Pro-life Encouragement- A Rant

I realize that by writing this, I am begging for people to ask me if we are expecting, but this is just something that's been on my heart to write about for awhile.   I just haven't made the time to do it until now, but with a recent pregnancy announcement from one of my sisters-in-law, I thought I'd finally put out a few thoughts about what you can do for the pregnant people in your life, ESPECIALLY the ones who are on #2, 3, 6, or 20.  It's not that I have anything against people having their first baby, and many of the suggestions I make can and will apply to them too, but the world is excited for everyone's FIRST baby, and then the excitement for a new life just seems to dwindle as a woman has subsequent children.

What's my point?

 If you say you stand for life, and you don't make just as much (if not more effort) for a woman who is pregnant with babies after her first, you are a hypocrite.

Too harsh for you?  Tough.

We have 3 kids, all girls.  After we had our first, I felt like the only cause for possible excitement with most people was that we must be "trying for our boy".  THAT would make it exciting, but otherwise, people were either just sort-of silent or they were vocal about how "my hands are going to be full" or "boy, it's going to be tough when all those girls are teens".

I'm sorry.  Can we live in the present?

Yes, it would be exciting if we had a boy.  It would also be exciting if we had another girl.  This isn't a shopping trip to the Mall for my new favorite outfit.  I'm being given a great gift.  Perhaps our culture of gift cards and gift receipts makes us forget that it's actually quite rude to complain about a gift you've been given.  It may not be exactly what you were dreaming of or hoping for (and that's actually o.k).  The point is to realize that God gave you this child, this gift, for a reason, and he/she is meaningful to Him regardless of their health or gender.  He knows you better than you know yourself, so His gift to you will indeed be what is best for you, even if it's not what you had been "hoping" for.

If we get pregnant again, I do think part of me would hope it's a boy.    Not because I would not be perfectly content with another girl, but because we don't have one, so it would be a joy to be blessed with that experience as a mom and dad as well.  That being said, I still hate the question, "Are you hoping for boy?" because if you answer yes, you are made to feel as though you are admitting that you would not be happy with the alternate possibility.

Instead of all the cliches, let's try to change this mentality surrounding pregnancy and create a society that embraces life. We have to be the ones who start it.  Read the blog tomorrow for a follow-up post with helpful tips since this post was more of a rant, but let's at least start with an easy idea that we should all be able to handle.

Encouragement.

Let's take the time and energy to give a word of encouragement to the pregnant mommas we see, whether it's your sister, your friend, an acquaintance, or a total stranger.

Yeah, Mom!  You're doing awesome!

And stay tuned for tomorrow's post with practical tips to "help a pregnant mama out!"