Get a group of women together who have given birth - particularly when in the company of an expectant mother, and more likely than not the topic of labor and delivery stories will come up. The tougher and longer the labor, then the more impressed are the listeners of the teller.

A similar exchange of stories occurs when a group of parents who all have a Type 1 child get together. Instead of labor and delivery, the topic is about the often circuitous and frightening road parents took to a...