It had been the most painful six hours of her life, but she was sure that it had paid off. Nine months of preparation and suspense had all culminated at this moment. But what was supposed to be the most joyous moment of her life ended up being one of the most harrowing. The excruciating pain was now gone, and she expected waves of bliss. But the people who were supposed to help her shattered her world when they took one look at her baby.
Just as Jackie thought that everything would be fine, she looked over at the doctor and saw something that would haunt her for years—their faces were filled with pure horror. She demanded to know what was going on, but the nurse quickly snuck her baby out of the room before she could even look at him. Something was very wrong.
The mother of the baby demanded answers, but the doctors just stood there, still in shock. She repeated herself again, startling one of them into stammering, “Everything is okay. We just need to run some tests.” They didn’t sound convincing at all.
When Jackie finally learned the truth about her baby, her world would come crumbling down around her.
Jackie Lyra was an ordinary woman living in São Paulo, Brazil. She was big on family and had always wanted to build one of her own. She was even more motivated when she met the man of her dreams. It was like fate. She had dropped her bag while crossing a busy street in the city, and a man found it and returned it to her. But fate can also be cruel.
Renado Ola was the bright-eyed man who returned Jackie’s bag. It contained her ID, so he managed to track down her address. It was a good thing an honest man like him had found it and not anyone else. He was in love with her from the moment he saw her ID photo, but down the road, things wouldn’t be so easy.
Things flew by quickly, and just two years later, the couple was engaged. They couldn’t imagine a world without one another, and Jackie felt like she’d finally found someone who had the same priorities as her: family. Rado was just as excited as his newlywed wife to start a family with her, but as they would find out, life can have its twists and turns.
The couple found that Jackie wasn’t getting pregnant after months of trying. They felt disheartened and knew that the only person who would know more was a medical professional. They called their nearest clinic and arranged to see an obstetrician who specialized in pregnancies. She seemed like a respectable doctor who would be sympathetic to their dilemma, but they had no idea how dark it would get.
The couple couldn’t pretend that they weren’t at least a little nervous about the situation. They had no idea what the obstetrician was going to tell them. Would she blame their lifestyle or maybe their genes? Either way, they made the appointment and headed toward the hospital, not knowing what their fate would be.
After getting to the obstetrician, she asked Jackie to lie down so she could be examined. She delicately but thoroughly went over her body, making sure she didn’t miss anything. After she was done, she looked at them and shook her head. “You’re fine, but let’s examine your husband now.”
The doctor managed to get Rado on the bed. He had to be examined, too, to make sure it wasn’t him. He felt a little awkward doing it, as would any Brazilian man living in São Paulo, but with his wife’s support, he lay down and let the examination begin. He felt more nervous than ever, hoping it wouldn’t be him stopping them.
When the doctor was done, he couldn’t wait for the news. The doctor looked at the couple after the examinations and told them what she had found. They could feel their hearts pounding in their chests as she opened her mouth. “Everything seems to be normal with both of you.” She then proceeded to give them some advice on how to get pregnant. With this new advice, they would surely succeed. Wouldn’t they?
The couple tried again for months with the advice they had gotten from their doctor. Hopefully, with the knowledge they now had, they would get pregnant in no time. It was the next step in the married couple’s lives. They needed this. If they couldn’t get pregnant, their marriage could potentially be ruined. But after three months, Jackie started feeling peculiar.
One day, Jackie felt sick and started vomiting for no apparent reason. They both knew this was a sign that she was pregnant. They had a pregnancy test ready and excitedly waited for the results. That was when the truth was revealed to the couple. They looked at the readout on the test: they were pregnant. The couple was over the moon. They couldn’t believe that it had finally happened. Nothing could put a damper on their mood, but they were unaware of how cruel fate could be.
The next nine months would be a long and hard road, but the couple knew it would be worth it. They had no idea how wrong they were.
When it came down to seeing the baby she had been carrying, Jackie knew exactly what she had signed up for. She had read many prenatal books and knew it wasn’t an easy journey, but she knew what the payoff was—a beautiful baby boy or girl to take care of. Rado was by her side the entire time, making sure his wife was well looked after while she carried their child to term. But would it all be worth it?
