Our story begins when on June 21, 2002 I found out I was pregnant with our first child. My husband and I were elated as we had tried for a long time to become pregnant. I went to the doctor to find out about some pains I was having in my side. The doctor came in and said, "Well, it looks like your pregnant." I had to ask him if he was sure. I then proceeded to cry with joy. I was so excited and wanted to find a special way to tell my husband, Brent. I purchased a cute little t-shirt that mentioned going fishing with daddy. I took it home to Brent and said I had a late anniversary gift for him. He read the shirt three times befor he understood what was happening.

My doctor then sent me for an ultrasound to rule out an ectopic pregnancy. While there I found out everything looked good and I was 5.6 weeks pregnant. Also, I got to hear my baby's heartbeat for the first time. The lab tech told me that since I was so early in my pregnancy that the heart may have started beating that morning or even five minutes earlier. I knew this little my baby was showing me what a little miracle she was.

I had a very uneventful happy pregnancy until October 16. On this day, my world came crashing down around me. We found out that our baby had a condition known as Polycystic Displasia of the Kidneys. This meant that our baby had kidneys that were full of cysts and would not produce urine. Since amniotic fluid is 90% urine, I had virtually no fluid. Without fluid our baby's lungs would not develop. The doctor’s prognosis was not good. We met with a perinatologist and a neonatologist. Both of them said that our child would not survive outside the womb and would likely be stillborn.

My husband and I battled with the idea of should be continue this pregnancy when we knew our child would die anyway? Every time I thought this or talked it over with Brent, my child would start kicking me. I then became convinced my child was saying, "Hello, I'm here mom." We chose to continue the pregnancy knowing that our baby could die anyday. Many weeks passed with a lot of tears and prayers. I prayed so hard that I would be granted a miracle and my little one would survive, that the doctors were wrong.

One night I saw a Dateline special about a woman with a Down's syndrome child that chose to continue her pregnancy. She had a quote that struck me hard. She said her priest said, "The miracle you pray for may not be the miracle you receive." I continued to pray that my baby would be okay, but more than anything I wanted to hear my child.

On January 2, 2003 at 33 weeks I awoke to contractions. We found out that our baby was breech and I was faced with the decision to have a c-section or a natural birth. If I were to have a vaginal delivery there would be more stress to our baby. I told my ob that I wanted the c-section because I wanted to hold my child alive even if it was only for 5 minutes. He was apprehensive, but did what I wanted. We called all our family to be with us as we knew our child’s time would be short. We also called our priest so that he could immediately baptize our baby. They did give me medicine to slow my labor until my parents could be there.

We had a beautiful little girl on 1/02/03 at 5:40pm, who greeted the world with a cry! She was baptized right away with the name Gabrielle Marie (Saint Gabriel is the patron saint of children), and then given to my husband and me to hold. When placed next to me she opened her eyes and listened to every "I LOVE YOU". The doctors were amazed. They had never seen a baby with her condition be so alert or cry. She graced our lives for 20 miraculous wonderful minutes.

The grief that my family felt over losing Gabby has been tremendous. However, the love that I felt in that room has far out-weighed this grief. Not for a moment do I regret our decision to continue the pregnancy. I now believe that she is an angel watching over us and other babies in need. I did not get the miracle of having her with me today. The miracle I received was hearing her cry and her knowing her mommy's voice. In that short amount of time her daddy and I loved her a lifetime’s worth. Our Gabby has continued to show her amount of love to me and Brent by special little "signs". I was truly blessed to have given life to this special angel.