Partial molar pregnancy....never heard of it? Probably not because its called a "nightmare pregnancy" occurring once in only every 1,000 pregnancies. It is when identical twins are conceived, but do not separate correctly. Molar tissue starts growing terminating the pregnancy and then tries to grow and attack the mother. After surgery, the mother is monitored from anywhere from 6-12 months to make sure the tissue is gone, if found, it can be cancerous and chemo treatments are given. You cannot get pregnant again until you are cleared.
This is what we went through in Sept. 07....as we went in for our 12 week ultrasound, the doctor informed us that we had lost the babies, needed to undergo surgery and testing, and could not get pregnant for at least 6 months.
Luckily in our case, everything was gone and we were pregnant in March 08 with Mackenzie. Randomly, we conceived fraternal twins, but the other twin was lost at 6 weeks.
Why do I share this? Well, its taken a 1 1/2 years to digest it all, but now I realize how many women suffer from infertility, miscarriage, stillbirth, infant death syndrome, ect. It is more common than you think. 1 in 5 women will miscarry. If this makes you panicky.....you shouldn't be because you can't control it.....trust me, if there was anything you could do to prevent it, I would know.
So, I wanted to share something to at least comfort the women who may endure loss. Right after our news, an artist by the name of Freida Petty sent us a painting and card with this devotion below. She lost her son when he was 16 and her grandson through miscarriage. This is her ministry and we were greatly blessed by it. The painting is below and the center of the flower was the ultrasound picture....she painted over it.
While planting seed in my garden, I eagerly anticipate the flowers in full bloom. As all gardeners know, some do not mature. Some will not germinate, some grow for a time and stop, some will grow to maturity but will not blossom. There will also be other seeds that come to maturity and full bloom, but something happens and they are not lasting.
This is also true when seeds of human life are planted. Some are lost because of miscarriage, some through stillbirth, infant death syndrome and others from abortion.
How wonderful to know God's work tells us, "You (God) watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Everyday of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed." Psalm 139:15-16.
God chose not to give our baby a "single day" of life on this earth. He went to be with God in heaven through miscarriage.
"While we live, we live to please the Lord. And when we die, we go to be with the Lord. So in life and in death, we belong to the Lord." Romans 14:8
For anyone that has suffered the loss of a child my prayer is that you will claim God's promise, "The Lord lifts the burden of those bent beneath their loads." Psalms 146:8b
The painting is entitled, "Hope." I have it framed in Mackenzie's room because we hoped and prayed for her life. I found this devotion the other day and my intent of this post is to share this devotion along with an invitation to talk if anyone ever goes through this. Please feel free to send this along to anyone you know that it would mean something to.
4 comments:
This blog hits a soft spot with me. While I have a healthy son, my best friend/boyfriend lost his son when he was almost 4 months old to SIDS. I was there when he got the phone call and went through the process with him. It was incredibly hard and he wasn't even my son. I hope to never experience anything like losing a child but your awareness will help many. Thank you!
love you bead!
How neat. I know Mrs. Petty and went to youth group with her son Eric. What a small world.
Thank you for this post. My mother still to this day struggles with miscarriage she had after me -- from having had the flu...and it's been 22 years. I'll meet my baby brother someday in heaven....
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