, you missed the one in between.”

What? That would make the contractions six minutes apart. And six minutes later, there was another.

“Umm, Diane? Could this be for real?”

Diane didn’t think so but suggested that we pack our bags just in case if it would make me happy.

By the fourth contraction, I decided that I needed to be keeping track down to the second and I also needed to count the length of each contraction. Five minutes and twenty seconds, lasting fifty-one seconds. I started writing down the strength: stronger, really mild, strong, supermild.

We spent a few hours trying to decide if Diane was in labor or if this was just a false alarm. I plotted some graphs. The contractions came a little closer together, just as they were supposed to.

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