I am one of the lucky few people who managed to marry my high school sweetheart. As soon as I had graduated from college, my then long term boyfriend – now my husband - and I committed to tying the knot as soon as we could. Within just over a year we had an amazing wedding out in the country. It was the most wonderful day of my life and start to an exciting new experience with the partner that I care about and love most in the world.
After our marriage, we tried having a baby for a couple of years with no results. At that time, we were introduced to In Vitro Fertilization or IVF as a possible treatment. In Vitro Fertilization is the process of manually combining an egg and sperm in a lab environment and then transferring it to a healthy uterus. After a couple of attempts at IVF, we had almost given up when it finally worked. We were both beyond ecstatic with the anticipation of a child in our lives – at last we were going to experience the joy of having a child of our own!
The days flew buy and we were at the point where routine ultrasounds become another normal part of your day and you actually look forward to seeing your little one’s heartbeat flicker. Things were going along fine until we experienced our first hiccup – i bled to the point where I passed what looked bigger than a clot. Naturally, we were extremely alarmed and headed into an emergency room. After preliminary examinations, the doctors confirmed our worst fear – there was no heartbeat any more. Our regular physician also confirmed this but he did say to check back with him after a couple of days to check if any surgery was needed.
Just as we were about to leave the exam room, a sudden flicker appeared back on the screen – the energy in the room completely changed and we were hopeful again for a miracle. With a threat of a miscarriage hanging over our heads, we spent the next few months extra cautiously. 30 weeks down, i was diagnosed with preeclampsia – a condition of high blood pressure during pregnancy. On our doctor’s advice, i was admitted to the hospital until birth. Just a few days in, and i suffered from a seizure which meant an emergency C-section would have to be performed if there was any chance to save the life of the baby. my daughter was born at 10:06 that morning and taken into the neonatal intensive care unit. We had picked out the name Emily for her, and at that time I just wanted to be right there with my precious Em. The second day, Em’s lungs were collapsing and she needed chest tubes to breath. After a harrowing few hours, Em was back and stronger than ever before.
Yesterday was my daughter Emily’s 1st birthday and I cant help but be reminded of the magnificent miracles modern science delivers to people around the world every single day.
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