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A long post about choosing life, from a family that’s done it despite risk to the mother’s health. My wife’s life was in great danger during her pregnancy with our daughter. Doctors told us at 17 weeks that she could terminate due to severe risks to my wife’s life from extreme placenta percreta. We said no, not an option. We had tearful conversations about what could happen, but resolved to trust God regardless of the cost or circumstance. Knowing that abortion was not an option, the goal was then to make it to 34 weeks and deliver my daughter early. 34 weeks was the sweet spot where my wife’s health would be maintained (extremely risky to go further), and also allowed my daughter to develop more fully. We never made it to 34 weeks. At 24 weeks 4 days my wife started bleeding. We went to the hospital and they checked her in for a week of monitoring. We never made it a week. The next day my wife hemorrhaged and started to bleed out on the hospital bed. If we had not been at the hospital, she likely would’ve died at home or en route to the hospital. She lost a lot of blood very quickly. Rushed into emergency surgery, a team of doctors delivered my daughter at 24 weeks 6 days, and another team worked on stopping the bleeding and saving my wife. My wife had to have multiple transfusions, and a full hysterectomy, had a catheter for a month because the placenta had grown through her uterus and into her bladder and it had to be repaired. This also kicked off 98-days in the hospital for my daughter. 98. There were several times that we almost lost her during that 98 days. Some of the hardest days we’ve ever walked through as adults, as a married couple, as parents. But in those hard days, we leaned hard on the sovereignty of God trusting that He is in control of all moments of our life, and that our lives are truly in His hand. There was nothing we could do. We were powerless to change anything, powerless to save anyone, completely powerless. But day by day we saw my daughter’s fight. Day by day we saw God sustaining her. Day by day we struggled. But day by day God was our strength. It was a long 3.5 months. Never missed a day at the hospital. Worked through the middle of the night to keep up on job assignments. Prayed like never before. Understood God’s sovereignty like never before. Learned to trust deeper. Saw faith grow stronger. Now, we are a couple years out of that season. Both my wife and my daughter are healthy and we thank God daily for all that He brought them through. So why am I sharing this? I don’t share much on here that is personal. I don’t really share photos of my kids or my wife, I keep things pretty strictly related to puritans, Bible verses, quotes, and an occasional meme. I share this because of this: If you’re reading this and are scared of how a pregnancy might be a risk to your life - so were we with my wife’s life. If you think that your best/only option is self-preservation due to a risky pregnancy, then let me suggest this - there is another option: You don’t have to choose between your life and the baby’s life. And make no mistake about it - it is a baby. It’s not a clump of meaningless cells. It’s not a fetus. It’s a baby, a human, and image bearer of God… although a really tiny one. But you can choose this instead: Choose to trust God. Know that He is sovereign. Know that He uses hard moments to sanctify His people. Will it be easy? No. Will it be scary? Sure. But can you trust God? Absolutely. Don’t fall for the current narrative saying we need to allow abortions due to risk to the mother. My wife would’ve, and almost did, give her life in order to give our daughter a fighting chance. She trusted her life to God. He was sovereign. He is sovereign. Whether she lived or died, He is sovereign. We can trust our lives and our eternities to a sovereign God.