They thought it was Menopause...

This weekend we celebrated my youngest son's 8th birthday.  This kid is quite the character, he is funny, smart, sneaky, compassionate, competitive and he really makes our family complete.  He is the kid that wasn't supposed to be.

My husband and I had always planned 4 kids.  Two early on in our marriage and then two after my husband finished graduate school.  Our plan was working out perfectly and then we discovered I had cancer.  I had 3 children, a 9 year old, a 7 year old and a 4 month old when I started chemotherapy.  As the doctors went over the side effects of chemo they told me I wouldn't be able to have any more children.  I was perfectly fine with that, at that point I was focused on sticking around to parent the 3 I already had.


So I had 5 cycles of chemo and 24 radiation treatments and as of June 13th, 2003 I was cancer free and on disability to let my body heal.  The tests showed that I was in early menopause - despite that my husband and I still used birth control as a back up.


At one of my follow up visits I remember discussing with the doctor the fact that this early menopause felt more like pregnancy.  Ended up I was right.  Frankly I was very worried, my body was beat up and I wasn't that healthy.  I was concerned about how my very recent treatments would impact the baby and my ability to carry a child to full term.


My doctors were very supportive and assured me that there was nothing medically that would prevent a healthy pregnancy and baby.  In fact I became a rock star at the office.  These doctors deal with death and dying on a daily basis.  Here I was a stage 3 cancer survivor just a few months out of treatment and I was pregnant.  They showed me off as a sign of hope to others and enjoyed playing obstetrician - guessing at the baby's position, trying to hear the heart beat and just enjoying life that was growing and not one that was ending or struggling.  


My healthy son was born on June 23rd, 2004, 1 year and 10 days after my last treatment.  The child that I wasn't supposed to have, he defied menopause and birth control to make our family complete!