In the Beginning

In the beginning, there was a baby girl, born with a heart condition.  The doctors told her parents that she wouldn't live, but live she did. First past the first few weeks, then to a year.  The doctors were amazed, but concerned, and warned her parents she wouldn't live till 5 years, then 10.  But they were wrong. She survived and thrived.

In the fall of her sixteenth year, she met a boy, and they fell in love, just days before she came down with a life threatening illness related to her heart.  Their romance on hold, she soon recovered and they dated, went to the prom, went to college.  The doctors told her family she wouldn't go to college, but once again, they were wrong.

Somewhere inbetween, the boy and girl said goodbye, thinking their story together was over.  The girl graduated college and headed west to law school, this time against the doctors' advice.  But what did she care? They'd always been wrong before. She wanted to get away,"to find a dream and a life of [her] own, a place in the clouds, a foundation of stone."

But now, into her 20s, she started thinking more of the future, which as far as she could see was wide open to her.  No restrictions as far as she could see.  She saw new doctors out west, who told her that babies were a possibility, and she tucked that precious info away for a later point in life.  But she saw no rush, and she saw no hurry.  Life would continue to take its pace and she was content with it.

After law school, the girl moved back East, and somehow, someway found her boy once again.  Of course, as it happens, babies were wanted, and she went back to her old doctors.  They told her to be able to have her babies she needed to undergo major heart surgery, but at the end, they told her, she would reap the benefits.  They'd never been right before, but she believed them this time because she wanted to so much.  The surgery did not go well, and at the end she was no better; in fact - somewhat worse than before.  Finally, after 27 years, the girl left those doctors, and found new ones.

Through all of this, the boy held her hand, and finally he and the girl were married - a lifelong dream finally realized after so many years.  Then, luckily, the girl found herself pregnant, and she and the boy were thrilled, until the first miscarriage occurred.  The new doctors told her she needed to have a second heart surgery to not only give her a chance at her babies, but to prolong her life as well.  This time, the doctors were right. She was finally given the green light to try again, and finally, 6 months later, a second pregnancy, and then a second miscarriage.

Which brings us to today.