What's the number one question people ask when you tell them you are going to have a baby? "Is it a boy or a girl?"When Jen and I started telling people we were going to have a baby boy, I occasionally heard another question. "Is the baby healthy?"
I started to think about all of the traits that I could possibly pass to my son. Some would be good, and some would be bad. I naturally thought of physical traits first, which led me to wonder... "Could I pass my Poland Syndrome to him? Would he be healthy?"
What does the word "healthy" really mean, anyway? Does it mean that if the baby is healthy, then they won't have to grow up with unnecessary difficulties? And what difficulties might they be? Physical difficulties? Mental difficulties? Emotional difficulties? What about situational or social difficulties?
The reality is that everyone has difficulties in life. Everyone has flaws. Paul said, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," (Rom.3). No one is perfect, and everyone is unhealthy in one way or another.
The Bible says that all children are a blessing! If a baby is born "healthy," then that child is a blessing! If a baby is born with Poland Syndrome, then that child is a blessing! If a baby is born with Down Syndrome, then that child is a blessing! If a baby is born with Tay-Sachs disease and will not likely live long, then that child is still a blessing!
We named our son Nolan, and he ended up being born large for gestational age (LGA). This condition affects about 8% of all births, and it basically means he was a big baby compared to most. It hasn't really been a problem for him (other than having a difficult birth), although some LGA babies have problems regulating their blood sugar, some have jaundice, and some have respiratory distress. We will certainly find many flaws in our son as he grows up. The biggest flaw being sin, of course.
God still works through people, no matter what difficulties they have in their lives. No matter what sin. God takes the crap in our lives and uses it for good. In Romans, Paul continues in the next verse by writing, "and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ." He redeems us and can use our imperfect bodies for wonderful things.
Many people with Poland Syndrome worry about passing it on to their children, but since it is a congenital birth defect that is not a genetic disorder, then it scientifically cannot happen. The only way to get the deformity would be by random chance. Nolan does not have Poland Syndrome, and the likelihood of us both having it would be something like 1-in-a-trillion.
Even if our son did have Poland Syndrome, Jen and I wouldn't be worried. What we all really need to be concerned about are the sin problems in our lives. God loves us no matter what our size or shape is, but sin is what He hates. Sin is the only flaw we have that God wants us to change.
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When we first found out I was pregnant all that we asked for was that the baby was healthy. When we found out about William's condition all we asked is that God would give us the strength to get us through whatever we might endure. God is great and he has blessed us with gorgeous little boys. Reading your blog gives me the opportunity to know what my son might think when he gets older. Thank you so much.
ReplyDeleteSome how I was signed in as my husband...the above post was from me. Thanks again!
ReplyDeletei have polands and im a father of 3 children and all my kids do not have polands my genes were tested when i was younger and was told there was no chance my kids would have it, mind you they also told me a lot of things that now were also nonsense ,it was the 80's i suppose technology has moved on , i dont know much about the bible apart from someone telling me that if you were disabled you were not allowed to bring food to the table but only eat the food ??
ReplyDeleteMy ex husband is missing his R pectoral muscle but it was never diagnosed with anything. In fact, until today (he will be 31 this year) his mother didn’t even know about his deformity. I noticed the first time we had sex. Today my daughter was told she could have PS so we have appointments lined up to look into it. She is also missing her R pectoral muscle. I’m researching now but I still don’t know what this means for her because, as a girl, she will develop breasts soon. I’m worried about her development.
ReplyDeleteCan anyone let me know how to identify if an infant has PS by the looks while everything looks normal. What are the things to look for in the chest area in a newborn/infant ? Because I see for many people it goes unnoticed/undiagnosed until puberty or even later stages in life.
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