Plethora of Everything

"You might as well accept it," that's what my grandma says, "It's a man's world, It just is." And I never even realized how uneven the roles really were, really are- today I got so frustrated I even came to have a drink in a bar. Here there's football on the screens, there are men everywhere, seeming to have not a worry or care. Good for them, good for you, it must be nice to not have a fucking clue. Once the baby came that's really what changed the game. After the baby nothing was the same. I became handicapped over night, having no use of my arm on the right. Learning to cook, pee, open doors with the use of one arm, for a new mom... with an infant... this is the new norm. You helped out as much as you could but for you life went on, as it should. One cannot understand the constant demand until one has been in another's shoes- the role of new mother, a more challenging and rewarding one, there is no other. Now, months...

Dr. Bergin,     I’ve felt honored to be a member of African Wildlife Foundation over the years, until recently.     Since a couple of the last great tuskers have been poached, within days of each other, I’ve felt disillusioned with AWF. How can a group, that’s primary focus is the preservation of African wildlife, that brings in more than $30 million dollars a year not do more to protect the world’s largest land mammal?     I think of African Elephants daily, several times a day. The nagging feeling that I must do more to somehow help protect this species won’t let me be. I’ve be an environmental and animal welfare advocate since childhood. Knowing that approximately 100 elephants per day are being slaughtered is horrifying and unacceptable.     I know that you, Dr. Bergin, agree with everything I’m saying.     I know that as you’re reading this you must be thinking, “Boy is her anger ever misplaced?!”     A...

    Not all moms can cope, mentally, with staying home with their little ones full time.     Not all moms can cope, emotionally, with going to work every day and leaving their little ones behind full time.     Not all moms can choose whether they will work or stay home with their little ones; these moms often wish they could stay home but if they were to stay home many would find they prefer working because most any job is less fatiguing than caring for a little one, full time. My son and me     Not all moms can deal with not getting a date night at least once a month with their partners.     Not all moms can find the time and energy to arrange for a sitter, get ready to go out and make plans for a date night once a month, or for some moms, even once a year!     Some moms bottle-feed, some moms breast-feed.     Some moms drink alcoholic beverages when they're nursing, they  'pump and dump' (as on...

Just because you don't see dogs aimlessly wondering the streets doesn't mean there aren't homeless dogs. There are hundreds in the animal shelter just a few miles from your home. Go there. Just because you don't see people with bones outlined through their clothing doesn't mean there aren't hungry people.  There are dozens at the soup kitchen, downtown in your city.  Go there. Just because you don't see a 20-something-year-old with a needle dangling from an arm doesn't mean there aren't addicts among America's youth.  There are many at recovery centers all around, and waiting to enter recovery centers all around. Go there. Just because you don't see kids walking around with no hair or eyebrows doesn't mean there aren't children being medicated/poisoned in the fight for their lives.  There are hundreds at the hospital around the corner from where you work. Go there. Just because you don't see women walking around ...

Be forewarned: this blog didn't turn out as I had anticipated. It's difficult to put something so intimate, special, simple yet complex, as nursing, into words.  For me- nursing is mothering in its utmost form. It hasn't always been easy; at first it was exasperating constantly having a little person attached to me but over time I came to cherish and treasure nursing.  It is the most amazing gift I can give my baby boy. It's giving all of me to him so that he can be his healthiest.  There's nothing more genuine than giving of one's own body to keep another alive.      Shortly after Samuel transitioned from his mother's womb to the bright, cold hospital room, he cried.     As with most newborn babies he began crying and could not be consoled as nurses clipped his umbilical cord and wiped him off.      He could not be consoled that is until he was placed on his mother's chest.     His mother had insisted the baby be...

In big cities businesses come and go, Restaurants close months after they're open, People arrive with one breeze and leave with the next, Friends come and go just as quickly, though not always just as easily. And, in a way, this makes these people, places and things all the more special. Miami Skyline

At my most recent doctor visit I was greeted in a friendly manner with this question,  "So, you're 38 weeks now. Are you going to want us to induce you or what's the plan?" Since I've done research throughout the pregnancy on how common birth interventions (such as induction) are I shouldn't have even been surprised by my doctor's question, but I was. It's still shocking to me when doctors mention birthing medical procedures with such frankness, like it's all just part of the process. At another appointment a few weeks ago I was told by a different OB within the practice, "If you're screaming in pain I will not stay in the room... and neither will your partner." He said this in response to my comment that I was planning on having a natural birth without an epidural. Now, that's not a very reassuring, encouraging thing to say to woman that wants to birth naturally is it? Upon finding out I was pregnant I began reading an en...