Living and Loving – September 2019

74 | SEPTEMBER 2019 | L&L

Babynumber two

Despitethis,orperhapsasaresult

oftheintenseloveforIvan,the

coupledecidedtohaveanother

childandweredelightedwhen

allthescanswerenormal.

“Wewereecstatic;ourlittle

girl,Kara,wasperfectandquickly

sleptthroughthenight.Shewas

myangel.Iusedtokeepherina

wrap,closetomeallthetime.But

at 11 months,Karawasn’tsitting.

NomatterwhichexercisesItried

withher,shewouldjustthrow

herselfbackandrefusetobeinan

uprightposition.Shewouldn’teat

S

tefanandBrumildaKruger,

intheirmid-30s,were

delightedwhentheyfound

outtheywerepregnant

again.Fouryearsearlier,Brumilda

hadgivenbirthtoIvan,whowas

bornwithclubfeetandothersevere

medicalconditions.Thefouryears

sincehisbirthweredifficult.“Ivan

washospitalisedmoretimesthan

wecanremember,butdespite

thesechallenges,todayheisjusta

normalfour-year-old–withglasses.

Laughing,playing,reachinghis

milestonesandgivingusmorejoy

thanwecouldeverimagine.”

THE

GIFT

Kathy Malherbe relates the

story of a young child’s journey

from a world without sound,

to speaking her first words.

anything with texture and preferred

to have milk out of a bottle.

“Deep down, I knew something

was wrong,” admits Brumilda, “But I

was in denial after everything we’d

been through, life was quiet now −

no weekly doctor visits, surgeries,

heartbreak, tears or financial stress.

I didn’t want things to change. I

wanted to hold on to our perfect

little girl for a little longer.”

When reality hits

Brumilda decided to go back to work

after taking two years off to look after

her son. “We thought that sending

Kara Kruger