Phyllis sent Dr. Michael Katz, the high-risk ob-gyn whom we credit with the safe birth of our younger two sons, the photos of Mathew on his third birthday.

Dr Katz’s response: “thanks for the update. Is that hair color because of the cerclage or the medications?” (If you are lucky enough not to know what a cervical cerclage is, here’s a definition, and here’s part of our story.)

I love Phyllis’s reply to Dr. Katz. Here it is.

Hmm…the data is entirely inconclusive…if you compare the three test subjects (all male):

— Julian, age 10 in two weeks (alas no cerclage and no medication)
— Nicky, age 5 1/2 going on 15 (cerclage, bedrest, and lots of medication)
— Mathew, recently 3 and very proud of it (cerclage and some medication):

You will see that there appears to be no correlation whatsoever in terms of hair color and cerclage/medication used. To further study this hypothesis, a new control group (with one member) would have to be formed and again tested with the cerclage/medication hypothesis. Unfortunately the continuation of this study seems unlikely: Tired test mama says: “three boys are enough!” Crazed test Dad says “Another baby? With another husband!”

We’re so proud of our three boys, they are all so different and all so wonderful! Thank you for helping us have such a great family!