My baby brother turns 57 today.
He is my parents’ third child.
Mom was shocked, rather than thrilled, to hear she was pregnant in the fall of 1958.

And for several good reasons.

Her husband had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis only a few months earlier.
The progress of the disease meant he would soon give up his job.
She had just signed a teaching contract to support her family.

Then she found out she was pregnant.

In the late 1950s, most teachers had to resign once they were showing.
Mom was 5’1″ and thin.
She would be showing by Christmas.

For some reason, the school superintendent didn’t ask her to resign.

But Mom still worried.
She had only a 2 year teaching degree and needed to finish her 4 year degree.
It was already nearly impossible while caring for the 2 kids they already had.

How would she do it with a baby, too?

She would have to drive to the hospital because her husband’s vision was poor.
The hospital was 30 miles away.
Plus the baby needed blood transfusions at another hospital to combat Rh factor.

She wished this baby wasn’t coming.

Until an older woman offered Mom some life-affirming advice. “This baby will be a blessing to you,” the woman told her. “You may not believe that now, but God has a reason for this new life. One day, you will look back and understand. And you won’t be able to imagine a world without this child.”

This woman, whose name no one in our family remembers, was a prophet.

To read the rest of this post, visit the Not Alone website at specialneedsparenting.net.

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