Maternal Health

Something I wrote on maternal and perinatal health in the country made me realize all the more how lucky I really am.

Make no mistake, I have known and believed long ago that perinatal health had a lot to do with the mother's health. This is why I was really careful when I was pregnant: I kept all my OB appointments, took prenatal vitamins, read up pregnancy literature, ate right and tried my best to sleep well. I even got regular massages to ensure my body is relaxed and that I will avoid edema.

This is also why I sort of discourage women putting off having kids really late in life, and why I frown upon teenage pregnancies and lack of family planning (options) among the poor who have one child after another. A woman's body can only give of itself so long, and not a moment sooner than it should.

When I consider how much we had to spend for my first pregnancy, I do wonder where we'd get the same amount if I were to have another difficult pregnancy. But I really need not worry yet, if you consider the fact that I did give birth in Asian Hospital, not at Fabella. Between the two hospitals, I still have a myriad of other options to keep myself, and the baby, safe. Plus, my OB was a PGH specialist, so I can just as easily come to her at PGH.

But my heart really aches for all the other women whose lives or health get compromised after delivering a baby. And it does make it more annoying when my son refuses food while other babies out there don't even get fed, medicated, or just plain held.

Well, it isn't my son's fault that he has options. I swear, however, that I will raise him grateful for having choices.

May I do more to help women who feel they don't have much in the way of choices, then. Example is one of the best teachers, after all.