Birth Story

If you're like me, you wanted to read every woman's birth story ever (or pregnancy story), just to see what could possibly happen to you or get pointers on what to do or to avoid. So, here's my story...

I SWORE I was going to go into labor early. I was about 6 or 7 months pregnant when I decided that. I had no basis, just a feeling. So when I went to my 36 week checkup and the doctor said i was 1 centimeter dilated and 50% effaced, I started getting excited. I even knew that those statistics meant nothing, as I could be there several more weeks. I scrambled around the house, making sure everything was in its place. At my appointment a week later, there was no change. So I got depressed. The next week, still no progress. And at 39 weeks, still nothing. So I asked her about stripping (or sweeping) my membranes. If you aren't familiar, that just means she used her finger to separate my water bag from my cervix just a bit. It's done during the pelvic exam and is painless, just makes you cramp as she does it. It's thought to help start the release of oxytocin so labor can start, but will only work if the body is ready to release it anyway (which goes with a pitocin-induced labor, as well. The more ready her body is, the more successful the induction is and less risk of a c-section). In my mind, this was no more intrusive than drinking herbal teas, having sex, or walking - all methods involve releasing hormones and ripening the cervix without medication or high risks. I cramped like crazy for a few days afterwards, which I expected...

That was done on the Wednesday before my due date, and by Friday I had lost my entire mucus plug (which looks exactly like you would expect....like your vagina had just blown her nose...). So, after reading everything on this and talking to a few people, I had figured labor wasn't too far away. My grandma had already planned on flying down Saturday and waiting me out, but I was more worried about my mom. This was 3 days before she was due to start school/work and I didn't want her using all of her vacation/sick days in the first week if I wasn't actually ready to start labor. However, my doctor was talking about induction the next week at the latest (41 weeks).

One thing I should mention is that when I got pregnant, I had never even considered a non-medicated delivery. I was epidural all the way. But several weeks before my due date, I started doing a bunch of research on epidurals, and watched several documentaries. They all said the same thing - that epidurals can lead to some pretty hefty side-effects and may lead to more drugs to counteract those side effects. Plus I was worried about the effect it may have on breastfeeding, since, to be perfectly honest, my nips are the smallest I've ever seen. I was worried already about him being able to latch on, and the thought of heavy medication made me even more concerned. So, I decided that I wanted to try giving birth naturally - vaginally and non-medicated - inductions included. Pitocin speeds up contractions, making them more difficult to tolerate, which leads to an epidural, which could slow labor down, which leads to even more pitocin to speed it back up, and then if your blood pressure drops with the epidural, you need magnesium to bring it back up, and if labor slows down too much, they want to do a c-section. I really didn't want to get that snowball rolling. My doctor was on board and encouraged me, which I LOVE her for.

Now, the Friday I lost the plug, my mom decided she wanted to go ahead and fly down. She flew in that afternoon. My grandma flew in the next day (my due date). And we waited.

I had another doctor's appointment Monday, and I still had not progressed any. I thought for sure that with all the cramping I had with the loss of my mucus plug, I would have dilated a bit more. But no. So she stripped my membranes again (this isn't a proven science, but it has been known to work if the woman's body is ready for labor - otherwise no real harm is done, and the risks are very small).

Since I was then past my due date, my doctor wanted me to have a non-stress test done. So my mom, grandma, and I went to the hospital right after my doctor's appointment and I laid in a bed for an hour with monitors strapped to my stomach. Colten was moving fine and his heart rate was fine, so they set me up with another test appointment for the following Thursday. I was thinking, 'over my dead body will I be back here without a baby...'

But, having had no sign of labor at all, I wasn't holding my breath. But I was telepathically trying to communicate with Colten and my own body to go into labor that night. I felt very strapped for time because it was Monday, and my doctor was only in the office until Wednesday, so unless I wanted to wait a week to either go into labor on my own or be induced- in which case my mom would most likely have to go back home - I had until the next day to decide whether or not to be induced by that Wednesday. I thought so hard about it, and I researched more than I ever had before, and talked to friends and family about it. As much as I didn't want to be induced, I did want my mom to be there with me. So I had to choose - an unwanted induction but have my mom there, or possibly go naturally within the next week and risk my mom missing it, or end up having to be induced anyway the next week. I was incredibly stressed about it.

