When The Unborn Doesn't Go Quietly To His Execution, "Tiny Tim"

2-28-98 | Sharon Dunsmore, RN, Bob Edwards

[Coleus]

When The Unborn Doesn't Go Quietly To His Execution

Michael Reagan Show
2-28-98 Bob Edwards

When the Unborn Doesn't Go Quietly to His Execution

It was a relatively calm day in my hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. I and two other nurses were trying to have a conversation amid the customary sounds of ventilators and heart monitors. I was in mid-sentence when the shrill ring of the red emergency phone halted everything. "Come fast," the voice said urgently, "We need a neonatal nurse here STAT!" (that's immediately). Fear gripped my heart as I ran into the delivery room, but instantly I knew the situation was critical, and I was now prepared for what I was about to experience. "What's happened here?" I asked. "It's an oops abortion, and now it's your problem!" responded one of the nurses. For us, an 'oops abortion' meant that the fetus had survived the abortion procedure.

A pediatrician had also been called to the scene. He ran by me with the fetus, (now called a baby), in his hand and yelled in my direction. I followed him into the resuscitation room adjoining the delivery room.

I looked into the bed of the warmer as I grabbed equipment. There lay a baby boy...... a very, very tiny baby boy. The doctor and I immediately made an attempt at intubation, that is, inserting a tube down the windpipe from the mouth or nose of the infant to the tip of the lungs to try to ventilate, expand and get oxygen into them. The doctor's efforts at intubation failed. All it did was further traumatize the baby. I glanced at the doctor and hesitantly asked, "Will you attempt intubation again?'

"It would be inhumane to attempt to intubate this poor little thing again. This infant will never survive." "Well", I said, "it is my job to ask." The doctor softened, "I'm sorry, Sharon, I'm just angry. The mother doesn't want the inconvenience of a baby, so she comes to the hospital so she can pay somebody to get rid of it -- all neat and tidy. Then the whole thing gets messed up when the little one has the audacity to survive."

"And then everybody takes it seriously, and they call the pediatrician, and I'm supposed to fix it, or get rid of it." With anger in his voice, he went on, "Some lawyers will fight for the right for the mother to do whatever she wants to with her body, but watch out for what they do when abortions aren't so neat and tidy!!! A failed homicide -- oops! Then all of a sudden everybody cares, and it's turned from a 'right' into a 'liability' that someone is blamed for!"

We looked at our pathetic little patient. He was lying in the fetal position in the wrong environment, trying to get air into underdeveloped lungs that could not do the job.

In a calmed voice, the doctor said, "Okay, Nurse, I'm going back to my office. Keep him comfortable and let me know when it's over. I'm sorry about this. Call me if you need me. I know this is a hard one. If it helps, please know it is tough for me too."

I watched the doctor retreat and then glanced back at the infant before me. He was gasping for air. 'Lord, help!', I prayed. Almost instinctively, I measured the baby's vital signs. His temperature was dangerously low. I pushed the warmer settings as high as they would go. His heart rate was about 180 - 200 beats per minute. I could count the beats by watching his little chest pulsate.

I settled down a bit and began to focus on this tiny little person. He had no name, so I gave him one. Suddenly, I found myself speaking to the baby. "Tiny Tim, who are you? I'm sorry you weren't wanted. It's not your fault."

I placed my little finger in his hand, and he grasped it. As I watched him closely, I marveled that all the minute parts of a beautiful baby were present and functioning in spite of this onslaught. I touched his toes and discovered that this premature baby was ticklish! He had a long torso and long legs, and I wondered if he would have become a basketball player. Perhaps he would have been a teacher or maybe a doctor.

Emotions swept over me as I thought of my friends who had been waiting and praying for years for a baby to adopt. I spoke aloud again to this miniature baby. "They would have given you a loving and happy home. Why would people destroy you before ever considering adoption? Ignorance isn't bliss, is it, Tiny Tim?"

