Today, for the first time, I really get why it is that so many people go through with scheduled inductions and c-sections for non-medical or quasi-medical reasons even though they're really bad for mom and baby.
It is hard to plan for babies! I'm getting down to the home stretch and I still have a four week window during which it would be healthy and normal for this kid to show up. Four weeks. FOUR WEEKS. That's basically a whole month. That represents two pay periods, countless monthly reports and invoices, and so much other work! Oy.
And that's just work, which is the easy part - there's also the whole getting-my-life-and-home-ready-for-a-totally-new-and-completely-helpless-person thing. NBD. We still need to get a crib and car seat but at least I've done my research with Consumer Reports et al so I know which brand and model to buy for each. Then there's figuring out all of the other random stuff we'll need and that's so much harder! Each parent I know has completely opposite experiences of every other parent I know with regards to what's "necessary" and what's "useless junk" - swings, butt paste brands, cosleepers, slings, strollers, play-mats, the list goes on and on. And then there's clothing - is it going to be 5lbs or 10lbs when it gets here? No one knows!
And even all of that is the easy stuff. The rest, like, you know, it actually getting here alive and healthy... I don't even want to begin to think about. It's so scary and so huge.
That's why people plan inductions knowing that they're putting themselves at higher risk for all sorts of complications. That's why people plan c-sections, which are MAJOR surgery folks, when not medically necessary. It's to have something known. Some order. It's so that they feel like they have some semblance of control in the process. Having control over when the baby shows up makes sense in a perverse way since it'll probably be the last time a parent ever gets to have control over the kid for the rest of their lives.
Oy.
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I'm a geek and a woman and I like to write about geeky-woman things, in addition to geeky-man things, geeky-person things, geeky-cat things, etc.
1 comment:
You are so right! I had never thought of that before, but, yes, it makes tremendous sense.
In Israel it's common for expectant parents to go to the Babies-R-Us local equivalent at the start of the third trimester, and pick out everything they want to buy. They pay only half the bill, and don't take anything home at this time. The store holds the crib, stroller, layette set, etc for them until the baby is born. Then the new Dad rounds up friends and family members to go with him to the store to pay up and take everything home. The friends will assemble the changing table and paint the nursery and so forth, while Dad brings Mom and Baby home from the hospital.
The really great thing about this practice is that it's much easier to accommodate any surprises. The problem with it is that the shop has to keep items in storage for months. But I wish this practice would spread to America.
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