Brandon left an excellent comment in the Labor Day post I had up a few weeks back, but he put it up after the post fell off the main page, and I want to make sure anybody who read that discussion catches it.
...we were looking through the late Dr. Ratner's old files in the Steubenville library this summer and Katie came across an article that basically said that excluding dads from the delivery room was equivalent in some base psychology to their wifes having an affair, since childbirth is the end result of sex. (Obviously not always, but you can't have childbirth without sex, and before the separation of conception and sex that was brought on by artificial contraception, the ontological reality was better represented by reality). So that would back you up 100% with the intimacy concept. Sex begins the process, childbirth is the next step in the process, and childrearing is the conclusion of the process. Strangely enough, two parents are better than one in all three of these, although society has marginalised the father's role in each of them one by one.
Also, Alicia answered my question from this post about how tastes can pass through to a child in the womb:
The flavor molecules (esters and so on) are small enough to pass into the blood stream, cross the placenta, and be incorporated into the amniotic fluid. Ditto the milk. I am not talking about sweet/salty/bitter etc, but more about the aromatic molecules like the ones that makes garlic garlicky, etc.
I love comments... (hint, hint).
