I suppose a story like Mia’s deserves to be told, but finding
the right place to begin is difficult. My pregnancy with her was a whirlwind of ultrasounds, specialists and panic. At 20 weeks, I was diagnosed with a chorioangionoma, a rare tumor that had attached to my placenta. Further testing revealed that our baby was missing part of her brain near her cerebellum. The prognosis we were given was grim: she would never walk, probably never talk and would most likely be severely mentally retarded. We were encouraged to abort our precious baby, something we would never consider. We continued the pregnancy with weekly appointments, but were warned that our child was at high-risk for fetal heart failure. At 28 weeks, my water broke and Mia Grace Troxel entered this world a deep shade of blue and completely sepsis. She was transported immediately to a NICU where she spent more than three months healing, recovering and growing. We were able to bring her home right before Christmas that year, but our journey was only beginning.

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