What I do for work is always interesting; mainly because the stories behind the people are so interesting.
Today, Monday, I arrived to work to round on the babies that had been born over the weekend. The mix of mommas and babies included the following;
1) Three mothers who had just given birth to their seventh and eighth children. None of the women was terribly interested in permanent birth control, although one of the couples was considering a vasectomy for the father. I grew up in a household of seven children; a loud chaotic childhood that I would not trade for the world. In my family, children are a gift from God, and every one is loved equally and fully. My parents did not have the ability to give us material goods, we got toys from Salvation Army at Christmas, and ate more than our fair share of soup. But the toys were loved the same, and my mother is a wonderful cook who never let us feel we were going without, and always had on hand one scoop of ice cream each for dessert. Despite our social rantings that people need to practice more effective birth control; perhaps the children in these large households would not trade their upbringing for anything, either.
2) One lesbian couple dressed a bit like gangsters with a new baby boy. This child was apparently conceived in the natural way, but is going to be raised by both of the women in the room. A young couple starting out much like any other couple with a new baby, but will certainly face many different challenges than most of us have faced as either parents or as children of heterosexual couples. It is so easy to slip into the language of "daddy and mommy," but in this case, you have to think twice when you enter that room.
3) One 17 year old on her second baby. That means that she probably had the first one when she was 15 and very possibly got pregnant the first time when she was 14. How much time did we spend with her asking her about her support at home, the relationship with the father(s?). Does she go out like most teenagers to the movies and to her favorite restaurants? Does her mother spend most of the time with the children while she does go out? Is she still in school? Is school a priority? Once again, the demands of our medical days are not conducive to sitting down and really talking with this young woman.
4) One mother who lost one of her children to child abuse. That one is almost too difficult for words and too difficult to even think about.
Each one of these six or seven babies has now been born into circumstances and environments they cannot control. They lay in their bassinets wearing white t-shirts and wrapped in standard hospital issue blankets. Each one of them has a pink and blue knit hat on it's head. Their eyes are perhaps open, trying to adjust to the new bright lights that have been thrust upon them. They look so similar in these first few days of life. They are clothed in garments of hope and joy.
What will be the interesting stories of their lives twenty years from now?
