Sweet Bella

Hello fellow Walk N Rolling With Spina Bifida readers. My name is Amie Williams. I am 23 years old and I come from Liverpool, UK. My daughter's name is Bella, and she is thirteen months old. Bella was born with Spina Bifida Myelomeningocele, Hydrocephalus, and Arnold Chiari Malformation. I found out that Bella was going to be born with Spina Bifida, Hydrocephalus and Arnold Chiari Malformation at my twenty week scan during pregnancy. At first, my whole world fell apart because I'd never heard of Spina Bifida, Hydrocephalus or Arnold Chiari Malformation. The doctors told me to consider terminating my pregnancy because she'd have no quality of life. I held onto my stomach and cried, but Bella started kicking me. It was like her way of telling me she was okay. I turned down the termination because I thought, no matter what, I will support and love her. Bella was born via c-section at thirty-six weeks and she was perfect! I only saw her for about five minutes before she was transferred to a children's hospital. For my fiancé and I, watching Bella grow up is a beautiful journey. Bella is very active . She loves dancing to music, playing with noisy toys, going to the park to play on the swings and loves to cuddle. Bella is very intelligent and happy. My advice to parents to be is to do your research, talk to other families of children with Spina Bifida or people living with Spina Bifida. Go and speak to the doctor that will be treating your child, and ask for a tour around the hospital (if available) . It helped me a lot, because I did not feel so overwhelmed and lost when my child was a patient there. My parenting advice for parents is to teach your child they can do anything they can put their mind to.