The greatest sacrifice

It's been said that the greatest sacrifice is to give up your life for someone/something you love. I'm not trying to be dramatic and say that anything I have going on is a life/death situation but I would like to share two stories of the greatest sacrifice of motherhood I've ever known in my life.

I come from a large family - 9 kids to be exact. 6 boys, 3 girls and a 21 year difference between the oldest and youngest. That puts my mother at 43 when she had my little sister.

My mum's a legend. Before my little sister was conceived my mum went through some rough things physically. Multiple miscarriages (3 I believe?) that all resulted in massive blood loss, my mother being declared dead, going to the "other side" of the veil and seeing and learning about things not of this earth.

In a nutshell.

When my mother became pregnant for what would be the last time, the Doctor sat down and had a serious conversation with her and my father. He told her she needed to consider having an abortion. He stated that if she lost another baby, she would also lose her life. Do you know what the Church's stand on abortion is? It actually ok's situations like this. But my mum didn't. She knew she had a daughter waiting to come to our family and proceeded with the pregnancy. It's not like she didn't have any other daughters, or shortage of children. And it's not like anyone could truly blame her if she decided to abort the pregnancy. But she went through with it and gave birth to a 10lb 2oz healthy baby girl months later. Now 10 years old, my little sister is the perfect ending to our family.

You're a legend mum.

I have a lot of friends who struggle with fertility problems. I feel for those friends and at the same time have no clue about the sadness and heartache they go through. One particular couple experienced the miracle and sacrifice of life.

The husband of this couple has 3 sisters and no living brothers. Two sisters have 4 kids, one being married while the other raises her kids as a single mother. Last year the married sister believed she might be pregnant. With her family in a spiritually and financially better place than they have been her entire marriage it seemed this child would be the crowning jewel in their lives. When she confirmed her pregnancy she shared with me the possibilities this child would have. The biggest possibility being that this child would need to live outside their home and family. She was going to give her child to her brother as she felt that he was more than ready to be a father and was missing a child to be that father to.

A lot of people had questions. And concerns. Honestly, it was nobody's business but theirs.

So she went through with it. And like a champ, after going through almost 24 hours of labor, handed this child over to her brother and mourned the pains of child birth with no child to comfort her.

My point is that life is the greatest gift. What you sacrifice for that life then becomes the greatest sacrifice you could offer. Also, that nausea and vomiting might aren't the worst things a pregnant woman goes through.