The first time I took the baby to the pediatrician was an event. Andre came and my sister was with us. If you think that I am a bit of a neurotic mother, I have nothing on my sister. She’s the most protective aunt you have ever seen! Since she was born analytical, she has well researched lists about every conceivable topic. Between her me and Andre, those doctors didn’t stand a chance at getting anything past us or omitting any portion of the examination.
What we were not at all prepared for was the confusion surrounding our relationship or our economic status.
To be fair, I guess the pediatrician sees it all—the good, the bad, and the kinky. Because there were three of us, at one point someone implied that we were all raising the baby alá Big Love. I had to gently explain that Jeryn’s my actual sister and not my sister wife… Actually, once I told them she lived in Atlanta they seemed to relax a bit.
The other thing that caught me off guard were the consistent offers of public assistance. I don’t know if they kept offering me WIC because I’m Black, looked disheveled (because of my fatigue and lack of a shower), or out of sheer benevolence. All I know is that the offers kept coming. They came so often that I finally asked whether all I had to do was fill out the paperwork to get the free cheese, milk, eggs, and cereal. I thought perhaps President Obama had created a protected class of female corporate lawyers in need of some help-- “Project Help a Sister Out”...
In any event, when they finally understood that I did not qualify as “low-income” they became slightly embarrassed and I left with not even a cracker. Fortunately, we are blessed to not need WIC. I think it's a good program for those who need it and there's no shame in accepting the assistance. Still, the encounter got me curious about what sparked the offers. Did something about me suggest that they offer me WIC or do they offer it to everyone???
Help me out blog readers, do they repeatedly offer everybody WIC or was it just me? Let me know if it's happened to you.
Comments
I remember the very first time I brought my son to the pediatrician, I was dizzy due to lack of sleep.
And with the C-section surgery, it was so painful.
By the way, thank you so much for your comment on my blog. Nice to meet you here. I'm returning the favor. I just followed you back. See you around.
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I really enjoyed this post, having worked in health care for 10+ years, I actually didn't find most of it surprising. Sure there are some biases everywhere, but there is so much pressure today to ensure that people know all the options for health care. However, I am not sure what the sister wife thing was about....sorry. lol
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http://chef-n-training.blogspot.com/
WIC, they encourage it for everyone. It cannot hurt to enroll and see if you qualify. It's a month's worth of free formula (for a year)if you are not breast feeding plus other goodies like cheese, cereal and milk. I had WIC for my son and it was a huge help. I didn't qualify for my daughter because my financial situation changed. It's totally free for families till the kid's 5 years old.
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The sister wife thing though? Never happened to me before. Are you in an area that has a lot of people from the Mormon faith?
Love the blog!