I had been cramping all that Monday, and had Braxton Hicks contractions all day (I'd had them for months anyway, so that was nothing new). I timed them but they were still very irregular and mild. I didn't think anything of it. We had gone to lunch right before my non-stress test, and I started feeling nauseated - again, didn't think anything of it because that had happened every now and then before. Later on, we went to dinner and I had a big ol' burger. That night around 9:30, amid all my stressful worrying, I had to poop. Of all times. But, since I had eaten that burger (with jalapenos), I figured that's why I had to go to the bathroom so bad. Out of nowhere, I had painful contraction. Of course, I was on the toilet and couldn't really change positions to make it go away. I thought, "Weird..." Then a few minutes later I had another one. Then I thought, "What the hell?..." I got up, and had the same pain every few minutes. I didn't say anything to anyone, just got on the computer to look up - AGAIN - what labor contractions might feel like. I pulled up my handy contraction time app on my phone and began timing them. I also started pacing the hall every time I had one to see if they would go away, like Braxton Hicks, or get worse, like real labor. They never went away, but they weren't really getting worse, either. After several pains, I looked at my phone and saw that they were between 2 min 30 sec and 3 min apart. So I asked my mom and grandma what their contractions felt like and how they knew they were in labor. I described what mine felt like - sharp pains in my lower abdomen, and a bit of tightness in the rest of my uterus. It hurt, but wasn't bad. Then I said how close together they were, and Todd said, "Uh, weren't you supposed to go to the hospital when they were 5 minutes apart?" I said, "Yeah....but these can't be labor contractions, they're too close together right off the bat! I never got a 10 minute warning like everyone said I would!" The more I timed them, the closer they got. I thought, "okay, seriously, these are a minute and a half apart. I would be in the transition period, in enough pain to give information to any terrorist that may ask for it.....and these aren't that bad.....and I don't feel pressure like I'm supposed to push.....this can't be it."

I decided to lie down on the bed to see what happened. They slowed down to about every 3 1/2-4 minutes apart, but never died down. After a few minutes, I felt a little leak, but not unlike anything else I'd felt the past few weeks. Everyone gets a bit more discharge than before the closer to labor she gets. So I got up and started to walk to the bathroom. That's when I felt it - my water broke. Then I thought, "Oh shit. We gotta go." Luckily I had a pad on because of the spotting from the membrane sweep earlier (yeah, you spot, too) so I didn't get water everywhere. It wasn't so much a gush as some people get, but it was more than a trickle. It was enough that I couldn't control it and it absolutely did feel like I was peeing my pants.

Despite the war going on in my head, I was calm throughout the whole thing. I was breathing through each contractions, even though they weren't too painful and my family was calm, too. So, a little after 10pm that Monday night, we headed to the hospital. The contractions stayed at about 3 minutes apart, give or take seconds. Since it was after hours, we had to go in through the ER and walk to Labor and Delivery - quite a walk for a woman in labor carrying luggage and pillows. We preregistered, so it was no time before I was in a bed ready to go. They checked me when I got in the bed and I was dilated to 4 and about 90% effaced. Needless to say, I was thrilled I didn't have to make the painful decision on induction, and my family was there with me. Between 10:30 and 2, my contractions were quite regular (a min and a half apart) and quite painful. By 2 am, I was shaking and could barely breath. My contractions were still a minute and a half apart, but they were coming every 2 minutes. That left about 30 seconds for me to relax. I couldn't. They had checked me not too long before that point and I was around 5.5 cm dilated. But when my contractions because that painful, I knew I was in transition, and if I was going to make it out alive, I needed help. I was getting nauseated with every contraction, and I knew it was only a matter of time before I got sick and/or passed out. I asked for the epidural (oh, and a BIG shout-out to the staff of Slidell Memorial for not pressing me or offering the epidural more than once), Todd said, "Are you sure?" I said, "Yes, I can't make it this way." They asked if I wanted to be checked beforehand or wait until after, and I said after. So they called the anesthesiologist and within 15 minutes, he was there and prepping me for the epidural. It was the longest 15 minutes of my life. He was great, though, and I didn't feel too much pain when he inserted the catheter. After about 10 minutes, I started to feel relief. They checked me and I was dilated to 8 and 100% effaced. Had I waited any longer, I wouldn't have been able to get the epidural.

