Contextual Allowance

Good morning! I didn’t write anything Tuesday because I didn’t feel like Monday was all that interesting and I didn’t write yesterday because I left at about 8:05 to go out and about. And today is another day.

Tuesday I sprayed part of the garden again and I should take a picture of it because it’s more dead than it was. Yesterday would have been another good day to do it because it was sunny all day but because I left relatively early and didn’t get back until noon, I didn’t do it.

And right now there really is too much going on to pay attention to what I’m doing so I’ll be back and there will be yet another time lapse that you would otherwise be unaware of.

See what I mean? I started at 6:53 and now it’s 8:34. Not only are all children gone to school, I’ve managed to eat breakfast and do a little research for today’s topic, or at least one of them. Before I get to that, though, how about some news.

There isn’t any. J Ha ha. Just kidding. It’s just not terribly noteworthy. In fact, I’m not going to tell you about much. And I’m going to see how many really short paragraphs I can make.

Tuesday Seth had a field trip so I had to go to the school to pick him up at 4:00. I actually left early because I know that sometimes they get back early. I’m glad I did. I got there at 3:45 and there weren’t all that many students left. I wish I’d have known they were going to be so early because I could have gotten there at 3:30 to pick him up and could have made it to the hospital in time to be there for Elizabeth’s ultrasound at 4:00.

Tuesday evening we had sister missionaries coming over for dinner and Cedric had his first Court of Honor in Boy Scouts. He got his patrol patch and another patch although I don’t remember exactly what it is for other than a rank of some kind. I should have paid more attention when Daniel was doing this stuff.

Pretty exciting, yes?

Tuesday night (I think it was actually Wednesday morning), we had a heck of a storm. I woke up at one point and the wind was howling around the house. Another time I woke up to the wind and thunder followed by rain pouring down. Such excitement. I had a hard time sleeping but it wasn’t because of the storm—Tuesday was a hot day compared to the temperatures we’d been having and our room gets got and doesn’t cool off. I have a hard time sleeping when I’m hot so I had hard time sleeping Tuesday night. the storm was actually kind of cool. Just not literally.

Yesterday morning I went to take Elizabeth to an appointment she had in Leominster at 9:00. We were a few minutes late because the directions were meant for either for a people who are more familiar with Leominster than I am or b) a city where the streets actually have signs so drivers know what street they are on. When we got there, the man she had the appointment wasn’t there. It appears that his days were recently changed and he couldn’t be bothered to call Elizabeth and let her know. He was called twice and a voice message left both times. Finally, after waiting for about 45 minutes, we left.

Then we stopped at Ocean State and the Hallmark store in the same shopping center. I was looking for things that we could use for our activity last night at church and beads sold individually. I found pool noodles and a shower curtain at Ocean State and struck out at the Hallmark store. After that I dropped Elizabeth off at her house and continued on the Gardner where I did most of the rest of the shopping I needed to.  I forgot pudding and didn’t get enough marshmallows and decided to also get popsicles.

Tuesday evening Elizabeth send me a text: “I know what I’m having!”

“Really? How exciting!” was my response.

“A baby!” Elizabeth said.

“Ha ha! At least it isn’t a puppy!”

Elizabeth told me about the ultrasound. My experience with ultrasounds is fairly limited; I have eight children and had a combined total of three and I’ve accompanied two women when they each had one. Other than that, I know what other have told me and what I have read. Based on this, it seems that the technician performing the ultrasound is perfectly capable of allowing the woman to see the screen throughout the entire process. It is my understanding that they don’t all like to do this, but they are capable of it. The technician Elizabeth got didn’t like to let Elizabeth see at first. She said that she had to do such and such and such and then Elizabeth would be able to see.

While the ultrasound was being performed, the baby kept moving away from the transducer. She said that the baby didn’t like it and I think she’s right. After the ultrasound they had a doctor’s appointment and they usually use a Doppler to listen to the baby’s heartbeat. Because they’d just had an ultrasound, she declined and asked if they could use a fetoscope. Get this: there wasn’t a fetoscope to use. Are you kidding me? Wow.

And that is one topic I’d like to discuss but I have to finish telling you about yesterday.

The afternoon was fairly low key. When I got home and had lunch, I got things ready for church.

We had five games to play and we did not end up doing all of them. I really needed to be more organized. Still, Frisbee tic tack toe was good to keep people occupied for a bit as were noodle wars. The water balloon piñata was cool, literally and figuratively. Capture the flag was a big hit even though the marshmallow guns didn’t work as planned. And pass the pudding was good. And of course the popsicles and fudgesicles were a big hit at the end.  

