Musings about life

Now, before I go on, I will say it for everyone: WHAT?!?! No pictures of Lauren! That's right. I really don't use the blog as a diary, but more as an online photo album that is easier than emailing everyone. However, today is different. I guess it's the whole pregnancy-brain thing, but it seems like I've just been taking it for granted that I will have a healthy baby. Right now, my biggest concern is if it's a boy or a girl, when I should be praying for a healthy child. Ironically, it's been the TV that has pointed out this fact to me. First of all, there was Sunday's Extreme Makeover Home Edition. For those of you who didn't get a chance to see it, it was very good. A lady, who had been adopted as a child, had adopted 8 children- not just any children, but all children with disabilities. The first, was a boy who had a genetic skin disorder that his skin was literally falling off his body. He died last year, 3 days before Christmas, at 22 years old. Then, there was a girl who was born with brain damage and had had brain surgery at just 1 month old, and her parents didn't want her anymore. There were 2 Russian girls who were born with nothing below their torso, a girl with Spina Bifida, a girl with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, a girl whose skin was severly burned leaving her "looking like a monster out of the closet" (her words, not mine), and a girl who couldn't bend her elbows or knees. Anyway, looking at these children, I was reminded that not everyone is privileged to be born with all of their parts and in good health, and to be grateful for the health I have.

Then, Tuesday, as I was waiting for the news & weather to start, I caught the last half of Oprah. Go ahead.... Make your comments..... Anyway, the show was about Medical Mysteries. Since I'm guessing that I'm the only one reading this blog who actually watched the show, I'll fill you in on the details. One little girl was born with some sort of disorder that caused her sensory synapses not to connect with her response synapses in her brain. Bottom line, she can't feel pain. It doesn't sound that bad, and in fact, the mom said that people tell her all the time that they wish they couldn't feel pain. However, the mom said, they have no idea what they are wishing for. When the little girl started teething, she started chewing on her fingers (since whatever is closest goes in the mouth). To save all of our stomaches from twisting and getting sick, I'll skip the gruesome stuff and just tell you that she was mutilating herself so badly, that by the time she was 3, she had all of her teeth removed. One time, she broke her jaw and no one knew, until about a month later when the dad noticed a bump on her jaw. She also has severly burned her skin by grabbing onto hot light bulbs. She now wears protective goggles because she literally poked herself comletely blind in one eye and is down to 20/200 in her "good" eye. Who knew that I should be thankful everyday that I can feel pain. Finally, there was a girl in Peru who was born with "Mermaid Syndrome." Her legs were born fused together in such a way that her legs and feet looked like a perfect mermaid. Only 2 other people in recorded history have lived past a couple days with this complication. The others end up being still born or dying from infections. (I guess this "defect" comes with a lowered immune system.) Because of how her body was shaped, there is no "external" evidence of gender, so they had to do a genetics test to find out that she was a girl. Anyway, to make a longer story short, she had to stay in the NICU until she could have a surgery to separate her legs, which didn't happen until she was 18 months old. The doctors say that she should be able to walk in time.

All of this to say that I was reminded that everyday I should be grateful that I have all 4 appendages, my health, and my ability to feel pain. It doesn't matter if God gives us a boy or girl, although I still have my preference, just as long as he or she is healthy.