Thank you for sharing this. Well written and from the heart of your wife. And who should know more what’s at stake but a woman and a mother. Men have no right to tell a woman what to do with their body unless it’s their doctor who should be able to help without fear of repercussions.
The Reality of Being a Woman in America: Then and Now
In 2006, I had a subchorionic hemorrhage 14 weeks into my pregnancy. There was no question that something was wrong. I went to my doctor's office before I actually hemorrhaged in the exam room waiting for the doctor. It was sudden, violent, and I passed out due to blood loss. I remember hearing the doctor say I had lost the pregnancy as I faded out.
I woke in the maternal-fetal ICU where my husband was sitting next to me, face ashen, holding my hand. He explained what happened and that I would have a D&C. That was it - we lost the pregnancy and there was no discussion or question - this was the medical default protocol. The alternative is eventual sepsis - death.
After 4 hours of waiting, a woman came into the room with an ultrasound to confirm there was no heartbeat. There was a heartbeat! I was on bedrest for 16 weeks to allow the 70% abruption from the uterine wall to heal. I had her at 35 weeks and now that heartbeat is now 17 years old. We were beyond lucky.
I just said goodbye to that 17 y/o heartbeat as she left to go to school - a senior in high school and a National Merit Scholar semi-finalist with her life ahead of her. I realize that if we lived in Texas, where she was born, and she were to have the exact same experience I had when she was in utero, there is a very real possibility that she would die.
My daughter does not have the access to default reproductive healthcare that I had when I almost lost her.
This IS the reality of being a woman in America today. Women's lives are in the hands of voters, your individual and collective hands. The 2024 election is not political to me and I wonder how it can be to anyone who really loves a woman.
I beg you to read this and please vote for the candidate that will allow our daughters, our granddaughters lives to be saved as ours would have been.
Thank you for sharing this. Well written and from the heart of your wife. And who should know more what’s at stake but a woman and a mother. Men have no right to tell a woman what to do with their body unless it’s their doctor who should be able to help without fear of repercussions.
The Reality of Being a Woman in America: Then and Now
In 2006, I had a subchorionic hemorrhage 14 weeks into my pregnancy. There was no question that something was wrong. I went to my doctor's office before I actually hemorrhaged in the exam room waiting for the doctor. It was sudden, violent, and I passed out due to blood loss. I remember hearing the doctor say I had lost the pregnancy as I faded out.
I woke in the maternal-fetal ICU where my husband was sitting next to me, face ashen, holding my hand. He explained what happened and that I would have a D&C. That was it - we lost the pregnancy and there was no discussion or question - this was the medical default protocol. The alternative is eventual sepsis - death.
After 4 hours of waiting, a woman came into the room with an ultrasound to confirm there was no heartbeat. There was a heartbeat! I was on bedrest for 16 weeks to allow the 70% abruption from the uterine wall to heal. I had her at 35 weeks and now that heartbeat is now 17 years old. We were beyond lucky.
I just said goodbye to that 17 y/o heartbeat as she left to go to school - a senior in high school and a National Merit Scholar semi-finalist with her life ahead of her. I realize that if we lived in Texas, where she was born, and she were to have the exact same experience I had when she was in utero, there is a very real possibility that she would die.
My daughter does not have the access to default reproductive healthcare that I had when I almost lost her.
This IS the reality of being a woman in America today. Women's lives are in the hands of voters, your individual and collective hands. The 2024 election is not political to me and I wonder how it can be to anyone who really loves a woman.
I beg you to read this and please vote for the candidate that will allow our daughters, our granddaughters lives to be saved as ours would have been.
Thank you for reading.