This post is by Judith Kowles of WholeHearted Home.
Having a tubal ligation seemed the thing to do after the birth of our second child.
I worked nights to help provide for our little family. How was I to have another baby?
I was scared to have more babies!
We had a boy and girl. Just perfect. Right?
The permanency of having a tubal ligation was irrelevant since I was young and living in the moment, not realizing I would ever desire a tubal ligation reversal!
Oblivious of God’s Stop Sign
Three months after the birth of my second child, I had an appointment for a tubal ligation.
God has a way of putting out a STOP sign to slow us down and cause us to think.
Have you ever just raced through the stop sign oblivious that it existed, not seeing, totally blinded to God’s hand in your life?
That is what I did.
I believed Satan’s lies and the voices that surrounded me, saying that at 30, I was too old for another baby.
The major stop sign that God placed in our lives happened when my husband stuck his finger in a grinding wheel and needed skin grafted from his wrist to place in his finger (gross, I know).
His arm was now in a cast up to his elbow and he wasn’t able to care for the baby while I recovered from having the tubal ligation surgery. The appointment had to be canceled.
We rescheduled the surgery but it never dawned on us that God was trying to STOP us and get our attention.
God Used a Phone Call
Has God ever gotten your attention because a friend strongly opposed something?
One day, a friend from church called and told me about a Bible study encouraging women to allow God to plan their families. She had two sweet children and thought having more babies was absurd.
I remember standing there in my kitchen when she called. God used this opposite situation to speak to my heart. A desire for a tubal reversal started to grow in my heart.
God’s Mercy for a Reversal
In Psalms we often read the record of how God blessed David over and over again. God’s mercy is never ending.
We drove out to Geary, Indiana where Dr. Denise Streeter performed my tubal ligation reversal in an out-patient surgery center. It was a 16 hour drive with a 6 year old and 4 year old coming along for the ride.
My tubes had been tied 4 years prior and I was blessed to have God allow me to put things back the way He had created them.
I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Putting the Planning Back into God’s Hand
We know what plans we have and what we want out of our life. Too often, God is the last person we consult when making life-changing decisions. How many wrong turns do we make and stop signs do we ignore because of our stubbornness?
My intentions in having a reversal was to place the planning of our family back into God’s hands.
When we use birth control, we are controlling whether we have another baby or not.
Reversal Success is NOT More Babies
After my reversal surgery I didn’t conceive for a year, and when I did, I miscarried. Another two years passed before I conceived again. That means almost 4 years passed before having my first reversal baby.
Many who desired to have a reversal would write or call asking if my reversal was successful. To most, success after a reversal is having a baby.
We too easily forget to allow God to be sovereign of every area of our lives including having more babies.
God Placed More Children Into Our Home
For me, having a reversal was more than physical surgery as it was circumcision of my heart. The Holy Spirit was doing a transforming work in my life. Praise God!
We ended up having 5 more children after my reversal surgery. Three through adoption, a labor of my heart; and two were reversal babies, born at home.
God has been good to us and I thank Him for His faithfulness through the years. My journey has not been an easy one but one through a refining fire.
What is your story? Are your tubes tied? Do you desire to have a reversal?
God can use you even when you have never walked in my shoes as you encourage other women to make the right choices, ones they will never regret.
{Melinda} I applaud your decision to follow God’s leading to have the reversal! Too many times I’ve run stop signs, too. I always regret it!
My story is a little complicated. My second child was born with cystic fibrosis. We had toyed with the idea of having a 3rd, but we wanted so much to do everything we could financially, emotionally and in every other way to support this child well and his sister. So we chose to take “permanent” means to stop having kids. I’ve wondered about it from time to time, but I always come back to feeling at peace with that decision — both then and now, even though I should have sought God’s leading more at the time.
{Melinda} Honestly, thinking back now, I think we always had in our minds “two.” I think the idea of a 3rd might have been more seriously considered (maybe), if things had been different. It’s hard to know. But I DO know I feel very blessed to have both my children and am so glad He entrusted them to me. He has taught me so much through each of them!
So happy your reversal was successful and you were blessed with more beautiful children!!
Wow! What a story! Thank you for sharing.
I feel such a connection with you! I am 31 years old and have 4 children. My youngest is 5 years old and I had a tubal ligation done immediately following her delivery. I made this decision because it’s what everyone else was telling me I should do.
There was a huge stop sign for me too. The doctor actually forgot to send my consent form to the hospital prior and had to drive to her office in the middle of the night to get it!
About 2 years ago I starting really growing in my walk with Jesus and I really started to feel the heaviness of having the tubal on my heart. Why did I damage my body that God so perfectly made?
I have the burning desire to have more children and I would love to have the reversal done if we can ever make it happen financially… But more than anything I would love to restore my body back to the way I was designed to be and leave it in Gods hands!
Thank you for your story! It is so comforting knowing someone else feels the same!!