Picture Us Together
Leah Camila’s story
Summer, my favorite season of the year. The sun shining, beaches are open, children
playing in the playground and the beautiful breeze. I was working one summer day but
noticed I had gotten sick, runny nose, fever and cough. I went home that night and had
this weird feeling. I knew something was up, how could I have a cold in the middle of summer? I didn’t drink any meds because I felt like I was pregnant. Days passed and I
wasn’t feeling better so I headed out to the pharmacy and bought a pregnancy test. I
remember boyfriend and I were moving out and I had told him I had this weird feeling I
was pregnant, he didn’t pay much mind to it so I decided to take the test. Yes, indeed I
was pregnant! I showed the pregnancy test to my boyfriend and I started crying
because I had mixed emotions. It was an unplanned pregnancy but I would never
terminate of course. On June 10th my Obgyn definitely confirmed that I was pregnant I was 10 weeks. My belly started growing although I was only a couple of weeks and
everyone at work started noticing so I ended up telling them I was pregnant.
At 12 weeks I had another ultrasound but this time all the happiness went away. The doctor said he noticed something called a Cystic Hygroma in my baby which meant the neck fold was measuring much more than the usual and this would bring complications. The doctor gave boyfriend and I options on doing tests like a CVS or Amnio but we declined and had faith in God that everything will turn out fine. At 16 weeks I got a test called Harmony in which blood was drawn from my vein to test if my baby had chromosomal abnormalities but, the testing came back negative, I was relieved and also found out the gender of my baby. It was a girl! Boyfriend and I were so happy, no words could explain our emotions. At 20 weeks my OB sent me to a genetic counselor to explain to us more about this Cystic Hygroma. I also had my anatomy scan and more bad news came along the way. The Cystic Hygroma was still there but also my baby girl was missing a
valve from her heart. They classified it as Hypoplastic Left Heart syndrome. At this point I was freaking out but termination was NEVER an option for boyfriend and I. We decided to go ahead and get the Amnio done to find more answers and be prepared to bring my child into this world with as much help and information possible. The amnio results would take a couple of weeks to come back. Meanwhile, my doctor sent me to a pediatric cardiologist to get a Fetal Echocardiogram, basically a better ultrasound of my daughters heart. It was friday, September 25 as I laid down hoping and praying my baby was alright and that all of what the doctors said was some sort of mistake. As the doctor performed the ultrasound I noticed he started to look a bit nervous. He had me lay down in different positions until he gave up and told me “I’m sorry there is no heartbeat.” My heart shrunk and was shattered into pieces. All of my hopes and dreams for this baby was gone. I started crying quietly and didn’t even pay attention to what else the doctor had to say. I just wanted to go home as soon as possible and cry under my blankets. My boyfriend and I held each other in the car and all I can think of was why me? why us? why my baby? I spoke to my doctor and he told me he wanted to wait a couple of days to see if my body would bleed naturally. It didn’t. The whole weekend I couldn’t do anything else but think of my daughter. Finally on monday September, 28 I was admitted into the hospital and they induced my labor. I was in the hospital for about 12 hours full of contractions and pain. I couldn’t take the pain no more so I decided to go with the Epidural, shortly after I fell asleep. At around midnight the nurse came in and asked if I had to use the bathroom. As I pushed away the blankets the nurse looked shocked, I had fully dilated the 10 centimeters. At 12:40 am on September 29 at 21 weeks and 5 days I gave birth to my beautiful sleeping angel. Boyfriend and I decided to name her Leah Camila Munoz. We held her for as much as we could and she was
BEAUTIFUL. Her little nose, eyes, cheeks, body was perfect. On saturday October 3rd we did a funeral for Leah. A few weeks after my daughter passed the genetic counselor called with the Amnio results and our baby in fact had a chromosomal abnormality which is called Monosomy 21 and it is not compatible with life. Only three cases of babies with Monosomy 21 have reached to full term but passed a few hours or days after. I know my baby is watching over her daddy and I in heaven. Every weekend when boyfriend and I are off from work we visit our little Leah. She will forever be in our hearts and will forever be missed.
