If you have ever had difficulty conceiving or gone through IVF or another assisted reproductive technique to get pregnant, you’ll know the absolute joy you experience when you finally find out you are expecting.
In early October 2015, this was exactly how 41-year-old Dana Griffin-Graves from the USA felt when she found out she was pregnant.
She and her husband Arkell had been trying for a baby for 17 years and had gone though the absolute agony of four miscarriages and a stillbirth,
So Dana, as you can imagine, was overjoyed at the thought of sharing the amazing news that she was five months pregnant, with Arkell.
Little did she imagine that her emotional video post “bun in the oven” message to her husband would be viewed by 10 million people, making it go viral.
Fast forward a few weeks
Just three weeks after the video went viral on 20 October 2015, The Daily Mail reports that Dana was “admitted to intensive care with near-fatal high blood pressure.” She delivered their son Kaleb at just 24 weeks into her pregnancy.
In a recent Facebook post, the new mum compares her journey to a roller-coaster ride. She says that even though their baby boy was still in a critical condition, he opened his eyes for the first time and even grabbed onto their fingers.
Bun in the oven baby: Dana carried her little boy for as long as she could, despite warnings from her doctots about severe risks to her health due to the pregnancy.
Only a mum’s love…
Following baby Kaleb’s birth, reports say that his parents have been flooded with good wishes from hundreds of people over social media. It was also revealed that “Dana selflessly carried the infant as long as she could to give him the best chance of survival.”
New dad Arkell told PEOPLE that “Kaleb had his mom’s blood pressure very, very high, to the point that it was putting her health at risk.”
He also said that even though doctors talked to her every day about the ongoing risk the pregnancy posed to her life, Dana “continued to carry the baby until he reached a point where he would have the best chance of survival.”
We wish this family all the best and hope little Kaleb pulls through and his mummy makes a full recovery.
At the same time, Dana’s story reminds us to hold our precious children just a little bit tighter and count our blessings.
As Dana says, “It’s those little things that people take for granted that make us so grateful.”
Are you the mum of a premature baby? If you are, we’d love to hear about your own experience — tell us in a comment below.