I was afraid that the epidural would slow down my progress, since I had only been in labor 4.5 hours and progressed that far that fast. It didn't slow down my contractions at all, and I was beginning to feel pressure after a bit. I dilated from 8 to 10 in about 3 more hours, but my cervix was still just a bit present. Just enough that I couldn't push. That was the only thing that seemed to have slowed. By 7 am Tuesday, they said I was ready to push and they called the doctor. They gave me enough of a time window that the small lip of my cervix still present would be gone by the time she got there. 7:45 or so she was there prepping herself and me. I pushed about 15-20 minutes, with each contraction getting in 3 pushes. I got the hang of it very fast (thank you, TLC, for all the birth stories and pointers), and at 8:16am, my sweet boy was born. I was in labor for about 10.5 hours, pretty good for a first delivery considering the average time is 14 hours.

I'm quite proud to say I toughed it out that long, even though my birth plan didn't go exactly like I wanted. The nurses talked about it even the next day. Apparently, having a woman go into labor on her own, having her water break without intervention, AND going that far into labor without medication is unusual nowadays. And I don't doubt it with all the inductions for convenience and unnecessary interventions that could have been prevented with just a little patience. I'm not proud to say that I did consider those methods for the same reasons. I wasn't happy about it, let me tell you. But it didn't even matter, thank God, and I was able to do what my body wanted to do, and only 3 days past my due date, which is really good for a first pregnancy.

A tip for my pregnant friends who want to try to go natural - BREATHE. It helps with Braxton Hicks, too. There are different methods to this, but I just did what came naturally to me. That's the key - do what feels natural to you. That goes for caring for the baby, too. But more on that in a bit...

Crafty

I used to think being "domesticated" was the last thing I'd ever do. Open mouth. Insert foot. Since becoming pregnant, I've done just about every domestic thing I can think of. Correction - it's been this way since getting married. It started out with cooking. Turns out I'm a pretty good cook. I can follow just about any recipe and get the desired results, and lots of times I can exceed my own expectations. Rarely do I end up disappointed, but it's happened (chicken pot pie from scratch and blueberry pie....with both I had problems with the crust). I'll go into cooking later.

For the past two months, I've been seriously into crocheting. I love it and am pretty good at it (what am I not good at, really?...).

A sample of things I've made:

A blanket for my baby

A hat and scarf for me

I'm starting to crochet a different hat for myself, but having a little trouble getting it started. Sometimes the patterns don't come with easy-to-understand instructions and I have to research until I find someone who can explain it better.

It's actually really easy if your fingers are nimble enough. It took me about 6 weeks to make the blanket (several days I didn't work on it, or I'd work a few minutes a day). It took me about 2 days to make the scarf, and one day for the hat. Hats are tricky. My stitches tend to be tight, so the hat came out a bit smaller than desired....but luckily I don't have a ginormous head so it just fits okay. The tan brim was supposed to be flipped up, but I looked ridiculous and it wouldn't fit over my head. Leaving it down looks okay, too. I don't care.

If you have an interest in this hobby, I recommend Caron brand yarn. It's softer than other yarns and the colors are prettier, in my opinion. Great for baby things or things close to your skin. Of course, it's also twice what other yarns cost. I just bought a skein of Red Heart and it feels scratchy. But stupid Hobby Lobby here rarely has what I want so I got what they had (every time I go in there, I leave disliking it more and more).

I have to give all the credit to my baby. If I didn't have crocheting, I'd pull my hair out waiting for him to get ready to come out. Since I'm due any day now, I've reached a crocheting frenzy. Every cramp and contraction has me going crazy thinking, "Is this it?!" It never is. So I go back to my crocheting needles...

Don't be surprised if you get crocheted gifts for Christmas. I'll take orders, too. :)

Bored

I am so envious of all you people who knew what you wanted to be "when you grew up" and stuck with it. Me? I've flip-flopped back and forth since I was a kid. First a teacher, then a nurse, then a marine biologist, then a musician, then a business woman, then a lawyer, then a teacher again, and over and over and over. I changed majors three times before I finally said, "Fine, I'll stick with this till I graduate." Then I go to get a masters in history, and I hate it. So I try to get another bachelors in nursing. I quit, I don't even know why. Then I try to go to law school. I wasn't very sold on it and knew it was WAY too much money to invest in something I wasn't sure about...so that's on hold. Sure, a law degree is pretty versatile and I can find something to do with it besides practicing law. But still...Five years after I graduated from college, and I still don't have any clue what I should do with my life.

