I watched The Business of Being Born last night.  Every woman that is pregnant or may become pregnant should see this documentary.  Seriously.  Here is an excellent article on the film.

What this documentary is NOT about is suggesting all births should be done at home in a pool of water.  It is also NOT about saying there is no place for C-sections.  What it IS about is having truly informed consent about your own birthing experience.

CS and I went through lamaze classes and initally intended to have a vaginal delivery with all the drugs legally allowed.  Then through the course, I began to realize that those drugs, though sometimes necessary, are very serious and can themselves have permanent devastating effects to mother and/or baby.

So then CS and I (really the decision was mine) decided to go natural and try NOT to have the pain meds (epidural, etc.) unless I was truly NEEDING them.

Then we discovered Sun was breech and my placenta was “old” and there was NO WAY my pregnancy would go 40 weeks safely.  So a C-section was planned for 3 weeks before my official due date.  And two weeks before that, my water broke and my doctor performed a C-section six hours later.  Not emergency.  But still horrifying.

I WAS NOT prepared for having my arms strapped down like Jesus on the cross.  I WAS NOT prepared for the nurses counting scalpels and sponges to be sure all were accounted for once I was sewn up.  I WAS NOT prepared to have the Spinal without having my husband present to comfort me.  I WAS NOT prepared for the continous shaking I encoutered from the anesthesia.  I was never so scared in all my life.  And I WAS NOT prepared not to have Sun placed on my chest but instead whisked away for five hours before I would hold her for the first time.

But do not get me wrong, Sun’s birth went just as planned and as well as to be expected.  From being wheeled into and out of the OR, it lasted 20 minutes.

And a lot of what I was not prepared for was because I didn’t ask more questions.  I, honestly, chose to pretend Sun would arrive like a pizza–quick and effortless.  I refused to prepare myself for major surgery whilst wide awake.

The Business of Being Born highlights shocking statistics–in America, in 1900 more than 95% of births were at home.  By 1955, less than 1% were done at home and that statistic remains the same now.  In European countries, 1/3 (30%!) of births are currently done at home.  And yet the infant mortality rate is HIGHER in America than these same European countries.  What’s going on here?

It seems as though there are several things going on:

1. OBs are trained surgeons.  “Normal” pregnancys don’t warrant an OB. So, to make themselves necessary, they “require” the birth to be in a hospital.
2. Once in a hospital, that hospital wants mothers in and out of the beds ASAP.  So, if that birth doesn’t come soon enough, start the pitocin to induce labor.  Pitocin makes the contractions more painful.  Because it is more painful, now comes the epidural.  When enough time has passed and still no delivery, because you’ve started all these drugs, mother is now exhausted and baby is in potential trauma.  Time for an episiotomy or forceps.  Or, time for a C-section.
3. Doctors and insurers realize that patients think C-sections under the above scenario was “necessary” and are less likely to sue.
4. C-sections have become a status symbol among Hollywood (ala Brittany Spears and Posh Spice).

The point that got to me is that women have been conditioned to believe they cannot manage birthing their babies any longer without intervention.  And those that decide to do home births are considered granola-hippies.  Doctors and insurers (mainly of the male variety) facilitate this low opinion women have of their abilities because it is easier for THEM and means in the end more money earned by the doctor and less risk of lawsuits by the insurers.

Why isn’t this about the mother?  The baby?  Why aren’t mothers and feminists all over this issue?  If a mother fully understands the manipulation and reasoning of her doctor and insurer and decides she wants a C section, that is her choice.  But I will tell you, you tell your typical doctor you want a natural birth or a home birth, and he (or she) will try to talk you out of it.  And it disturbs me that this talking out of is NOT likely to be for your best interest.

Another statistic, doctors across the board think home births are “bad,” but almost NONE of them have attended one to know what the real experience is.

It’s clear I have a lot to say on this topic.  And this post is long enough so I am stopping here.  GO WATCH THIS FILM and give me your thoughts.

Today. Well, what a day.  My closest Republican friend stopped following me on Twitter today.  Then resumed following me by day end.  I understood her need for space not hearing us pat each other on the back.  Then one of the Republican attorneys I work with said he appreciated Obama’s speech, reaching to those that did not vote for him.  He felt that was the right start for Obama.

Then Obama started to assemble his transition team and it’s got a number of familiar names, familiar from Clinton’s cabinet.  What?  Where’s the change?

