Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Original Blog Post: January 7, 2009- If There Was No Caedmon

When Caedmon was a day old, recovering in the NICU, we had a conference with Dr. Marker (pediatrician/spina bifida expert).  He gave us a statistic that has been reverberating in my mind ever since.  Now, I know many have said statistics are not to be relied on, they can be manipulated whichever way you want them to go and I have become more and more skeptical of them the older I get, especially political ones given on the evening news, but this one just won't go away.

He told us that 80% of abortions in the U.S. happen because the parent/s find out their child will have spina bifida.  80%!  Mind blowing, isn't it?  I look at Caedmon, in the middle of the night as he's just finished eating and has that baby-drugged-totally-satisfied look on his face, sleeping so peacefully in my arms, one hand clutching my finger or the top of my nightgown, and I think, over and over, what if I missed this?  What if I had been one of the ones to decide to abort when I found out at 20 weeks what we would be facing?
Caedmon just started smiling this week and talking, well baby talk, but he's communicating with us.  The sheer joy I felt in my heart last night as we sat up together 'til the wee hours of the morning, he babbling to me and me babbling right back, the smiles that would flicker across his face, those moments bring that statistic back again and again.  I don't know how many abortions are performed in the U.S. in a year, I've never been a pro-lifer, this is no rant against choice, I just know, when I hold my little Caedmon, how much more precious he seems to me when I think of all those little lives lost.  Lost to fear?  I don't know, I can't make a judgment call.  But everyday I'm with him I'm more and more grateful for his life. 

Last night I gave him a little pep-talk.  I told him he could do anything, go anywhere, be anything he wanted to be in life, he was only limited by barriers in his own mind.  I really, really believe that, probably for the first time in my life.  That's what he's taught me already and he's only 5 weeks old!  Imagine what 50 years can bring!

No comments:

Post a Comment