I found out I was pregnant in April 2000, when I was 27 years of age. It had been a difficult pregnancy. I had lost more than 10kg in the first 8 weeks from morning sickness. I also had a bad flu that required four rounds of "pregnancy friendly" antibiotics and a leg abscess that the doctors unsuccessfully tried to drain under a local anesthetic. The abscess became infected and spread through my leg. The skin from my thigh down to my knee felt extremely sensitive and hot like a burn. The abscess was removed in surgery when I was 18 weeks pregnant , where I was given a sedative akin to a general anesthetic. The rest of the pregnancy was not eventful, other than being so thirsty I was drinking 2 litres of water during the night. I was tested for diabetes and was found to be fine so the thirstiness was dismissed.
At 35 weeks, my baby was still in the breach position. I was booked in for an ultrasound to determine the position of the baby. I couldn't sleep the night before. I was subconsciously concerned there was something wrong as I had felt the baby "thrashing around" like it was trying to turn but couldn't.
Then, came the words I will never forget, "There is something wrong with the baby's bottom". The ultrasound lady's face was flushed, she ran out to get a doctor. They were talking to each other. They called it a , "sacrococcygeal teratoma", although at the time I couldn't understand a word they were saying. And no wonder, the teratoma was very rare, one in 35-40,000 chance, 3:1 more common in girls, cause unknown. Everything was happening in slow motion and it was all starting to feel surreal.
We were then given the option of leaving the hospital to wait for the call or waiting in the hospital for someone to speak to us. We opted to stay, and during this time I had a strong spiritual flash where I decided the baby had to be called "Lauren" and not "Ella", because all the Laurens' I knew of were successful, particularly Lauren Burns, the Australian twaikwando gold medallist.
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