Fruit of the Womb Archive

While watching "Miss Teen USA" one evening, one of the finalists expressed her ambitious desire to become a neonatologist. She explained it was a preemie/baby doctor and given my life situation, I was sold. I refused to allow the arrival of a second child to spoil my own college ambitions and desire to achieve really amazing things, rendering myself dependent on a man with whom I could run intellectual circles around. Yet at the same time, I realized that having another child would severely limit my ability to attend. So I decided to step it up and take a couple more classes, before I would be tied down for yet another semester. After being appalled to learn that most physicians had never taken a simple nutrition class, I enrolled in Nutrition and Calculus during my second trimester. Nutrition was right up my alley and highly applicable to my pregnant status, while Calculus at 8 am was going to be a challenge. I enrolled in 7am Lap Swimming to be sure I was wide awake. First ...

During my first pregnancy, i devoured any information given to me about pregnancy, birth, and newborns. I LOVED Lamaze. I studied the fetal development in detail over and over, completely amazed at the changes going on inside me. I anxiously awaited that fateful day. And then it came. I had a doctor appointment that morning and was told to 'go home, pack my bag and head to the hospital'. I was immediately disappointed that i was already missing out on spontaneous labor pains or my water breaking. I was *gasp* "OVERDO!" Before reading further, please understand that I consider my first birth to be EXTREMELY oppressive. I realize that I sound very much a like a raging feminist when it comes to birth, and I will admit that I have much in common with feminists when it has to do with the rights of women during their births, motherhood, and the way allopathic medicine is practiced in our capitalistic, patriarchal society. However contradictory, (aren't we all in some w...

My best friend at the time had a great relationship with her mom. We had both got accepted to a great university and before i found out i was pregnant, we had been scheming about how to be roommates. After the big news, her mom suggested i have an abortion. "A baby will ruin your life!" she told me, "I can take you down there, we won't have to tell your mom." I know this was said with the best of intentions. But i had seen my mom pregnant with my younger brothers. I watched her belly grow and her ease into breastfeeding. My mom used talked to me about abortion and how God 'knows us from the moment of conception." She even told me that if she was ever raped, she would keep the baby. If she was so concerned about seeing the father's face in her child for the rest of her life, she said, she would give it up for adoption. It just wasn't the baby's fault. Thank you, mom. Lesson Learned for Talking with Teens: TALK TO YOUR KIDS. If you don't...

Before I move on, I think its worth mentioning a word about Craig's background...without getting too detailed. Adopted twice in his life, he had been abandoned at the hospital at birth. His first adoption from his native country was at age 2, straight out of an Orphanage. As I have matured, I think this knowledge has made it very easy for me to forgive him. Ironically, I think its one of the reasons I had a difficult time walking away from him as a teen. After having the two foster babies last year, especially the 13 month old, with all her control issues and manipulative behavior, it really brought home for me the extent of behavioral issues that can arise from atypical bonding. In order to paint the picture a little clearer, let me describe scene #2: We are newly married. I am 6 months pregnant. (I can still see the shirt i wore all the time, while sitting in the chair, and my protruding belly in my mind.) Everything in our 550 square foot apartment is brand new. The dishes, pot...

The church we have considered our church home for some time often has people give their testimonies. They call it "MY STORY". They value transparency. The point of this blog is to tell the story of how i got pregnant the first time. It's the start of my testimony, but it's also important for my personal growth, as I still continue to process and struggle through the results of my decisions at that time. My hope for my readers is that it sheds light on how you can talk to your teens. Of course, the biggest teacher for me was having vivid memories myself. I will preface this by saying that as I describe MEMORIES, some of the memories are straight out of my teen-age brain at the time, and were i to experience them now, i would most likely encounter a different perception. Nonetheless, these experiences have shaped who i am and make me into the person that I am today. I will call this Scene #1. I am in 7th grade. My main priority at the time was to be accepted by my peers...