We are happy to introduce to you baby De'Vante Jr.!
Peace and calm abide inside the home of Baby De’Vante Junior. By his contented coos, one might forget that the past year brought pandemic, racial tension, political firestorms, job losses, and pervasive fear.
For De’Vante and Netta, the fear started in February, even before the pandemic began. Netta was unexpectedly pregnant, and the couple was seeking an abortion when they ended up at our clinic. “How do I say—we got redirected by the staff at TWC,” Netta said with a smile as she burped her newborn baby boy this fall.
At her first appointment, Netta was a bit surprised when the TWC advocate asked her questions about her faith. “I wasn’t as close to God as I should have been,” she confessed. The most vivid moment of her appointment came next, when the advocate stepped out of the counseling room.
“She left this empty chair. I was alone in the room, but He was there,” Netta recalls. Her Christian faith was rekindled. “I felt like I could have this baby and He was saying ‘This is what I have for you.’ I felt like He was with me no matter what.”
Next, her boyfriend, De’Vante, joined her in the exam room, where Clinic Services Director, Meredith Hall performed a sonogram.
“Meredith got us excited about it,” Netta recalls. “The way she showed us everything on the screen made it feel so real. Everything she did and said made it exciting.” De’Vante was struck by Hall’s caring spirit.
“She didn’t force us,” he said. “There was no pressure. We prayed. She brought us closer to God. That was very moving for me as a father and a man to know that God is with me.”
They took home a box explaining how to join an Embrace Grace mom’s group and made plans to come back to TWC for a follow-up sonogram. Then, coronavirus hit. Our clinics shut down for six weeks. Both De’Vante and Netta had jobs at a fast-food restaurant, but they worried about finances. Then, De’Vante recognized one of his customers at the drive-through window: Nurse Meredith Hall. She had no idea the couple worked at the restaurant down the street from her house.
“We had seen their hearts change after that first appointment at TWC, but we lost contact and we weren’t completely sure what choice they made about having the abortion,” Hall said. “I was so excited to see Netta’s growing baby bump. I got to bring them back a note of encouragement and a grocery gift card from TWC.”
Soon after, both De’Vante and Netta lost their jobs. More and more people were getting sick with Covid-19. Still, they didn’t second-guess their decision to choose life for their unborn baby. Netta had joined the Embrace Grace group with other expectant mothers at a local church. The women met faithfully—virtually and at the open gazebo in Netta’s apartment complex.
“I wasn’t letting fear take over me any more like I was when I was thinking about abortion,” Netta said. “I know God has a plan for me. I see it through the people he put into my life this year.”
De’Vante believes the pandemic has been a positive experience. He has a better job now.
“As a couple—as a country—we’re having to learn to have faith bigger than our fear,” he said. “People are getting back to their families and humanity and away from the things of this world. We’re being with the people who matter. I’m glad we all got to go through this. As a couple, it has brought us together. It has spiritually and emotionally changed our lives together.”
He now admits he didn’t really want an abortion in the first place.
“If we had gone the abortion route—wow, what we would be missing out on,” De’Vante said as he patted the head of little De’Vante Junior nestled on his chest. “I’m totally grateful He steered us in this direction.”