"As long as they are healthy"

   I remember I ran into an old friend at the very end of my pregnancy with Sadie.  She knew absolutely nothing of what was going on with my baby and it was not something that I went around sharing with everyone.  We talked about when I was due, and if it was a boy or girl, and what names we had picked out.  You know, all that typical pregnant conversation questions that you have with someone.  We laughed about different things and compared pregnancy stories.  At the end of the conversation she said something that no one else had said to me (probably because most everyone knew about what was going on with the baby and just avoided the subject or avoided me).  She said "The only thing that matters in the end is that the baby is healthy, right?"  I just smiled and replied "Yep".  Those words echoed in my head for days, "as long as they're healthy, as long as they're healthy, as long as they're healthy."  I wondered how many times I had said that to someone who knew that their baby may not be "healthy" when they were born.  I know that this girl had not meant to upset me, and she had no idea that she did cause I walked away smiling.  That should not have been an upsetting statement, but it was to me (at the time). I wanted to become defensive and yell, so what if she isn't?  Is that not ok with you?  Are you going to dislike my baby?  Are babies only accepted if they are healthy?  I know it was just my hormones, but that statement made me angry.  Looking back on it, it was ridiculous.  At the time, though, that is how I felt.  I became soooo angry with a completely innocent person.
  "As long as they're born healthy"  That statement rings a whole new tune to me. As I've learned a child can be born with abnormalities and still be healthy, but does everyone see it that way?  I certainly didn't before she was born.
   Two lessons learned by Sadie 1. that statement is not that great to say to a pregnant woman, cause you just don't know and 2. abnormalities do not necessarily mean sick, they mean that God just mad them differently.