First Amendment - better read it again

Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.


This is the one amendment you hear the most about. Freedom of speech! What about my First Amendment Rights??!!??


Read it again. The part about speech. Do you see where it mentions your right to speak on television? In the paper? On the radio? No? Me neither.

Before Timothy McVeigh was executed in 2001, a television interview with him was requested. When the request was denied, his camp declared that the First Amendment gave them the right to one. No, no it doesn't. That amendment, so often sighted, is often misquoted. Yes, it gives him the right to say whatever he wants. True. It does NOT give him the right to say whatever he wants on television.

NO RIGHTS TO TELEVISION.

Recently, Sally Field was cut short by the Fox Television Network during her Anti-War statement at the Emmy Awards. Many in the news have claimed that they violated her First Amendment Rights. Not so. Again, she can say whatever she wants to about the war, same as you or I can. She just doesn't have the right to say them on television. She can stand in her front yard, at the grocery store, in line at the post office, getting her hair done. . .wherever. But there is no provision in that amendment for the right to a television interview. No one abridged her freedom of speech. She still said what she wanted, and the audience in the theater heard her.

This peeves me for many reasons. The main reason is that you hear it so much. People hold it up like a badge of honor, or more like a free pass. It's a "Get on Television Free" card. You MUST let me be on t.v. and say what I want to say. It's my right!

Nope. Not your right. Perhaps if you're lucky, you will accomplish this, but it is 100% not guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States of America. Amen.

I feel like an 80 year-old woman

I should have known this baby would be a boy.



Pardon me, but I've had gas like crazy. I wake up in the morning and the serenade begins, usually with a burp. Another crude noise (or 4) follows.



Then, I complain about my sciatic nerve.



My husband is a lucky man.

Boy names

My first 2 children were girls. I had girl names already picked out. My husband and I giggled and smooched and thought of names for babies when we got married. Aren't we sweet. . .gag.

This child, however, is a boy. I had to ask again to be sure because my excellent mother's intuition told me that I was having girl #3. My intuition sucks.

I had a girl's name picked out. No name for a son. My son, who is 1/2 way done cooking is going to be called "Baby Boy" unless the husband and I pick out a name.

We have nothing. Why is a boy name so hard to come up with?

Help?

Where is my trophy?

I'm still waiting.

Is it done yet? I'm really looking forward to showing it to all my friends.

What is my trophy for, you ask? Why, breastfeeding, of course. I just missed out on that natural birth trophy when my daughter got stuck in the birth canal and I had to have an emergency c-section. Man, I really wanted that one too.

What do you mean, what trophies?

Okay, I guess I am being a little sarcastic. You see, this is my personal pet peeve. The pride and arrogance that takes over when women talk about childbirth. Even my aunt, who had an 11 pound baby "naturally" with no drugs, says that all the nurses came in to see her after giving birth because they wanted to, "See what a real woman looks like."

I still haven't seen her trophy.

Why do we do this? Why do we spend so much time and effort making other women feel bad?

Should it make me feel better about myself that I breastfed my kids for 2 years, and other people I know used formula? No, I really don't think it should matter. What really matters is what is best for me and my child. My child. Not yours. That's none of my business.

Yet still, we women do this. The first questions people ask after you have a baby are , "How did you have it?" and, "Are you nursing?"

I will just state this for the record, too. Having a baby is one of the most natural things you can do, no matter how it happens. Vaginal birth, c-section, adoption. . .you get the idea. It's not my place to tell you that how you got your child isn't "natural."

I have never seen the trophies for these women who tell you how they had a "natural" birth and breastfed until their child was 35. They just don't have any.

I think it's great that some people can have a vaginal, med-free birth. I wish I could have. That was not the case for me, however, but it does not dimish my daughter's birth. Every person is different. We all know that. I know lots of women who had c-sections and went on to have successful v-bacs. That's not for me. I'm okay with that.
I also know women who feel cheated that they had to have a c-section. They feel that they missed out on something. Yes, you did. . .an episiotomy.

I have given birth two times in the last 7 years, and will again after the first of the year. Perhaps I should call the engraver now. . . .