One Step Forward

A couple of months ago, my family and I were blessed with a beautiful miracle, my baby sister. She was prenatally diagnosed with spina bifida. The road that led my mom and our family to the birth of this baby was a long and difficult one, especially since when she was diagnosed at about 18 weeks, my mother was encouraged to terminate.

Spina bifida, which literally means "open spine," is a neural tube defect. The doctors said she might not be able to walk, talk, eat, or basically do anything. But my family and I stayed strong. We knew if we would think negative we would lose our faith.

My mom stayed strong and refused to abort. She knew that everything was from the will of God and believed in herself and our beautiful blessing. After about five months, my mom's contractions began and we knew that it was the day our baby girl would finally be born.

My siblings, dad, grandma, and mom rushed to the hospital while my third sister and I stayed at home. We were so excited. My mom was in so much pain due to contractions. When they arrived at the hospital, the doctor said to my mom: "I have some bad news to tell you." My mom was so scared to hear it and thought something is wrong with the baby. The doctor said: "We can't give you the epidural, because you have been taking a blood thinner medication." The epidural is a shot that provides pain relief before and during delivery. My mom still didn't lose her faith and stayed strong.

Finally my mom went inside the room and delivered our little princess. My parents and siblings immediately noticed the opening in her spine, but it was larger than they expected, but they still had faith in the surgeons and her healing process. The doctors immediately took my baby sister to operate on her spine and close the opening.

She was hospitalized for six weeks as doctors monitored her recovery. But one day while I was visiting her, everything changed. Suddenly she stopped breathing. Doctors and nurses rushed into her room. There was screaming. Frantic calls. But nothing seemed to make any sense. Everything was going in slow motion. My family and I were asked to go into the waiting room and were told through their facial expressions that this might not end the way we need it to. We paced around praying for a miracle, for anything, for a chance for her to live a long and happy life. After what felt like a lifetime, the doctor came to notify us that she was breathing for now, but she was breathing through an oxygen tube. She was in critical condition and needs to be monitored even more than she was previously.

Then a week later she started changing. She was not acting like herself, her head got bigger, and she was sunsetting her eyes (a symptom that was too scary to ignore). We rushed to the hospital. They told us my sister would need a shunt, a narrow piece of tubing inserted into the brain, because too much fluid was building up. My mom knew that was what was best for our little princess.

We knew that if we believed in ourselves and had faith, everything would be fine. She is now two months old and on track for all her developmental milestones. She is our little miracle.

I know that it’s hard at times, but I’m here to tell you that pain is temporary. It may not be easy at first, but one day this will just be a memory of the past. Throughout everything my family and I have been through, we always remind each other to stay strong and believe in ourselves and the recovery of our baby. It’s hard, but it’s doable — it always is.

I encourage you all to think positive, keep believing, and always stay hopeful.