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| I'm working on it..."Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."
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| The Business of Being BornFinally, I have slowed down enough from this fast-paced life to try to reconnect a couple neurons that were fading! A friend managed to obtain tickets to a screening in Seattle for a documentary called "The Business of Being Born." It was produced by Ricki Lake, but that didn't really strike me because my only real knowledge of Ricki was in the 1980-something movie, "Hairspray." I know she has a talk-show, but since I don't watch much TV, I have never seen it, or even ads.
Anyway, I was positively ready to have another baby in the moments of watching beautiful natural home births attended by a midwife. Mind you, not another child, just be pregnant and go through labor again. Now my closest compadres know this is not a normal feeling for me!
The deep, dark chocolate icing on the raspberry cake was that the screening was followed by a panel discussion with Ricki Lake, the head of the OB/GYN Department at the University of Washington, one of the founders of the Seattle Midwifery School, and a liaison/lobbyist for midwifery in Washington. Wow! What a discussion!
The point of the movie wasn't to convince everyone to have a home birth. If that were the goal, I think it wouldn't be realistic, or even fair, to women. The point was that women should look at, and have available to consider, more options than what has become the standard hospital birth. Lake and the director, Abby Epstein, provided a lovely overview of the history of birth in our country. They also investigated reasons why more women don't have or consider the options of midwives. Did the words "insurance companies" pop into your mind just now? Of course, it isn't that simple, but, as the OB/GYN from UW pointed out, the system is just broken. She practiced in Germany and offered a lovely contrast to the way things are there and here in the US.
I'm going to end with just a few thoughts and facts that have lingered in my mind since Monday night...
The US has the highest infant mortality rate of all developed nations.
Washington is extremely progressive when it comes to midwives practicing in and out of hospitals.
The Monty Python scene when the doctor tells the woman in labor that she wasn't qualified to have an opinion.
Americans spend more time shopping for a car than they do investigating childbirth options.
http://www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com/
Check it out!
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| The Tortilla CurtainOkay - I'm back! No, I came nowhere near my NaNoWriMo goal. In fact, I have determined that November is an insane month for such a feat. What was I thinking of? Working? Company? Hosting Thankgiving? They made it sound possible! I might try for February (famous last words!).
Anyway, I did not give up on my about-every-month-and-a-half book club. This month we read The Tortilla Curtain by T C Boyle. Wow. It hit on so many ironic truths that I was squirming in my seat. I thought about paring down my festivities this month, but I have to go discuss this book. I have to say, now, living thousands of miles away from the US-Mexican border, people here truly have no idea of the struggle on the ground along the borders of Mexico. When I recount stories that were fairly common in Cochise and Santa Cruz counties, I can see people squirm or just ignore me because surely this can't be happening in the United States.
This is not an issue of building walls. Walls can't keep people out who are so desperate for a new life that they are willing to die. I'm not sure the government can even solve this problem. It really needs to begin right in our neighborhoods. Sure, we gather at Thanksgiving and other special occasions and take time to reflect on how good we've got it. Some of us even meditate daily. But is it enough to be grateful?
I'm not saying we need to give up all our worldly goods, conquer Mexico, and change to a communist government. I am saying that when faced with extreme inequities, we need to evaluate at what point we are asking others to lower themselves in order to come out materialistically slightly further ahead ourselves. Is it right to pay less for a wall by letting people build it for less the minimum wage? By doing this, are we creating a false hope in others that they, too, can live in big, beautiful homes? This can even go beyond the issues with immigration to the global economy. I frequently buy goods made in China, yet I know they cost less because someone is being paid pennies to make it. Some argue that people in those factories are grateful for the work. I wonder if they would consider that they would be even more grateful for a wage that would be high enough that they could work fewer hours in better conditions. I used to believe in the American Dream, but it feels like something is shifting. It feels subtle. Maybe I'm the one changing. I don't know.
My southeastern AZ friends, please let me know if there is anything you would like to let my northwestern WA friends know - they're a caring, literate crowd. : )
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| NaNoWriMoDay one and already my character has a new setting with a new problem and isn't even the same person she was when she started up the hill in her Corolla! What a ride. I don't think I'll get over 725 words tonight, but I still think I may be able to do this!
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| Books I'm Thinking AboutHi Friends (and myself when I wonder in a week what I was thinking about last week). I was just reminded of a book I haven't actually read. It is The Five Love Languages of Children (Paperback)
by Gary Chapman (Author), Ross Campbell. I was introduced to it through my daughter's preschool teacher last year. Everything about our discussion of the ideas presented in the book felt right. If you are just looking for a way to deepen the love you already have for your child, check it out!
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