Today I was reading the magazine, Lamaze Parents. In the “President’s Letter” section of the mag, Raymond De Vries, PhD pointed out the distinction between the phrases women use when they are going to give birth. He “studied maternity care in the Netherlands where one-third of women give birth at home.
There I learned that while we who speak English say, “I am having a baby,” in Dutch the expression is, “I am getting a baby.”…When we “have” a baby, we are inclined to arrange the experience to suit our needs. But when we “get” a baby, both the baby and the birth are gifts we are given. Like all gifts, they offer us the chance to be surprised, to be thankful, and to learn a little bit more about who we are.
I found this entire passage relevant to a growing trend in our society–that of scheduled c-sections for non-medical reasons. I’m all for a woman’s right to choose, but I don’t understand why so many women are choosing this option. I don’t think people understand that this is major surgery, and with this surgery comes a longer recuperation time.
I love the idea of saying For me, it is more appropriate to say, “I am getting a baby” rather than “I am having a baby.” Even though this can be a stressful and challenging time in a woman’s life, “getting” a baby is a precious gift; an experience that no man can ever have, and not even all women can, or will, have. The article only mentioned these two examples but I would love to hear from women (or men) of other cultures about how one would say this in their respective language.
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