Remembering Mariam
In September 2003, my world came to a screeching halt. My life as I knew it had ended. I was six month pregnant, oblivious to stillbirth. I thought that was something that happened a long time ago. Surely, in this day and age, doctors had found a ‘fix’ for it. Boy, was I wrong. One day, I noticed that my baby wasn’t moving very much. I chalked it up to her having a ‘sleepy day’ as I’d heard it often dubbed. The next day, September 3, is when everything came crashing down. I noticed my baby had not moved at all since the previous day. I called my doctor, who gave me a list of things to try, and nothing worked. He had me come in to get checked out, and was unable to find a heartbeat on the Doppler. My husband and I were scared, and were sent to the Memorial Hospital of Carbondale for an ultrasound. We got in pretty quick, and the lady doing the ultrasound was very quiet. She left the room for a few minutes. She brought us a phone, and my doctor was on the line. He gave us the news that our baby had died. We left the hospital in despair, and our hopes and dreams died along with our baby.
Mariam Averi Rebman was born sleeping on September 10, 2003 at 12:38am. She weighed 1 lb 2.7 ounces and was twelve inches long. Mike and I were able to spend some time with Mariam before we gave her up. We held her and took a few pictures to remember her by. The staff at the hospital was incredible. My doctor was compassionate and the nurses were comforting. We buried our daughter the following Monday, on September 15th.
Mike and I went on to have three more children. We had twin boys, Aaron Michael and Nicholas Avery in July 2004. I had a lot of complications with their pregnancy, and am gratefull to the wonderful doctors and nurses who cared for me during this time. Aaron and Nick are now both healthy and rambunctious near-two year olds.
We welcomed our final bundle of joy, Annabelle Rose in September 2005. Annabelle came into our lives without complications, and she is our little princess.
- Lisa Rebman