Today is the day that Paul and I will go to the abortion mill with our friend Dave, and hopefully many others from our parish, to pray and witness for life for the 40 Days For Life campaign. I thought it fitting to share this story about some lives that I have saved several years ago while at work. With the grace of God, I hope to save many more in my lifetime through much prayer and a steady witness to life.Life Times Two
She walked into my office and immediately crumbled into tears. I knew this wasn’t going to be an ordinary WIC (Women, Infants and Children) nutrition counseling experience. I put aside any thoughts I may have had about teaching her to have a healthy pregnancy through diet, and instead I opened my heart to her and listened to her story.
She had just come from the doctor and he had given her very bad news. She was pregnant with twins, which would normally be a cause for great joy and great excitement even with the overwhelming anxiety of caring for two babies at once. She was 35 years old, diabetic and obese. Her doctor had told her that there was no way that she could deliver healthy babies under those circumstances. He had advised abortion for one of the babies.
Abortion was not something she wanted to consider. She wanted to keep both babies. Not having any medical expertise myself, I hesitated to give her any advice in this area, so I simply shared with her the facts that I knew from common sense, my own personal experiences, and my background in nutrition. I told her that 35 is not too old to have a baby, and I shared my personal story of my pregnancy when I was 35. There were risks with that pregnancy as well, but with proper medical care and faith in God, I gave birth to a healthy and beautiful baby girl. In this day and age, many women put off childbirth until later in life, well into the 40’s in fact, with great success. Also, since she was already seeing a specialist for her diabetes, he would be able to help her manage her diabetes throughout the pregnancy. Being diabetic and pregnant is not such an unusual or difficult situation today. I suggested that she find another doctor who would be willing to work closely with her to assure a successful pregnancy and safe delivery for both of her babies. By the time she left my office, she was hugging me and telling me that she wished I were her doctor!
I left work that day feeling that I had done more good by listening and sharing with this client than I had ever done in any of my nutrition counseling sessions. I continued to keep her in my prayers but hadn’t seen her again for a long time.
It was a year later, when I called one year old twins into my office. I didn’t recognize the name on the chart and wasn’t thinking about this particular client. She looked familiar to me, and I suppose I did to her as well. And then she said, “I remember you, you are the one who encouraged me to seek a new doctor. I followed your advice as you can see!”
Those twins were the cutest little boys I ever saw! They were dressed alike with matching skull caps and blue jeans and had so much energy! They were healthy and beautiful and so was mom! She had hope in God and hope in herself and the results were beyond perfect!
(an edited re-post from the archives)
