A Disappointing Introduction to Birth

K has a little jeep and trailer that, lately, he's been using to cart around Thomas the Train. His imagination has ramped up in the past few months, and he often plays with this particular jeep while narrating some fantastic little scenario. (loudly...because nothing K does is ever quiet) Which, is all very cute  and disarming until he began to narrates something about 'going to the doctor'.

Well, we don't go to the doctor unless it's a rather dire emergency, so I was a bit puzzled at his continual use of 'going to the doctor' as a scenario for using the jeep and cart. When I finally asked him why he was taking Thomas to the doctor, he responded, "Going to the doctor to get a Baby."


*SHOCK!* (Actually, it was more like total stunned silence while I stared at K with complete and utter disbelief...did that REALLY just come out of MY kid?)

I think I actually had to grit my teeth to refrain from saying something bad.

So, after talking a bit more about it, and digging into WHY exactly he thought one need go to a doctor to get a baby, it turned out that the whole concept stemmed from the movie, Babies.

Seriously...THAT movie convinced my kid that we need doctors in order to bring home babies.

*sigh* He liked the Mongolian birth scene because it involved the woman and bundled newborn riding home from the hospital on a motorcycle. Cool right?

It's not that I've kept any information surrounding birth 'secret' from K, it's just that he's TWO. So, his exposure is along the lines of Big Belly+_____=Baby. Apparently, the blank has now been satisfied by 'doctor' because it all involves the use of an awesomely loud motorcycle.

....

This is all very alarming to me because it's just not how I or N view birth. I don't believe that birth has any place inside a medical establishment outside of life-threatening emergency situations. I think it's a natural bodily process that does not require the 'assistance' of a doctor. (outside of a few emergency situations)

I readily support midwives, doulas, homebirth, and unassisted births and pregnancies.

This is the exposure I want my son to have. It's sad to think that showing him one beautiful movie has already presented birth to him in a way that is just false.

I'm sure his view of things will change as he grows older and his exposure increases, but for now, I'm on the hunt for any and all picture books that illustrate homebirth...or midwifery...or doula work. Any suggestions?

Fevers

K has been a bit feverish for the past 4 nights with last night's spike causing me to finally break out some Children's Motrin. I'm not really sure what he's fighting off because he's not really presenting any other symptoms...there's a slight runny nose (clear), and a mild cough that sounds quite high up and 'safe'. So, mostly it's a high fever that spikes wildly in the middle of the night.

I really hate fevers in small children. It's one of those residual fears left over from when I fully believed that everything suggested by the medical community was based firmly upon evidence and intervention only when necessary. When I was pregnant, it was 'common' knowledge that you should always medicate with Tylenol or Motrin at the first sign of a fever. In actuality, such intervention can suppress many of the body's natural ways of fighting off the illness!

  Nowdays, I think that there is a time and a place for doctors and medical interventions, but I've learned to be extraordinarily cautious and reserve them for times of dire need. Which means that I've had to accept unmedicated fevers as a ritual of childhood...

Even with the knowledge that I have regarding fevers, (the fact that they are ONLY an indication of some affliction rather than the symptom to be treated, that they are a healthy sign that one's body is working as it should to fight off said illness, ect... )it's still rather alarming whenever I wake up at 3am to find K burning to the touch...lucid and 'normal' as he might act. *sigh* I'm hoping this latest virus passes through quickly AND skips over N and I!