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Thanks for the reply Heather. I assumed that your comment was meant in the way you describe, but it was still hard to hear. Like I said, just wanted you to know how it could be hard on someone sensitive to the subject. Best of luck in the future.

Scarlettkatrin, thanks for the support!

posted 2 years, 9 months ago
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Hello- I hope that someone at OPB will pass this along to Heather, who shared her birth story this morning.

Heather twice used the analogy of being treated like a "teen mommy who made an oopsy". The first time I cringed and thought, oh I hope she regrets that when she gets off the air, thinking that it must be tough to communicate well, off the cuff, as a radio guest for the first time. When she repeated this phrase a second time I became angry and took time away from my job to phone in, unsuccessfully.

As she seems to have integrated this as some kind of clever comparison, I would like her to know that it is vastly offensive and that she should consider that she will not necessarily know when she is talking to someone who had a child in her teen years. If I were at the pool with my 10 year old, for instance, you would not know that my older daughter is a sophmore at Reed who will be able to buy beer legally in 6 months

When the Reedie was born I made the informed decision to have a home birth after several months of hospital based prenatal care. I looked up a naturopath in the yellow pages, interviewed with her, and convinced my family and the father that it was a good idea. I went to childbirth classes like any responsible mother-to-be. I was never made to feel like I was incapable of making these choices or carrying them out until the second repeat of the phrase "teen mommy who made an oopsy" today.

I offer this with no hard feelings, only to keep Heather and others she talks to about her experience from awkward feelings in the future.

Thank you for the conversation. Go midwives!

posted 2 years, 10 months ago
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