So little Tim put his thumb into his mouth and sucked. I hoped that gave him comfort. I said, "I'm sorry, Tim. There are people who would risk their lives for a whale or an owl, but they wouldn't even blink an eye about what is happening to you." Tiny Tim gasped, and his little chest heaved as if a truck were sitting on it. With my stethoscope, I listened to his tiny, pounding heart. It seemed easier to focus on his physiology rather than on this tiny baby's humanity.

And then he wet...and my mind took off again. Here was Tiny Tim with a whole set of kidneys, a bladder and connecting tubes that functioned with a very complex system of chemistry. His plumbing was all working! I turned the overhead light up and little Tim turned away from it. In spite of eyelids that were still fused together, he wanted to protect his precious little eyes. I thought about them. They would never see a sunset, a mother's smile or the wagging tail of a dog.

I took his temperature again. It was dropping. He was gasping for air and continued to fight for life. I stroked him gently and began to sing to him.

Another nurse walked in. "How's the mother?" I asked. "Oh she's fine. She's back in her room resting." The family said they don't want to see or hear about anything. They said, "Just take care of it." The nurse retreated with one last glance at the tiny patient. "For such a little person, he sure is putting up a big fight," she said.

So there I was with this tiny, tiny preemie who had survived an abortion. The doctor had left. The family had said, 'Just take care of it'. Sharon had found the toes ticklish, and she watched him suck his thumb. She had turned the heat lights up, and he had turned his head away from the bright light to protect his eyes. And now he was wetting...his plumbing worked too.

I looked at Tiny Tim and wondered if he knew that what he was fighting for so hard was life -- and I knew he was losing his fight. He was dying...and his family was not even interested. Their words tormented me, "Just take care of it!" No muss, no fuss.

Then Tiny Tim moved and caught hold of my little finger. I let him hang on. I did not want him to die without being touched and cared for. As I saw him struggle to breathe, I said, "It's okay, Tim. You can let go.........You can go back to God." His gasping started to slow down, but he still clung to my finger. I stroked him ever so slowly and watched him take his last breath.

"Goodbye," I whispered, "You did matter to someone."

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A few years later, the same Sharon Dunsmore became the manager of a psychiatric unit. One day, Kathy, a young, severely depressed woman, came to see Sharon following an unsuccessful suicide attempt. As Sharon interviewed her and heard her story, she told of an abortion she had received three years before and was having recurring nightmares. A baby was crying for help and kept calling her name. In her dreams, Kathy kept searching for the baby, but could never find him or her. She did not even know the sex of her baby.

As Kathy gave the name of the hospital and the names of the doctor, a disturbing realization dawned on Sharon -- Kathy was Tiny Tim's mother. But because of hospital regulations Sharon could not tell Kathy what she knew.

But time passed. Sharon was no longer a nurse or a therapist. Kathy was no longer a psychiatric patient. They ran into each other at a restaurant, where Sharon gently unfolded the story that had been hidden for so long. Tears flowed as she gave Kathy the gift of answers. Her baby had been touched and loved by a mother. He had been given a name. He didn't die alone. He was sent back to a loving God.

They held each other and wept. Sharon looked into Kathy's eyes and saw new strength and calm. There were scars, but she was beginning to heal. The nightmares were being put to rest.

Sharon still lives with the haunting impact of this experience. A CHOICE that was intended to be 'no big deal', turned out to be a very big deal for everyone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was brought to tears by this story. In all my travels and experience in the Army, I have never witnessed anything like what Sharon Dunsmore did. I have seen people killed, I have seen the effects of war, and I have helped kill other human beings. It amazes me what human beings will do to each other. Still, in everything I have seen, I wonder how people can call 'Tiny Tim' just a piece of tissue, just a choice. We as a nation will answer for the infanticide that we practice. We as Christians will answer for what we have or have not done to stop this holocaust.

In Nazi Germany in the 1930's and 1940's the Christian Churches were well aware of what the Nazi's were doing to the Jews and other undesirables. In most cases the church chose to do nothing, reasoning, that they should let the state take care of earthly matters, while the church worried about saving the soul. The price for inaction, the destruction of Germany. Do not sit idly by while this country mortgages her soul through infanticide.

