Nicole Saia believes she is celebrating her first Mother's Day by the grace of God. The birth of Alexandria Nicole Saia on April 5 was, she says, a miracle.
When 18-year-old Nicole learned that she was pregnant, she followed the urging of the baby's father to have an abortion. The unmarried couple traveled to an abortion facility in Gainesville, Florida where the young woman received an injection of methotrexate, part of the RU 486 chemical abortion process. She was told it would kill the fastest-growing cells, which would be the placenta, and was given suppositories with the instructions to take them five days later to cause the contractions that would expel the dead baby.
Two days later, Nicole said, she realized that she did not want to abort her baby, so she told her parents what she had done. The three discussed the problem and then Nicole's mother made a suggestion.
"I said, "The first thing we're going to do is pray and put you into Jesus' hands, because this is definitely out of ours,' " said Joan Saia. "Next day, Nicole got on the phone and called the abortion clinic. They told her the embryo was dead and there was nothing to do. She called the pharmacy and they said the drug could cause deformities, but the baby may still be alive. They didn't know."
Nicole wanted to find out more about methotrexate. When she called Citrus Memorial Hospital, she was advised to call the Genesis Women's Center in Inverness. She explained her situation and received a call back with a message from Dr. Steven Roth telling her to come right in.
An ultrasound was performed, and on her 19th birthday, Nicole found out that her baby was alive.
"I guess the way (Dr. Roth) felt about it was, if I would have a change of heart, he was going to do everything in his power to help me," said Nicole.
"That's exactly what I told her," said Roth. "I said, 'If you're not going to go through with this, I'll do whatever I can.' I had her take Leukovorin (a drug given in cancer treatment along with methotrexate to protect normal cells) to overwhelm the chemical she took."
"I had never written a prescription for Leukovorin in my life. I had to call somebody else to find out what the dosage was. I think God had a hand in opening up my mind in using that as a possible treatment option and certainly in just protecting that baby. Even having Nicole come to us and just the way it worked out that day. He was in it from the very beginning."
Nicole took the prescription until the following Monday when a second sonogram showed that the baby was still alive. She had passed the crisis period.
The growth of the baby was carefully monitored and in early November Nicole found out through a sonogram that she was carrying a little girl who had no visible deformities. In April, she went into labor three weeks early and delivered a 4-pound, 7-ounce girl, whom she named Alexandria.
"I watched the birth through the mirror. It was strange," said Nicole.
"It was the most wonderful feeling in the world, but having her early made me nervous and with her being so small, I was really scared. When she was in the nursery, every two hours I was in there feeding her, and at night I couldn't sleep, so I'd stay in there, and all the time that I was spending with her I was realizing she was mine."
Nicole, who will soon complete her bachelor's degree in business administration at Saint Leo University's Ocala campus, says it hasn't been easy being a single mom. She lives at home with her parents and younger sister, and her grandmother is right next door to help.
"I love her, but it's hard. I'm a single mom and I had to finish out school this semester. I'm going back to work, so it's hard doing it by myself, and even now I still worry that something may be wrong."
She acknowledges a local crisis pregnancy center for their help.
"I wouldn't trade her for anything in the world. My whole family has been wonderful along with all the outside support. The Life Choice Care Center helped me emotionally through my pregnancy. My church, my college. I couldn't ask for a better family or a better support system."
"My main concern was that God's will be done," said Joan Saia. "I wanted my daughter to be safe. I wanted the baby to be safe. I just go with what's handed to me. When I feel it's completely out of my hands, I just put it into God's. I have a very strong faith and the power of prayer, I'm a very strong believer in that."
Her own mother, Vivian, passed that faith onto Joan.
"It's a miracle," said Vivian about the baby's birth. "It's really what God wanted, because in the beginning we were all concerned that the baby would be not perfect in some way. But she is absolutely perfect, a little bit small, but she's got all her fingers and toes. I know she hears because she winces when there's a big sound, and we know she sees because when we take a picture, a flash will cause her eyes to blink open and close."
As for Alexandria's father, he knows that Nicole did not go through with the abortion and that she gave birth, according to Mary Lou Hendry, director of the Life Choice Care Center.
Nicole said she wants to tell her story to save other girls from the emotional strain she endured.
"When I went to the abortion clinic, I talked to the counselor. I was crying and I told her that I didn't want to do this and that I wasn't ready to do it, but she told the doctor that I was fine and to go in for the procedure. If I had taken the suppositories, I would have miscarried, but it would have been a live baby and there's no way I would have known. So some of these people who are getting the two-process chemical abortions might actually be aborting a live child, because the first shot doesn't always work."
Roth said he thinks Nicole is a hero.
"She's the one who had to go through the whole pregnancy not knowing if her baby was going to be deformed or what might happen. It was a very brave and wonderful decision that she made, and I'm just so excited for her."
You can see a picture of Nicole, Alexandria and Nicole's mother and grandmother at http://www.sptimes.com/News/051301/photos/cit-mom.jpg
Pro-Life Infonet
14. mai 2001