In previous postings, I have mentioned how I would not go down the road of having IVF treatment. This was a decision I came to after researching what happens during a course of IVF, and I felt that morally (and probably emotionally too, if I am honest!), I couldn't deal with it.
I didn't like the idea of multiple embryos (AKA babies) being created and then being discarded or killed when they aren't used. For me, I have always held the belief that a life starts from the moment we are conceived... from Scriptures such as, Psalm 139: 13-16: "For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made... My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be." and Isaiah 44:24: "Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, And He who formed you from the womb: “I am the LORD, who makes all things, Who stretches out the heavens all alone, Who spreads abroad the earth by Myself" (Also the same statement is made in verse 2 of the same chapter), or Jeremiah 1:5: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”For me, life is life from conception, not from birth, or from a particular point in the developmental process (for some people, babies aren't considered "human" until they show rational thought!). Which is why I didn't think I could handle the process of going through the IVF course. When I learnt that they take a number of eggs and sperm and put them together to fertilise, thus "creating" life multiple times, but only one, two or at most, three are replaced back in the mother's womb, the rest are either frozen or rejected, I struggled to come to terms with balancing the creation of life with the destruction of that same life.
Now some may think that it doesn't matter because the baby has been fertilised rather than conceived. But for me, the moment the cells start dividing - the organism is living, creation is occurring.
It became an easier decision to live with, when Hubby and I found out we would not be eligible for NHS treatment of IVF anyway, because of Hubby's son. I think had I not reached the place within my own heart of what I would do in the possibility of infertility, the news from the Consultant a couple of weeks ago would have been devastating. Instead, I have a peace about this particular decision about what to do next.
Earlier this week, there was an article in the Daily Mail on Wednesday 2nd January, 2013, which discusses in more detail the process of IVF, called "1.7 million embryos created for IVF have been thrown away, and just 7 per cent lead to pregnancy". This is not me being political - I just found the article quite informative, and helped me to explain in more detail, why I made the decision I have.
If you are in the process of IVF, or are considering IVF, please don't think I am trying to condemn you. This is just a blog about my Journey For Bubba... each of us may be on a similar road, but our Journey's for our Bubba's will be different.
I pray the Lord's leading a direction for each of us will help us all with the decisions we have to make.
