2 day’s ago, on December 31 at 7:01 my wife Amy gave birth to our 8lb 6oz baby girl Eliza Love. Eliza is our 3rd girl and like all the others I stood there in amazement as I watched her enter into the world. After the delivery Amy and I sat there for the rest of the day holding Eliza, introducing her to our friends and just resting and preparing to take her home.
It wasn’t as easy as I thought to take this little girl home. The doctors didn’t want to let us go, they told us that it was to soon and that they wanted to make sure that Amy and Eliza were ok. They checked Elizas weight, her color, her hearing and more. They went over and over and over again with us how to take care of her. They told us what to do when she has a fever, they told us what to do if she doesn’t poop. They went over the phone numbers that we could call in the case of an emergency and gave us every other little precaution that we needed to look for to make sure she was ok. Then, after 3 hours they let us go.
It was somewhere between frustration and excitement that I realized how grateful I am to live in this nation. I also morned how brutal it is to be born a beautiful little girl in many other parts of the world. 2/3 of the worlds approximately 1 billion illiterate adults are women. 80% of all refugees and trafficked persons are women. 100 million girls are expected to enter forced marriage in the next decade. 70% of the worlds poorest people are women. Globally 1 in 6 women have been sexually assaulted. Out of the worlds approx. 130 million out of school youth 70% are girls.
If our little girl had of been born in most other parts of the world (population wise) she wouldn’t stand a chance. In many SE Asia and African countries women have babies and have no idea what to look for when they are sick. They don’t get nurses and midwives who sit with them and tell them how to care for their baby and what to do if they get sick. Billians of moms can’t even afford health care for their babies even if they do get sick because they only make $1-$2 a day and are spending that money on food so their family can eat, not on health care.
In many other countries in the world there is no value in being born a women. For a graphic example of this check out this Media Storm video here. Women are not considered equal to men in many parts of the world, so they are disregarded and considered unimportant. This is even the case in this country as many of the nurses yesterday were saying “wow another girl. So your going to have to try again to have a boy.” I was and am disgusted by comments like these.
I guess what I am saying here is that God got a hold of me yesterday and slapped me in the face with the reality of the world. I am filled with excitement at the birth of my little girl, but can’t help being filled with dispair and grief over women and moms who don’t have the same equality and treatment. What can we do, we can do justice, we can get involved, we can do something.
All content from Steps Of Justice Prayer and Action guide.
Well, you’re clearly already sleep deprived! She was born yesterday… the first sentence says it was 2 days ago!
We can’t wait to see you guys.
Indeed, it is true. It’s a beautiful injustice to be born in this country. Made double maddening by the simple fact that most people don’t seem to even take notice of just how fortunate they are because they have never left the comforts of home.
I’ve always found it somewhat humourous that you have had 3 girls without a Y chromosome between them. I think you really latched on to something with your post here, girls are God’s way of keeping you focused on the injustice done to women in our world as long as you live.
I am so happy for you, man!
My heart was heavy too as I started thinking about it. This crazy clash of celebration and harshness coming together. It didn’t ruin the moment, but it did cause me to remember.
Congratulations to you and Amy, welcome Eliza. Also, to have a healthy pregnancy and very healthy baby is miraculous itself. Take care.
Wow. I never realized it was a privelage to be born a woman in the US. This inspires me to champion woman in the truth of God and to take back what the enemy stole- from here in the local church to the barrios around the world. Thanks Phil.