'Just take care of it.' How convenient to rationalize life by calling the baby 'it.' If you choose abortion, you choose stories like this! Unfortunately, we pay for our choices in life, Kathy paid a terrible price, as did Tiny Tim. But so did Sharon, the doctors, nurses and family involved. However, it is more than that, this nation is paying a price for treating our most helpless citizens as tissue. God says He knew us before we were born. He also says a man and a nation will reap what it sows.

Yours In Christ,

Bob Edwards

Sharon Dunsmore has Tiny Tim's story available in booklet form.

"Tiny Tim", PO Box 84, Smiths Creek, MI 48074-0084

Bible Reference:    Psalms - 1:1-5, Psalm 4:6, Malachi 4:16, Psalm 119:105, Proverbs 2:12-22,
                        Proverbs 4:18-27

Needs Repeating, Posted 1, 2, 3,

[Coleus]

There was no indication in the article about the age of the baby, I suspect he was in the 2nd trimester of life, we as a Christian nation are killing babies up to the 9th month or at the time of natural birth.

Harvesting Those Fetal Body Parts

House passes bill on fetal pain notification

Partial-birth abortion: dispelling the myths

The Ugly & Hidden Truth About Partial Birth Abortion

President Bush Signs Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004

Some Journalists Just Won't Give Up Discredited Myths About Partial-Birth Abortion

CFR Members in Congress Fix Votes (partial birth abortion)

Pro-Life Members of Congress File Brief in Partial-Birth Abortion Case

The Truth Comes Out: The Partial-Birth Abortion Trials

Federal Judges Disagree That Partial-Birth Abortion Records are Needed

(USCCB) Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act, Trial Info. & Transcripts: New York, Nebraska, California

Doctor: Fetus Feels Pain After 20 Weeks

PBA

Abortion

[zip]

It's hard to type when the monitor is a just big blur. Damn, just damn. Anyone that can read that without crying (not just a few tears) is evil beyond belief.

[Maeve]

Ping lists. This must be read and sent out.

[Maeve]

Bump to the top.

[xrp]

I was brought to tears by this story.

Me too...me too.

[GeronL]

That should be required reading for humans.

[vpintheak]

I just talked to some parents of a girl I once knew, they told me she had a baby 3 and 1/2 months early. They said he was the size of a barbie doll. Guess what, he is alive and kicking now int he loving arms of his parents. Thank God these people didn't think of the child os an inconvenience.

[Merry]

This happens every day in hospitals that do abortions. They put the babies in the back rooms and just let them die.

[ntnychik]

Ping

[sockmonkey]

Soul wrenching.

BTTT!

[Tuscaloosa Goldfinch]

Amen.

[Coleus]

Same thing happened to a friend of mine's son about 12 yrs. ago, he's now a normal kid.

[Maeve]

Ping to a must read, and please ping your pro-Life lists.

[beaversmom]

Oh wow, this is one of the saddest things I've ever read. The only other thing I can think of that made me cry as much was the description of a stoning in Saudi Arabia.

I feel terrible when I have a pet put to sleep--you know, taking a life--and that's an OLD ANIMAL I'm talking about. I don't know how any woman could do this to her baby--especially being so far into the pregnancy. There is no way I could do this.

I'm so sorry for the baby and all the others like him who have met the same fate. I'm sorry for the nurse who had to watch a perfectly health baby at that stage die a miserable death. Wish there would have been some way to save him--I know they would have had there been.

So very sad especially the part about what he could have grown up to be. Sad about his little body trying to function.

[loboinok]

That should be required reading for humans. Why just 60% of the population.EVERYONE should read this!

[Cate]

I went to my nephew's wedding yesterday. He married a beautiful young woman who happened to be born very premature 26 years ago, only weighing one and half pounds. Thank God for her and her wonderful parents who stuck by her side as she grew up. These little ones do have a very special purpose on this earth.

[Calpernia]

I really didn't need to read this :(

[GeronL]

Its sad. Its hugh series sad, it stuned my beeber, we should ZOT those abortionists.

[Calpernia]

Not really pinging you.