During pregnancy, a woman’s body goes through an enormous amount of change and stress as it grows another person, which is why one expecting mom wasn’t too concerned when she started feeling a few ‘normal’ symptoms of pregnancy.
38-year-old Laurel Cohen and her husband Dave were thrilled when they found out they were expecting their first child, and as they reached the third and final trimester of the pregnancy, which had gone smoothly, they couldn’t wait to meet their baby girl.
Throughout the entire pregnancy, Laurel had experienced some abdominal pain, shortness of breath, and constipation, but wasn’t too bothered since they were just a normal part of being pregnant. However, when she reached 35 weeks, the abdominal pain got so bad that she was admitted to the hospital.
Laurel and Dave pushed for doctors, who also just figured the pain was a symptom of the pregnancy, to run more tests, and were shocked to discover a cancerous lump on her liver. Four days after, doctors delivered their baby Ruby by c-section and then went straight to work at biopsying the tumor.
When the biopsy came back, doctors couldn’t believe that Laurel was suffering from terminal bowel cancer, which had already spread to her liver. Despite starting chemotherapy, Laurel died 10 short weeks later.
“There are no words to describe how difficult losing her has been and it all happened so fast,” Dave said about losing his childhood sweetheart, who he met at camp. “Nothing could have prepared us for it. After her death I so wanted someone to blame but the doctors did everything they could. Every symptom she had was so easily explained by her pregnancy.”
In the short time that Laurel and Dave had together with their baby girl, Laurel worked hard to record messages and write notes for her baby girl up until her 10th birthday, but unfortunately didn’t have enough time to finish. “I still miss her every single day. It’s been a year of firsts – the first time I am having to do so many things on my own. But Ruby gives me strength,” Dave said. “I worry a bit about how I’m going to deal with helping her do her hair or talking about puberty and boys but we’ll manage.”
Would you think twice if you were experiencing these normal pregnancy symptoms? Let us know in the comments below, and please SHARE this with parents on Facebook to spread awareness.
[Featured image: Mercury Press]
Mom Dies After Giving Birth Because Pregnancy Hid Her Cancer is an article from: LifeDaily