After struggling for years to get pregnant due to PCOS (Polycystic ovary syndrome), it finally happened. In July, 2012, my partner and I found out we were expecting a child and my due date was March 17, 2013.
The pregnancy was a wonderful experience, everything was going smoothly and we found out we were having a little girl. On January 2, 2013, while at work, I started feeling some back pain. I thought I was sitting too much since I was moved to the filing department at work.
By evening, I started feeling contractions so I went in to hospital just to make sure everything was fine. Sure enough, at 26 weeks, I was in labour! I didn’t expect that the pregnancy would end in premature birth. I really thought everything would continue to go well for us this time around.
When I was 2-3 centimeters dilated, they placed me on meds to attempt to slow down or possibly stop labour. The meds seemed to have been working as the days went by and I was on bed rest at the hospital. But baby girl wanted to be here so badly. On January 5, 2013, at 1:46am, Mikayla Tracian Williams was born weighing 1lb 2oz.
Being born at 26 weeks, she was severely premature and had to be rushed to NICU. It was the hardest moment of my life that I never expected to be my reality, hearing that babies born this early don’t often survive. They did a blood transfusion on the 7th and then her kidneys started to fail… Her little heart stopped beating but they resuscitated her. She was fighting! Our baby girl kept fighting to live and that gave us so much hope.
But on January 8, she gave up the fight.
The day my whole life changed, our world turn upside down. What was supposed to be the happiest times of our lives, completely shattered and overwhelmed by grief.
It has been 6 years and it seems like it gets harder as the years go by. I’m incredibly thankful for friends and families who stood by us during that dark time in our lives. It has been incredibly difficult for us, but we thank God for allowing us the time we had with her, no matter how brief it might’ve been.
Our daughter can’t be replaced and she will always hold a special place in our hearts and our lives.
Submitted by: Tracy-Ann Myrie Williams 🇯🇲
4Damani 