Lucky To Be A Mom
Let me start by saying thank you and Happy Mother’s Day to the lady who 50 years ago made one of the toughest decisions that can be made. I don’t know who you are or where you are but I know you loved me enough to give me to my mom who has loved me and sacrificed for me so that I can have the best life possible.
Mom, thank you for 50 years of caring, cheering, worrying, supporting and so much more. Thank you for that perm you gave me that curled my hair so tight right down to my scalp. Thank you for being my taxi to every basketball and softball practice and game. Thank you for the neon orange ski suit. People flying in the sky could spot me on the mountain. You are one in a million!
I am the proud momma of two daughters. I love them dearly. It was easy for me to get pregnant. Pregnancy was easy. I couldn’t relate to all the morning sickness stories that I would hear friends and strangers talk about. Both deliveries were easy. Four hours and no drugs, again couldn’t relate to all the horror stories I would hear. Over time we laughed and joked saying I had Disney pregnancies and deliveries. At the time we really didn’t know how lucky we were.
In April 2017, 15 months after our youngest daughter Brook passed away I found a blood clot in my right calf. Because Brook died of a pulmonary embolism my primary doctor ran 5 genetic blood test. When the results came back I was negative for four of them and positive for one called Factor V Leiden (blood clotting disorder). I was devastated. I was mad. All I could think was that I killed my daughter. Hadn’t I been through enough. That night as Kevan and I ate dinner I sobbed and he tried to console me but I knew he was upset as well.
The next day when we got home from work my sweet husband sat me down and said we need to change our attitude and praise God for allowing us to have our two babies. I was still lets say slightly upset and not really wanting to hear what he had to say. Kevan said no seriously, I did some research and Shellye we are so blessed. He handed me some statistics that he had printed out. Women with Factor V Leiden have an increased risk for miscarriage, increased risk for poor fetal growth, increased risk for stillbirth, difficulty getting pregnant and more. Wow, instant change of attitude for sure.
Because I carry the Factor V Leiden gene I can’t take hormones of any kind. They increase clotting and I don’t need help with that. We didn’t know I carried this gene back in my 20’s when I was having my babies and between each daughter I was on birth control. Mother’s Day is different for me now for a couple of reasons but I will never forget to stop on Mother’s Day and give praise to my God for blessing me with perfect pregnancies and easy deliveries and two perfect healthy daughters.