Then my Rebulican brother called and said he will not bad-mouth Obama.  That Obama will be his president too and he wants us to all come together and work hard.  It’s gonna be a hard four years regardless of who has won.

And in the meantime, my blog post from yesterday stirred a lot of commotion in the comments and ultimately on Twitter.  I try to stay positive and nice.  But I stumbled.  Passive aggressive behavior gets me damn near every time.

But at the end of the day, it was dinner with my Republican friend as usual with no ugly talk of politics.

I said it earlier today on Twitter, and I’ll say it again now:  I love that the NOLA people are already back to talk of food and drink. Priorities, I tell ya! Unity in satiety.

Now for me to fix myself a martini.  After a day like today, I earned it.

I expected Obama to win.  I was cynical there’d be Republican hanky-panky.  So I guess I didn’t let myself think about how I’d feel WHEN he won.  And now he has. Barack Obama is to be our 44th President.  Such an incredible moment in American history.  What do I feel?  Pride, relief, hope.

Wow.  To feel this way about our federal government, the federal government that has lied to us, disappointed us, lead us to the economic mess we are in, to feel proud and relieved and hopeful, well, it feels pretty damn good.

I think it will be nice to live in an America that embraces it’s noblest ideals again.

Thank you, President-to-be Obama, and thank you, my fellow countrymen.  We did it!

Last night my Republican brother and Democratic husband and I watched the Vice President debate.  My husband truly thought Palin would be reduced to tears, poor fool that he is.  My brother and I both felt Palin would do better than she’d shown in her Couric interviews but that Biden would win the day.

It took us three hours to watch the 90 minute debate.  We kept pausing (I love you, TiVo) and commenting.  And rewinding (oh, yeah, she called him Obiden).

In the end, the three of us agreed on virtually every issue, the causes and even the solutions.  My brother and I simply disagree about which ticket is likely to accomplish those solutions.  My brother is concerned Obama will infuse too much government into our already money-strapped, incompetently-run government.  I feel McCain will keep his focus on Iraq and not the home front.

But the debate.

There’s one theme that is arising as a result of the crashing economy, and frankly, the positions of both sides piss me off.

Here’s what Palin said last night:

We need to make sure that we demand from the federal government strict oversight of those entities in charge of our investments and our savings and we need also to not get ourselves in debt. Let’s do what our parents told us before we probably even got that first credit card. Don’t live outside of our means. We need to make sure that as individuals we’re taking personal responsibility through all of this.

At this point, I was silently applauding her.  Good! Place blame squarely where it deserves to be.  Let’s admit that we Americans bit off more than we can chew.  But then Palin continued:

It’s not the American peoples’ fault that the economy is hurting like it is, but we have an opportunity to learn a heck of a lot of good lessons through this and say never again will we be taken advantage of.

What? Yes, to a not small degree, it IS the American peoples’ fault the economy is hurting.  It’s their fault to the extent they got into houses they could ill afford.  Yes, the banks are at fault too.  But if we are going to start taking “personal responsibility” and stop “living outside our means,” then we need to accept that we, in part, put ourselves in this boat of economic crisis by living beyond our means.

My ire isn’t just with Palin.  On a similar topic, here’s what Biden said:

What we should be doing now — and Barack Obama and I support it — we should be allowing bankruptcy courts to be able to re-adjust not just the interest rate you’re paying on your mortgage to be able to stay in your home, but be able to adjust the principal that you owe, the principal that you owe.  That would keep people in their homes, actually help banks by keeping it from going under.

What? Bankruptcy courts should be reducing the principal owed on a home to keep the debtor in the home?  And to help the bank/creditor from suffering?  Um, not so fast, Joe.  Ain’t nobody offering ME—a person who IS living within my means and NOT making bad financial decisions—a reduction on the principal owed on my home.  Why would or should we (at our expense) award these debtors and creditors who are SOLELY RESPONSIBLE for the mess they are in?

Now, maybe Biden meant tack on another 10 years to the debtor’s mortgage to reduce the principal payment.  But I suspect that is NOT what he meant.

My point is, it seems both tickets are clamoring to help these shaky homeowners and the banks that got them into these homes.  I don’t mean to sound elitist or harsh, but I have no problem, NONE, with these debtors losing homes they bought at arms-length fair market values.  People lose homes all the time.  They don’t become homeless; they become renters.  I rented for years because I couldn’t afford to buy a house.  My parents didn’t help me get into my home; the government didn’t help; my neighbors didn’t help.  I bought a home only after I could afford to do so.

