In today's local paper (very small town attitude) is a big story about the
wonderful prenatal clinic in town that cares for the poorest of the poor
pregnant women in the Brazos Valley.  They go on and on about how wonderful
the clinic is, what a great service it provides, how the numbers of
premature and low birth weight babies are down greatly since the clinic has
been in existence (all of which I agree with).  Then they're talking about
the problems of teen moms, and include this statement:


"Problems compound for clinic case managers when a teenager won't cooperate,
even though they know the teen wants help.  One 19 year old hid her
pregnancy for 32 weeks before she finally came in for prenatal care.  At 37
weeks of her pregnancy she still DIDN'T EVEN HAVE A BOTTLE FOR HER BABY OR A
PLACE FOR THE CHILD TO SLEEP."

Sorry for shouting.  I am gearing up to write a searing letter to the paper.
If the wonderful wonderful prenatal clinic is chastising a mother for not
having a bottle for her baby, or a crib, somebody's not getting the message.
Earlier in the story they profile a woman who has a 7 year old (born when
the mom was 16), an 11 month old and a 1 month old.  Did the folks at the
clinic ever consider telling the mother that if she breastfed she wouldn't
have had two kids in one year??????

I know I'm preaching to the choir, but I just needed to vent.


GRRRRRRRRRRR.............


Kathy Dettwyler