[ozmidwifery] Just thought I'd share....

[Julie Castle]

Hello Listwives,   I would like to share this  analogy with you. Our tutor gave this to us after a lecture about women who have had a baby with an abnormality. It never fails to move me.   HOLIDAY TO ITALY   When you are going to have a baby it’s like planning a holiday in Italy.  You are all excited – you get lots of guide books and learn a few phrases in Italian so you can get around.  When the time comes you pack your bags and head for the airport to catch your flight to Italy.  Only when you land and the stewardess says, “Welcome to Holland” do you look at one another in shock and say, “Holland?  What are you talking about?  We booked a holiday to Italy!”   They then explain that there has been a change of plans and you have landed in Holland where you have to stay.  “But I don’t know anything about Holland!” you say.  “I don’t want to stay.”   But you do stay – and you go out and buy some guide books.  You learn some new phrases and you meet new people.  The important thing is that you are not in the filthy plague infested slum full of pestilence and famine.  You are simply in a different place from the one you planned.  It is a slower pace than Italy and less flashy, but after you have been there for a while and you have had a chance to catch your breath, you begin to discover that Holland has windmills, Holland has tulips, Holland has Rembrandts!   Of course everyone you know is busy coming and going to Italy.  They are all bragging about what a great time they had there.  For the rest of your life you will say, “Yes, that’s what I planned.  That’s where I was going.”  The pain of that will never go away.  You have to accept that pain because of the loss of your dream, the loss of that plan, is a very very significant loss.  But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you did not get to Italy you will never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland.       Love Julie, 2nd year s/m