I've hated every job I've had except one, but even then I wasn't happy because it just wasn't enough. I've been in retail, child care, restaurants, and clerical. The retail thing was just awful. Nautica was the only place I ever really semi-enjoyed, and that was only because of the people I worked with. Child care was great, but the $8 for 42.5 hrs of work a week wasn't....I was struggling to pay my bills, even with overtime. Restaurants - ugh, don't even get me started. One woman told me I was the worst server she'd ever seen and didn't leave me a tip. I just don't have the personality to be a server, unless it's at Dick's Last Resort where I can be a bitch and people are loving it.

And now I've been doing clerical work for the past 2 years. Started out great because it was my first "real" job, complete with benefits and paid vacation. Then I started to get bored. I beat the game, so to speak, and didn't wanna play anymore. I performed so well that my boss promoted me to another position after 6 months. Only I didn't get paid more. I had twice the responsibility, my own office, but the same pay. So I got frustrated. It wasn't anyone's fault, really - we just didn't have the work coming in. Then the work slowed even more, and I was put back on the reception desk, still doing my same work. By that point, I was really pissed. I was unhappy because my immediate supervisor was a know-it-all bitch (who was hired after me, I actually trained her on some things) and I was feeling extremely underchallenged and unimportant. The bright side was that I had a lot of friends that I worked with and was actually making enough money that I could put some aside in savings.

But that didn't last long. We started laying people off weekly, and I knew it was only a matter of time before they started on the admin. So when I got a call one day out of the blue from my prior recruiter asking if I was interested in interviewing for another position, I accepted. I got the job. They were going to pay me the same pay (after I fought for more b/c I'd be driving further), one less week of paid vacation (I had earned two before, but they weren't going to give me that same benefit), and it was a temp-to-perm job. I thought long and hard about it, and ended up taking it just because a lay-off was imminent.

I've regretted that decision ever since. I had no way of knowing why lay ahead, but I can say this - I would have lost my other job within a month anyway, so at least I still get paid. And as for the know-it-all at the old job? She's still there. She's Document Control, a brand new position in the company. Know who they laid off in admin? Procurement. He'd been there for years and was in charge of ordering the equipment the engineers used for the projects. She just files shit in the server and sends out transmittals, a job the engineers and other admin did themselves. I mean, hey, if they get a new project, they won't be able to get equipment, but they damn sure can file some papers.

Anyway, the reason I hate my current job is the same reason I've hated all my other jobs - it's boring. When I interviewed, I was told there was steady work coming in and I would be busy most of the time. I've done about two days worth of work since I started here FOUR MONTHS AGO. I sit here for 8-9 hours a day, five days a week, and play on the computer. Half the time I'm completely alone. There are only 4 other guys in the office, and 2 of them have been in the field for about a month, and the other 2 are in and out. I've read almost every book I own, I've read magazines, done puzzles, written, researched, daydreamed, napped, listened to music, walked around, thrown rubber band balls against the wall...you name it. When I do get a task, it takes me about ten minutes, depending on what it is. It's not difficult work. I'm even bored when I'm working, because I usually do thing I did in college (write a letter, file, make copies...). All the free time gets my mind to wandering, naturally. I think, "My God, I spent 4 and a half years in college, and this is what I'm doing." As a matter of fact, just yesterday I said, "College is so worthless when it comes to careers. It's great for life-experiences, but that's about it." Of course, that's for most people. The lucky few who specialized in something like teaching, nursing, etc. have it made. They get licensed, and they're done. The rest of us end up scrounging around for what puny positions we can find and then kiss ass so we can hopefully go somewhere with it, but then most times we're climbing a ladder we don't even want to climb. I had so many things in mind for my life that I had hoped to achieve by the time I turned 30. Having a career was of course one of them. I don't even have the possibility of a career, because I either stay a secretary or go back to school. I exhaust myself trying to figure out what to go back to school for. I don't know what's wrong with me. Why do I get so bored with everything I do? I learn the skill, ace it, then get bored and don't want to do it anymore.

Hell, I'm even bored with this post.

Small Update

Not much has been going on with me here in New Orleans. I work everyday (although I use the term "work" very loosely) and then make the hour-long commute home. It sucks. I left my old job at the engineering firm in Metairie because I knew it was only a matter of time before I was laid off and got offered a position in downtown New Orleans for the same pay. So naturally I took it and it's been a pain in my butt ever since. It's a temp-to-perm job, so I had doubts about leaving my already "permanent" job and coming to this one. I also lost benefits like insurance, paid time off, holidays, and vacation, NOT TO MENTION the extra commute time and gas usage. So, all in all, I'm losing money and time. But, I still have a job, albeit one I dislike very much. I'm very disappointed in my work life right now. It'll all work out eventually, I just need to find my way.



