for those of you who actually read what other’s put in their profiles, i have some pretty amazing news! if you read my other blog (My Injury) or even my profile you’d realize that i’m wheelchair bound. although i’m not complaining about my disability there was one downfall: i wouldn’t be able to have children. yeah, i could conceive, but to carry a pregnancy to term would endanger not only my life, but that of my baby’s as well. well, to make a long story short, i’m a mommy!!!!! gave birth to a beautiful baby girl at 1:39 am Mother’s Day! needless to say i was in shock…due to misdiagnoses by both my primary doctor and pool therapist, i was lead to believe that i had developed fibromyalgia (arthritis of the muscles and joints) and the excruciating cramps i was experiencing was due to my muscles spasming in rebellion to my attempts to walk again. for the entire duration of my pregnancy i was on 5 different medications to combat the pains and symptoms of my “alleged” condition. i had no prenatals, no periodic checkups, nothing. and i was smoking!!!!! thank God i gave up drinking alcohol a year earlier…but now i am the mother of a beautiful baby girl who came into the world with a full head of straight jet black hair, my eyes, my grandmother’s nose and my strong will. it’s a miracle she came out in perfect health with all the things i didn’t do to help her develop properly! i truly believe, however, that she is meant to be here. had i known i was pregnant i would have aborted the baby b/c of the 99% chance i’d suffer a third and fatal stroke. i also didn’t want to bring a child into this world knowing that child would inherit what put me in this wheelchair, as it is genetic. i even had my annual gynecological checkup scheduled in april but as i was heading to the clinic they called to cancel as my doctor was called away for an emergency delivery. all of this lead me to believe that she was meant to be born. and now, with technologies more advanced than when i was a child, i’m praying we can detect the brain malformation when it forms and remove it before she has to suffer the same or worse fate than i did…the one thing that hurts more than not taking care of her during my pregnancy is knowing that through me she inherited a condition that could someday kill her…
