“I was completely inconsolable, bawling, unable to pull myself together. ‘I just don’t want to ever have to do this!’ She had lived, breathed, and been loved completely.”
‘Are you sitting down?’ I was carrying a little one incompatible with life. I’ve prayed like I’ve never prayed.’: Mom grieves loss of 2 newborns to rare chromosome condition
‘She may not survive surgery.’ For 9 days, her chest remained open. She wasn’t the baby I expected.’: Mom has photo shoot in ICU before preemie passes to ‘make each day beautiful’
“Her body was too small to close over her swollen heart. Piles of machinery overwhelmed her metal crib. I hesitantly brought a small box into the ICU. Inside was a blanket and matching hair bow. I was shocked by how stunning she looked.”
‘Are you ready to let her go? Babies sometimes need permission to go.’ I was so focused on bringing her home, I was shocked.’: Couple accept Trisomy 13 diagnosis, ‘Our angel had a short mission on Earth’
“’Some babies with this condition didn’t live past 7 days.’ I was heartbroken. I started thinking of my father. It was his first grandchild, and he probably couldn’t meet her. My sister was coming in 12 days, and she might not make it in time. I told my husband, ‘I’m not going home without our baby.’ I was so focused on bringing her home, her words shocked me.”
‘I gave birth to this gorgeous, healthy baby a year after her father’s death.’: Widow gets pregnant with late husband’s baby from saved embryos, ‘now, after his death, it seemed possible’
“‘Sir, you have kidney cancer.’ My husband was 32. It was shocking. Before cancer was our biggest obstacle, infertility was. We chose to freeze his sperm – a decision that would change our lives forever. Two embryos were left over. Our hospital didn’t believe in destroying them, so I had to decide what that meant for me. Before he died, Joel told me, ‘You and I are going to have another baby. It will be a girl, you know what to name her.’”
‘Trisomy 18.’ ‘Incompatible with life.’ ‘Why would anyone want a baby like that?’ I didn’t understand how the baby so full of life within me could be THAT sick.
“She was so beautiful in her ultrasounds, yet the doctors would only tell me about how ‘scary’ she would look.”
