Recent Posts

Monday, August 2, 2010

Thoughts on Our Time

Recently, I have felt very blessed to live during this extraordinary time. A time in which a greater power has led discovery and progression to medicine that enables most women and infants to overcome the immense risks of serious complications or death during childbirth.

The reason I say most? While medicine has taken huge strides in the past 50 (or even 5) years, there are complications that are sometimes too severe to overcome, or there are those who choose not to participate.

While I do not (nor do I think I will ever) understand the risk that some take in choosing not to participate in modern medicine, I am grateful that I have chosen and been blessed by the power of medicine.

These feelings were magnified this week, when I visited our good friends, Jose and Maria. They had just delivered a beautiful baby girl, Mariana. She was born c-section because she was measuring large. Come to find out she was quite large: 9lbs 15 oz--and the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck, twice.

Then again, on Saturday, I visited my sister-on-law, Erin, and new nephew, Jacob, in the hospital. He was born via c-section because his older brother refused to come even after Erin had been induced and labored for hours without progress, any progress.

But, the miracle of modern medicine that really hit me was the woman whose water broke at 27 weeks and was in the hospital. Doctors were doing everything they could to give the baby a fighting chance. She had been there for 3 weeks--30 weeks. They were fighting to deliver the baby at 34 weeks, fighting.

This is where the miracle gets me. We live in a time in which a baby has a 9/10 chances of living if he or she is born at 26 weeks. Nine out of ten! We are blessed to live in a time in which children are given a fighting chance--if it weren't for medicine, those children would die.

Were those children simply meant to die without a neonatal unit and skills physicians? I argue (and adamantly so) that no, that child, born under extreme circumstances in 2010 was not simply meant to die, but rather to be fought for! To be given a hope to live. Times have progressed and it is our responsibility to provide that fighting chance through modern medicine.

So here is my public gratitude. Thank you to modern medicine. To doctors and nurses, for medications, and procedures that have progressed through inspiration and experience.

5 comments:

Shelly said...

I couldn't agree more, great post!

Brooke said...

I totally agree. With my first, I had a similar experience as Erin did with her first - no progress after induction and hours of labor, resulting in c-section. It was a huge blessing to me when I got pregnant with my second to know that I could deliver a healthy baby without risking her life or mine because of the technology and advancement of medicine.

Andrea said...

I 100% completely did not appreciate this until last year when Sheri died during childbirth. Although modern technology and medicine could not save her, her unborn child was miraculously delivered due to quick-thinking medical professionals and our modern day advances. Bittersweet for sure, but had she been at home or a birthing center, we wouldn't have Ava with us to help get us through the sorrow of losing Sheri.

Thompson Family said...

We really are blessed! Zach came six weeks early via cesarean and the cord was wrapped around his chest twice. I'm amazed and grateful that we were able to catch my pre-eclampsia when we did because the doctor told me that my blood pressure was so high that I could have easily gone into seizures at any time. Thank goodness for the miracle of modern medicine and the progress it continues to make!

Chelsea said...

Wow I really agree. Those poor mothers but I'm glad that everything went well! We are so blessed to have modern medicine.

Our Family

Our Family
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...