Making things happen

As I've spent many an hour feeding and snuggling this sweet baby girl over the past week and a half, I've done a ton of reflecting on...everything really.

I want this little baby and her brothers to know that whatever they choose to do in their life...whether it's to be a full time mom, a dentist, a ballerina, a 2nd grade teacher, a photographer, etc., I want them to be a REALLY GOOD full time mom, dentist, ballerina, 2nd grade teacher, photographer,etc.....or even a mixture of some of them.

When we were at Rex Hospital, Sadie and I had a team of boss ladies taking care of us.  Before I get to them, let me tell you a quick story of something that happened that annoyed me to no end.

The DAY before I gave birth to Sadie, I took all 3 boys to an eye doctor appointment for Charlie and Walker.  Now...just keep in mind that I was 40 weeks pregnant, carting around 3 boys and about 60 extra pounds.  I picked Charlie and Walker up from school early....so I had to go in to each school, check them out, load them up again....the whole deal.  The doctor's office was not super far, but it took us about 6 minutes to turn in from the main road to the side street where it was located.

When I finally waddled in to the office, we were a few minutes late.  I was actually kinda proud of myself for only being a few minutes late (instead of like....20 minutes late) with everything I had just done.  When we got to the front desk, the receptionist told us that their grace period for late comers was up and that we would have to reschedule. I looked at the clock (I still had 1-2 minutes before their "grace period was up") and was like....hold my jewelry. BACK STORY:  I had this appointment scheduled since October.  October!!!  They had us scheduled for a January appointment, but because of the "snow" they cancelled our appointment (30 minutes before we were about to head out, mind you) and it took me no less than 8 calls to get them rescheduled.  

I told the receptionist that there was no way I was going to reschedule with them and took my 3 kids out the door.  As I did that, I thought...you know what??! No!  So I walked back in there and basically had to get loud with the people.  I told them about the cancellation, about trying to reschedule, about being 40 weeks pregnant getting in there 1 minute before their "grace period"...and by this time the office manager and tech had come out to try and calm me down.  I was literally sweating with anger.  Also at this time came a mom and her little one around the corner who, if she didn't have the flu, I wasn't 40 weeks pregnant.  To this, I exclaimed (out loud) "can I not take my children anywhere without fear of them getting sick?? Why are they even here?? At the eye doctor??!"

They tried to apologize for the sick child, tried to get me to reschedule with them, but no.  Not going to happen.  The entire time I was there, until the last few minutes, the ladies in the office acted like they could not care LESS about my problem or my situation.  It infuriated me that they had a job and they were not doing the absolute best they could at fulfilling their job.  I just can not relate to that mindset.  They were beyond apathetic to the situation and their lunch break was WAY more important than losing a customer.

Fast forward just one day.  If you've read Sadie's birth story, you'll remember the labor and delivery nurse who ran through the hospital with me in a wheelchair.  As I was getting in the wheelchair, I remember a mom getting into her car right in front of us who was being discharged with her baby.  The mom looked and me and started mimicking the breaths to take....it was a moment I'll never forget.  She had obviously just been through that herself and was taking a minute out of her time to show me that I had this.  It was such a life changing moment for me honestly.

Throughout the entire hospital stay, I had this amazing team of women nurses and women doctors who raced to help me deliver my baby, who helped take care of my body after I delivered her, who checked my baby every day, who pumped during their lunch break for THEIR baby in between taking care of me and while working on their charts.  I could go on and on and am honestly getting emotional just thinking about it.

This is the power of women, I believe.  Women doing a FIERCE job at whatever it is they're doing.  I am so blessed to be surrounded with these women who are doing a stellar job at their current calling in life.  I'm surrounded by truly remarkable mothers, family members, teachers, actors, dancers, businesswoman, and friends who support me and take delight in my achievements. SO. IMPORTANT.

I'm also blessed to have a husband who respects and honors womanhood.  Some women, I think, try to belittle men and make it seem like we don't need them.  We do.  And they need us. That's how it works.  I'm trying to raise my boys to know this as well.  That by empowering women they make the world a better place.

To end...because Y'ALL! I've been killing this keyboard.  If you haven't read Russell M. Nelson's talk, "A Plea to My Sisters", now is the TIME!  He said something that will always stick with me, "...we need women who know how to make important things happen by their faith....we need women who know how to call upon the powers of heaven to protect and strengthen children and families; women who teach fearlessly."

So good.

Happy International Women's Day!  Let's do great things!