Babies aren't "toys"

I've noticed that many individuals especially young individuals think having a baby is an exciting interactive toy. I start to question, do they realize this is a human being? That once this baby is born, he/she has a life that that child will have to live with for the rest of his/her life. So I can't help wondering can these young adults provide a good stable healthy life for a child? During their pregnancy, do they realize that they need pregnancy vitamins such as folic acid, iron and calcium while maintaining a healthy diet? A multi-vitamin such as Materna that costs approximately twenty dollars a bottle is essential. The costs of raising a child starts at conception. Having a baby shouldn't be a tactic to trap a boyfriend and it shouldn't be used to create more drama. (Children don't keep couples together) During pregnancy, even smoking a cigarette will harm the unborn fetus. A poor diet and stresses throughout a pregnancy can prove to create complications for the unborn child and to the expecting mother. During pregnancy it's not exactly a joy ride, your body changes, stretches, your hormones are all over the map, you can develop depression which can lead to postpartum depression. Which means after given birth, you become severely depressed for three months up to a year. Babies don't turn off. They cry constantly. Some babies are colic which means nothing will soothe them. Pacing the hallways I remember with my oldest daughter all night long wasn't fun. Besides diapers, formula (if you don't breastfeed) clothes, medicines......the list goes on and on - until adulthood - children cost millions of dollars over their childhood lifespan. A pregnancy should be the number one exciting joy in one or a couples life and it shouldn't be taken lightly. There is so many children born with different special needs, so many children that suffer all throughout their life because of the fault of their carrier. I really try hard to have compassion for everyone, to understand the circumstances that could contribute to a baby being born under conditions that aren't appealing. Although there is pregnancies that are absolutely wrong happening daily that feeds our foster care system. As an adoptive mother, I know all too well how a child is affected by influences during utero, how they're affected all throughout their life with different special needs, how they struggle knowing that "some" birth family truly and simply messed them up. See, we have some birth family that are wonderful and then there are some that continues to destroy our child's life with their distorted images on how the Ministry caused them such grief. On how us as adoptive parents have messed the "child's" life. On the contrary, we adopted and gave our children a new start in hopes it stops this cycle of pregnancies that shouldn't be taking place but I'm not god. As you can tell......I awoke this morning slightly frustrated with knowing that these poor human beings are being conceived into a life of possible heart break. Yes, a challenging road. My only hope is that all these parents change their life, step up to the plate for the child because it's not about them anymore. I also know my fan club is limited these days because the truth hurts. Ironically I was a shy quiet person. I'm still very quiet; I usually keep my opinions to myself but while I raise many children from these typical situations - something needs to change. Potentially ruining a persons life from conception is wrong. To whom it concerns, attention all expecting parents - remember a pregnancy is someones life. It's not compassionate to make their life struggle. All I can say is, "Better make the right choices and step up to the plate from the moment you learn you're pregnant!" My thought for today.