Laparoscopic Salpingostomy - The Night Before

As the day of the surgery drew near, I was so grateful for the friends who occupied my mind and stopped me dwelling on the fears which threatened to overwhelm me.

Hubby was at work, he didn't finish til 11pm. Tuesday night is the night for our Connect Group (Home Group) meeting, and I went as normal, thinking I would go home and pack for the hospital before picking up Hubby from work.

I actually found it really hard to stay with what was happening during the meeting, and as we were sitting outside, I wore my shades which meant no one was really aware of me zoning out!! I wonder if that's why the celebs wear their shades so much!!

After the meeting, most people left really quickly, and I was about to follow suit, but the Connect Group leader - a friend who has been incredibly supportive through this journey, knowing from real experience how hard it is - asked me to wait so she could sow me some bits around the garden. A bit random, I know, but we'd actually talked about some of her plants earlier. So I stayed while they saw out the rest of the guests.

She showed me around the garden, and we discussed our plants, what worked for us, what wasn't working, and then her Hubby asked if I wanted a drink. When we sat back around the patio, we started to discuss the next day's event and how I was feeling about it. The discussion went on about their own experiences, and they were able to open up about the number of procedures she had had to endure, IVF etc.

As they spoke, I learned something new about them, about how one of the treatments had worked, but they'd lost their baby at 11 weeks. As the Hubby shared, I understood that for him, the pain of what his wife went through had as much of an impact on him as it had on her. Yet most people don't understand the Hubby's perspective - afterall, it's the woman who undergoes most of the physically traumatic experience. But for this man, watching what his wife went through, the joy of becoming pregnant, and the sadness of losing the baby still remain with him - even all these years later.

How often we forget about the Hubby's perspective.

By the time they finished sharing with me, and me with them, I was going to be late picking up Hubby from work. We'd had no idea of how late it was. But for me, this was the best way for me to spend the night before. Sharing with friends, in the presence of the Lord. As I got up to leave, the couple prayed with me, and I felt such a huge sense of peace as I left to pick up Hubby.