Newsworthy

I try to keep this blog narrowly focused -- all Izzy, all the time -- so I don't usually write about stories in the news or current events, but I can't resist this story for several reasons.

As the headline reads, "Coach at Game Hours After Giving Birth." About five hours after delivering her first child, the head coach of a collegiate women's basketball team showed up at their regional championship game. The assistant coach did most of the work, as one might expect, while the head coach sat on the bench for the duration of the game (which they lost); she then returned to the hospital. This is apparently remarkable enough to make the national news, and I sort of agree -- I didn't leave the house until I was two weeks postpartum. The coach must have left her newborn back at the hospital, which also seems remarkable, in a bad way -- there is no way I would have voluntarily separated from Isaac at that point. Maybe I just don't understand sports.

But after I read the story a few times, I noticed an even more remarkable angle -- the coach had traveled out-of-state for the game. The baby was due, so this wasn't a surprise early birth -- in fact, she even carried her medical records with her just in case. Every other woman I've known has prepared to give birth by nesting at home as well as familiarizing herself with the birth site and her caregivers. For instance, we hired a doula who would remain at my side throughout labor, we took a tour of the hospital's maternity ward, and my OB's office made sure I had met all their doctors. Two women I know have chosen voluntary inductions in order to schedule their own OB to deliver the baby, and many women give birth at home for the same reason -- there is comfort and strength in the familiar. The coach ended up giving birth far away from home, in a strange hospital, with strange doctors. Again, maybe I just don't understand sports.

By the way, did you click the link to the original story? If you did, then you saw it -- yep, another baby named Isaac.