7-Year-Old Has the Most Beautiful Response After Learning About Infertility
When Shelby Eckard received a text with a photo of her friend's ultrasound, she started crying. Her 7-year-old son Parker entered the room and asked why Mommy was crying and what was on her phone. Too early for the "where babies come from" talk, Eckard just told him that the photo was a baby. He then said, "but momma- I don't understand. Why are you crying? Babies are awesome," she recounted on Instagram.
While yes, babies are awesome, trying to get pregnant is tough, as is the hard reality of dealing with infertility. After her son's questioning, Eckard decided to teach him about the difficulties of pregnancy in a very touching way.
"How do you explain to a 7 year old the emotions and challenges of infertility. I mustered up my strong mom voice and told him, 'yes, babies ARE awesome. They make hearts happy and homes feel full and are the greatest present a person can ever get. Having a child is like looking forward to a birthday. You know the time for it is coming. And for some reason, for some, those 'baby days' don't come when they're supposed to. Or ever. And it's like waiting on a present and not knowing if you'll ever get it. And it can make you sad. If you were looking forward to your birthday, and it didn't come, you'd be sad, right? And you'd be really happy when you finally got your birthday present. Mommy had to wait for your baby sister, and it was really hard. But she's pretty awesome, right? And she was totally worth the wait. So mommy is happy when she sees her friends happy.'"
Later, the mom-of-two found Parker drawing a picture of rainbows, flowers and the words "don't stop trying." Parker told his mom he was coloring these pictures for women struggling with infertility.
Parker had said, "I want those ladies to be happy, too. I want them to get their presents. I can't give them a baby. And I thought maybe they can borrow my sister for a little, but I can't drive and I'd miss her. So I am drawing them pictures as presents. Maybe you can send them to them for me? When they're sad? I don't want them to give up. I want them to be happy."
The 32-year-old was obviously overwhelmed by her son's actions. "I am blown away by his big heart every day," she told CafeMom. "His ability to be empathetic for others, and his unending desire to help fix things, from his broken Lego tower to a struggling woman's hurt heart, makes me want to do better."
Eckard told CafeMom that she wanted to share this moment on her Instagram to show her followers that they are not alone.
"It can get very overwhelming, dark and defeating," she told Huffington Post. "I have been in that same dark place. I thought sharing a positive point of view through a children's eyes would maybe brighten up just one person's day."
Eckard's first pregnancy with Parker was unplanned so she didn't think she would struggle to conceive more kids, she told HuffPost. After years of struggling with infertility, Eckard was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). She explained how struggling with secondary infertility was "isolating and infertility," but with fertility treatments she was able to have her daughter.
"I am lucky to have my two beautiful children," she told HuffPost. "I know not everyone is so lucky. I think that's why I share stories and advocate for women with PCOS to share theirs as well, so one less person can feel alone."
A post shared by PCOS Support girl™ (@pcos_support_girl) on Nov 26, 2015 at 3:38pm PST
[h/t Huffington Post]
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