Selling of information... (a rant)

Ok, we opened the mail today and received another package. It was baby formula. A free sample. We've received several similar samples and literature that would indicate an impending arrival of an addition to our family. We have no new arrivals to announce.

We started 2007 by sharing good news with all of our friends and family. On New Year's day, we made the rounds of both of our families and told them we were expecting an August arrival. Within a week, we were in the emergency room in the middle of the night looking at an ultrasound with a little peanut shape but no heartbeat. It was devastating to say the least. I'll not go into details about procedures my wife had to endure, but it was not a fun couple of weeks. A couple of months later, we had good news again, followed by another heartbreak.

Why am I sharing this? It's just because I'm sort of pissed off about the whole deal. It's obvious that the hospital or doctor provided information about our anticipated arrival to someone who has passed it along to whoever keeps sending this stuff to our house. The middle of August is going to be hard enough without having to be reminded of loss each time we open the mailbox. It just seems to me that it is a little insensitive for someone in the medical field to share your personal information. Isn't that sort of thing part of some privacy act? I can't think of anyone else that would have had that information to share with these people sending formula and diaper samples to our house.