Thou Shalt Not Kill

I have not mentioned this yet, but when we were at our second ultra sound, we had Karie’s blood drawn with the purpose of pulling the DNA for Mercy out to determine if the extra chromosome 13 was indeed present. We received a call tonight regarding the results. The test they say has a higher than 99% accuracy rate. They results came back positive that our baby does indeed have trisomy 13, and it is likely the worst kind. I will not give you the details, but it suffices to say that there are few recorded births of babies with this degree of trisomy 13. Most of the babies are killed in the womb and aborted. The lady that called tonight said that it is almost certain that our baby girl will not make it to her delivery date.

I would like to say that standing in the gap between what is right and wrong at this point is incredibly hard. There are many reasons that we could think of that would make it so much easier to just end the pregnancy now. It’s what nearly everyone does at this stage. There’s no chance that our baby girl will live on the air breathing side of the womb. We do not want our baby to be made a spectacle for the world to see. We want to honor her in life and in death. The truth: God instructs us not only to not kill, but to preserve life. We can not kill our baby.

Deuteronomy 32:39 “‘See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand."

Our God is utterly and completely sovereign over all life and all death. We do have very hard decisions to make in the coming days, but this one choice is sure. Our baby girl will be safe in the tummy of her Mom until the last beating of her heart.

This has been a very sorrowful evening in our home. Please continue to pray for us during these hours.

I do have two things that are very good news. One, I have studied what it means to be made in the image of God, and yes Mercy indeed qualifies. I have begun putting together a post on this topic but it is not ready yet. The second bit of good news is that Ali finished her driver’s-ed class tonight and received her “blue slip.” She will take her written exam on Monday to determine if she gets her drivers permit or not. Please pray for her. She is nervous.

New blessings every morning!

Scott