Mother's Day Week~Honoring My Only Daughter, Jessica

The very best mother I've ever known is my only daughter, Jessica Layne Duncan Magill.  She is the mom we all wish we had.  Devoted to her son, Kellan, she spends endless hours making sure he has all the best in everything.  Jessica wasn't supposed to have children.  Through prayer and a tremendous effort on her part, she was able to complete an IVF and have our darling boy.

When she was 34 years old, Jessica was told she couldn't have children. Her physical problems had overwhelmed her body, rendering it impossible to carry a child to term, let alone allow her to get pregnant in the first place.

 Since being a mother was her life's and heart's desire, Jessica refused to accept that diagnosis. 

 She asked for a miracle from God, and asked all of us to pray for one.

She insisted her doctor perform surgery on her to prep her for the possibility of a pregnancy even if it wasn't going to happen.  The kindly old doctor from South Florida relented, though he kept counselling her that it didn't mean things would change since she had multiple issues.  He did encourage and support her, though, and told her anything was possible, and that he would do his best to insure she had a wonderful ground to "grow on."

Once that was prepped, she began a series of hormone treatments to stabilize her system which was completely out of balance and malfunctioning.  It had been for years, which was unbeknownst to us.

Then, after several months, she and her Coastie (Coast Guard) husband got permission for funding from the Guard, rallied support from her family, and sought a fertility clinic.

At the clinic, the doctor and nurse assistant looked over her chart and were skeptical.  They considered all she'd been through and all she'd done to set the stage for her conception.  However, the doctor said he had a 95% success rate and he would do all he could to make a baby happen for Jessica and Kevin.  They were fully committed to the Magill Team "In It To Win It" goal.

The nurse practitioner, Lynn, was Jessica's biggest supporter at the fertility clinic.  Encouraging her when the shots and medications hurt Jessica tremendously, leaving her body battered, black and blue...welted and sore.  Lynn would call, taking a personal interest in her, telling her she would make it and not to worry.

Jessica never lost hope or faith.  She endured all with a warrior woman's strength.

She would have her baby at all costs, and she wouldn't be denied.

Even after the loss of her first IVF fetuses, she kept up the battle.

The second try worked!  And, though Kellan was a preemie, he came through with flying colors.  A C-section baby...he had surgery on his lungs and was in the NICU for 3 weeks, but he was the strongest child there and came home perfectly well and happy.

While still on the table, directly after the C-section, the doctors operated removing a benign tumor they had though was cancer all during her pregnancy.  One which she had refused to let them take when her Kellan was 4 months in utero because it would jeopardize his life.  She said she would take her

chances that it wasn't cancer for the sake of  having her baby.  Her courage got her Kellan home safely, and her own good report.

She insisted they save her uterus in the surgery, as well, so she could have more children, if possible.

Amazing girl, amazing mother.

Now, Kellan is nearly 4 years old.  His intelligence has been tested at a 7-9 year old level.  He's a kind and thoughtful child who loves to read and play with his iPad daily.  Read with his mother, I mean.  She reads him about 10 books per night!  He insists...and this doesn't mean baby picture books.  He wants to hear chapter books, and has since he was about 2 1/2.  He's a brilliant child in every subject.  And he's very strong willed just like his mother!  :]

Those plethora of vitamins and supplements she took to insure a strong and brainy child must have worked their own miracles!

Jessica believes in her heart that Kellan will not be an only child.  And though her body fights against her on every avenue, she will not be beaten.

She's a brave heart.  She's the one who will not take "no" for an answer.

I think she's gotten this from the Scottish side of her heritage.

She's a mother of real strength and compassion.

Jessica is also a trained professional in the work of teaching developmentally delayed children, and those with autism and asbergers.  From the time she was 12 years old she's volunteered and worked with disadvantaged and institutionalized children. 

She has a heart for children, and I believe she has been a mother to many.

Jessica Duncan Magill is the finest of any mother I know.

I'm very proud to call her my only daughter on this Mother's Day.

Deborah/TheBookishDame