My name is Amira. I am a first-time mother of a child called Yassin. He’s two, and he is also known as Red Glasses.
In this life, everything is fate and decreed. In this life, there are easy times and hard times, and there are those who can encounter challenges, and those who fight and resist in the hope of survival.
Like any woman, loved and married, my utmost wish in life was to live in peace and to deeply establish happiness in my home and within my new family.
I didn’t really want to have a child in the beginning of my marital life because of the instability of the political conditions in the country, but this phase didn’t last long and I decided not to be selfish, and started to consider having a baby.
In the beginning of my pregnancy, everything was easy and normal like any other pregnancy. When I found out that I was carrying a baby boy, I was overjoyed because I always saw and imagined him in my dreams.
However, when I came to the seventh month of my pregnancy, the problems arose. Abnormal symptoms such as pain and flow of the fluid that surrounds the fetus began to appear.
I consulted doctors and suffered greatly because of misdiagnosis and continuous failures at treatment. I consulted another physician who told me at the time that I lost about 60% of the fluid that encloses the fetus, and asked me to be patient and to endure, and to stay in bed in hopes of elongating the duration of my pregnancy for as long as possible to allow the growth of the child to complete.
However, one day I began to feel parturition pain that was so severe, I couldn’t bear it. I went to the hospital with an overwhelming feeling of fear that remained with me until the doctor came and admitted me to the operating room. I felt at the time that the doctors were worried about my case and about the health of my child, but all I wanted was to leave the hospital with my baby in my arms like any other mother.
I knew that giving birth to and taking care of a child is difficult, and that I will be tired and sleep deprived most of the time. I knew everything and I was ready! But what I wasn’t ready for was what happened to my child after birth.
My baby was admitted to special care and we found out at the time that he was born with one lung, and that the other lung was incomplete. My child’s case began to worsen with time, so we decided to move him to a specialized pediatric hospital.
I embarked on a difficult journey, starting with moving him by ambulance, going through to the difficulty of finding his medicines, and ending with deficiency of blood. My child remained on aspirators for over two months. I began to see life from a different perspective, and examined what my aspirations were before and how they have changed now. Every mother loves her child differently, and I began to love my child from behind the glass of his intensive care unit.
However, I never felt desperate, thanks to the prayers of my relatives, family and friends, and their support of my husband and me. I relied on God and stuck to my beliefs. I was confident that I will not be disappointed. I began to feel that my child was increasingly clinging on to life over time.
God endowed us with recovery, and my baby overcame this calamity. My baby came to life with one lung. In spite of treatment, the right lung didn’t function as efficiently as the left one.
We praised God, and started our new life. I started my responsibilities as a mother and had to focus on the most accurate details. No perfumes or aromatic materials were allowed anywhere near us, and I was denied access to closed or inhabited places. Even kisses were limited.
We were patient and we endured. Difficulties were eased for the sake of better health.
I am now very happy. I have become the solace of many other mothers who send me many questions and ask me for help. I began to feel that perhaps this is my mission in life.
What I have discovered is that maternity is a new life of love, emotion, fear, strength, courage, and the ability to learn, teach and educate.
Yassin. Before you came to this life, only I felt your presence. I was the first one to know that you are a boy. When you began to talk, I was the first one to understand your words. I expect more joy with you. My love and care for you are unlimited, because I will do anything in the world for your sake.
Praise be to God for the blessings of maternity.