Know It All

On average, people use 25 percent more electricity in their home after having a baby.

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The world record for the heaviest baby born to a healthy mother belongs to Carmelina Fedele of Italy. In 1955, she gave birth to a boy that weighed 22 pounds, 8 ounces.

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A newborn baby’s head weighs about one-quarter of the baby’s entire weight.

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Louise Joy Brown was born in Oldham, England, on July 25, 1978. She was the world’s first test-tube baby.

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The world’s first test-tube twins were born in Australia in 1981. More in vitro babies are born in Australia than anywhere else in the world. Australia also produced the world’s first frozen embryo baby.

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Emilio Marcos de Palma was born in Antarctica in 1978. Do you know what was remarkable about the birth? See answer at end.

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When Lucy was pregnant on “I Love Lucy” (1951-1957), network censors would not allow the word “pregnant” to be said on air. Lucy was referred to as “expectant.”

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A baby zebra is called a foal, a baby pigeon is a squab, a baby fox is a cub and a baby beaver is a kit.

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When a porcupine is born, its quills are soft. The quills get hard about an hour after birth.

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There are many old wives tales about predicting the sex of an unborn baby. For example, if the mother is carrying the baby low, it’s a boy. If she’s carrying high, it’s a girl. Another example, if the mom-to-be craves something sweet, it is going to be a girl. If the craving is for something sour, it will be a boy.

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Mothers-to-be often guess the sex of their baby correctly. In a study that asked women with no previous knowledge about their baby’s sex, 71 percent of mothers guessed their baby’s sex correctly.

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The average toddler takes 176 steps per minute.

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Lester Gillis (1908-1934), also known as Babyface Nelson, was a notorious bank robber in the 1930s. On Nov. 27, 1934, during an FBI raid and gunfight, two special agents were killed, as was Babyface.

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The odds of delivering twins are 1 in 32. The odds of delivering triplets are 1 in 540.

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The McCaughey septuplets, born in 1997 in Iowa, were the world’s first set of seven babies who all survived.

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Women in the United States have an average of two children. Women in Utah and Alaska have three children, on average. About 10 percent of American women have four or more children.

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By the time a baby is 3 months old, they have developed different cries for hunger, pain or boredom. Each cry has unique sound characteristics.

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Answer: Emilio was the first baby born on the continent of Antarctica, and he was born farther south than anyone in history. Emilio was declared an Argentine citizen because his parents were Argentinean. His parents worked at a research station. Almost the whole continent of Antarctica — 95 percent — is covered by ice, and there is no native population.

Know It All is by Kerry McArdle. It runs in the weekend edition of the Daily Journal. Questions? Comments? Email knowitall(at)smdailyjournal.com or call 344-5200 ext. 128.