Intersection of Identities

During my undergraduate education in Women's Studies, we always dicussed the intersection of identities such as race, class, sexual orientation, gender, etc. Last night I went to a discussion a book signing for the new Our Bodies, Ourselves: Pregnancy and Birth book. I haven't read the new book yet but I am excited to hear feminists begin to talk about this women's health issue. We always hear about reproductive choice -- as in the choice about deciding when/how/if a woman wants to get pregnant -- but no one has been discussing the poor state of choices available to women who are pregnant. Or the sub-par care this health care system is currently delivering to most pregnant women. So last night I found myself among a group of women where several of my identities intersected -- lesbian, feminist, and aspiring midwife. Also of interesting note, the Feminist Women's Health Clinic has a donor insemination program that works with lesbian couples (and I'm sure others as well.) But I would totally love to get involved with that aspect of women's health. For me, it's inspiring to see lesbians who are starting families, etc. I never got that sort of exposure before. And since having a family is very important to me, I would like to help others also achieve that.

My first "official" day of my pediatric clinical rotation was yesterday. I think I did pretty well despite having the clinical instructor who is "known" for trying to fail people. Hopefully I will remain on her good side. I did not do too much clinically but I did spend most of my day holding a baby who doesn't get held much. Which brings up my next ethical question...what quality of life do borderline viable preemies have? I took care of an ex-25 week preemie whose prognosis is quite poor. It brings a different perspective to just seeing the little babies in the NICU or PICU. A lot of the children are ex-preemies who have severe health problems stemming from their prematurity.