Owning a home in America isn’t a right.  It’s a privilege.  A privilege that comes as a result of saving money and paying a note.  I resent that our government—again, both sides are for this Bailout and mainly they state their reason for supporting it is because it keeps families in their homes and banks from failing—is stepping in to help mainly the Americans that are not fiscally responsible stay in homes at the cost of those of us who are fiscally responsible.

It really makes me want to miss a payment on my house note.

Most people in my little world are voting for Obama.  And those voting for McCain tend to have very different opinions about how our country should be run.

My brother has very similar ideologies as me.  Neither of us are necessarily voting over abortion rights, labor rights, immigration, or health care.  We both are primarily concerned about the Iraq war and the economy.

To hear him and I speak, you’d realize quickly we agree on what the problems are.  We tend even to agree as to what needs to be done to fix them.  Yet, he’s voting McCain and I’m voting Obama.  He calls me Obama Mamma.  I just call him and laugh.

He thinks Obama is a great orator and showman.  He thinks, though, that Obama is all words and no action.

I think McCain is sincere and patriotic.  But I think McCain will follow the path of Bush: All attention on foreign policy while things here in the country deteriorate.

My brother makes one very strong point.  He tells me that our family has never been as well off as we are now.  We’ve been in America for 100 years, and it is just our generation that has graduated from college and may have substantial estates of worth to pass to our children.  It drives him crazy to hear people complain about how misdirected Americans are.  He says we need to travel the world to realize how great America is.  Strong point, indeed.

But I do disagree.  Yes, overall my family is in better financial shoes than it’s ever been.  But at what cost?  Our unhealthy dependence on oil is now costing us billions of dollars a month in Iraq.  We wouldn’t be in the Middle East if there wasn’t oil there.  And there’s also the issue of the oil’s effect on the environment.  I personally would like to take care of the world I live in so that my child and her children have a world to live in.  And Obama’s position is more in line with my philosophies than McCain’s.

Me? I want a safe world.  A safe America.  One that allows you to pursue your dreams and not be persecuted because of your religious beliefs (or lack thereof), your sexual orientation, or your country of origin.  My ancestors were born in Germany.  And Spain.  And Canada.  Then Louisiana.

And my brother will tell you he wants the same thing, a safe America.  And, he’d say, to have that safety, we need to press on in Iraq.  I disagree. Well, I agree that we NOW need to press on.  But we had no business going there in the first place.  No business other than finishing Pappa Bush’s unfinished business.  And now we are at risk if we leave prematurely.  Again, Obama’s position is more in line with my own philosophy than McCain’s.

My brother admits he is unsure of why the economy is faultering.  Partly due to government, partly due to a free market.  He’d say don’t have Congress do the Bailout as it was voted on Monday.

But I say that the economy is a result of the loosening of regulations over the financial institutions.  The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act went a long way in hurting our economy.  And now we are in a crisis of epic proportions.  A crisis that is DEMANDING government action.  Government action that is being rushed.  Rushed like the Iraq war was rushed. Ah! But the people are balking!  Fool us once, shame on you.  Fool us twice, not so much.  Now we fear our government and are suspicious when Bush says, “We must act now.  Trust us.  It’s for your own good.  We will take care of you.”  And THAT is a problem McCain is inheriting from Bush, whether fair or not.  Because at the end of the day, all signs indicate that McCain would do what Bush has done.  One needs only look at how McCain’s voted and not by what he says now to see that.

Both McCain and Obama are for a Bailout.  I am against it.  I may be wrong, but so far no one has been able to fully explain to me just how the markets will fail without the Bailout.  No one has been able to tell me how that will impact my job, my home, my life.  And no one can explain the $700 Billion figure that was apparently pulled from a hat.  McCain, I fear, just doesn’t understand the economic situation, and Obama is generally for more government involvement.  I don’t want more government in my life, I just want the government that is in my life to be competent.  But at least Obama is following the line I’d expect him to follow. McCain? Why isn’t he saying let the market take care of itself?  That’s the GOP line.  I like knowing where I can expect my President to fall on an issue; I like some level of certainty.

And that’s the difference to me about our two candidates.  Obama has a Big Picture of both America’s foreign affairs but also the very real and threatening  problems afoot in our country.  McCain has a precise and very clear view of the foreign policy and feels that issue is second to none in his role as President (and is probably the better man for that part of the job), but his grasp of the local issues just isn’t as crisp as it needs to be.  And seeing his selection of Palin makes me seriously question his judgment in selecting advisers if he were President.

