Since then I have seen her for routine annual exams, and other issues that have cropped up. I have never felt rushed or "shushed" in any appointments with that practice. Their office is also quite conveniently locted to my home, they are one of the "preferred providers" in my insurance plan, and they have ultrasound and other diagnostic tools right in their office. Their waiting room is clean, but far from posh. I may suggest that they add some magazines - there never seem to be any when I go there!

To me, a competent practitioner taking the time to listen and talk is among the most "premium" qualities a patient could ask for.  And yet, when I go there, the waiting room is usually dominated not by the upper-middle-class matrons of my community but of more "forgetten' women.  I am usually the only English-speaker in the office. The other women are sometimes surprised - pleasantly - when I chit-chat in (somewhat halting) Spanish. I relish the opportunity to practice and - as one young mother told me - she enjoys the chance to practice English.

The OB/Gyne/Midwifery practice is located a few blocks from a local internationally-known racetrack in our town. Living behind the grandeur of the grandstand, the elegance of the various dining options, are a series of bland dormitories known as "the backstretch." The backstrech dorms were built to house the numerous horse and track workers (grooms, stall cleaners, track maintenance workers, etc.) Originally intended to house only the workers during race season, the workers bring up their familes from Mexcio, Central America, etc and squeeze a family into a studio apartment built for one man , or perhaps two.

Bowing to social and political pressure, racecourses across the country are now beginning to upgrade living quarters to be more suitable to the realistic needs of the families that live there. Our community has begun to recognize these families - especially the children - and provided a variety of health, educational, and social services to them. One example is the mobile dental clinic provided by our local hopsital and local dentists. Our local library makes a bookmobile stop there with books and A/V materials in Spanish.

Considering the geographic location of my OB/Gyne's office to the track, it makes sense that I would see so many backstretch moms-to-be there. But I think it has to be something more than that. I do know that midwifery services are considerably less expensive than a tradiotnal OB/Gyne. I have to wonder, if also, women from rural parts of Central America are culturally more accustomed to midwifery than their American counterparts? Whatever the reasons are, I am glad that these otherwise hidden, sometimes-forgotten members of my community have access to caring and competent healthcare providers to bring their babies into the world.

I may not have mentioned it before, but St. Patrick's Day is a big deal around my house, not just because its a pretty huge event in Chicagoland, but because it is, in fact, the anniversary of my first date with hubby.

Back in the day, he and I were friends via some mututal buddies and occasionally hung out at parties, clubs, etc. Then we both wrote and edited articles for a local (now defunct) music magazine. I always liked him because unlike some of the other too-cool-yet-total-slacker guys I knew, he was smart and hard-working (was finishing up his degree in Electrical Engineering at a local and presitigious university.) He was plain-spoken - absolutely no attitude, just honesty. But most of all (what most women love) he was funny, witty, really had a great sense of humor (or at least one compatible with mine.)

I also knew he was shy around women. And I was anything BUT shy around "boys."  Extroverted, outgoing, perhaps even bordering on obnoxious (who ME?!)

I have auburn hair, fair skin and tons of freckles. Nedless to say, people frequently ask me of my ethnicity, "Oh, do you have any Irish in you?" To which I plainly reply, "Only my husband!"

"When It Rains, It Pours" is such an apt cliche for their situation. I know from what they have told me that they struggle financially to keep things together.

I thought about how "in control" over certain areas of finances my husband and I are in - I use highly-reliable birth control, we follow a strict household budget, we set aside moneys we "can't touch" into a variety of instituional savings mechanisms...

:(