Recently, I was contacted via e-mail by a mother of four (expecting her 5th) who was asking me for some advice on homeschooling. As we wrote back and forth over the next several days, I was intrigued to find out about this lady's situation. If you are wondering whether you really are ready to have another baby, read this story and ask yourself if your situation would take near as much faith in God as this lady's, who at any time could be diagnosed again and find herself facing life-threatening conditions when she has five young children.
I love children, I'll be happy with as many as God chooses to give me. When I was 18 I was diagnosed with Lymphoma ( I was 3 months pregnant with my first daughter at that time) and received 8 months of chemotherapy. The doctors said I had to "terminate" the pregnancy and that if I was even able to carry her she'd have all kinds of physical deformities and mental retardation. I never once doubted that they were wrong. My daughter is beautiful and intelligent. They also said the chemo would leave me unable to have more children. Boy were they wrong about that too! It goes to show that they really don't know much of anything.
I was never sick, only extremely tired. One day I was sitting at a fast food drive thru, I think Dairy Queen, and happened to feel a small lump in my neck. I knew right away what it was, just sitting there. My stepdad had just died a couple of months before, and I knew things were going to get bad. Oh, let me tell you that my stepdad was in the Air Force and we spent years living right next to the flight line, where the planes take off and land. I also spent alot of time with him at work, right on the line. Well, my stepdad had died of some lung problems due to breathing in the fumes from the fuel. He was only 39. After he died we were all tested and the doc found some spots in my left lung, but said it was nothing to worry about. So 3 months went by and I found the lump in my neck. Another military doc said not to worry, but my then it was too late. I went to go see a 3rd doc who also said it was fine, but that since I was 3 months pregnant and stress is not a good thing, he would just remove it to make me happy. So they did and another month went by and I didn't hear anything and I pretty much stopped worrying. Then, one day I got the call - it was cancer and I had to start chemo now. Altogether 7 months had passed since they found the spots in my lung. By then the cancer had spread to my lungs, throat, left breast, and a tumor the size of a fist behind my heart, which could not be removed.
Anyway, I've been cancer free for 9 years now!
I think it is great that your family doesn't have to go to the doctors often. We are always in the ER. My 3 youngest have allergies, and sometimes they swell up very badly. Also, my 2 youngest have asthma, and often end up with breathing treatments. They get that from me, I never had allergies until I moved up here and now I'm allergic to almost every plant, tree, and grass native to the Pacific Northwest. It doesn't help that it is always damp here. My baby has had pneumonia 5 times now. It never ends. I can't count the times I've sat up on the couch watching her sleep to make sure she doesn't stop breathing. It's all worth it, though. To be perfectly honest, none of my kids has ever slept thru the night all at the same time. It doesn't help that my husband has worked nights until recently so they are all in the habit of waking up between 3 and 4 AM which is the time he usually would get home.
All the women I know think I'm crazy to want more, but I tend to think they are for not wanting children. Every day is an adventure, isn't it? I have so much fun just listening to the conversations they have between themselves.
Hebrews 11:11 Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.
What an awesome testimony!
ReplyDelete~Jasmine