What’s your opinion?  Am I missing something?  If you post about this, please leave a link in the comments so that we can read it.  Is anyone still undecided?

I have been a bit consumed with the upcoming election.  I tend to be apolitical.  But over the years, I have begun to be dissatisfied with certain things and I am one of those that feels that those who complain without attempting to improve things can just shut up.  So I started to educate myself on the issues.

I won’t pretend that my feelings for Bush are anything short of fear and loathing.  And his administration has made me leary of the entire Republican party.

Let me back up.  When I was 18 and registered to vote, I wanted to register as Independent.  I was young and knew what neither party stood for.  The Registrar told me that if I registered Independent, I could not vote in that year’s primaries.  I misunderstood and thought he was telling me I couldn’t vote in the election, not a party’s primaries.  So, following my parents’ path, I registered Republican.  And voted Republican.

Then I went to law school and began to learn about the Supreme Court Justices and which party appointed them and how they ruled in cases.  And a change started.  And I became a swing voter: I voted for Bush over Clinton.  Then for Clinton over Dole.  Then Bush over Gore.  And even sighed relief on 9-11 that Bush was in office.

Then that change that had started in law school crystallized.  The lies began.  The lies that cost the lives of American soldiers.  And worse, the confidence of Americans in trusting their leaders.  And the lies have never stopped.

So then I voted for Kerry.  And watched the polls be manipulated for a second time and Bush win again.  And the lying continued.

And now Bush is leaving. We have waited so long.  But what a sad state of affairs he is leaving America in.  What WILL be his legacy?  The Iraq war?  The faltering economy?  The impotent FEMA? So many to chose from.

And now we have to decide between McCain and Obama.  When Obama first came on the scene, I was as skeptical of him as I am of any politician.  But he is articulate and informed.  And when McCain was named the Republican nominee, I was pleasantly surprised.  I liked McCain.  He had a good, strong reputation and was a well rounded person.  And then I got down to business and started to really educate myself on these men, their platforms, their pasts, their future intentions, their behavior during the election, their selection of running mates.

If you follow me on twitter, you know clearly for whom I decided to cast my vote.  The refreshing part is that this is truly the first time in my 20 years of voting that I am voting FOR someone and not AGAINST someone and am not just selecting who I think will do less harm to America.

I will not spell out what the platforms are, where the lies are, which tax plan is more economically sound, although I could.  I will not disparage he who I am not voting for.  I will not ask you to vote for who I am voting for.

All I ask is that you truly educate yourself on the issues, the men (and woman), and the lies.  Watch Fox AND CNN.  Better yet, go online to factcheck.org or to each nominee’s website.  Rise above the rhetoric and spin.  Question. Question what matters to you.  Question where each really stands on those issues.  Question the source of your information.

And if you don’t bother to educate yourself objectively and thoroughly, then, I ask you to shut up.  And maybe even stay home come election day.

But this change that I speak of in my title, it isn’t in Washington.  It’s with me.  I am done trying to illuminate and educate folks that don’t bother to research and be objective.  I am done debating these folks.  I am done knocking my head against the wall only to have these folks whose minds were made up before the nominees were selected continue to ignore facts and overlook lies.

My time has been a bit consumed by following the coverage of the indictment of Congressman William Jefferson (”Dollar Bill”). Some idiot they interviewed on the news today said, “They still don’t have anything on him.” Really? Does this guy not watch the news? Can he really not remember the $90,000 they found in frozen food containers in Jefferson’s freezer before Hurricane Katrina? How ’bout the two cohorts of his who pleaded guilty and are serving time? To me, that’s not nothing. I am all for “innocent until proven guilty,” but I am even more for a Congressman doing what is best for his district and his constituents, especially when New Orleans is in the crisis it is in.

And there is little hope that Jefferson will step down of his own accord. And it just burns me up that to the rest of the country it just appears to be another example of how we here in Louisiana just seem to gravitate and support the crooks and liars in politics. There is no way this can bode well for the support New Orleans needs from Washington.

Please just know that not all Louisianians support Jefferson; that many of us are humiliated by and ashamed of the whole story and of Jefferson’s actions of late in his handling of the situation. If only he would resign on his own. Alas!

I find it very interesting to see the House doing an ethics investigation into his indictment with the possible outcome being to eject him from Congress. I may soon get to use one of my big words: defenestration. I’ve waited almost ten years to get an opportunity to use that word. Well, hot damn. Something good may come out of all this after all!