Just put my 8-year-old daughter to bed. We celebrated her 8th birthday a few weeks ago, January 2. Before going to bed tonight she requested we watch the rest of the video of her being born and her first few months on this earth. While it was against the rules of the 30 minute limit on TV a day, I figured this was a good exception.
Going back to that time really makes me even more grateful for where I am today. While Michael and I were trying to start a family, we ran into all the wonderful infertility issues. Noone has been able to tell us what the specific issue was/is, yet today we are ever so grateful to have Stephanie in our lives. It all truly was a miracle. After many months had passed and we were having little success on our own, we payed a visit to the infertility clinic. After going through a complete history on me, one thing that came up was the fact that due to the radiation from the brain tumor I had when I was 7, I was growth hormone deficient (for those of you who know me, but didn't know this...yes, that's why I'm so short :-).
I was one of the first to take the growth hormone injections as a child, where thankfully I was able to grow 6 inches (to an astounding 4 feet 8 inches), and then since the hormone was coming from cadavers and children also on it were dying, my parents made the wise decision to have me stop. Anyway, another long story short, present studies show that Growth Hormone helps us as adults as well...everything from healthy muscles, to bone density to cholesterol levels and cardiac function. With much still unknown about it, the infertility Dr. suggested I look into going back on it, thinking it couldn't hurt. After a visit to the endocrinologist, who agreed, he suggested I have an MRI just to be sure I was clear of any brain tumors before starting the Growth Hormone again. My thoughts were, "Sure, pretty far fetched idea, as I've been there, done that, I'm fine now. Now my job is to help other children." Little did I know I'd be recieveing a call at my job as a Child Life Specialist at Bellevue Hospital saying that they see something in the MRI, I should go have it checked out. "Aaaaah!!!!"
It was a Meningeoma. Another non-mailignant brain tumor most likly caused by the extensive amount of radiation I had to kill the first one. Studies show they are likly to form 15 to 20 years later. Well, gee, noone told me that. So here, Michael and I were, boarding our next rollercoaster ride, not knowing in which direction it would take us. So, I believe it was January 24, 2000, I was admitted to Mount Sinai Medical Center once again, so they could remove it and we could get on with our lives. While it was no picnic, all went well. The tumor was located near my optic nerve and when getting it out they hit something and I now have double vision (had that temporarily fixed with eye surgery, but unfortunatly it didn't last very long). I tilt my head to compensate. Aside from that, I guess I can't complain.
So from there, Michael and I paid many visits to the infertility clinic, and after going through 3 IUI's I was ready to call it a day. Michael pushed me along to try one more time with the IVF. With a little convincing I did, and getting that phone call that it finally worked was a beautiful day!
It took a long time, probably 9 months for me to actually believe it. I never wanted to get my hopes up, knowing that something can always go wrong. That comes from everything from my own experiences to those I see all the children and families I work with day in and day out go through. So after getting through the general obstacles of pregnancy to the horrid day of 9-11 and days after when January 1st, 2002 came along and my water broke, 33 hours later on January 2nd, we were pleasantly surprised with our long awaited daughter.
Needless to say we stopped there as far as having anymore children. To me, she was a miracle and I didn't want to press my luck. I still go back for my repeated MRI's, in fact have one coming up next month. So far, so good, so hopefully we'll continue on this track for a long time to come.
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