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Baby Roman & Valentine Family

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Lisa has been my best friend since we met freshman year of college. She met her husband AJ, fell in love and got married, and she became pregnant while beginning to build their family before he deployed as a Hospital Corpsman (or as marines like to call it, DOC) Lisa was pregnant with her first son in 2008 while AJ was deployed in Iraq when they received devastating news. Their son would be born sleeping at 7 months and was not able to get home in time for his sons birth, however he was flown home on emergency leave from Iraq in July.

After she gave birth to their son, the doctors found metastatic lesions which she then needed to go through chemo for and was subsequently hospitalized with MRSA. This is extremely hard to revisit and write. She was diagnosed with gestational trophablastic disease and they went on with life as best they could.

A tragedy in her family led her and AJ to adopt both her niece and nephew who they have had in their care since they were both born. We celebrated their adoption like crazy and they were finally feeling whole after dealing with the court system and fighting for their babes for years. There was finally some kind of peace & closure after years and years of bad news coming in, one after another. She is a warrior and I look up to her in so many ways, she doesn’t give herself credit for how strong she truly is.

This year, because 2020, they found out that Lisa was expecting which triggered a whole slew of emotions along with PTSD, but also gave a glimmer of hope and excitement. She just recently transferred jobs to get out of the toxic work environment she was in after they received all of their prenatal testing back from their MFM.  Everything was normal, great, tests came back positive and this pregnancy was on track.

3 weeks ago, when Lisa was merely 21 weeks, I woke up to a missed call and text message that her water had broken, leaving no fluid left. She has been on strict bedrest ever since and will be admitted to the hospital on Dec. 1 to be monitored for the entirety of her pregnancy. (SHES OFFICIALLY 24 WEEKS!!!!!!!! Happy viability my love) Baby Roman is still very much healthy and thriving in his mamas man cave!

If/when the kids school shut down, AJ will be out of work as he will need to be home with them. Winter break will also bring the same outcome and he will again be out of work due to childcare. We have been with each other through hell and back, and I will do everything in my power to make sure this situation is as easy for them as it can be. AJ came over the other week to pick up lasagna my mom had made for them and he was pretty unsure of what they would need, but I know that asking for help is so hard HOWEVER so does living in a constant state of anxiety and fear of the unknown. 

With covid, the holidays she’ll be missing, him needing to hold it down during a time that all feels overwhelmingly unfair: I am asking all of you to come through for this family, I’m actually begging. I know there is an amazing community out here willing help. Gift cards, money for bills, groceries, any other unforeseen circumstances, instant cart, cleaning services, etc were some of the ideas off the top of my head. Anything to take stress off their plate.  Please say prayers if you pray, we need all of the love and support we can get. Please leave encouraging words, if you have any other tangible ways of helping please let me know. Please come through for them and for this miracle baby who is already beyond loved. 

They have a long journey ahead, but we are here to see them through it. 

I’ll update as we go along, and will add links & emails for things that go beyond here. I appreciate all of you. Sharing, liking, and commenting are just as helpful so please do. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Syd.

Amazon Wishlist for the kids ❤️ 

The Valentine’s 
2071 Sedgewicke ct,
Romeoville IL 60446

Organizer and beneficiary

Sydney Lauren
Organizer
McHenry, IL
Lisa Valentine
Beneficiary

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