Have you ever noticed how mommies often end up doing a lot of dirty work? Okay, I will say that my husband has been right there in the trenches when it came to poopies in the diapers, in the tub and even on the walls. He has reached out to catch his fair share of baby barf too. Still, using the snot sucker made him nauseous and he almost passed out the one time he had to turn the key to Holly’s palate expander. It just seems that if it is a dirty, distasteful and even painful job that needs to be done for one of my circus clowns, Mommy~Dearest is the man, er, mom!
Today’s dirty job was a new one even for me. We learned today that Holly is a carrier for the cystic fibrosis gene and her doctor recommended that the baby’s father be tested for the gene as well. The results will determine what if any testing might need to be done for baby’s health.
No problem.
Oh, wait, problem. Father of baby was less than thrilled with Holly’s news a couple of months ago. Actually, he was quite angry because her choice was not the choice he wanted her to choose and since he really didn’t have a choice in Holly’s choice he chose to leave. That’s his choice I guess. But regardless of his choice, Holly and her mid-wife need to know if he is a carrier or not. I think I saw Holly turn even greener than her usual color of late when the mid-wife discussed this with her. Me, being the good prenatal support person stepped up and explained that right now the father has chosen not to be involved and it might be hard for Holly to talk to him about this. The good mid-wife looked me in the eye and suggested that I be the one to tell the guy and get him to a lab to be tested.
Um, okay.
So I called the guy up, explained what I needed and explained that I wouldn’t bother him unless it was important and it was that important. His angry eyes bored into me as he questioned the need to have this done. I evenly explained what the disease was and how it would affect the baby, Holly’s baby, his baby. I added that all I wanted from him was a little bit of his blood. I would even pay for the test because it is that important. I stared right back at him waiting for his answer. Angry eyes don’t scare me when it comes to one of my children. He looked down at his feet, shrugged and agreed as he grabbed the lab slip out of my hand.
That was that.
It’s a dirty job and, oh yeah, Mommy~Dearest did it.
Way to go! Cystic Fibrosis is nothing to mess around with. I am a possible although unlikely carrier too (my Uncle had it). It has to be a bit scary knowing all the possible pregnancy complications like you do.
Good job!
It ain’t easy huh? Being mom is hard sometimes…
You rock!
Nice work, mummy-dearest.
Laura,
You so rock. When I grow up (heck I’m a whole three years younger than you, take a month or so, but I still have some growing up to do), I wanna be like you.
Loved the tattoo article, too; I’ve thought about doing that to remember Hallie and Olivia’s twindom…not that I’d ever forget that, but still.
Good for you!
Thanks for participating in the December 3, 2007, edition of the Carnival of Family Life, hosted at http://www.imaginif.com.au!
Amazing the lengths that you go to for your children, isn’t it? Being a mum turns you into a lioness when they are threatened.
I take my hat off to you.
You are amazing.