This past weekend, the New York Times ran an article discussing the rise in infant mortality rates in Mississippi and a few other poor, Southern states. It described women who go their entire pregnancies without getting prenatal care, and it told a heart-breaking story of a 4-month-old with breathing problems who died after receiving subpar care. The article was amazingly sad, and what was described was so very different than my experience. Towards the end of my pregnancy, because of my blood disorder, I was getting weekly ultrasounds and going in for twice-weekly appointments with my OB – and yet there are thousands of pregnant women (and babies) who receive no care at all! This makes me feel both incredibly blessed and incredibly guilty – and I can’t get over the fact that nothing is being done to address the health care disparities in this country.

A few years ago, I wrote an article for work on our health care system: how messed up it is, and how universal health care could fix many of its problems. I’m hoping the health care issue plays a big role in the 08 presidential election; it’s about time we fix this thing!

-M

As Michelle mentioned yesterday, Zoe is now 5 months old. She also mentioned that we were excited to see her head up while on her tummy. Well, I thought I would post a picture of her playing with her toys. First comes her head up while playing with toys, then comes crawling! You’ll be the first to know if she does make the move…

Jon Q