The world's smallest mum
Cristianne and her boyfriend
Thursday 20th September 2007
How many times have you read stories in Pick Me Up about doctors telling women that it's too dangerous for their pregnancy to continue? It was October 2006, I was three months pregnant with my first child, and my GP was telling me just that.
'Abortion is the only sensible option,' he said.
So was my baby ill? Did he or she have an incurable disease, little chance of survival? No. The early signs were all good, in fact my baby was perfectly healthy. The heartbreaking problem wasn't with the baby. It was with me. You see, I'm a dwarf.
I'd been diagnosed with dwarfism at birth. Over the years I'd got used to the stares and whispers. But I'd never let it hold me back. I'd done well at school, made friends, and even got myself a 6ft 4 inch tall boyfriend, Jeremy Bowden, 18.
And now, aged 18, I was just 2ft 7in tall and weighed 5st 10 lb.
'As the pregnancy progresses your baby will crush your tiny lungs and your womb is too small too expand, ' the doctor went on.
'Even if you did go full term you could die trying to give birth.'
He didn't mince his words.
But as I stared at the black and white grainy image of the scan I stopped listening. There was a heart beating inside me. My baby. Didn't I owe it to him or her to at least try?
'I can't terminate,' I said quietly.
The doctor's face fell.
'Do you understand the risk you're taking?' he frowned.
I nodded.
I may be small but when it came to making my mind up I had a gigantic stubborn streak.
'Sorry to make your life difficult,' I said, as my dad, Chris, 56, helped me down from the examination table. 'But I'm having this baby.'
At home I broke the news to Jeremy.
'Are you sure you want to go ahead with it?' he asked. 'I want this baby but I don't want to lose you.'
But then I showed him the scan picture and his eyes filled with tears.
'I'll just have to take extra good care of you then,' he smiled, holding me in his arms.
My mum, Linda, 47, Dad and Jeremy all did their best to put on brave faces. But I could tell they were worried sick. They weren't the only ones. A week later, my doctor phoned, begging me to reconsider.
'I'm seriously worried that you'll die if you try to give birth,' he said. 'And the baby too.'
Call me stupid but I'd already bonded with my unborn child.
But as my bump got bigger, my body took a battering. My legs ached, I had terrible heartburn and all I could think about was scoffing macaroni cheese.
'I feel like a pumpkin,' I moaned to Mum, as I flopped on the settee five months gone.
At my 20-week scan, I found out that I was having a little girl and decided on the name Kyrsten. Suddenly it all seemed more real and with the excitement, came fear. The weight of the baby made it harder for me to walk, as my bump hung just inches from the floor.
The doctor insisted I had weekly check ups and amazingly we were both doing fine.
'Your bump has grown out rather than up, so the baby's avoiding your lungs,' the doctor told me when I was six months gone. 'It's incredibly lucky.'
Finally, in March 2007 I went for my final check up.
'You've got a very special little one in there,' the doctor smiled.
Tell me about it. But as for little? He must be joking. By now, I didn't only feel like a pumpkin, I looked like one too. I'd put on 3 stone and my weight had shot up to 8st. My belly stuck out so much I was nearly as round as I was tall. Jeremy even had to carry me up the stairs.
My doctor didn't think it would be safe to give birth naturally so on 24th April 2007, at 34 weeks, I was admitted to the University of Washington Medical Centre in Seattle for a Caesarian section. As I lay in the hospital bed my stomach churned with nerves.
Jeremy kissed me on the forehead and then everything went black.
When I woke up 4 hours later he was the first person I saw.
'She's beautiful,' he smiled. 'Well done.'
'Can I see her?' I whispered, still drowsy.
Two hours later Jeremy lifted me into a wheelchair and pushed me down to the special care baby unit.
When I set eyes on Kyrsten, sleeping in an incubator and hooked up to and oxygen tube, I was choked.
'She looks so little,' Jeremy said.
I nodded. Weighing just 4lb 7.5oz she was tiny. But I knew from experience that didn't mean she wasn't strong.
At 14 inches long she was nearly half my height. Can you imagine that? Giving birth to a baby half the size of you? Weird is an understatement.
Like any new mum, I struggle with the sleepless nights, the endless nappy changes and bottle feeds. Being little doesn't make it any harder.
By the time Kyrsten's at playschool she'll be taller than me. And heaven knows how I'll cope when she's a teenager. But after the battle I went through to have her it doesn't matter.
Check out other heartwarming baby stories exclusively in Pick Me Up.
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