Buddy is known for taking Esther on less-than-excellent dates, but the one that stuck with me most is the hospital tour. Esther is interested by the surgery lesson, the pickled babies, and the lectures, but watching a live birth really freaks her out because she is so attuned to the mother's pain. All the male doctors are very businesslike, and they seem more concerned about how Will the third-year-man is handling the situation than how Mrs. Tomolillo is feeling. Instead, Esther is completely focused on the mother's experience. Even though the male doctors try to explain that the drug makes you forget pain, Esther knows that Mrs. Tomolillo is in agony. From Esther's perspective, the birthing process seems like a dehumanizing, dystopian nightmare. Esther knows that she's expected to have children of her own, so the live birth shakes her in a deeply personal way. While watching the birth, Esther realizes that the romanticized stories she's been told about bir...