January 22nd is Ironic in so many ways. It's my grandmother's birthday. She turned 80 yesterday! (Happy Birthday Grandma! :) ). It was my due date for my daughter. She wound up being born by C section January 7th, 2003. It's the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade.
When I was pregnant and my due date had finally been pinpointed to January 22nd, I was excited. We thought for sure she was a boy but wanted to be surprised. I really wanted to name the baby Jenna if it was a girl, after my grandmother Jennie. My husband would not agree to it, saying the girl would be made fun of for having the same name as adult start Jenna Jamieson. He still feels this way. We settled on Jacqueline for a girl, but were pretty convinced the baby was a he.
As things turned out, I decided on a C section the week after Christmas and I had her on January 7th, about two weeks earlier than she was due. How cool would it have been for my grandma to have a namesake born on her birthday? Didn't work out that way.
Yesterday marked 34 years since Roe vs. Wade. Still surrounded in contraversy, some oppose it and some defend it. As a hopeful adoptive parent, I would hope more women would keep their babies and place them with families, but the flip side of me understands how for some women the best option given the situation, is abortion and I respect that. Coincidentally, when I was just about 20 weeks pregnant with my baby due January 22nd, they discovered a startling heart problem. The babies heart was on the other side of her chest. My fears of low amniotic fluid and bedrest were out the door-we had bigger problems now. Lots of the symptoms I was having were caused by her heart problem-low amnoitic fluid, baby small in size, gestational diabetes, my cord to the baby only had one vessel. The doctors first told us they thought the baby had heterotaxy syndrome. A very rare disease where all the organs in a babies body are reversed. The prognosis
is not good at all. The doctor said to my face, we should consider termination.
TERMINATION-at 20 weeks? The miracle baby that took years to conceive. I was
so startled and hurt. We immediately said this is not an option. As long as this baby's heart is beating, the pregnancy will go on. God should decide if she lives.
God won't give me more than I can handle. I was so scared. They let me out of
the hospital crying, so I can see a few specialist in New York City and find out
more of what's going on. After a long week of crying and worrying and daily trips to New York City, it was determined that the baby's heart was on the opposite side of her chest, but all organs were in the correct place. We started going to a ediatric cardiologist who then confirmed we were very lucky and all the bloodflow was correct. We were cautiously optimistic with the diagnosis of Dextrocardia (heart on the reverse side of her chest). We still had many weeks to go. I just prayed he was right and my baby would not have to have any major operations, I don't know if I could have taken it.
The week after Christmas, I decided I should have a C-section, after my OBGYN
suggested it. It would be less risky for the baby. A special team would be there
for the baby when it was born, prepared to handle a possible serious heart problem. I could never have forgiven myself if the baby stopped breathing or had complications from a natural delivery. She was born at 9:41AM fiesty and crying. I prayed just before the C section that the baby would be born pink and crying, so I would know everything is OK-no more scares. She was pink, crying, and in excellent health when she was born. The nurses were yelling out to me as they were cleaning her up "She's fine, she's perfect". Our pediatric cardiologist came to the hospital to check her out that day and said it was just as he thought and she was fine.
I thank God every day for my miracle baby and how I did not listen to a doctor.
She is unique and special. Even on the worst days, she is the light of my life.
From the minute I knew I was pregnant, she was a life to me.
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