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Tuesday, September 02, 2008

My two cents

I have to say, I'm quite impressed with all I've heard about Sarah Palin. Can I vote for her and Obama? I read about her a few months ago and was impressed then. As more details come out she still sounds great. She sounds like a tough lady who goes after what she wants and has a great family life. I wish more women had the opportunity to hold a job that allows them to work with the baby and/or children alongside them.

The only thing that bothers me is that I hope people don't start to think all women should give birth and be back to work right away. I know I wouldn't want to be back at work within days of giving birth. I don't doubt that there are some women for whom that wouldn't be a problem. But I think for the vast majority it really would not be a wise choice. I remember after Justin was born Tom was on vacation so he continued our plans to go do some shopping. Days after giving birth I was out on my feet shopping and it really kicked my butt. I remember one day our last stop was AC Moore, which I would normally have loved, but I was just so tired I couldn't wait to get out. When I got home I laid down with the baby and I felt as though I'd been beat up all over. Every single part of my body hurt. I am not exagerating. They don't call labor labor for nothing. It is work for your body and you do need to do some healing. How long would depend on your overall health, how the pregnancy and delivery went, any complications, and of course the baby's health.
I keep wondering how she does it though, because newborns are rather demanding. Sure they sleep a lot, but they also eat and eliminate a lot too. I do remember wishing, particularly with Justin, that I could go back to work with him in the sling. There is a period of time when you adopt a routine, when he could have just slept quietly in there while I worked. I would have had to stop to change and feed him, but for a while, it would have been easy to work my part time nightshift job. Once they're mobile that changes! I don't see how she was able to return so early and acomplish things with a full time job like hers. I understand that she has a lot of help, but still! No matter how you look at it, it's an impressive accomplishment. I wish her luck.

2 comments:

Jamie said...

i don't know if you've seen my comment on michele's blog but i am just astounded and appalled by how quickly the media attacked her!! I do have to say that I am quite amazed at how quickly she went back to work too after giving birth...you have to think that her hubby (and also maybe close family) must be a major part of taking care of the kids! a big part of me is very proud of this country for having a black man and a woman involved with this major election but i can't help be be perturbed that it is obvious that she was picked from many good VP candidates only based on her gender. i just hope women will at some point stop being used...and maybe getting palin into the white house is a way to end that, who knows...

Anonymous said...

this is claire

lol you realize she personally cut funding for teenage mothers while her own daughter is pregnant...She opposes sex ed in schools and supports abstinence only education which I'm sure you know has been proven over and over AND OVER again to be obscenely ineffective.
Also supports: banning gay marriage, war in Iraq, and pretty much every other idiotic cause the republicans have. The media is bashing her on the wrong things in an attempt to distract people. So while people are oohing and aahing over her childbirth and return to work (which if you ask me is more careless and neglectful than a sign of a strong woman), the Russia situation is close to boiling and the US is about to get totally fucked over for ignoring it. She fired a librarian for refusing to ban books with some bad words in them, opposes polar bears being on the endangered species list, has ties to indicted lobbyists, supported a useless bridge for two years up until a week ago, not to mention insulting the indigenous people of alaska as "arctic arabs". She's completely for show. Hillary Clinton getting into office MIGHT have helped women. Sarah Palin getting into office is an insult to women. No, her personal life shouldn't really be a big deal. But the things I was talking about above should be. If we want racial and gender equality in this country maybe we should pay attention to the actual issues our public officials are dealing with instead of just looking at the shiny glossed over picture we're being fed and feeling sympathy for grown-up adults who made their own choices. She accepted the nomination, she knew what kind of press coverage she was getting herself into, and if she can't deal with it any way except to have the big boys above her hide her away from the media for awhile, maybe, just maybe, she's not actually such a great idea.