Origin

My oldest daughter, 9 year old Savannah, asked me today where babies come from. Now this question has come up off and on over time, but I've always been able to give it brief answers that passify the children until such a date as I see fit to divulge all the details. But this time, Savannah was a little too old and just a little bit too knowledgeable for me to blow it off with a response like "from Mom's and Dad's" or "from Mommy's tummy" or the best one yet, "from God." I have thought about what I would say when I got to this point, but on this occasion I happened to be driving from gymnastics to Walmart, I had to try not to wreck the car while answering her questions. I was trying to wade into the answer by seeing what she already knew, so I asked, "What do you mean?" I was extremely relieved when she answered with this...

"Well... in some countries like China you can only have one baby. If you have more than one, do you have to kill it? Some people can't have babies, right? So if you have extra's, can you just give them to someone else? You never gave away any extras or got any from somewhere else did you, Mom?"

As you can imagine, I was elated that the question was more geographic than anatomic. My relief was short lived, however. I told her that of course I had not given away any of mine and had not gotten any from anywhere else. I was lucky to be able to have my own children and was not having any more. The conversation went down hill from there. It went something like this...

Savannah: God said you're done, right Mom?
Mom: Yes, honey. Plus I can't have any more.
S: Cause you had that surgery like dogs have, right?
M: Something like that.
S: So do they take away the place where the baby lives or that little tube it gets out from? Cause I saw a picture of that in a book once and it looks gross. I don't get it.
M: They take away your uterus, honey. The place where the baby lives. But none of my babies came that way - they were all cut out of my belly. Just like Nana's babies and Aunt Bridget's babies.
S: So how do the babies get there if girls aren't married? Like that girl at your school? How did she get pregnant?
M: By doing things with boys that she wasn't supposed to do if she wasn't married. That's why God says not to do that stuff if you're not married. It's hard to take care of a baby without a husband.
S: Oh. I'm glad you're my mom.
M: Me too, honey.

A word to the wise - plan ahead for this one. I'm POSITIVE this discussion is not over!