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From: throopw@rtp47.UUCP (Wayne Throop)
Newsgroups: net.space
Subject: Lazarus Long, Space Midwife
Message-ID: <121@rtp47.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 2-Aug-85 14:07:59 EDT
Article-I.D.: rtp47.121
Posted: Fri Aug  2 14:07:59 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 4-Aug-85 07:09:25 EDT
References: <2739@mordor.UUCP> <28@joevax.UUCP>
Organization: Data General, RTP, NC
Lines: 36

> _Time_Enough_for_Love_ by Heinlein had an interesting scene involving a
> delivery aboard a spaceship.

So far so good.  But I have a few relatively unimportant points to
clarify below.

> For the most part, travel took place in zero g,

Nope, the trip was all in 1-G "comfort"... artificial gravity don't y'know.

> but during the delivery Lazarus Long (the protagonist of the whole book,
> I don't remember the woman's name but I think she was his current wife)

She was simply a passenger.  Lazarus had liberated her and her
genetically unrelated twin brother (trust me) from slavery on an
unsavory planet.

> fired the ships rockets (actually I think they were variable thrusters
> so that the transition was smooth)

He boosted the artifical gravity to 2 Gs over a period of a couple of
seconds.

> at the appropriate moment so that the baby, in effect, had a
> "gravity assist."

This is the crucial point, and is quite correct.  However, this was
*not* an assist for a zero-g delivery, but rather a convenience for a
normal delivery in a squatting position.  At some convenient moment
after dialation, the gravity was increased to ease and shorten the
labor.  It isn't totally clear whether 2 Gs during delivery would be a
good idea or not, but is a facinating possibility for assisting a
difficult delivery (or even a normal one, I suppose) without using
forceps.
-- 
Wayne Throop at Data General, RTP, NC
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