I thought this New York Times writer and critic was going to write about the pros and cons of having a child in modern times. But I was completely wrong. This subject is mentioned only briefly about thirty pages from the end. She has one planned four year old with a peculiar disorder called Beckwith- Wiedmann syndrome born by Caesarian section and one younger one. As the grandfather of a three month old grandson I never expected to have and have not yet met, (he lives 4746 km away) I thought this would be an interesting read. He was also born by C-section.
But this is all about the extremely complex care in modern obstetrics and the sometimes lunatic fringes of home birthing, with their anti-doctor biases, and equally controversial and contradictory advice of so-called experts in parenting. These processes are aided immensely by extensive social networking and so-called influencers, who seldom know what they are taking about.
It seems peculiar to me that the obstetricians at least in the U.S. are now recommending extensive early screening for genetic diseases for everyone, using sampling of fetal cells from the mother’s blood. This is irrespective of whether or not the parents would opt for abortion if serious defects were found. This at a time when access to abortion is being progressively inhibited in the United States. Echoes of eugenics.
I cannot comprehend the complexity of modern child birth nor of child rearing as well as any mother can, and fortunately do not now need to. But this is an informative and easy read, although I suspect it is more applicable to the U.S. than to Canada. I am sure my daughters living there would find it useful.
4.0/5
Thanks, The New Yorker.
The Passionate Reader 