Real Miracles, Healing Stories
Santiago Family—Belief Into Action
IN
THE CARDS
Miriam and Don tried to have children early in their marriage, but
it just never happened. Doctors attributed her difficulty in conceiving to
Miriam’s diabetes and her polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). As the
years passed, so did their hopes of raising a family. “I just thought
I wasn’t meant to be a mother,” Miriam recalls. The “thirty-something” couple
made the most of the cards life had dealt them. They loved their two dogs and
cherished the freedom of not having kids. “Our life was great,” says
Miriam. But the cards were about to change for them.
After seven years of marriage, and considering her health problems, it was hard for Miriam to believe what she was seeing. “I just knew it had to be wrong,” Miriam thought as she stared at the results of the home pregnancy test. “We were thinking about getting another dog” Miriam chuckled, “So I didn’t know how to tell Don I was pregnant.”
Don sat at his computer when Miriam approached him and blurted out, “I think I’m pregnant.” Miriam remembered Don’s reaction, “He sat there quiet for a moment and then said ‘Yeah, right…you’re going back to the store for another test kit.’ So I did.”
Miriam returned home from her shopping trip with four additional test kits- just to be safe. She then got right to business. One by one she repeated the tests – all showed the same results. As she went through the process she began to accept the possibility. “I’m going to be a mom,” she said to herself. Her shock was mixed with excitement.
GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS
It took a visit to the OB/GYN before
the skeptical, expectant parents were totally convinced. They were a little
in shock, but also concerned. Her doctor explained that diabetes increases
the risk of complications for both the mother and the developing baby: birth
defects, miscarriage, hypertension or preeclampsia, premature birth and large
infant birth-weight.
A woman’s body undergoes a lot of changes during pregnancy. Pregnant women with diabetes often have difficulty controlling their blood sugar, requiring more frequent testing and doctor visits. Miriam needed to change her medication when her blood sugar became difficult to control.
After nearly five months, Miriam’s pregnancy was progressing well even with her diabetes complications. She was 19 weeks along when troubles began. She was feeling poorly one day and she noticed some bleeding. She called her obstetrician who sent her directly to Saint Alphonsus Family Maternity Center.
At the hospital, Miriam met Renee Bobrowski, MD, a Maternal-Fetal Medicine specialist. Dr. Bobrowski’s exam and ultrasound brought exciting but worrisome news. They were having a boy but Miriam’s cervix had prematurely dilated and the amniotic sac surrounding the fetus was coming through the dilated cervix. This condition, cervical insufficiency, frequently leads to a late miscarriage or extremely premature delivery. “I felt it was my fault my baby was at risk. Once again I felt that I just wasn’t meant to be a mother,” confessed Miriam.
The following day, Dr. Bobrowski performed a cervical cerclage, a surgical procedure to stitch the weakened cervix closed. A few days after the surgery, Miriam was sent home on bed rest for the next three months. Her condition was monitored weekly by Dr. Bobrowski. At 32 weeks an ultrasound exam showed the amniotic fluid was very low; it was time for the baby to be delivered. A cesarean delivery was performed several days later, but baby Ithan’s challenges were not over yet.
MORE TROUBLE AHEAD
Ithan required assistance to breathe
and as a small, premature baby, he could not maintain his body temperature.
At only four pounds-eleven ounces, Ithan was placed in Saint Alphonsus’ Neonatal
Intensive Care Unit. When Don and Miriam went to visit their newborn son, the
tubes and wires attached to the tiny infant alarmed the first-time parents. “But
everyone there was extremely comforting,” Miriam says thankfully.
The day came for Miriam to leave the hospital, but without her baby. She had conflicting emotions of leaving little Ithan behind. “It was hard and scary,” she recalls. “As his mother I wanted to hold him and take care of him, but I knew they could take much better care of him than I could at that time… that made it a little easier.” Even with her confidence in the care Ithan was receiving, Miriam was compelled to return to her baby’s side.
During the next two weeks Miriam became a permanent fixture beside her son in the NICU. The first-time mom watched her son gain weight and strength each day. When Ithan had grown to five pounds, and no longer required breathing assistance, he was strong enough to go home.
THE GREATEST BLESSING
Miriam and Don, and
the two dogs, could finally welcome home the new addition to their family.
It wasn’t the new puppy they had once planned, “But he is a blessing
- our greatest blessing,” Miriam says. “Don was very nervous at
first, but now he’s ‘Daddy’s little Ithan’. It makes
me so happy to see them together because I never thought I would see that.”
Miriam’s experience motivated her to become actively involved in the March of Dimes’ fight against prematurity. Ironically, Miriam's cerclage was placed on April 28, 2007, the day of the March of Dimes 'Walk America' (now the March for Babies). Miriam will be Saint Alphonsus' Honorary Mom for the 2008 March for Babies to be held April 26, 2008. “I’m excited to be a part of the first March for Babies,” Miriam says.
Despite the challenges and because she beat the odds, Miriam now believes she was meant to be a mother.