Gather ‘Round For A Story

I have another story to tell you from our vacation. I know. It was a month ago. But this one just has to be told.

One night, Husband and I decided to go see a comedian perform. The show was supposed to be “clean” and it was free. Can’t pass up free entertainment, even though we expected she would be a bit more liberal in her political views than us.

Anyway, the show started, and was going well. M, the comedian, was funny, and she did a great job of engaging the audience. She carried on a conversation with a hairdresser and a couple who’d been dating 45 years. We all got some laughs out of that one. And yes, she was politically pretty liberal.

Then M started talking about having kids and spied a pregnant lady on the front row. She stuck up a conversation with Jessica, the pregnant lady, who said this was her 2nd kid. Eventually, she asked Jessica if she’d had an epidural with her first child, and Jessica said, “No.”

I thought M’s jaw would hit the floor. She was speechless for a moment, then recovered and started asking more questions. Poor Jessica.

M: “Why? Why didn’t you have an epidural? That’s just crazy!”

Jessica: “The hospital didn’t have them.”

M: “You mean they didn’t offer you one?”

Jessica: “No, the hospital doesn’t do them. At all.”

M: “What? What kind of hospital was this? Were you in a third world country? Where are you from?”

Jessica: “Prince Edward Island, Canada.” (At which point, all the Canadians in the room applauded.)

M: “Seriously? They don’t have epidurals in Canada?”

Jessica: “Not in our hospital.”

I thought M was going to fall off the stage. I leaned over to Husband and said, “I suppose that’s what universal healthcare gets you.” He agreed.

The moral of the story is this: It sounds like the medical care on Prince Edward Island hasn’t advanced much since Anne of Green Gables, and I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not have to depend on a red-haired girl with a bottle of ipecac who lives across the pasture to save my baby from the croup. And other things like that. So let’s pay attention and not let that happen, shall we?