By Frances Valasek
To me there is no greater gift than that of being a
mother. My daughter Julia was born in
2009 after a textbook perfect
pregnancy and thirty hours of labor. After her first birthday, my husband Bill and
I found out I was pregnant again with another baby girl.
But at 26 weeks, an ultrasound showed my baby had no
heartbeat. I was totally numb. The doctor said the baby’s body was filled
with fluid, and she died in utero of cardiac arrest. Admitted to the hospital, I was induced and
after 12 hours of labor gave birth to my stillborn little girl. My husband was
in Russia on business, and I called my mother to come and be with me. I held my precious daughter, kissed her, and
told her how much I will always love her. We had her baptized at the
hospital. A few days later we had a
memorial service for her, and she was laid to rest on top of my grandmother’s
grave.
An autopsy showed she had something called fetal hydrops,
which meant her body was filled with fluid.
There was also iron overload in her liver. There was no explanation as
to why this happened and the doctor said it was just a fluke. The grief was
painful and difficult to endure, but we had to be strong for my one-and-a-half
year old. I found an online support group for other women who had similar
experiences to help me cope.
My husband and I decided we really wanted to try for another
child. Nine months later we found out we
were
pregnant again, this time with a little boy. But just a few days after my
18-week ultrasound, the doctor called to say they noticed the baby had a single
artery umbilical cord that would require me to go in for monthly growth checks
since a risk would be that the baby would be small in size. During an ultrasound at 24 weeks, the tech at
UPMC Mercy sent us immediately to
Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC, where
Dr. Stephen Emery told us this
baby also had fetal hydrops and needed a blood transfusion. I was heartbroken and scared. I felt like I
was going to have to go through a loss once again. Doctors also found the baby wasn’t making
enough red or white blood cells, or platelets, a condition called pancytopenia,
and he had too much iron in his liver. Every three weeks for the rest of my
pregnancy, the baby would need blood transfusions given to him through his
umbilical cord in a delicate operation done in the operating room.
In the following weeks, Dr. Emery, who runs the
Fetal Diagnostic and Treatment Center, met with Dr. Lakshmanan Krishnamurti from
Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC to discuss my baby’s condition. They worked together on a treatment plan;
however, there was no reported case of this ever happening before. It was believed the baby, once born, would
need blood transfusions for the rest of his life to survive. I was prepared for
the worst. Was my baby going to even
live? I stopped buying gifts for him, I
stopped preparing his room. I didn’t
even want to talk about being pregnant.
I wasn’t even looking forward to giving birth in fear of the
unknown. I met with Dr. Emery several
times a week for appointments, transfusions, and so many ultrasounds I couldn’t
even begin to keep track. He was always
so positive, supportive, and compassionate.
On Jan. 5, 2012, I delivered Liam Daniel at 34 weeks by
C-section after going into the emergency room at Magee with unexpected
bleeding. He weighed 6 pounds and with sapphire blue eyes, a cleft chin and
tons of dark brown hair was the most handsome little boy I had ever seen! He
would stay a week in the neonatal intensive care unit at Children’s where they
performed a transfusion, did bone marrow biopsies and many other tests. After
his release from the hospital, we had countless appointments with hematology,
genetics, GI, cardiology, urology and ophthalmology. We had a home nurse come and visit three
times a week. We took Liam to all his appointments and his blood levels kept
going up and up, until eventually they were all in normal range! I called Dr. Emery and let him know the good
news.
I am so fortunate to have found such wonderful doctors and
nurses who never gave up. They all
showed so much compassion and genuine concern for my family. These amazing professionals have truly found
their calling and have definitely done their jobs – to save lives. I am forever grateful for all they have done
for me, my family and my beautiful Liam Daniel.
|
Liam on his first birthday this year. Click
the link to watch his story on WPXI. |