Say Whaa???

The company I work for is global. My actual "home team" is the LA office, that's where my bosses and my manager sit. I'm just floating out here in the middle of the ocean by myself, enjoying the peace and quiet of not having any one constantly looking over my shoulder.

Anyway, once a week we have Team Meetings. These Team Meetings are run by my "fake" boss since my real boss is out on maternity leave. When my real boss ran the show, I was normally done with the meeting inside half an hour. The "fake" boss drags these things out for an hour and half. Mostly because she's introduced "Teaming Presentations" where someone has to present something in 15 minutes. Anything. Doesn't have to be work related or the least bit relevant to anyone's life. We've had some doozies, let me tell ya. And they ALWAYS go longer than 15 minutes. I now know more than I ever wanted to about fun things like cricket and street basketball and the mating habits of killer bees from Africa.

Today was my turn. I presented on hypertension and pregnancy. You know that one guy in every office that is a know it all? We have one of those and he stated in the middle of my presentation that he was SURE he had the answer to what causes pre-eclampsia. This was after repeatedly interrupting me to add on to whatever I was discussing at the time and starting a lively debate (is it a debate if he's the only one talking?) about beta blockers as a treatment for hypertension. Hmm, I don't remember anyone doing that to him while he was giving his presentation on the benefits of homeschooling...oh wait, we were all asleep.

He declares that he will "touch base" with me after the meeting is over as his information was highly personal in nature. Umm...ok. By the time the HOUR AND FORTY FIVE MINUTE MEETING was over (not due to me running long, by the way) I'd totally forgotten about his self-proclaimed answer to the question that medical science has been trying to answer forever.

My phone rang and displayed an Unknown Number. Lovely. It was him. He said he had something very important and personal to discuss with me and proceeded to tell me about the research he'd done some 13 years or so ago when his wife was pregnant with his son/daughter (I forget which). He continued talking and declared that the cause of pre-eclampsia was....barrier contraception methods. He stated that the womb treats the fertilized egg as a parasite at implantation when barrier methods (sponge, spermicide, condom, etc.) were used. I could tell that he was trying to figure out a way to ask me what method of contraception was I using when I became pregnant. Seems to me if you are using contraception and you get pregnant anyway, you got bigger issues. He apologized for being personal. I said "obviously we both know I was having sex or I wouldn't be pregnant in the first place." Do you know it is totally possible to sense someone blushing over the phone? I'm pretty sure he did.

Those of you who know me well know I'm an information gatherer. So I set about researching his claim. Hmm...seems that is the COMPLETE OPPOSITE of what the Journal of the American Medical Association has determined. And the Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh.

Maybe his conclusion was true 13 years ago. Maybe there are still institutions out there who stand behind that conclustion. Maybe things have changed in the last decade and a half. Who knows? I just find it incredibly creepy that a co-worker that I hardly know and have never even met face to face just called me to inquire as to the type of contraception I was using before I conceived.

Is this part of the "pregnant women are part of the public domain" phenomenon?