When Angie Baker, 33, looks at her little baby girl Raiya born on December 9, the years of pain she endured to conceive this one ‘little miracle’ automatically melt away.
Angie finally became a mother after 18 miscarriages and after undergoing a special treatment for a high number of subtype white blood cells, which attacked the fetus believing it to be a foreign body.
It all started when Angie was 20 years old and conceived her first baby. She could not bear the baby to full term and the same mishap occurred every time she conceived.
“Emotionally it was a rollercoaster. Every time I got pregnant I was hoping this was the one and it wasn’t going to end in a miscarriage. Deep down I always thought it would be a little problem that could be cured.”
Finally Angie met Dr. Hassan Shehata, a specialist in reoccurring miscarriages at Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust and it was he who diagnosed that she was suffering from a high level of Natural Killer cells. This test is only available at Epsom, Liverpool and Chicago.
According to Dr. Shehata, one in five women have a miscarriage, one in 25 have two and one in 15,000 have five miscarriages, but what happened to Angie is truly unbelievable for him even as a doctor.
He said: “Eighteen miscarriages is a huge number. You’re more likely to win the lottery than have 18 miscarriages through bad luck.”
The doctor gave Angie a high dose of steroids two weeks prior to conception and 12 weeks after to ensure the baby was safe and when Raiya was finally born all Angie could say was, “I’m overwhelmed, it seems like a dream. She’s perfect in every way.”
“I can’t believe she’s here and she’s mine.”
– Atula, Staff Writer
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