A week or so ago, we brought the latest recruit into Cognitive Edge. Based in Singapore, Rachael Hyde has been a CE practitioner since participating in a Cynefin Center workshop conducted by Dave as part of her Master of Management at the Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Piacenza, Italy in 2005.
You can reach Rachael using her email address: rachael.hyde@cognitive-edge.com
There was an interesting article today in the Straits Times about the scourge of littering in Singapore, and how years and years of effort by the Government to address this problem have failed. It followed another article which appeared during the week which quoted Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew. MM was asked in a public forum by a questioner when Singapore would develop an environmental consciousness and evolve into a "gracious society". MM's frank answer was that while he expected we'd see increasing environmental concerns, he didn't expect to see a gracious society "in his lifetime".
For some reason he then gave the example of Britain and how graciousness had emerged there over centuries ... why he chose the UK is beyond me, surely Australia would have been a better example? ;-)
Continue reading "A gracious society? Not in my lifetime ..." »
I'm a sucker for US politics and a sucker for great speeches.
I think its too early to say that he should be elected - I'm looking for to seeing how he performs in a presidential campaign, should he get the chance - but I have to say that Barack Obama is possibly the most gifted public speaker I have seen in politics in my time.
I first saw him speak at the Democratic Convention in 2004, after reading an article on him in the Economist earlier in the year (unfortunately only viewable with a subscription!). I was sitting in a hotel room in India preparing for the day and was lucky enough to catch it - listening to that speech made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.
His Iowa speech is in a similar, rarified class. Impressive ...
1. One plus one can equal much more than two. My foggy memory tells me I learned this in four-unit maths in high school, but I am relearning this one again the hard way ...
2. Identical twins are identical in appearance only. If you swaddle both kids and present only one of them to me, i have no better than a 50/50 chance of guessing which one it is ... but in personality, demeanour and habits we can already see that they are dramatically different individuals.
3. Dave tells me that people cannot tolerate the chaotic domain in the Cynefin framework and will act to exit the space in the quickest way feasible, but I've learned that only applies to adults. Newborns seem happy to exist there indefinitely!
Apologies for the infrequent posting. Life has moved well and truly beyond my control and night and day have lost all meaning! Both girls have been doing very well, putting on plenty of weight and are very prompt in reminding mum and dad that it is feeding time. We're onto seven feeds a day (having started at eight, we realised we wouldn't make xmas unless we could get a longer stretch of time in there somewhere between feeds).
Next week we're off to the doc for a check-up, but we're not anticipating any issues.
Since 13 September when Tessa and Georgia decided it was time to debut in the world, over 200 babies have been delivered and discharged from Raffles Hospital. Stacey and I have watched expectant parents arrive with all the birthing paraphernalia (think here whale songs CDs, birthing balls, candles, etc); then contentedly wheel their babies around the maternity ward in their newborn cots, showing them off to family and friends; and a few days later, leave the hospital dragging along everything they originally brought (usually unused) plus the new addition of Baby. We’ve met and got to know one or two of these couples through circumstance, because their baby had a short stint in the NICU. In most cases though we’ve only been able to watch the couples come and go while Tess and George slowly improved. On Wednesday 31 October, almost seven weeks since they arrived, finally we got to be one of those couples – proudly we picked up Tessa as she was discharged and took her home to join Georgia.
The good news is that Georgia is home, and Tessa will be joining her sister at home on Wednesday this week. Things are not quite as apocalyptic as the title of this post may suggest! Although managing two newborns I expect will feel a little like the end of the world ...
Originally I started writing this blog to give the girls a record when they got older of what their first few weeks were like. Since then I've really appreciated the nice feedback I've had from people around the world who are using the updates to keep track of the progress of the girls. A few people have commented that it is a bit like a soap opera - each week has ups and downs and seems to end on a cliffhanger! I was happy to hear that - it means I've been able to convey a bit of the emotions that Stacey and I have been riding. It certainly feels the same for us.
This week began with the usual mixed bag of news - I'm happy to tell you this time it has ended on a positive note .. (touch wood!).
Tessa & Georgia hit one month yesterday and the last week was in some ways just so reflective of our journey over the last month as a whole - an emotional rollercoaster of extreme ups and downs ..
Today I wanted to post the next piece on Tessa & Georgia’s progress in the NICU. As I write this, I am watching a tough and professional South Africa unit beat up on brave Fiji – Stacey and I are mourning the results yesterday but at least we can genuinely say we have more important things with which to concern ourselves!
After my last post, the following day (Monday) brought the first procedure for the girls. As I mentioned in that post, Dr Tan had been watching Tessa’s blood count for some time because her haemoglobin count was bordering on low. Since she had had some trouble with her lungs, it was thought that perhaps a low haemoglobin count was making her work a little too hard to move oxygen around her little body. The more energy she expends on breathing, the less she can devote to getting bigger and building the muscles that make all these processes more manageable for her, so it was felt that a blood transfusion would be necessary at some point and earlier was better than later. The blood transfusion took place on Monday, after they had completed the necessary tests, and they gave her 22mL of blood to top her up.
Continue reading "An update on the twins, more ups than downs" »
An update on where our little girls are at, for those who have been following the story to date!
I left the last post about the girls on 22 Sept, which was the day Stacey and I left the hospital. I hope you had a chance to watch the videos - its a weird thing, the first moment that a mum holds her child is almost never captured on video unless you are filming the whole birth (and we never had that as part of the plan!). In our case, the doctor told us we could hold them, and my first reaction was "just a sec, I'll grab my video!" - its one of the few advantages of having your kids in the NICU from birth. I'm sure the girls and mum will love revisiting that short couple of minutes for years.