Pro-Life/Pro-Baby ping!
Thank you for the ping, Between the Lines! Touching, deeply moving, heartbreaking and yes... hopeful. Hanky alert!
Please FReepmail me if you would like to be added to, or removed from, the Pro-Life/Pro-Baby ping list...
Posted on 01/29/2006 10:19:52 AM PST by Mrs. Don-o
WICHITA, Kan. —'Can I do this?' his mother agonized, knowing one of her newborns would not live. But for 43 hours, he was hers to cherish.
She wanted to honor her son, to celebrate his life, however short. That's why she had refused an abortion, even after doctors told her that her little boy would be born without a brain.
Now he was here, squirming in his blankets...
The specialists she consulted offered Danielle a "selective reduction": They could abort the malformed twin. That might give her a better chance of carrying the healthy baby to term, but there was also a chance that the procedure could harm Leah. Danielle was not interested in weighing risks.
"I couldn't make God's decision," she said. "Everything happens for a reason."
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
(I'm thinking she might be working on a book of some sort.)
This one is different - it's about the work of Choices Medical Clinic in Wichita, located right next to Tiller's mill. More than just a CPC - it's a full scale clinic which also happens to have a specialization in perinatal hospice.
A wrenching, but touching and ultimately hopeful story.
Wow. I don't think I could do it.
No of course you couldn't, neither could any of us, if we had to rely only on ourselves for the strength and grace to do so. But speaking as a Catholic Christian I know that we are never alone in our hardships and suffering. That Jesus Himself helps carry any burden I have. Truly at many times He carries that burden alone to spare us spiritual pain beyond our comprehending. Jesus never promised easy but He did promise to be with us always. It is that knowledge and the sure hope of resurrection that allows the parents in this story to make such a heart wrenching decision.
No of course you couldn't, neither could any of us, if we had to rely only on ourselves for the strength and grace to do so. But speaking as a Catholic Christian I know that we are never alone in our hardships and suffering. That Jesus Himself helps carry any burden I have. Truly at many times He carries that burden alone to spare us spiritual pain beyond our comprehending. Jesus never promised easy but He did promise to be with us always. It is that knowledge and the sure hope of resurrection that allows the parents in this story to make such a heart wrenching decision.
Ping.
**"I couldn't make God's decision," she said. "Everything happens for a reason."**
God will bless this woman abundantly.
OMG . . . I know a guy with the same name as the babies' father.
I'm gonna try to get ahold of him and make sure he's not the guy in the article.
False alarm . . . no way in hell my buddy has a cousin named Latrina.
My daughter recently went though a similar situation though there is no tragic ending. When my daughter was 22 weeks pregnant she went into labor. At the hospital they stopped the labor but found that the umbilical cord was wrapped around baby Natalee's neck. They did emergency surgery to unwrap the cord but found that Natalee had suffered brain damage due to lack of oxygen.
They told my daughter that Natalee would be severely handicapped would have cerebral palsy and that she may never live long enough to leave the hospital. They offered her an abortion but my daughter never even considered it. She had faith in God and in his purpose for Natalee.
Because of the surgery there was no embryonic fluid so my daughter had to stay in the hospital until Natalee was born. She was born two weeks later. She looked normal in all ways except for her size. Though she was premature the doctors and nurses were amazed at how fat she was. She could breath on her own (though she needed oxygen) but could not suckle.
Over the next several weeks they ran tests and found the extent of Natalee's brain damage. One third of her brain had died and it was centered mostly in the area that controls motor function. They told us that Natalee would probably never be able to anything for herself. And since she also had problems breathing and would have to be resuscitated several times a day, that she would probably never live to leave the hospital.
My daughter decided that she wanted Natalee to be anointed. Though only two visitors were allowed in her room in NICU at a time, the hospital decided to bend the rules because of Natalee's dire prognosis. They let us have as many people as we could fit in her room if we wanted. The elders from my daughters church and from my church came. We had about 20 people squeezed in that small room and we anointed her, laid hands on her and prayed for her. Afterward we started a prayer vigil were there was someone in Natalee's room praying for her 24 hours a day.
The progress was slow at first. Natalee slowly learned to suckle and then to cry. After two months she was doing well enough to leave the hospital. The hospital helped my daughter to sign Natalee up for disability, which helped them out with the medical bills and enabled them to take her to therapy twice a week.
After she was home Natalee seemed to thrive. She could follow you around the room with her eyes, then she started kicking and moving her arms and holding on to things. All things, we were told, she would never be able to do.
She continued therapy and continued to improve. She learned to move her head and then to laugh. The doctors have been amazed by her progress. She's learned to laugh and to roll over.
Last week she was six months old and we received some good news. In a progress report to Social Security the doctors reported that Natalee was no longer disabled and should be removed from disability. NO LONGER DISABLED, such sweet words for a parent (or grandparent)of a child with cerebral palsy.
Don't get me wrong, Natalee still has cerebral palsy, but through God, her brain has found a way to work around the parts that do not work.
Forgive me for such a long reply. But Natalee was born for a reason. She was born that her story might be told and give hope to others, and as a servant I have no choice but to do His will and tell Natalee's story.
Thank you for the ping, Between the Lines! Touching, deeply moving, heartbreaking and yes... hopeful. Hanky alert!
Please FReepmail me if you would like to be added to, or removed from, the Pro-Life/Pro-Baby ping list...
My niece, whose baby was born with this defect, and whom MANY of you prayed for...is at peace with having her child born and holding him for those few hours they had him.
Yes. It hurt like CRAZY. No. She could NOT "stop that beating heart"....
Thanks for the ping!
WOW. That article really deserves its own NEW thread (there are 2 diff versions on FR from a year ago). Amazing and touching to read! Are you going to repost it? If so - please ping me!! :) Thank you!!
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