I had my monthly OB appointment yesterday with my midwife. This time, I took the 4 youngest Little Kids with me. The eldest was off doing some kind of Irish dance performance or something with her two best friends. She missed seeing #6. We didn't. Lucky us!
#5 freaked out a bit in the exam room. He doesn't like "new", and was on the verge of tears the entire time. I tried to explain that she was the nice lady who delivered him, and that it would be okay. He's 23 months old and didn't seem to care. I finally sat him up on the exam table next to me and he calmed down a bit.
The office nurse came in and reminded me that now that I'm old I should think about getting blood tests to check for birth defects while I'm not too far along and we still have options. I politely informed her that there are no "options" as this is our baby and we look forward to meeting him/her. I'm a bit of a puzzle to her. She said, "But you have other children to think about."
I smiled and said, "I have all of them to think about." She shook her head and walked out of the room.
Then came the midwife with the ultrasound machine. (Hooray!) The children all piled around me to get their first peek at our littlest one.
It was clearly sleeping. Nestled in peacefully and curled up in the fetal position. Then the machine beeped and #5 screamed.
#6 threw its arms wide in the classic infant startle. Then, the little hands flew instinctively up to cover the ears from a big brother's offensive racket.
The little face turned towards the direction of the crying brother, and it's mouth opened slightly. Then, its chin began to quiver. Clearly, obviously crying.
Awakened from a nap, scared, and disturbed, our sweet #6 cried. Undeniably sobbed while holding hands tightly over tiny ears.
We all laughed at the sweet humanity of the moment which only made my two babies cry harder. 17 weeks into pregnancy. Barely 4 months. Hearing. Responding. Displaying emotion. Reacting logically. A blob of tissue? Product of conception? No. Thinking, feeling, emoting. Human.
12 comments:
What a great story! And shame on that nurse! I sure hope she hasn't scared anyone into doing something they'll regret!
How sad for her that she is so immune to such a wonder!
How fun and exciting for you to see your little one.
Wow! So cool! God bless you all!!
Woot! I'm putting this in my "shared" column right now!
My wife read the post yesterday, told me about it, nearly cried (she felt really bad about #6 crying without anyone to comfort him/her) and was still talking about it this morning. Powerful post!
Beautiful post
Éamonn-
Maybe comfort your wife by telling her the baby is held even closer than if he were in his mother's arms?
Just too awesome.
+JMJ+
"But somehow that's not human"???
She just had to get the last word in!
Her mistaken beliefs aside, what a wonderful story. Thanks for sharing it. Doesn't it make one wish for videos we could take home along with still pictures?
Oh, No! I guess I didn't write that clearly enough. The midwife was rolling her eyes at the thought that that crying baby wouldn't be considered to be a human being. She is pro-life, the nurse in her office...not so much.
I love this! Can I share this on my blog?
Katie- My rule is "You may share anything you wish as long as it is not for any purpose which is contrary to the teachings of the Catholic Church, and you give credit as to where you got it."
Just link back to me and you're fine. I'm glad you liked it!
Wonderful post, Rebecca! I've linked to it at Lake County Right to Life.
I hope you'll come over and "follow" our blog!
Thanks!
- Paul
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