The Privilege and Responsibility

Filled with excitement, Raya is taking her first steps this week! She, also, smiles big right now when she stands alone and holds objects in the air--yesterday, it was a pair of her sister's rain boots.

(Little E's profile with hand)

(A 3D showing face, arm, hand, and umbilical cord (it appears). And somehow the waves couldn't bounce back fully; so some of his skull is missing.=))

We do have a boy on the way; it was confirmed July 9. He has been very active, especially when I am lying down ready to get some sleep. We have started services with the same clinic that helped bring Hanna into this world (through induction due to low fluid levels; then an epideral was needed) and helped bring Raya into this world (naturally). The doctor we had for both of the girls has retired from the practice. Our new doctor has been used by several of my friends, and I have only heard good feedback about her work. I am hopeful.

This week, I watched The Business of Being Born, recommended by a friend of mine who is in the health profession. I am one who sees significant problems in our healthcare system. This film clearly presents a picture of those problems (using medication too often for convenience over best practice, often not weighing out wisely what is healthiest and safest for mother and baby, often treating this natural process as a sickness or an emergency when it's not necessary, etc.) surrounding mainstream pregnancy, labor, and delivery and how it got started in our country. I wish everyone was familiar with its content! One quote that I am holding onto from the film is from Nadine Goodman: "Nothing compares to the privilege of giving life and the responsibility of that--nothing. So if you don't have the reverence and respect for that, where do you go from there?" I think of these words personally, considering all women, and as a country. I am hopeful for our healthcare, particularly because I have friends in healthcare that see and are living alternatives from the mainstream and because I have had considerate, respectful care during both our girls' deliveries when I desired alternatives from the "norm." Yet, I wonder how can we turn around when we are moving so strongly in the wrong direction.