30 weeks and thoughts on being a mom

Okay, so it's not a very quality picture...I snapped it really quick before I headed out this morning! But, you get the idea: I'm MASSIVE!!! I wonder how much bigger I can get in the 10 weeks that are left? I'm very excited to be 30 weeks pregnant!

Some thoughts on being a mother in this country:
As people who are close to me know, I have been very stressed out throughout my pregnancy by the lack of support that this country gives families. I vacillate between feeling like I hate this country and how non-family-friendly it is, and feeling like I'm wrong to expect a "handout." Today is one of the days when I am very angry with our country. Here's why:
This morning NPR did a little segment in honor of mother's day. The segment discussed a recent study that some NGO did on which countries are the most family-friendly. Number one? Sweden, where you are guaranteed 1 year of paid maternity leave (which is at least 80% of your full salary) and domestic help is tax-deductible, among other things. Guess where the USA ranks? #27.
Are families really so unimportant to this country?
I love how the talking heads love to say that "our children are our best resources." I love how you always hear that "our youth are our best hope" and all that other junk.
I wonder, if our children were really our best resources, then maybe would we consider taxing another great resource (oil companies) in order to support our "best resource." Maybe we could just tax all of the big companies in general. Maybe individual people could even handle a little more taxing...I think , if we love and believe in children so much, then maybe we could support a few things.
As a list-lover, here are a few things that I think we should do to support our best resource:
1. Since we know that health is something that our best resource vitally needs, maybe health insurance should be SOCIALIZED so EVERYONE can get healthcare.
2. Since we know that time with family is important then maybe we could give everyone maternity leave...regardless of how long they've been with their employer and whether or not that person was working full-time.
3. Maternity leave should be longer than SIX WEEKS. A six week old infant does NOT belong in daycare! If Sweden can afford to give new moms 52 weeks then can't we do better than 6?
4. PATERNITY LEAVE, MAYBE???? In such a "forward-thinking" and "equality-loving" country you would think we'd be smart and progressive enough for that one. Our country is incredibly sexist when it comes to fathers' rights and privileges!
5. What's up with "sick time?" Are we supposed to work even if we or our children are sick?
6. How about some vacation time so we can actually be with our families? Since we know that having dinner together every night is so important how about some opportunities to do even more amazing things together than share a meatloaf? Like travel to other countries or go for a roadtrip or go camping? I do not think that 96% of my weeks out of every year should be work-weeks. That's the same as saying that 4% of our weeks every year should be spent with our children...is that good for our best resource? Not good enough, I think.
Okay, I'm going to stop there...for now.
In honor of mother's day I think it's important to think about the fact that our country...which is the "superpower" of the world and truly one of the richest nations...is 27th on the list of family-friendly countries. I think it's important to think about all the ways that we fail to support families. It's important to keep in mind what our best resources and those things that are most important to us are, so that we can constantly be striving to move up that list. We could at least shoot for top-10. :)