I helped fold t-shirts at a volunteer party for Dan Liljenquist for US Senate last night. Volunteering for this campaign has been a wonerfull opportunity and I have met some really awesome people. I met one lady last night that just moved here from Washington. She has 10 kids. We somehow got on the subject of childbirth. It seems to me that childbirth in the hospital is highly politicized. It seems like everything is...But I digress. Anyway we all swapped stories about our kids and she urged me to blog about mine. So here it is.
So I had been married a bout three months and thought I was pregnant. I was finishing up my last semester for my teaching credential at Sac State. So I went to the student clinic on campus for a pregnancy test. As you can imagine I was feeling pretty nervous and unsure about everything. Anyway the doctor comes in to the room with the results and says, "Congratulations! You're pregnant!" And then she asks, "Are you going to keep it?"
I was in shock at the moment. My first pregnancy, newly married, a moment that should have been wonderful and happy and memorable. But instead this woman asks me if I am going to abort my baby????
So, here I am 4 and a half years later, and hopefully a little wiser. This is what I would have said. Uh hem....
First, I would have repeated the question back to here, "Am I going to keep it?" "Do you mean, am I going to kill my baby?"
Restate the question back to her. Because that validates HER. And then show her that you really UNDERSTAND WHAT SHE MEANT. I would stay calm and smile ( although that is very hard to do). I would simply as her, "Would you rather that I murder my unborn child? Because babies are so indispensable to you people."
"No thanks. I am planning on having lots of children and staying home to raise them all. I believe in the family. I believe in traditional family values. I don't believe in killing unborn BABIES.
So next time I will be ready, if there is a next time. Because you really just have to repeat back them what they said to you. That's all it takes for them to see their own stupidity.