Hospital Loma de Luz- Honduras

She is called into the office for a routine prenatal ultrasound - I remember this woman from a previous prenatal visit.  Mother.  She eagerly enters the office, entrusting her and her unborn child's care to a person dressed in scrubs.  Doctor.  She lies down on the exam table in anticipation- a slight twitch in her belly tells us there is life within her. Child.  We cross "positive fetal movement" off our mental checklist of important things to ask the mother. A few questions, machine clicks, and a mound of ultrasound gel later, the ultrasound probe lands gently on her belly. The ultrasound probe patiently finds its way to the child's beating heart- the machine calculates 140 times per minute. Alive .  A series of limb movements resembling those of a novice kickboxer keep us entertained. Active .  The probe sequentially hovers over the child's bladder, stomach, heart, and finally eyes. Human.   Then, suddenly the ultrasound probe feels heavie...

"...[A mother] knows intuitively that to give, to nurture, to care for others,  to suffer with and for them - for maternity implies suffering - is infinitely more valuable  in God's sight than to conquer nations and fly to the moon." ~ Alice von Hildebrand I agree- too often the political leaders and astronauts of this world dominate the sphere of public recognition, but it is the mother who serves as the everyday hero of our world.  My time here in Honduras has only amplified my understanding of the heroism of a mother. In a hospital where epidurals are nowhere to be found, it's that much harder to ignore the suffering inherent in every woman's labor. In a place where poverty is more common than not, it's that much harder to ignore the maternal sacrifices of time, personal health, and money. In a country where some ordinary resources and most extraordinary means of treatment are inaccessible, it's that much harder to ignore the inequities in maternal and ...