I Versus She (Poem)

I versus She

I have two sons.
She over there has none.

I've tried twice to get pregnant, and succeeded immediately both times, and have one healthy son and another healthy son on the way.
She's been trying for years, and has run out of money to continue trying, while another succeeded in getting pregnant, only to miscarry.

I have a toddler screaming at the top of his lungs and driving me crazy.
She has a toddler who can't hear to learn to scream.

I have a boy who runs everywhere, including away from me, and throws things, can thrash and kick and slap, and jumps off of things no matter the danger.
She adopted a boy the same age who can hardly sit up on his own because the drugs his mother took when he was building inside her broke him.

I'm in pain, and I'm exhausted, and run down, and wonder how I can make it through another day alone with an exuberant, endlessly energetic boy while the one inside me beats me and stomps my bladder and all I want to do is sleep.
She's in pain and tired, too, and she has a child with just as much energy, but isn't able to stay home to care for him, because even though she hurts, she doesn't have the luxury of a husband to support her or her family, so she does what she has to.

I have a swollen stomach, my skin is stretched with brand new garishly purple stretch marks to prove it, and the little guy in there is so strong it frequently hurts when he kicks, and he can go on for an hour or more at a time.
She, however… her stomach is flat, with no stretch marks, and she feels no kicks, no pain or anything at all because her baby's heart stopped beating before she had the chance to experience these things.

I can complain about my aches, my frustrations, my experiences, my woes over pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood, c-sections and scars and stretch marks and exhaustion.
She, and she, and she… and so many others… can't complain, and can't take for granted these wonderful things that I have that I too frequently don't stop to think how truly wonderful what I have is.

Jennifer Glass
8/13/08