Saving edited node causes 100% CPU usage

I am running top on a Ubuntu 9.04 machine while editing nodes with editview. I have AJAX enabled, so I can alter a node's field and click Save to submit the changes.

Watching top, the CPU usage goes to 100% and stays there for several seconds after saving a node, all because of the apache2 process responding to my request. It's so bad that if I am going through several nodes successively, I'll have several apache2 processes still hanging around and each going for maximal CPU use.

MySql use is minimal. It may register a little use the first second or so after saving but generally is parked between 0-1%.

I tried editing and saving the node through the normal per-node edit interface and did not see the sustained high CPU usage.