I am sitting on a plane headed back home from a great midwifery conference in California. The conference was for the most part really good. I only had one moment of infertility related frustration which is pretty good– considering it was a conference primarily about pregnancy and birth!!!
During the opening session of the conference, the vice-mayor of Long Beach addressed everyone. A lovely, passionate lady who seemed to understand the importance and need for quality maternity care in the US and the important role that midwives play.
However… she said one thing that made me choke back tears. and not in a good way …. she was talking about being a mother and she made the statement that being a mother is what ‘made women truly beautiful’.
Really?!
I guess I can’t be truly beautiful then.
Thank you. For another reason to struggle with the pain of infertility.
It’s bad enough when women who have kids treat you like you are not really a woman until you have children. This is usually very subtle… but nonetheless there. But to hear someone express that beauty is essentially exclusive to motherhood – now that’s not subtle.
And although I can of course see a special beauty that is seen in a mothers love, one can be beautiful without this and even in spite of its absence. But I won’t and can’t accept that I lack beauty because my reproductive organs haven’t done their duty.
Thank-you-very-much.
School starts back this week which means I’ll be back to being busy.
I promise ill post an update on all the things I did to keep busy.
more.than.waiting 