After four months, Jackie could swear that something wasn’t right. She called it a mother’s intuition; Rado called it paranoia, but he couldn’t very well tell that to the mother of his future child. He decided to play along, and the two of them went back to their doctor to see how things were coming along.
The couple once again visited the doctor for a checkup. They needed to see how she was getting along. Jackie was looking for anything that would explain why she didn’t feel comfortable, but after a sonogram and a thorough examination, the doctor gave her good news: her baby was developing well.
With the doctor’s opinion being positive for the baby’s health, Jackie felt reassured and calmed down about her suspicions. Rado assured her it was just jitters for the new chapter in their life. She nodded and agreed, thinking this was just her being irrational due to hormonal imbalances in her body. But she should have trusted her gut instincts.
The next five months were uncomfortable, to say the least. Jackie had doubled in size due to her baby growing inside of her. She had taken off from work for the last few weeks, and some days were spent in incredible pain. But then, without warning, her water broke. The baby wasn’t waiting around any longer, and she’d have to hurry to their doctor.
Rado drove his pregnant wife to the hospital on a Tuesday night at 8:00 p.m. Thankfully, there was little to no traffic, and he would end up there in no time. Once there, Jackie was put on a gurney and rushed to the delivery room. The nurses and doctors were on standby and rushed into action immediately, but the mother had no idea how difficult things were about to get.
Jackie had no idea she was about to be in for a difficult delivery. None of the prenatal books and fellow mothers’ experiences were going to prepare her for what she was about to go through. Even the doctors would say it was one of the longer and more difficult pregnancies they had ever seen. But that was only the beginning.
It had been the most painful six hours of her life, but finally, her baby was delivered, and she was sure it had paid off. Nine months of preparation and suspense had all culminated at this moment. But what was supposed to be the most joyous moment of her life ended up being one of the most harrowing. The excruciating pain was now gone, and she expected waves of bliss, but the people who were supposed to help her shattered her world when they took one look at her baby.
Jackie thought that everything would be fine now. She smiled at the doctors, but they didn’t smile back. In fact, she saw something that would haunt her for years. No one in the room was smiling. The doctor and nurses’ faces were filled with pure horror. She demanded to know what was going on, but the nurse quickly snuck her baby out of the room before she could even look at him. Something was very wrong, and she demanded to know what.
The mother of the baby demanded to know what was going on, but the doctors didn’t have any answers for her. They just stood there with their mouths hanging open. She repeated herself again, startling one of them out of his trance-like state, who quickly stammered, “Everything is okay. We just need to run some tests, ma’am.” They didn’t sound convincing at all.
She worried about the truth about her baby. Her world was shattered when a few moments ago she was in pure bliss. All she could do was scream after them as they started taking her baby away. Tears started streaming down her face as she heard a doctor shout, “Sedate her!” But her husband wouldn’t let that happen.
Rado ran after the nurse taking his baby away. He wasn’t about to let them get away with this. But as he reached the door they had left through, an electronic lock clicked. They were locked in the room. Jackie was sedated, and security was called to escort Rado out of the building. What was so wrong with their baby that they had to escalate things so much?
After Rado was taken out of the building, a doctor offered an explanation to the sedated Jackie. “Your son… your son is different. We need to keep running some tests.”
“Different
?” Jackie screamed at the doctor. She needed to know what he meant by that, but he wouldn’t say another word and left the room.
That wasn’t good enough for Jackie. She was going to get to the bottom of this. A few hours passed, and most of the sedatives had worn off. The hysterical mother knew that this was her moment to spring into action. She pulled herself off of her bed and walked toward the door. She was going to see her baby, whether or not they said she was allowed to.
But what she was about to witness was something no mother ever should have to. She stumbled through the door into a hallway and looked around. She managed to find the door to where they kept the babies and looked around. She didn’t see her baby anywhere until she saw a strange machine. She walked toward the contraption at the end of the room and peered through the glass. She saw her last name attached to the plaque.
She just couldn’t believe that what she was looking at was her baby.
