For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for January 04, 2020

Even Nagisa of anime “Clannad” thought of giving birth at home. She later on didn’t have much of a choice to go to the hospital when she simultaneously caught a fever and went into labor during a snowstorm.

How can you tell when John is really, really angry?

Answer: He picks up the laundry himself and carries it.

Sorry John, but it’s not your decision to make!

All three of my grandchildren were born at home.. in a hot tub no less. No problems and they grew up just fine. Oldest is a concert violinist.

Take her to a heated swimming pool and let her have the birth there.

The baby is half his.

Regardless of the merits of home birth vs the hospital….

nobody has mentioned that John’s idea of Elly being “sensible” is for her not to think…

that is, to always do everything his way, and let him do the thinking.

I’d think she’d be tempted sometimes to just do the opposite of what he thinks, right or wrong, rather than let him be so controlling.

Of course, how to have a baby is a very important decision, so she can’t decide on a whim…

but if I were Elly, I’d be biting my tongue, so to speak.

He knows his limitations, do you really want to test them out with the life of your baby as well as yourself? In the old days countless women died in childbirth.

At least hear her out, John. You need to have a discussion of ideas so you can both make a good decision together!

Ok I ohn then you take over the pregnancy from here on out. Oh you can’t? Because your a man? Well let Elly make the decisions.

Oh, well she is definitely having the baby at home now. Call the midwife.

Haha that came out totally wrong! But he just doesn’t trust himself to be able to save her in an emergency like a hospital staff in a prepped room could for her.

what if the baby comes when {{spoiler redacted}}

Pretty sure my wife wouldn’t be here if she were one of those home birth types. Heck, her OBGYN switched hospitals after our child’s birth because they didn’t have an OR on the same floor as the maternity ward. She lost a ton of blood just being transported down the elevator.

I always said that the birthing process gave my wife the right to name the children. No arguments there, and I still think this is a good system.

What a dork….

I think what’s really upsetting John is the fact that the Selsun Blue’s not working.

There are less convoluted ways of saying I love you and this scares me, John . . .

I see WW III brewing.

Let’s see who tries to put a political spin on THIS!

I had a baby about the same time this strip was published, in 1992—my sixth child. Like Ellie, I was considering a home birth. In the end I did what my husband wanted because he said he was too afraid of something going wrong. So….we were in a hospital when my fifth son was born—when the attending doctor saw the cord wrapped multiple times around my baby’s neck, and got my baby untangled before he suffocated. I thanked God that I had listened to my husband. We could have lost that child. Some emergencies are too sudden for phone calls.

And when Jon, have you ever been sensible????

Wow, the patriarchy is strong in John. Thank goodness it’s not up to him how or where Elly gives birth. It’s her body, and her choice exclusively. He gets NO say.