My older sister recently had a baby, and it was great to get to follow along with her nine-month journey. However, her sonogram, the most exciting part of the pregnancy for my relatives, was the hardest part for me.

You know the scene: Family gathered all around in a small room, admiring the images of the new baby on the screen. We of course all waited to hear the news about the gender. Are they having a son or daughter? And when the tech announced, “It’s a girl!” everyone cheered and was overjoyed.

That was a hard moment for me, though, because in all the happiness I had a feeling of dread come over me. My mind went to when my birthmother was pregnant with me. What was her and my birthfather’s reaction to me being a girl?

You see, I was adopted from China as a healthy baby, and so the odds are pretty high that my gender led to me being orphaned. It makes me sad to think that in many parts of the world, a family’s reaction to a daughter is, “Oh, no! Not a girl! rather than “Oh, yay! She is so beautiful.”

It’s odd to know that the words, “It’s a girl” can mean such sorrow to one person, yet such joy to another. It hit me so strongly that day in the ultrasound room and once again made me wonder about the truth of my abandonment. Did my birthparents know I was a girl ahead of time, or did they get a “surprise” when I was born? How quickly did they decide I couldn’t stay in the family? My mind becomes cluttered with thoughts of who I am versus who I would have been.

Fifteen years ago in China, female abandonment was still a common occurrence, and thousands of girls just like me ended up in homes overseas. But if I was born in my birth country today, in a more equalized China where many families actually hope for a girl, how different my life would be.

I would have grown up in southern China rather than central Oklahoma.

I would use chopsticks instead of a fork and knife.

I wouldn’t have my current family.

I wouldn’t be writing this, and essentially I wouldn’t even exist in the same way.

There are endless possibilities to my other life that swirl around in my mind, and I find it’s easier to live this life than that imaginary one. But of course, I still imagine.

Yes, there are complications and mysteries to the story of my past. I know so little about how I ended up in an orphanage that it really isn’t possible to even call it a story – but more of a messily patched-up sentence or two. I think all adoptees reach a point where they wonder why their original parents left them, but we must come to terms with the fact that we are stronger than abandonment.

One thing’s for certain: No one else’s reaction to “It’s a girl!” will ever define me again. That’s my job – to show the world who I am and what I can accomplish.

Can you find the words or expressions in the text that mean the same?

1. a home for children with no parents

2. to accept something unpleasant or sad

3. to succeed in doing something

4. the chances of something happening

5. unusual or unexpected

6. lately, not long ago

7. present, existing now

8. the image of an unborn baby

9. expecting a baby

10. a feeling of great sadness

11. before the normal or expected time

12. something difficult to explain or understand 

————————————————

Key:

1. orphanage

2. to come to terms with

3. to accomplish

4. the odds

5. odd

6. recently

7. current

8, sonogram

9. being pregnant

10. sorrow

11. ahead of time

12. mystery

The Little Girl With Three Mums

Meet the little girl with three mums. Katy Slade’s dream of becoming a mum was made a reality after her sister offered her eggs and her sister-in-law her womb. Katy and her husband David, from Romford in Essex, were desperate to have a baby but feared their dreams were doomed. Due to a rare genetic condition Katy, 32, never developed proper reproductive organs and was unable to have children of her own.

Today, however, she and David are proud parents to one-year-old Beatrix after their sisters stepped in to help them in the most amazing way. Katy’s younger sister Lucy Marks, 27, acted as an egg donor while David’s older sister Jamie Allan, 36, was their surrogate and carried Beatrix for nine months. It was when they were still young that Lucy first promised her sister that she would help when it came time for Katy to have children. And years later her desire to help hadn’t changed.

However, Lucy, who had a boyfriend and no children of her own, ruled out carrying the baby because she was worried she would become too attached. It was then that David’s sister Jamie, who already had three children with her husband Wayne, stepped forward. Over the next few months David’s sperm was frozen, while his sister and sister-in-law were given hormone injections – to build the lining of Jamie’s womb and help Katy produce more eggs to be harvested. Two embryos were implanted in Jamie in December 2011, she discovered she was pregnant on Christmas Eve and Beatrix was born in September last year.

to offer – felajánlani
egg – itt petesejt
sister-in-law – sógornő
womb – méh (szerv)
desperate – kétségbeesett
to be doomed – kudarcra van ítélve
due to – miatt
genetic condition – genetikai betegség
to develop – kifejlődni, kifejleszteni
reproductive organs – nemzőszervek
to step in – közbelépni, megoldást javasolni
surrogate – pótanya, béranya
desire – vágy
to rule something out – valamit kizártnak tartani
to carry a baby – kihordani gyereket
become attached to someone – ragaszkodni valakihez
sperm – sperma
injection – injekció
to be implanted – beültetve lenni
pregnant – terhes

Fill in the gaps, there is one extra word.

1. I would like you to have an X-ray done to ……………….. any fractures.

2. Some women have morning sickness when they are ……………….. .

3. After finding out about the epidemic in Delhi, her plan to move ……………….. .

4. If you have diabetes, you need regular insulin ……………….. .

5. John would have died of a heart attack if a doctor travelling on the same plane ……………….. .

answers: 1-rule out 2-pregnant 3-was doomed 4-injections 5-hadn’t stepped in

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Gran-to-be‘s priceless reaction becomes Internet sensation, with over 300,000 people watching the amazing video on YouTube.

When Lee Kreps began tracking down her birthday present on a treasure hunt set up by her son and his wife, she may have been expecting some chocs or a bunch of flowers. What she didn’t know was that the real present was the news that she was about to become a gran!

Sean and Lynn Kreps set up the trail as a novel way of telling Sean’s mum that Lynn was pregnant. They filmed the whole hunt including the moment that Lee finds a clue in her kitchen – a bun in the oven. The priceless moment when the penny drops for Lee has gone viral after the couple posted the film on YouTube. Over 300,000 people have now watched the amazing video on YouTube.

Everyone loves good news, and viewers have been showering the couple with well wishes: "Great vid. Super concept. Best of everything for you and your bun in the oven," says one. "Nice job guys! What a great and heart-warming video. I wish you two the best of luck."

Lynn reassured viewers that Lee had seen the funny side of the video. "She loved the joke," she said. "I have to say, I have the best mother-in-law. She is so wonderful. We’ve had a really good time sharing all of this with her, and just sharing with all these people who are so happy for us."

The baby is due in December, where thegender will be another surprise for everyone.

source: Mirror

to have a bun in the over – terhesnek lenni
the penny drops for somebody – valakinek leesik a tantusz

priceless– megfizethetetlen, felbecsülhetetlen
mother-in-law – anyós
to find out – megtudni
gran-to-be – leendő nagymama
amazing – lenyűgöző
to track down – lenyomoz
treasure hunt – kincsvadászat
to set up – létrehoz, kitalál, felállít
to expect – várni, elvárni valamit
chocs – bonbon
a bunch of flowers – egy csokor virág
to be about to – azon lenni, hogy
trail – nyom
novel way of – újfajta módja valaminek
pregnant – terhes
including – beleértve
bun – cipó, buci
oven – sütő
the penny drops for – valakinek leesik a tantusz
to go viral – nagyon gyorsan elterjed az interneten
viewer – néző
to shower somebody with – valamivel elárasztva lenni
well wishes – jókívánságok
concept – koncepció, ötlet
heart-warming – szívmelengető
to reassure – megnyugtat
to share – megosztani
gender – nem
surprise – meglepetés