In one survey, only 22% of women in the U.S. had heard of CMV, compared with 97% who had heard of Down syndrome and 98% who had heard of HIV/AIDS (Jeon 2006). A more recent study found that only 14% of women in the U.S. had heard of CMV (Ross 2008). In addition, research indicates that fewer than half of obstetricians talk to their pregnant patients about CMV (MMWR, Jan. 25, 2008).
Our Story
In December of 2010, we found out that we were having our first baby. We made bets on whether we would have a boy or a girl. I wanted a little boy so I, of course, bet on having a girl. All of our sonograms showed that the baby was growing and was doing just fine... until our 18 week appointment. I was told that we had very low fluid and they were sending me to the perinatal center. I was put under the supervision of a very non-compassionate doctor who told us that our baby was going to die and told us that we should seriously think about aborting the pregnancy. I could not imagine ending this little life without giving him the chance to fight... doctor's aren't always right. I decided to go for a second opinion knowing that they would probably tell me the same thing. We went to Dr. Michael Paul who was a phenomenal doctor. Although he knew that things were bad, he did everything he could to try and help us give Connor a fighting chance. On May, 19th, 2011, at 27 weeks, we decided to go to the hospital to be under closer supervision because Connor's umbilical cord wasn't functioning properly. On May 20th, we were delivered by c-section. We had decided that if he wanted to fight and was trying to breathe on his own, that they would try to help him. I delivered him at 3:08 pm and he was trying to fight. He was taken to Children's. I never got to hold my sweet boy, only held his little hand in the OR. His wonderful daddy went to be with him. Neither of us wanted Connor to be alone and I knew I could take care of myself. After a long stint at the hospital, Sam came back to be with me. He was there maybe half an hour when he got a phone call saying that he needed to go back to Children's because Connor was crashing. Little Connor James held on for 14 more hours that they ever suspected. He fought his way through 9 more weeks in my tummy when the doctors said he couldn't. He passed away at 4:55 am, May 21st, 2011. This is our story. CMV changed our lives forever and we had never heard of it. It's time for people to know.