The journey to having children has not been easy or straightforward for me. Dreaming a beautiful family all couple wish but becoming parents is not that easy I can feel the pain of those mother who can give birth to their own child due to some health issues but its fine don’t stop hoping for the best keep trying and trust the process. I now have two beautiful daughters, but I have also experienced ten miscarriages. The most heartbreaking loss was when I lost our son at 22 weeks. That loss was so painful that I decided I could never go through it again. I thought my heart couldn’t take any more grief. But God had other plans.
I found out I was pregnant with Rebecca June when I was already eight weeks along. My periods have never been regular, so being late didn’t immediately tip me off. This pregnancy had its challenges mild asthma, gestational diabetes, and sciatica but nothing that seemed life-threatening.
For the last two months of my pregnancy, I had weekly visits with my regular OB and a specialist. Each week, I went in for a stress test on the baby, and each week, the results were concerning enough to require an ultrasound. The doctors decided it would be safest to induce labor early because of her size. Our first daughter had weighed just under ten pounds, and we wanted to avoid similar complications this time.
At 37 weeks, I got the call to come to the hospital. By then, Rebecca was estimated to weigh nearly eight pounds, and it turned out she was almost nine. When she was born, the nurses immediately took her because the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck, and she was turning purple. All I could hear was, “Her oxygen is not where we need it to be! Come on, baby, you can do it!” It felt like hours, though it was probably less than a minute, before one of the nurses shouted, “She’s doing good!”
I still remember that how I use to be so broken whenever I get to know that it’s a baby miscarriage again even I face it ten time in my life but I never stop hoping for the best and now its time to happy again blessed with a daughter.
I asked my husband who she looked like. He said, “She doesn’t really look like any of us.” A few minutes later, they finally brought her over to me. As soon as I held her on my chest, I had a sense that she had Down Syndrome. I asked the nurses, but none of them confirmed it directly. One smiled and said, “I would be asking the same thing.” That was enough for me to know.
The first night in the hospital was mostly normal, but I noticed an odd noise between her breaths. I mentioned it to the nurses, who checked her but didn’t seem concerned. It wasn’t until late the next afternoon, when the pediatrician came by, that we learned Rebecca needed to be moved to the NICU because her oxygen levels would occasionally drop.
I was devastated. That moment I was broken because giving birth and lost her again was more then a death to me I was so scared to lose her. I worried for her breathing and hated the thought of leaving her, but we had no choice. She ended up staying in the NICU for four long weeks.
Rebecca not only had Down Syndrome, but she also had two holes in her heart and a fissure. We left the NICU with multiple specialists to monitor her progress, including cardiologists, gastroenterologists, and therapists for feeding, occupational, and physical therapy. Though the first month was the hardest of my life, in the world of NICU care and Down Syndrome, this was actually a relatively short stay.
She came home on a feeding tube but was able to stop using it within two weeks. Over time, she impressed every doctor and therapist she met. She is reaching all her milestones in her own time, doing everything with a huge smile on her face. Each day, I count our blessings and feel grateful for her presence in our lives. I never stop hoping for the best.
Rebecca June’s journey has taught me that hope can survive heartbreak, and that miracles can happen even after loss. She is a rainbow baby in the truest sense, and her joy and resilience inspire everyone around her. Though the path to her arrival was filled with fear and uncertainty, holding her in my arms made every hardship worth it.
