7/10/2006 01:16:00 p.m.|W|P|Susan|W|P|In all sorts of ways, mine is the ideal pregnancy.
(By this I do NOT mean that it is perfect, or that I am somehow handling it perfectly. Read on...)
It took a relatively short time for us to conceive. (Some couples struggle with the heartache of infertility for years.)
This baby is very much wanted and longed for. (I was not coerced or raped. This didn't happen because the guy refused to wear a condom.)
I am in a committed, happy, long-term relationship with the father of the baby - a.k.a. my husband.
When I turn on the tap, water comes out, and it is clean and safe to drink. (Millions of people around the world do not have access to safe drinking water.)
I have enough food to eat, and I have access to nutritious food. (I read recently that in parts of rural Haiti women routinely miscarry in the 4th or 5th month, simply due to chronic malnutrition.)
It has been unusually warm here, but I can turn on a fan to keep cool - the electricity works and we have the money to pay for it. (Talk to anyone living in Baghdad about reliable electricity, or the lack thereof.)
I live in a country with high quality, universal health care. Whenever I go to the midwife, and when it is time to go to the hospital to have the baby, I only need my wallet so that I can show my ID. (This is very rare in the global scheme of things.)
I have not been circumcised. (Giving birth will be agonizing, but for the millions of women who have been circumcised, the agony is on a completely different scale - not to mention the staggering risk of infection.)
I am not alone in this. (There is a plan and a purpose in all of it. My husband and I will be given the grace we need, one day at a time.)
This is pretty much the ideal universe scenario. It's nothing that I deserve, but I am very grateful for it.|W|P|115253108857517576|W|P|The ideal pregnancy|W|P|susan@carlens.se7/27/2006 08:25:00 p.m.|W|P| |W|P|Hey there Susan,
Hope you are doing well, Just wanted to check in with you to see how you are!!
You are going to be such a wonderful Mother!! I know it!! You have sooo much Love to invest!! I can't wait to see you as Mommy!!
Take care
Susan H
|W|P|Hey there Susan,