A lot has happened since the last newsletter. Our birth conference was a great success thanks to the wonderful families in the Watertown area. A great deal of time and effort has gone into our legislation. Roger Hunt now has it and is putting his final touches on it before it goes to LRC. We have hired long
time SDSCO supporter, Paul Levijoki, as our lobbyist. We are renting a two bedroom apartment across from the Capitol Building for Paul & other supporters to use during the legislative session.

I’m writing this as I sit holding my newborn baby girl, born three days ago by cesarean. She is beautiful, but I am being plagued with doubts and regrets about her birth. I had all the support a woman could hope for, a wonderful midwife, her sweet apprentice, and my amazing husband, yet I could not
achieve the birth I hoped for. I keep thinking that if only I had more faith or maybe a higher tolerance for pain or something unidentified that I needed, but don’t have, I could have given birth to this baby.

I also keep thinking about how very similar labor and birth are to our struggle with the legislature. First, there is no easy way out. One has to go through the pain and toil of labor or face the pain and bitter disappointment of a cesarean birth. The legislature is the same way. We all have to do the work of contacting legislators, which is very painful for many of us or
face the pain and disappointment of defeat.

There are times when things don’t work out like we plan, and a cesarean is necessary. Likewise we can have the best-laid plan with the needed support and still suffer defeat in the legislature. I want everyone to be prepared for this possibility. Roger Hunt wants us to be realistic as well. However, I don’t want any regrets after our bill comes up next year. I want us to be able to stand and say that we did everything humanly possible to get the bill passed. I don’t want regrets and bitter disappointment, because we neglected to do what was required of us.

The plan is laid and the goal is in sight. Please, no regrets.

In Christ's Love,
Mary Nelson