Sure. Here is the full scoop.
In 2001, I hemmoraghed carrying my second child. She was 2 months premature, her medical bills were astronomical, and despite having insurance, we were buried for years under medical debt. In between, I have 2 freeze and scrapes for pre-cancerous cells in my uterus. In 2004, I miscarry at 12 weeks.
So when I found myself pregnant again, at almost 40 years old, my OBGYN was very concerned. He saw something in the sonogram and asked for an extended sono series.
Those doctors told me that my son had a 2-vessel umbilical cord (typically an indicator of severe genetic abnormalities). Some scary stats were tossed my way; 67% chance of cognitive impairment, 33% of severe heart deformities, 25% chance of being stillborn, etc.
They wanted to do an amniocentisis to determine exactly what was wrong with him. Given my advanced years and history of premature abruption, I refused.
"God gave me this child," I told them. "It's your job to see that he's born alive. Whatever his issues, we'll deal with those when he comes."
It would have been easy, given our financial struggles and my fragile health, to simply abort. But my son wasn't MY child, he was GOD's child. I loved him, even when I was convinced he would be challenged in every way.
My brother and sister-in-law were fonts of advice. My nephew, Eric, was a technologically dependent child born with an underdeveloped cerebellum. He lived just 6 months and 1 day. They knew, better than anyone, what I might be facing. I had no illusions that our life would be easy.
I asked my husband if he was ready to lose everything (we were hanging on by our fingernails already, so a challenged child would risk our tenuous finances). His reply? "Do we have a choice?"
No, we agreed. We did not.
We talked about what we would do if he had severe medical challenges. If, after a thorough evaluation, there was no prospect for him to ever live independent of machines, we would take him off the machines and let God work His will. That point would not come until we had exhausted every possibility. We prepared ourselves to sell everything we owned to pay for his bills.
My beautiful son was born in November, 2005, right on time, via c-section. He's now 48 lbs., loves cars, trucks, planes, and legos. He's smart as a whip, cute as a button with blonde hair and big blue-green eyes, exudes natural charm, loves to sing, is projected to stand about 6'4" tall when he's done growing. He walked, talked and learned to read early. He was running words together in sing song at 5 months old. He's precious, funny, still smells so amazingly delicious (even his stinky toes), and can't sleep at night unless I pray over him and give him his bed-time kiss.
His only medical challenge is seasonal asthma. His heart is fine.
Our finances are now stable, our family is complete, we satisfied all our medical debt, and consider ourselves completely blessed.
Doctors, while they do their best, are not God.
I look back on that time, how scary it all was, but am so glad that I trusted in God to work His will in our lives. I can't begin to tell you all the joy we would have missed as a family if my youngest son was not a part of it.
God bless you and your family.
That is just wonderful!!! You did the right thing, and you were rewarded!!
My daughter who is writing the essay has a brain injury. I’ve told her how the doctors are surprised that she can walk. She has enough of a brain injury that she should be in a wheelchair. However, she is an A student at a top private Christian school. She can walk, run, ride a bike, and is about to start driving. She has speech problems, but she sounds like English is her 2nd language (and that is common for so many people these days). She’s not the most coordinated kid, and she has had seizures.
Her best qualities are that she is very, very sweet, and she is an extremely hard worker.
Doctor’s just don’t know everything. I’m so happy about your son!!
God bless you, Happy Thanksgiving.