Our Boys ...

by Anita Russell

I came across this web site after visiting with a mother in the Hospital at the U.C. Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, CA. She had just lost her son, John, unexpectedly after a c-section. He lived for seven hours.

It was a new start for me.

In December of 1988, I suffered a miscarriage at 8 weeks. I became pregnant in May of 1989. In September of 1989, my husband and I lost our son, Alex Steven, at my 5th month of pregnancy. I have two uteri and an incompetent cervix. The first baby and Alex were both in my right uterus.

In December of 1990, I became pregnant again. This time the pregnancy was in my left uterus. With a cerclage, total bed rest, which included staying in the hospital the last 2-1/2 months of my pregnancy, and a steady stream of turbutaline in my system, our son, Andrew Clark, was born on August 23, 1991. He is now 6-1/2 years old - and a GIFTED student to boot! The LOVE of our lives! Too cool for words!

In December of 1996 I was SHOCKED to find that I was pregnant. The baby was in my right uterus, where Alex was. I underwent a cerclage in February of 1997, and another one when that one was failing, in March. I was put on total bed rest, (where I spent my 40th birthday) but with NO turbutaline or other anti-contraction medication. At exactly 5 months, just like Alex, we lost our son and Andrew's brother, Benjamin Joel. The physicians believe that my right uterus is smaller than the left. It's a miracle that Andrew was ever born.

After the loss of Alex in 1989, I got involved with a support group called SHARING PARENTS which is all about the loss of a pregnancy from conception to birth. What I began doing in about 1990 was volunteering as a representative of Sharing Parents to the U.C. Davis Medical Center where I am employed. I only go and see patients, sit and listen, and share, if they ask for me, which is often.

I have not gone over to Labor and Delivery to share since we lost Ben almost a year ago (April 14th). So, when I say it was a new start, I mean a new start. A plaque hangs in his honor in L&D there, which makes me burst with pride.

Anyhow, I feel like a veteran of the pregnancy loss sister/brotherhood. I was able to sit with the patient, and hopefully be of some comfort. After all, she is one of our sisters now...