'BLESSED WITH A LITTLE ANGEL'
~ Post - 21-25 June 2006

After suffering two miscarriages and spending thousands of rands to try and conceive a baby, a Gauteng couple eventually threw in the towel last year and accepted they were not destined to have children.

However; a few weeks ago Palani Pather, 31, a costing consultant, and her husband Ravi, 32, a consultant for an accounting firm, of Centurion, became proud parents to baby Keevan, thanks to Durban fertility specialist Dr Anil Ramdeo.

A delighted Palani Pather; formerly of Verulam, said she and her husband "battled to have a baby for almost four years" because of an undiagnosed diabetic condition.

Said Pather: "After our first year of marriage I became anxious to have a baby. When I did not fall pregnant, I became concerned and consulted with several fertility specialists.

She was put on various fertility programmes and drugs but was unsuccessful in falling pregnant.

"This was a very frustrating and emotionally draining period for me. The hardest part was being around people who had children. It just made me long even more to have a baby of my own.

"Despite all the fertility tests, doctors could not give me a reason for not falling pregnant. Medically there appeared to have been nothing wrong with both my husband and me."

Pather said the last straw for her was in June last year when she suffered a second miscarriage, three months into her pregnancy.

"At this point I felt really frustrated and my husband I accepted we were not meant to have children. We hd already spent thousands of rands trying to conceive a baby and decided to put an end to our attempts. We took a decision to start enjoying life again."

She said shortly after the miscarriage she visited Dr Ramdeo for a "check" and began planning a month-long trip to the Far East with her husband.

"We needed to have a break and decided to go on holiday in August. I had booked our trip and we made all the arrangements for our month-long getaway."

She said the same week she consulted with Dr Ramdeo and he discovered that she was diabetic.

"But Dr Ramdeo gave me a clean bill of health. He said I did not have a fertility problem but that my insulin levels were very high and needed to be brought under control. He put me on a course of treatment to control my diabetes and assured me that I would fall pregnant in time. However; I did not look too much into what he had said because of my previous experiences."

A few weeks before they were due to leave on their trip, she suddenly took ill.

" I was unwell and went to our family doctor for a check. He ran a series of tests and I was stunned to silence when the doctor told me I was pregnant. I was excited and it was unbelievable that it all happened naturally without any drugs."

Pather said she immediately cancelled her trip and focused on her pregnancy.

" I made an appointment to see Dr Ramdeo and he said I was blessed with a miracle. I never expected to fall pregnant so quickly and the first few weeks were quiet overwhelming.

"The entire nine months of my pregnancy were smooth sailing and in May I gave birth to Keevan at the Westville Hospital."

Keevan was born by Caesarean section and weighed a healthy 2.8kg. Immediately after Keevan's birth, Pather spent time with her parents in Verulam, before returning home a few weeks ago.

"Keevan is an absolute sweetie-pie and God has truly blessed us with an angel."

Pather said she had no immediate plans for having another baby and "would wait and see how this on went".

Diabetes (source www.google.com) is disorder in which the levels of sugar in the blood are too high. This occurs because the body doesn't produce enough insulin or can't use insulin properly. Insulin is a hormone made by the pancreas that lets the body turn blood sugar into energy or store it as fat. In untreated diabetes, high blood sugar levels can damage organs, including blood vessels, nerves, eyes and kidneys. Some people with diabetes need daily insulin injections to prevent these complications. About 1 in 200 women of childbearing age have diabetes before pregnancy (pre-existing diabetes). Another 2% to 5% develop diabetes during pregnancy (gestational diabetes).

With advances in medical care, women with diabetes are almost as likely as women without diabetes to have an uncomplicated pregnancy and a healthy baby, as long as blood sugar levels are well controlled beginning before pregnancy.