In the fall of 2000, my husband and I were very excited to learn we were pregnant with our fourth child. My previous pregnancies were normal and healthy. This pregnancy however, was very different.

Two weeks after finding out I was pregnant I began to feel very weak, tired, and drained. Even my hair and skin color had changed for the worse. I just didn’t feel right. When I told my doctor we attributed it to the stress of having 3 other children to take care of and my age (I was 39) so he upped my iron to give me more energy. It didn’t help.

During a routine blood test around the eighteenth week of gestation, we discovered that there were problems and additional tests were confirming alarming complications. At first the doctors were concerned the baby had either Down syndrome or spina bifida. Ultrasounds were showing small limbs, water on the brain and reversed blood flow. Amniocentesis was showing placental problems. The doctors were very concerned and not very optimistic. Because I was 22 weeks into the pregnancy, one doctor even suggested we abort the pregnancy. Although we were very upset and worried, abortion was not an option. Things were continuing to become critical so I was admitted to the hospital for observation.

Twenty-five weeks into my pregnancy, the doctors told my husband and I that our baby had a better chance of surviving outside of my womb than in it, even though at this point they were predicting a 5% chance of survival. Therefore, on Wednesday, February 21, 2001, Theresa Rose Rossi was delivered by C-section, weighing a mere 14 ½ ounces and measuring only 10 ½ inches long. As expected, she was born with a host of critical medical conditions and emergencies. Theresa Rose stayed in the NICU for 4 ½ months and endured 5 major surgeries including PDA ligation, eye surgery and 3 surgeries to drain fluid from her brain.

On July 9, 2001, Theresa Rose Rossi came home wearing 24-hour oxygen and a feeding tube. Two weeks after coming home Theresa was nipping enough from a bottle and we were able to remove the feeding tube. At 18 months she passed an overnight lung study and she was removed from her oxygen. Today she wears glasses and has regular CT-scans to check the shunt she wears to correct her Hydrocephalus. She also receives weekly OT and PT to help with fine and gross motor activities. Except for her small size, Theresa is cognitively and developmentally caught up and will begin Pre-school in the Fall 2005.





Editor's Note: A different version of Theresa Rose's story appears in Elizabeth Ficocelli's
"Shower of Heavenly Roses: Stories of intercession of St. Therese of Lisieux."