Every so often, we’ll hear about a couple’s difficult journey to become pregnant. Their stories tend to involve many rounds of IVF treatments that span years and see the couple lose and gain hope over and over again until their baby finally comes .
And on what’s usually the opposite side of the spectrum, we can hear of rare cases in which women spend months going through a pregnancy that they have absolutely no knowledge of until right before the baby is supposed to be born.
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However, it seems that just one of these scenarios wasn’t enough of an intensely emotional roller coaster for one couple as they were stunned to have both of them unfold after years of trying for a baby together.
And none of these uncanny chapters in their lives came easily for them.
Although Kelsie Garlic met his wife Nicci in high school, it wasn’t until years later that he worked up the courage to ask her out.
By 2014, they would be married. But as People reported , their plans to have a child together were put on hold as they just couldn’t become pregnant no matter how many specialists they saw and how many in vitro fertilization treatments Nicci underwent.
After three years with no luck, the couple saw no reason to think a pregnancy could ever happen between them.
So instead, they decided to become foster parents and welcomed two young brothers into their family about two years ago.
And while the Garlics hope to become their permanent guardians, life would spring a major surprise on their family on February 1. It’s worth noting that by this point, Nicci hadn’t had her period in two years.
While Kelsie was watching the brothers, Nicci started feeling intense stomach pains that compelled her to leave her teaching shift early and seek urgent care.
By that afternoon, Kelsie would receive an urgent call from her. As he put it, “And she’s like, ‘Hey, you’re not going to believe this. I’m [expletive] pregnant. Not only am I pregnant, but I’m 34 weeks pregnant.'”
But while he was ecstatic to hear this news after the couple had waited so long, the couple’s excitement would soon turn to anxiety.
This was because doctors discovered that Nicci was experiencing preeclampsia , which the Mayo Clinic outlined as a potentially life-threatening pregnancy complication characterized by high blood pressure and organ damage.
As the doctors prepared to deliver the baby through an emergency caesarean section, they worried Nicci would suffer a stroke and that she or her baby wouldn’t make it.
In Kelsie’s words, “I was just crying and crying and crying and crying nonstop. The floor’s wet, the chair’s wet, because I don’t know if she’s going to live… I’m just like, ‘Please God, let my wife live. I don’t know what I would do without her.”
Fortunately, the operation would be a success and both Nicci and the baby dubbed Charlie Keith Garlic would turn out healthy.
As Kelsie said, “A miracle baby that we didn’t know existed. We found out we were pregnant, and we had the child, the whole thing, in 10, eight hours. It’s unreal. It’s unreal.”
However, this doesn’t mean the couple’s troubles have ended as Nicci doesn’t have paid maternity leave and is still recovering from her operation. For this reason, they consider their financial future “terrifying.”
Nonetheless, the couple has already received some important relief from the public as a GoFundMe campaign Kelsie started on February 20 has raised $37,544 of its $50,000 goal by the time of this writing.
h/t: People
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