"I saw his heart beating!" My daughter called following her first doctor appointment after learning that she is expecting.
How strange that I feel such excitement as the grandmother. It is different than becoming a mother for the first time but still exhilarating. Each new phone call with an update of her growing child thrills me.
I listen to every detail of my daughter's doctor appointment. Just three months before she miscarried her first baby so our joy is sweet and our relief increases with each milestone in this new pregnancy.
"They had so many questions and expected so many decisions." At this first appointment they asked how long she would breastfeed and whether a boy would be circumcised. She expected, vitamins and maybe a baby rattle with the clinic logo, but not the barrage of questions.
Her voice held a catch as she related that the doctor encouraged her to have blood work done to check for "abnormalities." My son-in-law, a medical student, attended this first appointment and asked the purpose for the test.
"To make a decision to terminate the pregnancy."
My daughter was riding high in her emotions until this suggestion was dropped on her.
My son-in-law said, "No, we do not need that test."
He knew that no abnormality would induce them to abort their child - or - terminate the pregnancy.
I remembered that of my four children, I had been encouraged to consider aborting two of them. The advice rolled so easily off the tongue of the medical providers when questions of my health or my child's "perfection" arose. I didn't have an abortion and I have four children - rather healthy - but not perfect. What blessings I would have missed if I had considered "terminating the pregnancy."
Today my daughter called with the news that today's appointment and sonogram showed her baby's arms and legs. "And now he has graduated to a fetus - as opposed to an embryo." This, of course, was according to the doctor.
No way. He or she is my grandbaby-- not a fetus.
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I am reminded that my daughter, as a second grader, made her opinion known when she first learned about abortion. Read about it in From the Mouth of Babes.
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Posts
your little girl most definitely understood more than many adults. Someone said when the mother wants her child she calls her unborn a baby and when she doen't...she refers to it as a fetus. In any case...from the moment of conception...no matter what anyone says....it's a God breathed life. Awesome post.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, Rhodema! I didn't realize she miscarried her first...I went through the same and it was hard. I'll be praying extra hard for this little one! Oh, and we were asked if we wanted Down Syndrome testing. I said no and the geneticist said, "Well, we highly encourage it because some parents don't get the testing and when the baby is born, they regret that they didn't test." Well, I have a child with Tay Sachs. I think I am aware of the ramifications.
ReplyDeleteRhodema, this is so special and I know how excited your whole family is. As Sarah said, the baby is a God breathed life - from the moment of conception.
ReplyDeleteSo happy for you all...
Life is a precious gift from God from the moment of our conception until the moment of our natural death. So you are so right your grandbaby is not a fetus.
ReplyDeleteGreat post.
Sweet Blessings,
Virginia
I'm with you, Rhodema. It's a baby, not a fetus. Congratulations to you, your daughter and the rest of the family.
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Charlotte
Amen! I agree. You have a special daughter and she will be a wonderful mom.
ReplyDeleteGod Bless,
Ginger
Thank you for this post, so beautifully written!
ReplyDeleteI am the executive director of a pregnancy care ministry so I am in the battle to defend LIFE all day.
As we consider the horrible deception that makes abortion legal and available in our country, we must remember that it is "fear" that drives a woman to terminate her unborn child. May we be more compassionate and understanding of women who find themselves in unplanned pregnancies; willing to help those who fear rejection, abandonment, the death of their dreams, so that more babies can live and more women will be spared the life-long hurt of abortion.
Praises to GOD and congratulations on your First Grandbaby!!! I am blessed to have TWO grandsons and they are soooooooo very precious.
Blessings.