Beep beep, beep beep … The heart monitor revealed Brittany’s fragile heart. It was beating faster, fighting to maintain stability, pushing harder against her blood vessels. The rhythm was getting dangerously high, threatening both her and her preborn child.
Brittany grappled with her pregnancy, overly anxious about bearing another child. She already had three. The oldest has ADHD and a learning disability, and the youngest has had multiple surgeries, including open heart surgery at eight days old, not to mention suffering from meningitis and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) — a lot for a preteen child.
“I have high blood pressure that runs in my family. I had it when pregnant with all of my other kiddos,” she said. “With my oldest daughter, I had preeclampsia, so I had to stay three months in the hospital until she was born.”
As a single mom, Brittany works as a housekeeper. “I like it,” she said. “But it’s still a struggle taking care of three kids alone when you’re living paycheck to paycheck. And now I’m about to bring in another mouth to feed. ‘Girl, what were you thinking?’” she recalled.
Terminating her pregnancy was the first thing that came to mind. “I didn’t want to raise another child alone,” Brittany confesses. “I had so many emotions because I’m like, ‘Oh Lord, no, please. I don’t know what I’m going to do. Lord Jesus, help me.’”
‘Oh Lord, no, please. I don’t know what I’m going to do. Lord Jesus, help me.’”
In desperation, Brittany started searching online for abortion. But thankfully she found a link for Human Coalition. “So, I called the number. The sweetest lady picked up the phone. Oh, she had the softest voice, and when she said, ‘Hello, how are you doing?’ I burst out crying.” Brittany’s nurse scheduled an appointment for her to visit a local life-affirming pregnancy center.
“Everyone was so nice and made me feel so welcome,” Brittany said.
Because of your compassion for women facing an unexpected pregnancy, Brittany was able to get a free pregnancy test and ultrasound at her appointment. “That’s when they let me hear the baby’s heartbeat.” At that point, everything changed for Brittany and the baby in her womb.
“It took me up until I got the baby’s ultrasound and knew what he was that I accepted my pregnancy and accepted this journey that I was about to go on, again,” Brittany admitted. “I was like, okay, I can do this. I can do this! They helped me with getting my Medicaid started and giving me resources I needed to carry the baby,” she explained with a big smile.
Soon a Human Coalition nurse created a personalized plan to monitor how the health of mom and baby would progress throughout the pregnancy. The nurse also scheduled her with a therapist and social worker to guide Brittany through the emotional and tangible needs during and beyond her pregnancy, which became a huge challenge.
At 30 weeks into her pregnancy, Brittany was in for a checkup. Her blood pressure was high and started to creep up. Suddenly “I felt myself getting a little woozy. Off. Feeling funny. It got to 178 over 100, so I buzzed the nurse, saying, ‘I’m dizzy, and I’m starting to see spots!’”
Within moments, the nurses rushed Brittany to the operating room to have an emergency C-section. She admitted, “Once I lay flat on my back, my anxiety kicked in and I start to panic.” Laying there terrified, she delivered A’ King, her new baby boy. A’ King only weighed 3 lbs. 11 oz. “He was so tiny, really tiny,” Brittany said. His recovery was complicated, and he remained in the NICU for 49 days before going home.
Brittany said, “I can’t imagine A’ King not being here; he’s so special to everyone.” She named him A’ King “from my son, Alexander, who passed in a previous pregnancy. If I was blessed with another boy, I wanted to use his name in some way. So, I came up with A’ King Alexander. Losing Alexander took a big chunk out of my heart, but when A’ King came, he just filled that up.”
Looking back, “When I considered an abortion, I knew it would have messed me up. I knew that I would think about it all the time. So, it took a lot for me to consider terminating, because I knew how my miscarriages affected me, and I’m glad I did not go through with that,” she explained.
To other moms considering abortion, Brittany said, “It’s okay. There are people out there who will understand. There are people out there, like Human Coalition, who will help you.”
She admitted, “Parenting is not easy; that’s why a great support system is important. You can still go to school. It might take a little bit more effort, a little longer, but you can still accomplish those dreams. Most important, it’s okay to ask for help.”
You provided Brittany so much by supporting Human Coalition’s Continuum of Care program to assist her beyond pregnancy. Through the program, she was able to get much needed items like baby clothes, wipes, diapers, a stroller, and more. Not just when A’ King was born, but for a long time following.
“When they asked me what I really needed, I didn’t think of the magnitude that they would go.” She was able to get an apartment full of furniture — couches, TV stand, table and chairs, a recliner, along with beds for Brittany and the kids, who were all sleeping on the floor.
“You guys have blessed me, from the pregnancy up to now. You have helped me tremendously,” she said. “To have people come and bless me like that is awesome for my babies and me. Amazing,” she said.