Tonight I visited Jill at St. Joseph’s Womens Hospital; she’s on bedrest with twins and pre-eclampsia at 34 weeks. Yesterday we babysat while another friend had a d&c after a miscarriage (she has three boys). Tracey and Melinda, my BFF’s from 8th grade, recently gave birth to their first chilren, Joseph (1 week) and Susan (5 months). Marcy gave birth to her third child (and the luckily-non-cancerous tumor) by c-section a month ago. Liz gave birth to Rachel 6 months ago and Tara to Emmett 9 months ago. Another friend recently adopted and is considering undergoing another round of fertility treatments.
In short, everyone I know is having babies or trying to. I’ve given birth to 3 healthy children and had one miscarriage/d&c. This shouldn’t be surprising; we might be a little young for this prodigious display by modern American terms (I’m 29–but then, I’m also Mormon). What I’m shocked by is how healthy we are. How alive we are. My friends are not dying, their children are not dying. Our babies are flourishing, and our biggest problem is trying to lose the pregnancy weight (Sorry, Danielle, I know Liam is sick again).
Nicholas Kristoff writes a hugely uncomfortable op-ed column for the New York Times. I can’t bear to read his accounts of maternal/fetal health (or rather lack thereof) in third world countries. He also writes about the sex trade and other terrible things. I know, I know, we shouldn’t be forced by our government to pay for medical help in foreign countries. Such taxation is completely immoral, yadda yadda. (and Dick and I, living on one income with three children and voluntarily tithe-ing don’t owe any income tax, so how can I even comment), but God help us if we ever take for granted what we have.
You can read his article here. It’s on times select, so if you’re interested, email me and I’ll tell you how to access it.
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