Six miscarriages later, ‘blessed’ to have children
Teresa Rising with her husband, Victor, and son, Nolan, at the wedding of her daughter, Roxy, in 2015.
“My husband, Victor, and I have been married for 28 years. I was 14 when I met him. We lost six children together. The first one was born dead. Then we went to 6½ months, 4 months, 3 months, 1½ months and 2 months. All miscarriages.
“We finally were able to have our daughter in 1992. Then about a month post-delivery, I started getting really sick. I was swelling up. I couldn’t walk. I was bleeding from everywhere. All my veins surfaced. And I was getting seizures in my sleep that developed to grand mal. It got so bad that my body was shutting down and it felt like I was dying. They finally diagnosed me with a rare disease called Henoch-Schonlein purpura and vasculitis.
“It was a long road back to regaining my health. Part of the treatment was some medication they said would make me sterile. They told us I wouldn’t be able to have any more kids. So we were kind of rejoicing in the fact we were able to have our daughter and thought we were done. Six years later, we were looking to be foster parents and to adopt. That’s when we found out I was pregnant with our son. Nolan is 18 now.
“Looking back, it was a very weird and painful experience. But at the same time, it was very beautiful. We have two healthy, grown kids. We feel so very blessed to be able to say that.”
— Teresa Rising
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