About birth. I read a blog post this morning about pregnancy and birth and things that women are either allowed or not allowed to do (Pascucci). I’m not going to go into a lot of detail here right now because I feel like I’ve been sitting here for about ever at this point, but still, I have to say something. When a woman is pregnant, she generally goes to a doctor or midwife. She hires someone to help her. She does not become an inmate or ward of the state. Because she is hiring someone, she should be the one dictating what and who is allowed to do and be done. If she doesn’t like or agree, she can fire her medical professional(s).

Be on the lookout for more on this later because it’s still simmering in my mind.

About other stuff. Within the last month or so, I’ve read two blog posts involving a child under the age of 14 being left unattended in a motor vehicle. One (Skenazy) talks about a mother who left her 10-week-old infant in the car alone while she went into a store. A passerby noticed that there was an unattended infant and went in the store to find the parent(s). When the mother acknowledged that she had indeed left her baby in the car but remained in the checkout line, the passerby called the police.

The other (Brooks) tells of a mother who made the decision to leave her occupied 4-year-old in the car while she ran in the store quickly. A passerby took a picture and forwarded it to the police.

What is wrong with us, people? I would never leave an infant alone in a car no matter the time of year but that is beside the point. I would never call the police without attempting to find the parent(s) of a child left in a car unless it was obvious the child was in distress. My business is mine, and mine alone; your business is yours and yours alone. Yes, I am aware this is not always strictly the case (such as you have the right to smoke but not the right to pollute the air I breathe). Generally speaking, I believe this to be true or I wouldn’t have said it.

However, no matter whose business what is, let’s take a look at some statistics. I wish they were all up-to-date but I have to work with what I can find and I was not able to find completely up-to-date information. But, let’s look.

Each year, from 1998 to now, an average of 38 children die from heatstroke from being left in a motor vehicle (Fact Sheet). So far this year, 13 have died. Last year, 44 did. If we take the average and spread it out over a year, it comes to one child every 9.61 days.

In 2008, 1,347 children 14-years-of-age and younger were killed in motor vehicle accidents (Children). That comes to 3.69 each day.

Drowning is the second leading cause of death for children aged 14 and younger (Drowning). From 2005 to 2009, there was an annual average of 3,533 deaths by drowning and approximately one fifth of those were children aged 14 and younger (Unintentional). That comes to about 707 each year or 1.9 a day.

Please note that I do not mean to trivialize death. Even one death caused by any of these is too many. I know this. I know this more now than I ever hoped I would. I know the grief that comes after the death of a child. I do not mean to trivialize death. What I would like to do is point out that in every one of these deaths, the circumstances were different. While I would never leave a 10-week-old infant in the car unsupervised in a store parking lot, I might leave a 4-year-old in the same circumstances. It is obvious that fewer children die each year because they are left in a parked car than because they were in a car in the first place or because they were around water. It is also obvious that leaving a child in a parked car is a much more visible ‘crime’ and therefore we hear/see more about it. If we must interfere, let’s do it in a positive way. Better yet, why don’t we all grow up and mind our own business?

"Children." Traffic Safety Facts – 2008 Data. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2009. Web. 19 June 2014. <http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811157.pdf>.

"Drowning." WHO. World Health Organization, Apr. 2014. Web. 16 June 2014. <http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs347/en/>.

"Fact Sheet - Heatstroke Deaths of Children in Vehicles." Fact Sheet - Heatstroke Deaths of Children in Vehicles. Department of Geosciences San Francisco State University, 18 June 2014. Web. 19 June 2014. <http://www.ggweather.com/heat/>.

Brooks, Kim. "The Day I Left My Son in the Car." Web log post. Salon. N.p., 3 June 2014. Web. 19 June 2014. <http://www.salon.com/2014/06/03/the_day_i_left_my_son_in_the_car/>.

Pascucci, Cristen. "You’re Not Allowed to Not Allow Me." Web log post. Birth Monopoly. N.p., 18 June 2014. Web. 19 June 2014. <http://birthmonopoly.com/allowed/>.

Skenazy, Lenore. "Infant Left in Car for 4 MINUTES and the PARAMEDICS Must Examine Her?" Weblog post. Free-Range Kids. N.p., 12 June 2014. Web. 19 June 2014. <http://www.freerangekids.com/toddler-left-in-car-for-4-minutes-and-the-paramedics-must-examine-her/>.

"Unintentional Drowning: Get the Facts." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 15 May 2014. Web. 16 June 2014. <http://www.cdc.gov/homeandrecreationalsafety/water-safety/waterinjuries-factsheet.html>.