Eleven Oreos - Are All Lives Worth Living?

Eleven Oreos

Mar. 13, 2006

Are All Lives Worth Living?

I was reading an article from Polliwog Creek this morning. Patricia Ann told a moving story about some friends of hers, and then talked about an article she had read by a Dr. Mohler, Are All Lives Worth Living? A Dangerous Idea Moves Front And Center.

This quote by Dr. Mohler caught my eye...and my attention:

" When any life is deemed to be unworthy of living, every single human life is cheapened, discounted, and threatened."

Our baby, Abraham, now 11 months, was diagnosed in-utero with Trisomy 18, a condition that is incompatible with life. In other words, the baby would not be able to live. Most babies die within minutes of being born, some live for a few hours, a few can live for maybe weeks or months, and I read about a child who had survived and was 7 years old.

After recieving the initial news, we refused further tests because we didn't want to spend the rest of the pregnancy grieving. We held out hope that the superficial diagnosis was wrong. In the process, we learned a lot about Tri 18 babies...and read some amazing stories of their families. We planned the first few moments and hours of our baby's life...just in case. The hospital worked with us in our planning...the baby would not be taken from our presence. No attempts would be made to correct things that could not be corrected.

I had asked my sister in law, Angie, to sing for me after the baby was born. Regardless of whether or not the baby died, I asked her to sing "Blessed Be The Name Of The Lord".

Abraham was born. As soon as his head appeared, I looked at his ears...one of the telltale signs of Tri 18. They appeared fine, but it wasn't till I saw his fingers that I knew he was "normal".

Angie did sing for me. It was a very emotional moment. I was in the bed resting. Abraham, not even an hour old, was in the arms of my sister, Cheryle. Cheryle had never been able to have children, tho she desired deeply for the Lord to send babies. My mother was in the room as well. Mom had lost one of her children, Gilbert, when Gilbert was just 24 hours old. And Angie, the one singing praise to the Father with her lovely voice, had just a few years ago lost her precious first born, Olivia, when Olivia was 9 days old.

The room was full of grieving and thanksgiving. The hearts and minds of us four women were turned to the Father as we listened to Angie's beautiful voice singing and our hearts prayed along with the song. Together we acknowledged the name of the Creator, the Lord God, the Giver of Life, while we quietly cried for what was lost and gave thanks for what He had given.

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Blessed Be The Name

Tree 63

Blessed be Your name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name

And blessed be Your name
When I’m found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out
I’ll turn back to praise
And when the darkness closes in
Lord still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be Your name
When the sun’s shining down on me
When the world’s all as it should be
Blessed be Your name

And blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there’s pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord blessed be Your name

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Mar. 13, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Leigh2

How beautiful! We were told that Lucas most certainly had Down Syndrome when I was carrying him. We refused the amnio, because we knew that he was a blessing from God...and we didn't want to risk losing him with the amnio. I researched everything that I could find, and my doctors treated me like an idiot for not having the amnio and then terminating, because "You have three other healthy children. Why would you want to burden yourself with a baby like this?" Ugh. If our insurance weren't so yucky, I would have gone somewhere else. Anyway...he was born perfectly fine, too. What a wonderful blessing these babies are...but they would have been a wonderful blessing even if they were not "normal".