Monday, 05 October 2009
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Would it bother us more if they used guns?
I have always been pro-life. It is strange because I was pro-life when I was not a Christian. I saw it as a human rights issue and that the Declaration protected life.
My first encounter with pro-choice people was my former father-in-law. My first wife got pregnant while we were engaged and living together while we were in college. Don, the consumate cultural catholic advised us we needed to have a abortion because the baby would mess his daughters career up.
We got married sooner and disregarded his advice. My wife had developed toxemia in the ninth month of her pregnancy and when my son was born, as soon as they cut the cord he turned blue, his blood sugar dropped to zero and he was not breathing.
We had a quick and powerful decision to that snowing New Years Eve. We were told it would be ethical to just do nothing and allow nature to take its course. Instead, we signed waivers to perform experimental treatments to keep my son alive. We were also aware that the insurance would not cover many of the procedures.
Yesterday, my daughter asked if I would take her to a life chain event. These were two of her friends that she met there, on either side of her.
So back to my son. Told never expect to take him home, better to let him expire, I was being cruel and selfish.We sat with my son in shifts the 60 days he was in neo-natal ICU, and we took him home with a feeding tube in his nose when the insurance lapsed, six figures in debt. It was a choice. I didn't decide you should pay the bill. It was a choice and I lived with the results of that choice.
My son and his daughter
And his son.
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Comments (44)
some people are just scumbags,,,
replace abortion with assisted suicide,,, and save the kids,,, that way there would be no unwanted kids....
those pediatricians are God sent angels for the work that they do. I am glad that you had the conviction to do what you did. i am not sure what i would have done if i was in your shoes. congrats. btw. love the t-shirt.
Wow. You know you hear stories like that all the time too. Yesterday a lady was telling us a story about her son who was diagnosed with major medical problems before he was born. She was receiving letters from the insurance company suggesting that she consider abortion. Her son is 14 right now and doing well. It's pretty sad when people put other things as priority over someone else's life.
@supsoo - they are. They are really quality people. They had to bring a crib into icu for my son since he was 11'1 1/2 when he was born. I watched those dedicated men and women in those units disregard all rules for not becomig emotionally attached to those children, they loved them and many times openly wept when they didn't make it.
The story of the parents though, these are parents who have a love for life beyond what most can comprehend. It is not about abortion to them, as it really has not been for me. It has been a human rights issues and the state protecting he life of those who can not protect it for them.
I normally have nothing to do with anti-abortion movement, I would rather see people be more supportive of the human rights of the fetus and getting the federal government out of the practice of medicine and leave these decision up to the states.
@mejicojohn -
it is a mindset.
@dropsofjupiterihh - The only indicator we had was that he was going to be born c-sction being too large to come through naturally and waiting for the water to break. So we were not prepped for problem.
Her water broke at 9 PM on new year eve night in the middle of a snow storm. The one vehicle we had that went through anything was our Beetle.We made it there at 930 and by the time I finished the paperwork she was being prepped for surgery...10: 45 pm.
The insurance paid more than they had to. The hospital was gracious by trimming bills to what I could pay back. Most of the doctors worked with us..People would have had to have been there to see their child on a ventilator with the only real reaction is for their hand to sense you and to squeeze your little finger. To have to sign for your child to be given drugs such as pavlon is gut wrenching, but it is a decision you could make.
Today, they want to take those decisions away and place it in the hands of a bureaucrat. They can't even run their own lives, I'll be ____ if they 'll run mine Vicky,
John
as an unwed teen, i was pressured to abort...i did not...i have never regretted it (it was very difficult to live thru, but at least he lives somewhere as far as i know)....
I can only imagine what that must have been like...
It is not the government's place to make life and death decisions.
@tialoca_talks - I can only imagine. But when your back is against the wall you have a bench mark of what you would do. As do I. In many arenas.
@firetyger - it is not as tough as you think. You have been put in chage of another human life and are charged for its care. That is your primary responsibility. The toughest thing is "listening to all the other channels" telling you what you may miss out on because you are facing your responsibility . I said bluntly -f them.
@ProvokingThought - After I went to the OB for my first appointment with my second pregnancy, the woman told me that I should get an abortion because I had been having so much pain during the first eight weeks and there was likely something wrong with the baby. I told her my husband and I would never get an abortion regardless of whether or not the child was special needs. I switched doctors immediately.
You sure hear a lot of the doctors ether recommended or subtly suggested I kill or let them die stories. As they talk about their grow child. Not exactly rare event
@firetyger - Most people when they think pro-life thinkiabout people who go and march at abortion clinics. I am not normally a sign carrier. I wore my t-shirt in the picture, and it was kind of cold (notice what everyone else was wearing) but it was only for a hour..and I was walking around talking to people.
Last year when my daughter did a research project on abortion she became unnerved as she studied and watched tapes and wept at what was happening and couldn't understand why people were so casual about it. In fact, I had to calm her down and explain it is the law , although it is not part of the natural law. I helped rechannel her thinking into it being a human rights issue . This year when she was at Creation Festival she spent some time with the people from Abort 73 and a couple other pro-life groups.
To me, us being pro-life means what you did at the ob/gyn. That is where the rubber meets the road. You made a stand for life.
I will not and have not ever harassed anyone who has had a abortion. Everyone pro-life and pro-choice lives with their choices.
@trunthepaige - as you know you can not base policy on those stories, but my premise is that pro-life is really a action and not a position. It is about choices and living with the ramifications of those choices.
im strongly pro-life. kudos for standing up for it.
We're very sensitive here in America. Abortion is the easy issue. Now sex selective infanticide in a local river, that's the real mind bender.
Your photos and your story show why people need to think before taking that kind of action. You never know who that person could have become.
aww. The picture of your grand-daughter and son is adorable.
Thank God for your decision to ignore the ignoramuses (doctors)! I'm a little shocked that doctors were that arrogant then. (not saying you're old sir..)
Your family's story in this case is a testament to why we cannot have government run health care, with the 26 member "panel" which would have surely ordered you to just let him go.
The State of Oregon which has denied cancer treatment due to cost but encouraged doctor assisted suicide is another key indicator of the "culture of death" which surrounds the current United States Government.
Lord, deliver us from these evil people!
My mom was put up for adoption shortly after being born by her teenage biological mother. She always says she's glad her biological mother didn't choose to have an abortion--that she chose adoption instead. The ramifications of ending a life are immense. I'm not willing to mess with it.
~V
I have always been a strong supporter of the LIFE movement. I've volunteered at Sav-A-Life shelters and programs... Stories like this is motivation enough. Life is precious.
This story was touching and I respect you a thousandfold for choosing to share your experiences! If only more people were as selfless, giving, and filled with faith (if not in Christianity, than in the simple beauty of human life) you and your wife were and still are.
Major kudos. You truly are blessed.
I think it's interesting that you said you were pro-life before you were Christian and that that is strange. I'm sure a lot of people would agree with you that it is odd for a non-Christian to be pro-life, but I can completely comprehend why a non-Christian would be pro-life. My brother is both pro-life and either an agnostic or atheist (I'm not sure which, I haven't talked to him about this in a while).
The pictures of your son and his children are so cute.
@striemmy - infanticide was a rather common practice in some ancient cultures. As well as euthanasia. Only the current producers had value. Instead of flat out murder many just put them out of the house to fend for themselves. Been a while since I studied it .
@ProvokingThought - I was referring to instances of it in Asia just a couple hundred years ago.