“Labor is the only blind date where you know you will meet the love of your life.” (Anonymous)
In
my forties I viewed (at home) the 1994 movie, Junior, and wondered “Could that ever happen?” The movie synopsis
goes like this: Austrian research geneticist Dr.
Alex
Hesse (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and his OB/GYN colleague
Dr. Larry
Arbogast (Danny DeVito) are working on a new fertility drug (Expectane) which
will reduce the chances of a woman's body rejecting her baby, and thus causing a
miscarriage.
When their research funding is withdrawn by the Food and Drug Administration, and human experimentation is denied to
them, they decide to test the drug by
briefly impregnating Hesse (since a female is to risky) with an
ovum codenamed "Junior."
The donation comes from
geneticist Dr. Diana Reddin (Emma Thompson)
from an ovum cryogenics
department.
Thirteen
years later, Thomas Beatie had gender reassignment surgery (leaving the female
organs in his body) in March 2002. He
became known as "the pregnant man" after he became pregnant through
artificial insemination in 2007. Beatie
chose to be pregnant because his wife Nancy was infertile. He did so with
cryogenic donated sperm.
As
for me, if a viable option had been available for me to be pregnant with our
daughter, Allena, instead of Bobbi (during our childbearing years), Bobbi would
have still been giving birth. Personally, one day if science can figure out a way
for the average man to be pregnant, that would drastically reduce the world
population. Many men would remember the pain of a vaginal birth (or being cut
open with a C-section), and politely say “no thanks” to another biological
child.
Of
course, adopting or fostering a child might become more viable options for a
lot of people. I am a big baby when it comes to pain. The nine months
preparation for the baby of feet swelling, exhaustion, moodiness, fluctuating
hormones, morning sickness might be more than I could handle. (Bi-polar and
pregnancy together wouldn’t be a great combination.) Women, I don’t know how
you do the baby thing as well as you do.
Dave
Wills had this to say about families: “Family isn’t defined only by last names or blood; it’s defined by
commitment and by love. It means showing up when they need it most. It means
having each other’s backs. It means choosing to love each other even on those
days when you struggle to like each other. It means never giving up on each
other.” I don’t know about you, but I know a
lot of people in my life that can fit that statement (that aren’t biologically
related to me). That doesn’t mean I do
not cherish my biological sister, Kim. Here are big hugs and kisses, Sis, for
putting up with your older brother all these years (and never giving up on me).
You are a strong woman. Take some time
now to think about all those people (related and not) that have helped make you
who you are today. Thank God for both the good (and challenging) lessons He has
taught you through others to minister to those you meet in life.[i]
[i] Adapted from the following sources:
“Junior (1994) Plot Summary” by
IMDb
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