Modern Medicine Miracle

"So, I was thinking about you dying..."

Now, that is a conversation starter! And that is also how I greeted my wife this afternoon when she came home from a successful trip to the maternity clothing store.

Funny thing about bringing a new life into the world. You think more about how you will depart. Things that seemed to be far off worries become sudden necessities: wills, godparents, insurance.

Remember when you drunkenly joked to your college roommate, "Ok, if I die, you can have my stuff?" That was a long time ago.

But what got me thinking about my wife dying was that only a few decades ago, childbirth may have killed her.

Centuries ago, a woman dying during childbirth was commonplace. Centuries ago, an infant had a far worse chance of seeing age one than it does today.

Today, when I hear about a woman dying during childbirth (typically from "complications"), I can only think how antiquated that sounds. But for us - for my wife - it is a very real possibility. Or at least it would have been.

Thanks to the miracle of modern medicine, my wife's childbirth will likely be death-free, though more pre-planned than we once thought. Her blood, usually the consistency of a fine marinara, is thinned twice daily. Potentially fatal blood clots never have the chance to form and my wife will not suffer a fate more suitable for a 17th Century European peasant.

So, with one calamity avoided, it's on to preparing for the next by making sure that should I meet a premature demise, that my family will be taken care of. Even in death, you can't stop being a responsible father.