Crisis Pregnancy Centers Save Babies!

This post today is from my wife, Prodigal Daughter:

This summer I have been volunteering at a pregnancy center which is attempting to set up an ultrasound clinic. I am their nurse-manager and at the same time am in-training to perform ultrasounds on women considering abortion. The following is a true story. I hope it helps you to see the importance of ultrasound in saving the lives of the unborn. I also hope to convey the beauty and real life application of a very powerful Catholic devotion, The Rosary….



Monday July 23, 2008 The Joyful Mysteries Begin



9:00 AM The Annunciation



Care Net Pregnancy Center called. "A 19 year old woman (Jane) is 17 weeks pregnant with twins and has an abortion scheduled tonight. Can you do the ultrasound?" "Wow!" I said to myself. "How can this be? I have only done 17 scans." Lord not my will but yours be done. I then told my supervisor at Care Net: "Let me call my OB/GYN and see if she can come too."



11:15 AM The Visitation



Jane arrived at Care Net with her friend Cheri. Dr. B(my OB/GYN) was there along with the executive director of Care Net and myself. At 17 weeks, Jane was visibly pregnant. "Jane, what are you thinking about regarding this pregnancy?" Jane responds, "Cheri made me come in for the ultrasound. I just don't know what to do. I don't know how I could take care of twins. I'm afraid I'll have a nervous breakdown. I already have a two year-old. My boyfriend and I cannot afford it, etc….." "Jane, have you considered adoption? There are many families who would love to raise your babies. They will pay…" Jane responds "Oh no, I couldn't give my babies up for adoption!"



"Jane, let's go into the ultrasound room and have a look at the babies. Let's see how they are doing." Dr. B placed the probe on Jane's stomach and immediately one of the babies in her womb kicked. "When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb"

Luke 1:41



Dr. B. was the first to discover the sex of her twins and we all watched in amazement as her two precious baby boys kicked each other and moved around in Jane's womb.



Jane left Care Net that day still unsure about whether or not she would keep her appointment for the first of a two part abortion procedure called dilation and extraction. During her first appointment, the abortionist would insert medicine into her cervix causing it to dilate to prepare for the instruments that would kill the babies 24 hours later.



We all prayed and hoped for…..The Nativity



Evening of July 23, 2008 Sorrowful Mysteries Begin



Agony in the Garden



We all went home in prayer, waiting on pins and needles to hear what happened to Jane and the babies. I tossed and turned all night with the picture of those precious boys rolling around on the ultrasound screen flashing in my mind.



Tuesday July 24, 2008



8:30 AM Scourging at the Pillar



I arrived at Care Net and was told there was no word about Jane, tried to focus on work while waiting for the phone to ring with news about Jane.



9:00AM Crowning with Thorns



Cheri Calls…."Jane went through with the procedure. She called me this morning very upset and crying. Said she has changed her mind and wants to know if it's too late and can the abortion be stopped" I respond "Cheri, I really don't know. It might be too late. Did you call Dr. B.?" Cheri "Yes I called Dr. B and am waiting to hear back from her." "OK, I"ll page her too." I said.



9:10 AM Carrying of the Cross



Dr. B calls me and asks what's going on. I tell her about Jane going through with the procedure and now changing her mind. Dr B. agonizes, "I can't do this again. Just last month we removed the dilators on a girl who was 19 weeks pregnant and she miscarried anyway. Lord have mercy! I'll see what I can do and I'll call you back."



9:30 AM Crucifixion and Death



Dr. B. calls back. "I found a doctor that's willing to do it. She has to get to the hospital ASAP." Cheri calls and says "I can't get a hold of Jane. She won't answer her cell phone." We all wait and pray…..



11:30 AM



Dr. B. calls and says "She's on her way to the hospital. Pray that the babies are ok."

I leave for a 12:15 Mass.



1:30 PM



Phone rings, it's Dr. B. "The dilator medicine was removed. The Dr. did an ultrasound and the babies are doing well. Mom was sent home.



Wednesday July 25, 2008



The Glorious Mysteries begin…..Praise be Jesus Christ!


Thanks be to God for the work of this Crisis Pregnancy Center and the physicians who dropped everything they were doing in their hectic day to care for this young girl with no health insurance or support. Dr. B gave her personal cell phone number to the young lady and told her she would care for her for the rest of her pregnancy and deliver her babies. Dr. B said the most joyful thing in her professional life is when she delivers babies like this, she looks down at them in the delivery room and says "you don't know how close you came...."

The other neat sidebar to this story is that it shows the collaboration of Catholics and Evangelicals. The Care Net center is run and supported entirely by the evangelical community and the physicians involved in this particular case were Catholic.