I Think I'm in my Second Trimester and Women's Rights

I have gotten this look a few times recently.  It is the "what happened" look.  I tell them I think I am in my second trimester. 

I have had a health condition for twenty plus years and when it kicks in, I have a number of side effects.  One of the side affects is I gain a lot of weight in a short amount of time.  The first time it happened years ago, my family always supportive, called me "puff daddy" for weeks.

This time, I gained about twenty-five pounds in a few months.  The weight gain will hopefully come off in the future, however, for whatever reason, this time I have looked at the weight gain from a different perspective.  This type of weight gain in a short-amount of time has physical consequences.  What I have been going thru, though much less difficult, gives me a little perspective on what most if not all women go thru when pregnant.  Following are a few of new challenges.  

• My balance has changed.  Once and awhile, I will feel like I am out balance and about to tip over.  This could be very embarrassing.  And its not from alcohol as I abstain during these type periods.  Think of it this way.  Take a kettle ball and strap it to your  stomach along with a weighted apron from your chest to you feet  Now go thru your normal routine.  A twenty-five pound back-pack is is very easy to handle.  A kettle ball and weighted apron, not so much. 
• Swelling starts with my feet and works it way up.  Shoes are tight or no longer fit.  Walking or hiking can be difficult.  Clothes that fit very comfortably a few months ago are now tight or unwearable.  And for the record, I refuse to go to a maternity store.  
• I have continued my normal workout routine, but everything is much harder.  I've gone from touching my toes to the top of my feet or ankles.  Planks are much more difficult with the equivalent of a kettle ball strapped to my stomach.  
• I still go for regular bike riders but a while back, while swinging my leg over to get on my bike, something I have done thousands of times, a very important and tender part of my anatomy got caught on the pack on my bike rack.  I have learned to adjust, but still.  
• Almost all the time I am some level of discomfort.  

There are more, but this gives you an idea.  

Most if not all women go thru all of the above and much more with every pregnancy, something I have given a lot of thought to recently.  My experiences, though just a glimmer of what pregnant women go thru, do increase my perspective. 

I have often said, if a magic wand was waved and men now had to go thru child birth, the human race would be extinct in one generation.  Some men get this, many do not.  

However, many men rarely realize all the changes and challenges most women go thru while pregnant.  I attribute this to the empathy part of their brain not developing after birth, and in many cases seems to regress.  

You would like to think that with all that women go thru to keep the human race going, they would have have total control of their bodies.  You would be wrong.  

There has been a resurgence of men who believe it is their right to make personal health decisions for all women.  

• Some will say its for religious reasons.  It may be part of their religion, but has nothing to do with the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.  In the four Gospels, abortion is never mentioned, though abortion was common in the Classic world.  Other teachings like "loving your neighbor" are emphasized and it's clear neighbors are everyone.  
• Other will say they are protecting human life, yet these same men often refuse to consider any type of gun control.  From the beginning of the year into August, there have been more than 470 mass shootings in the US.  According to the CDC, more than 3,500 infants thru teens are shot and killed every year in the US and another 15,000 wounded.  So much for the protecting human life argument.  
  • When abortion center protesters are spending equal if not more time at gun shows, gun retail centers and NRA facilities protesting gun violence in the US, I will take their abortion protests more seriously.  Until that happens, they have no moral standing.  

Women are the reason our species continues to exist.  To deny them the right to personal health decisions is both immoral and a rejection of personal freedoms.  Please remember this when you vote during the upcoming mid-terms.  Candidates for state and federal office who do not affirm the independence and freedom of women are not worthy or your vote or public office at any level.  

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