I recently caught up with a friend of mine who is enjoying her sixth week of motherhood.
“You weren’t kidding about whirlwind…” she said, referring to a vague reference I had made to the pending changes in her life before she had her child. (My own experiences with childbirth are fading now that my children are exhibiting as pre-teens and not the newborn angels they once were.)
She is enjoying this new phase of her life, but the wonder has worn off a bit.
“I feel like I’m just now starting to come out of the fog. And nothing is sacred now. During delivery, I swear there was 40 people in the room for this potential emergency and that…”
It sounded as though, for her, delivery wasn’t as straightforward as it could have been. But she was well cared for, she knew where to get help and it was available when she needed it.
I don’t think I even have to begin to draw up comparisons between how this story changes for women in other parts of the world. I don’t have to write about the contrast between this county and another, between women’s access to health care in Canada versus in other countries around the world, between the supports a Canadian mother has to raise a healthy child compared to a mother in a developing country.
No. Instead, let’s skip swiftly and pointedly to the part of the story where we choose to stand together – not just as mothers (not all of us want to end up on that delivery table) but as men and women who believe in equal rights to health, to choice and to a world without inequality.
Over the next weeks, we’ll share with you just some of the ways that CARE is bringing us together to end inequality for mothers and their children. Stay tuned – and stay inspired!