Missions 101

My wife is five months pregnant.  Last month we went for an ultrasound to see the baby and have the doctors check to make sure everything was progressing nicely.  We had done this three times before and were excited.  As we met with the doctor and ultrasound technician they referred to what they saw as "your child."  They must have said it 50x during the ultrasound as they referred to "your child's hand," "your child's heart," etc.  

But then something changed.  

Another doctor was brought into the room and for 5 minutes he stared at the baby's heart.  The room was completely silent.  He then began to tell us that there was a tumor on our child's heart and started to run down all the scenarios we were now faced with.  Then the doctor said to us: "If the fetus is abnormal and that is management problem for you, you have the option to terminate your fetus."  The slight change in wording tells the story.  I was in too much shock to respond.  But later it dawned on me what he had done. The child my wife was carrying was only a child if we wanted to keep it, as if it was our choice!  However, if we did not want the baby, it was only a fetus.

Three weeks later we came back for another ultrasound.  The growth on the heart was not a tumor, but a normal variant.  In the doctor's eyes, our child was a baby again.  In our eyes, nothing had changed.