Doctors perform an emergency C-section and give birth to a baby with a rare skin disease.
A mother’s heart is filled with excitement, anticipation, and a tinge of uncertainty during the nine months of pregnancy. Expectant parents always hope for a healthy and happy baby to arrive. Life, unfortunately, does not always go as planned.
Jennie Wilklow, of Highland, New York, looked forward to meeting her daughter. Jennie and her husband were overcome with delight as they embraced their new baby.
They had had multiple ultrasounds and doctor’s checkups, all suggesting a healthy baby.
This reassurance put their minds at ease, and they had no idea that their darling Anna would be born with a disability that would affect their lives forever.
Jennie had a C-section at 34 weeks to deliver Anna. She looked into Anna’s eyes when the medics placed the baby in her arms and felt a fantastic sensation of love.
Everything appeared to be okay with their darling child. However, when Jennie’s husband visited her, his quiet and anxious demeanor sent a chill down her spine.
“My husband’s silence frightened me,” Jennie told Cafe Mom. I pressed him for further information as the doctor left the room, and he sat there in disbelief.” With a sorrowful heart, he said, “It’s bad.”
“Jennie,” her husband said, “I looked into her eyes, and she has the most beautiful soul.” Jennie couldn’t understand what those words meant at the time. Her thoughts raced, wondering what was wrong.
Anna had harlequin ichthyosis, an unusual disorder characterized by the appearance of thick, diamond-shaped plates split by large cracks. “As they desperately tried to help her, her delicate skin hardened within seconds of birth,” Jennie explained to Cafe Mom.
The hardening was followed by severe splitting, leaving her with gaping wounds all over her body.”Despite the physicians’ concerns about Anna’s survival, she overcame the odds and thrived. “She embodied pure beauty,” Jennie declared proudly.
