Higgins, Rebecca Breana

Hello. My name is Tammy Higgins, and my story is about my daughter Rebecca. I didn't find out about Becky's condition until my thirty-sixth week of pregnancy. My pregnancy was typical, so I thought, but I didn't really feel much fetal movement, and my stomach measured much larger than the normal. I was told I was having a ten or eleven pound baby.

When I went for my 20-week ultrasound, the girl doing the ultrasound detected no fluid in the fetus’s stomach. I returned the next day, and they said that they did detect some fluid. I was very relieved and ecstatic that I was having a little girl. I had wanted a child for as long as I could remember, and I felt that all of my dreams were becoming a reality.

I didn't really worry anymore because the Ob-gyn kept indicating that all was fine, and I was only twenty-two years old. I went on to have my perfect baby shower, and I received the perfect baby gifts for my perfect baby girl. I went for a second ultrasound just before Halloween because I was measuring so large. The hernia was detected.

The hospital that I had been attending was not able to handle my situation, so they referred me to the Columbia Presbyterian Babies Hospital in NYC. The hospital seemed so big and cold at first but now is my security blanket. They were wonderful to me and my child. Rebecca was born by vaginal birth on November 4, 1998. She was perfect. She weighed six pounds one ounce and was 20 inches long. She was whisked away from me and brought to the NICU. She was placed on a respirator. She was doing well. Her surgery took place when she was two days old, and the surgeon said her hole was the size of a silver dollar. He patched it with gortex and moved her intestines back down, and she was doing well. When we went to see her, her little legs were all dusky blue, and she looked to be in so much pain.

Shortly after the surgery I held her. She was so tiny and so cute. I felt that she and I would fight. And she would live. She had so much gumption. She would pull the IV's out and thrash her arms. She recovered from the surgery, and then it was determined she had reflux. She was released from the hospital the day before Thanksgiving. She was three weeks old.

We battled reflux for approximately a year, and she still will occasionally vomit. She is now a very strong-willed and stubborn two and a half year old. She amazes me everyday. My world would have never been the same without her; she is what I live and breathe for.

Now my husband and I are trying to have a second child, and I have to admit I am very nervous, but I would love nothing more than to make my Becky a big sister. God bless all of the little cherubs wherever they may be.


Written by Rebecca's Mom, Tammy Higgins (New Jersey)
2001