… From the desk of Lara Ketter, AGM Staff Writer

It’s a proven fact that ultrasound machines save the lives of unborn babies. When a mommy sees her precious tiny baby girl or boy for the first time via a live picture on the monitor, it’s a powerful and life-changing experience. If that mommy is considering abortion, she will most likely change her mind after the ultrasound experience.

“Once a woman sees that it’s a real live baby she’s carrying, 85%, EIGHTY-FIVE PERCENT — CHOOSE LIFE.” What an amazing statistic from the It’s All About the Babies page of this website. AudioGirl Ministries has purchased and placed two ultrasound machines in pro-life pregnancy centers and a third machine will be placed in a Save the Storks van.

The machines are saving babies from abortions and women from the anguish of life after abortion, major victories when you believe that every life matters.

I understand the power of an ultrasound machine and so does my husband, although he won’t be blogging about it. (Sorry, dear. I couldn’t resist, and it’s for a great cause.)

During my first pregnancy the doctor ordered a routine ultrasound, and I invited Farmer Husband along. This man is tough as nails, strong as an ox and rarely squeamish. When a cow is having trouble giving birth to her calf, he’s often up to his elbow, literally, straightening out limbs and helping to ease the little guy into the world. I’ve seen him lying in the muck behind a mama cow as she strains to give birth. On the rare occasion the vet needs to perform a C-section, Farmer Husband is right there assisting the vet as the cow is cut open, the baby calf is pulled out, and then the cow is stitched back together. He’s no sissy!

An ultrasound machine, however, brought him to his knees. Sitting right beside me, he watched as the technician ran the sonar device over my abdomen until a beautiful image popped up on the screen … our little baby girl sucking her thumb! As the technician did her thing, I was full of questions which she answered patiently. We looked at the body from the side, then the head from above, and then the tiny little feet from below. It was mesmerizing.

I turned to say something to Farmer Husband and noticed that his eyes were filled with emotion and his normally tanned face was pale. “I don’t feel so good,” he said. When he stood up to leave the room I noticed that he swayed back and forth slightly; he said he felt dizzy and somewhat queasy. The technician was cool as a cucumber. “I see this all the time from the dads,” she said, leading him to the waiting area. While we knew it was true, the ultrasound machine showed us that our baby was REAL and ALIVE; the experience was overwhelming for him and powerful for both of us.

This from a man who could be covered with cow doo-doo and still eat two hamburgers with relish, a huge smile on his face and not one ounce of nausea as the result.

Ahhh, the power of ultrasound machines. May they continue to save the lives of precious unborn babies by showing mommies that they’re REAL and ALIVE, full of promise for a world that desperately needs the gifts they’ve come to share.

If you’d like to read Lara’s first blog entry, Click HERE.

Lara Ketter is a writer who lives on a Kansas farm with her husband and three children. She writes a weekly blog on her website, www.LaraKetter.com, under the title, “Live. Laugh. Love. Lara.” She’s written two books and volunteers as an editor/proofreader for the quarterly Tipton Times, her hometown newspaper.