Uncle John’s Presents Mom’s Bathtub Reader Read Online Free PDF

sensational. People feared that science had overstepped its bounds.
    Many pundits considered it immoral to create “test-tube babies.” The doctors were condemned for tampering with nature. There were worries about monster babies or the government creating breeding farms like those in Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World.
    Then, nine days before her due date, Lesley developed toxemia, and Dr. Steptoe decided to deliver the baby via cesarean section. On July 25, 1978, Lesley and John had blonde-haired, blue-eyed Louise Joy Brown. Her birth was so special that it made the cover of Time magazine . If every baby is a miracle, Louise was a bit of an extra miracle—after all the dire warnings, she was healthy and normal—not a monster baby at all.
HAPPY 25th
    Lesley’s famous pregnancy brought new hope to hundreds of thousands of infertile mothers. Since 1978, proud parents have had more than one million babies through the use of in vitro fertilization. About 1 percent of babies are born with the aid of IVF and doctors think that the numbers will go higher as the technology continues to improve.
    In 2003 Louise Joy Brown had her 25th birthday. Despite all the publicity that surrounded her birth—and still surrounds her birthdays—Louise has confounded critics by brushing off celebrity and remaining as ordinary as the day she was born.
    “I just get on with my life,” Louise has said. “Just normal—I just plod along.” Engaged to be married, she is a Bristol postal worker who, as the press likes to pun, now makes “deliveries” of her own.
    Louise also has a younger sister, Natalie. Their proud mum showed her faith in technology by once again relying on IVF for Natalie’s conception.
    “I’m proud of being the first test-tube baby. But I don’t know if I could go through what Mum did. I hate hospitals.”
—Louise Brown

Lit 101: The Play’s the Thing
    R emember all those classic plays with all those classic moms who did all those classic things? Test your knowledge with our little Literature 101 multiple-choice test. No fair peeking at the answers either.
    1. The Play: Medea by Euripides, 431 BC
    The Plot: Medea is a sorceress and the daughter of a king. She betrays her father and kills her brother to help Jason, the man she loves, steal the Golden Fleece. The two settle down together in Corinth and have two sons. All is well until Jason abandons his family to take up with the Corinthian king’s daughter.
    What’s a mom to do?
    __ A. Kill everybody. Kill Jason’s new bride, the Corinthian king, and your two sons.
    __ B. Get liquored up and crash the wedding.
    __ C. Knit sweaters for your sons from the GoldenFleece.
    __ D. Have your grandfather provide a chariot drawn by dragons and hightail it outta there.
    __ E. Both A & D.
    2. The Play: Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, c. 424 BC
    The Plot: Jocasta, the queen of Thebes, is upset because the Delphic Oracle has prophesied that her husband, King Laius, will be murdered by their own son.
    What’s a mom to do?
    __ A. Go on the pill.
    __ B. See a midwife about herbs that will ensure the birth of a girl.
    __ C. Hand your son over to a shepherd who will take him away and kill him.
    __ D. Declare the oracle a fraud and have the king pass a decree that outlaws it.
    __ E. Get a second opinion from the Psychic Hotline.
    3. The Play: Hamlet by William Shakespeare, 1603
    The Plot: After the death of her husband, the king of Denmark, Gertrude marries Claudius, her late husband’s brother, who becomes the new king. Her son, Hamlet begins acting oddly, claiming he’s seeing ghosts and insisting that Claudius had a hand in his father’s murder and that his mother’s quick remarriage is unseemly. Is Hamlet crazy or is there a method to his madness? Gertrude can’t tell if he’s faking or not.
    What’s a mom to do?
    __ A. Kill your son and new husband. Rule Denmark by yourself.
    __ B. Consult an elderly windbag for advice.
    __ C. Hold a séance to consult your dead