However, another area of my life is going extremely well, and wouldn't you know, it just happens to be my love life. I've been dating Todd for two and a half years now and he's the love of my life. Everything (EVERYTHING) I had before was nothing until I met him. I know most of you haven't had the privilege of meeting him, but he's the greatest. He's funny, highly intelligent, sociable, has great respect and love for his family, is a big hunk of blonde-haired blue-eyed man, and for whatever reason, he loves me. He can put up with my crap and has taught me the real meaning of love. This one's for forever.




Okay, enough sap. I have a new niece! Her name is Gabriella Nicole and she's teeny-tiny. Sadly, I have only gotten to see her once, when she was born. Georgia loves her little sister and hopefully they won't fight too much in the next 18 years....

Religion (You've Been Warned)

So the American Humanist Association has paid for advertising in the Washington, D.C. area for the holidays. It will mostly be posted at bus stops and it says, "Why believe in God? Just be good, for goodness sake." Last month, the British Humanist Association advertised at London bus stops, "There's probably no God. Just stop worrying and enjoy your life."

Now, I'm all for these ads, because to me, religion in general just doesn't make sense. Andrea and I recently saw Bill Mayer's movie "Religulous," and I sided with Bill during the entire movie. Logically and scientifically, religion doesn't make sense. Bill even interviewed a priest at the Vatican (two actually--one on the street and one in the conservatory), and both of them basically said, "Whatever, it's all a big crock anyway." Most religious people he interviewed were quick to dismiss him and judge him (as they oft do). There were very few exceptions that listened, laughed, and prayed with/for him. That, if I believed in it, would be my idea of religion. Accept that others have different views, don't judge them, but treat them with respect. Different viewpoints does not equal sin (if it exists). If that were the case, education as we know it would cease to exist, because that's all education is--varying viewpoints.

But I digress...

Conservative groups in Washington are also vamping up their campaigns to keep Christ is Christmas. Really? Keep Christ is Christmas? That would imply that he was once there. Christmas is a secular holiday, people. There is evidence that "Christ" wasn't even born on December 25. And for hundreds of years, Christmas has been about Santa Claus. Don't believe me? Research the history of Santa Claus. He's ancient. Even the most religious of families teach their children to believe in Santa Claus, only for them to find out when they're 10 (if they're lucky) that Santa doesn't exist. Now, if you've believed in someone your entire life only to discover it's a scam, why do some people continue to believe in God? Because they've been instilled with the fear that they will go to this horrible awful place and God will somehow strike them down. Well I'm here to tell you, I've said some blasphemous things in my day and I'm still here. There are so many people in the world who don't believe in God and they're still here, still healthy, even. That doesn't mean I'm a horrible person. I have enemies, sure, but it's probably because of trivial things like miscommunication, rumors, or jealousy. That's usually the reason I dislike someone. Had I been open and honest with a person at first, I may have found out that he/she wasn't as bad as I wanted him/her to be.

Also quoted: "It's the ultimate grinch to say there is no God at a time when millions of people around the world celebrate the birth of Christ," said Mathew Staver, the group's chairman and dean of the Liberty University School of Law. "Certainly, they have the right to believe what they want but this is insulting."

What?! Atheists getting called derogatory names and being insulted isn't, well, insulting? But I forgot...it's Holy, right?

Wait, there's one more: Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life poll from earlier this year found 92 percent of Americans believe in God. Either it's a skewed number, or else the 8% who don't believe in God are very loud and ever present.

And another thing--I don't dislike people because of their religious views. To each his own. I respect your views just as I expect you to respect mine. Being religious doesn't make you better. You could go to church everytime the door is open, but if you're out getting laid by every person that walks by and badmouths "friends" when they walk out the door, I'm going to disrespect and dislike you so hard that you'll have icicles forming on your asshole when I walk in the room. And why should you care if I disrespect and dislike you? Because I'm the shit, for one thing. And for another, you're God-fearing and God-loving, right? Practice what you preach, sistah.

Of course, I'm only joking about me being the shit (at least a little anyway).

Another interesting item:

American Family Association president Tim Wildmon was quoted: "It's a stupid ad," he said. "How do we define 'good' if we don't believe in God? God in his word, the Bible, tells us what's good and bad and right and wrong. If we are each ourselves defining what's good, it's going to be a crazy world."

