St. George 2021
By: Edward Arthur Dalton & The Dream Chasing Family
April brought some incredibly difficult surprise pills to swallow. A few weeks ago, Sarah began having intermittent stomach pain that grew in intensity and severity — until the 12th when she couldn't tolerate it any longer.
Now — before I go on — you have to understand something about Sarah to fully appreciate what's to follow. She has always had remarkably high pain tolerance. She is seldom ever affected by discomfort. So, when she hesitantly told me she wanted to go to the ER, I knew something was wrong.
Luckily, we were already in the Salt Lake valley running errands when she decided enough was enough. We dropped little Eddie off with family, and drove to nearby Lone Peak Hospital. As Sarah’s luck would have it, it was one of the busiest nights the ER had seen — the doctor would later tell us.
As we sat in the ER waiting room, I had to convince Sarah to stay until she was seen, and to stop letting other people go before her — a testament to Sarah’s toughness, and kindness towards others (even in her own suffering).
The next 12 hours would be a whirlwind of conflicting emotions. As an EMT, I was really puzzled to explain what was causing her pain. I thought of every probable explanation, except the most obvious one.
An ultrasound revealed a large mass — 4.8cm to be exact — in her right fallopian tube (which is otherwise supposed to be roughly the size of a human hair). To make matters worse, they could see internal bleeding as well. This all explained the excruciating morphine-worthy pain Sarah was experiencing.
The high hCG levels in Sarah’s rushed lab work explained what was causing these life-threatening conditions. At over 3,000 hCG, the Doctor explained Sarah was at least 7 weeks pregnant, but in her right fallopian tube — otherwise known as an ectopic pregnancy.
This is impossible, I thought. If you know about our battle with infertility, then you know we unsuccessfully tried for 8 long years to get pregnant — until we ultimately did through IVF treatment. We are grateful beyond measure every day for the heaven-sent miracle of little Eddie!
However, the dream of naturally getting pregnant faded a long time ago for us, yet somehow Sarah was — without IVF, and without a chance to process the unlikely news.
Before we could make sense of the situation and our emotions, Sarah was rushed to the operating room. Ectopic pregnancies are not viable and can be life-threatening. In a stroke of good fortune amid devastating news, Sarah’s right tube was surgically removed without further complication — at least physically.
While I know this loss has been emotionally challenging for Sarah, I admire her incredible ability to find the silver linings of life.
“We are bummed about losing a little baby Dalton, but beyond grateful that I went in when I did. If I had waited any longer it could have been really bad for me. They were able to remove just the right fallopian tube, so I will still be able to carry a baby when I do IVF in the future.
We are doing well and feeling like we had the best outcome possible with the hand we were dealt. I know it sounds crazy, but my heart is bursting with happiness and joy that I am still here, that I can still carry a baby in my belly in the future, and that I have a little Eddie to love on.
We ALL have our own hardships in life. No one is immune to the ups and downs through these different phases in life... but I promise if you look for those little silver linings during the hard moments, they will be there.”
At the end of the day, we are very fortunate that Sarah made it out of a scary situation. After she was discharged from the hospital, we took some time to rest and recover in St. George. Eddie practiced his underwater dips, and even went rock climbing for the first time at 5 months old! I rode my mountain bike on world-class red rock trails, and Sarah soaked up the desert sun at the pool — she deserved it!
