The Tale of Two Preemies: Convenience

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Convenience

I am so tired of people expecting kids to be convenient. The other night, while watching the news, there was story about how MN is trying to get a law passed that kids have to be in a booster seat until the age of 8. 44 other states already have this law, and last year when MN tried to pass it, it failed because it might hinder carpooling. Seriously!?! They are more worried about carpooling than they are about he safety of our children? Are people really that stupid? I know the answer to that. My own husband doesn't get it. He never has. He was all about turning Cole around at age 1, even though he wasn't 20 pounds. Cole sat rear facing until a year and a half when I couldn't buckle him in anymore due to snow pants and boots. Tate will sit rear facing until he can't any more. Since when did convenience become more important than safety? News flash: KIDS AREN'T CONVENIENT! The only time it's convenient to have a kid is when you go to one of the few stores that has family parking. That's it. Don't' get me wrong, I love my kids and wouldn't trade them for the world, but they aren't cheap. They aren't easy, and they most certainly aren't convenient.

I wish that lesson would get through. I may get some backlash on posting this, but I don't' care anymore. Pat's cousin, A~, has a little girl, J~, who is Cole's age. A and his ex-girlfriend have a lot in common, mainly drugs and alcohol. The mom ditched J with A's mom this past summer because she couldn't do it anymore. She is in her mid 20's with 4 kids. J is the youngest. She dropped the oldest with her parents, and kept the little boy, probably because she doesn't know who the father is. Anyway, not mother of the year by any standard. A got out of jail shortly before Christmas and had J living with him at his dad's house. Well, he's back in jail. He and a buddy decided to go drink and use while in the car with J, who was not in a car seat. The cop didn't call DCFS. Why, I have no idea. Anyway, so Grandpa came to get J, tried to pawn her off on Grandma who wouldn't take her and now J is with mom. I honestly have no idea who has legal custody of the little girl, but I do know that the best home for this child is not with her parents. Frankly, she's been pawned off on anyone that would take her because she's not convenient for anyone. No one seems to care what it's doing to this little girl. It's just really sad that it's not convenient for anyone to care about her.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...: oh my god that is a horrible situation for that little girl!! i seriously think people should be expected to take a licensure test to be able to reproduce... kind of like bob barker always said... control the pet population!!

andrea; 3/29/2009 7:40 PM

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Cole's Story

Cole was born at 30 weeks 3 days, much to our surprise, in 2006. I went in to the hospital because I wasn't feeling well and was afraid I'd get dehydrated. I ended up being air lifted to a larger hospital where Cole was born 24 hours later. He weighed in at 4 lbs. 2 oz. and was 17" long. He had some developmental delays, mostly due to acid reflux. He also had positional plagiocephaly and was in a remolding helmet for 6 weeks. At 14 months he underwent a cardiac catheter procedure to close his PDA. At 25 months he tripped getting out of his kiddie pool and broke his femur. He was in a cast from his hips to his toes for 4 long weeks. He also broke his shoulder at age 5 1/2. His latest medical drama has been a cyst in his left ear. He's had his adenoids removed and another surgery to remove the cyst. He'll have a second surgery in August. He's been through the ringer, but you'd never know it. He just rolls with the punches. He's 100% farm boy. He wants to know how everything works and why. He loves the farm. Farming is definitely in his blood.

Tate's Story

Tate was born at 34 weeks 2 days in 2008. Since I had a previous premature delivery, I was on high alert for another one. It didn't help. We had ultrasound after ultrasound and everything looked great. Tate, however, was not patient. I was admitted to the hospital with preterm labor. He held off for a couple of days, but was still born early. He weighed 5 and a half pounds and was 19" long. Fortunately he had no problems and was released from the hospital 3 days after he was born. He was born the middle child. He desperately wants to do what his big brother does, but has his own interests and wants Cole do to those with him. He's my trouble-maker, fit-thrower, and snuggle bug.