You know, Tim, in my world, right and wrong is defined by, ya know, the law. And that may not be the best example because, to my knowledge, they still make testifiers swear on the Bible. That would mean nothing to me, but I'd tell the truth anyway, because it's the right thing to do--Bible aside. But I would define "wrong" as being something that hurts someone else in any way, shape, or form. And of course, it's tricky. Life would be a lot easier if "right and wrong" were more clearly defined. And reading between Tim's lines, I would deduce that if people don't believe in God, who are they to determine right from wrong. Clearly, those people have no boundaries or morals, right?

This all boils down to one thing-

Religion is a way to keep the population under someone else's control. Look at history. The weaker citizens (weaker in income, education, whatever) have always yearned for someone else to look up to. Enter Jesus. As long as something is done "in the name of God," then it must be right. How many Holy Wars have existed? How many people murdered "in the name of God/Allah/Jehovah?" Why is that "moral?" Islam is no different, in terms of proclaiming things in the name of God. Christians have had their fair share of murders throughout history, as well. "Convert or die." Independence? No such thing. You must be a follower. You must do as I say. When it's a mortal man making such claims, it's a cult. It's evil. But a fictional character? It's Holy.

I went to church every Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, was in all the performances, did all the Youth Group things...When I turned 16, I thought, "What in the world? None of it makes sense." And I hadn't even gotten to college yet. I've tried going back to church. One preacher said we were going to Hell if we cursed. See ya there, pal. And others--they were just as ridiculous. Methodist, Baptist, Nazarene, I've been to Mass and researched Judaism extensively (and of all the above, the latter makes the most sense to me, by the way).

I just don't understand how this makes sense to people. It's about how strongly one believes? I can have as much faith and belief that I'll be a millionaire in 5 years. But this isn't NeverNeverLand. I live in reality, and seeing as how I'm just a secretary, that AIN'T gonna happen. I can work as hard as I want, and short of whoring myself out on the streets in the Quarter, there's not really a plausible way of making that belief a reality. So how can I dedicate my entire life to living according to an invisible entity's laws? I can't.

And for those of you whom I've offended, I get forward after forward after forward in my email and even cell phone saying that if I believe in God, I'll forward this to 10 people or else it means I'm the devil. So if you've chosen to read to the end, then it was voluntary and there's no need to be offended (just as I am never offended at the forwards--they're just annoying and I delete them anyway). You were forewarned.

Current Events

There is finally proof that universal healthcare doesn't work. Hawaii began a healthcare program for children 7 months ago and already they have discontinued it. The reason? The children were previously insured but the parents cancelled their insurance so they could be eligible for free healthcare. In essence, the government was providing free care for those who did not need it. Does the word "welfare" come to mind? Hawaii discovered that not only were people cancelling their insurance, but that the MAJORITY of the children insured under the universal healthcare program had previously been insured.

I thought that perhaps the program would work if the government issued a bylaw stating something like, "If you have been previously insured in the past 12 months, you are not eligible for this healthcare program." However, the problem with that is that people who have lost their jobs--as well as their benefits--6 months ago but cannot afford to get private insurance would also not be eligible for the free healthcare program and would be required to wait another 6 months before being able to see a doctor. Will people always fall through the cracks? Or will humanity be able to invent a truly successful program that will benefit those that really need it?

Universal healthcare is great on paper. But there are millions of people in our country and the government is already trillions of dollars in debt. And being uninsured SUCKS. So what's the solution? Will the insurance industry become decent and humanitarian and stop trying to suck people dry, nickling and diming every person? Probably not. Money has such a tight grip on everyone that when you get a little bit, you want just a little bit more, and more after that. If anyone reading this is in the insurance business, please enlighten me. I always want to be more informed.

But perhaps the most disturbing thing about this--besides the insurance companies--are the people in Hawaii that completely took advantage of a program designed to help the uninsured seek the healthcare they need. People like that are everywhere. They're the people who refuse to work because they receive welfare checks every week, then walk on over to the car lot and drive out in a brand new Cadillac. They're the people who park in handicap parking spaces, then jog to the door of the WalMart. And I know most people are guilty of this one.

But just think--if we refrained from doing the smallest of things that were really not designed for us, think about how successful the hypothetical government programs would be. We always complain about the government is not efficient, how everything takes so long to go into effect, how they always want to screw people over. Maybe if we just helped them out a little bit, things would be more efficient and beneficial.

Your thoughts?