I apologize for being less available for posting and commenting over the past few weeks. It was just 2 years ago I was homeless and on the street after being betrayed by family and developing a chronic illness/disability. Earlier this year, after 10 years together, we were finally beginning to recover our health and financial stability when this little surprise happened!
My wife suffered from cancer in her spine from when she was a toddler, and was heavily irradiated and repeatedly cut apart, to try to beat the cancer with mainstream options. (Finally as a teen, cannabis destroyed her cancer, and now keeps it in remission.) Doctors said she would never conceive, and if she did, the baby wouldn't be viable/healthy. The specialists were all shocked (like us) when a small person showed up on an ultrasound searching for tumors!
Terminating him was suggested and offered quickly. Our lives aren't set up for having a child. We don't even have a pet. We are hardcore full-time activists who do street protesting for fun. We live within the black (free) market and prefer to distance ourselves from most of mainstream society.
Without any support from family or friends, we made the decision alone. It took 6 weeks and several appointments with respected doctors from many fields. MediKatie's prescribed cannabis use (required to keep her alive) was questioned as one possible reason the baby would likely not be healthy. We peered at the ultrasound scans, hoping for a hint at what we should do. The baby appeared intact, and didn't spontaneously go away. Each indication about it we got told us that it was beating all the odds, and might have a chance. They left the decision with us, and the deadline loomed.
Medikatie and I don't believe in causing harm to other sentient beings - sometimes called "ethical veganism". We seek to minimize the suffering, exploitation, damage, and death of birds and mammals. This moral viewpoint weighed quite heavily in our deliberations.
We chose to say yes to life. That's about the only way I can seem to put it. We chose life. It wasn't political, it wasn't even all that emotional. It was our rational, logical, moral decision. We decided to live the life we advocate, to go all the way, to put our beliefs into action in our lives.
There probably isn't meaningfully much privacy nowadays, even if we try and keep certain personal things to ourselves. Nevertheless, we're not going to be publishing photos or personal data of our little guy. Sorry! But trust me, he's very cute. :D And he'll introduce himself to the world when he's ready.
He was born in my hometown, the city I've done activism in for years, Vancouver, British Columbia. We're told he's medically perfect. Bright eyed, meeting milestones for 3 month old babies already, loving being alive. What a blessing to our lives he is.
My weekend posts (Mission Agua-Possible and my financial data post) are a little behind, but coming soon. Thanks for your patience as we recover and settle back in at home.
DRutter
