Linda Ackley went to Allegiance Health Friday morning thinking she had a
hernia.
By Friday night, she gave birth to a 10-pound baby.
"Some people have nine months to prepare. I had (15) hours," her
husband, Mike, told the Jackson
Citizen Patriot on Monday.
Unaware of her pregnancy until the day she delivered, Linda Ackley, 44, of Summit Township
underwent an emergency C-section on Friday.
Kimberly Kay Ackley, the couple's first child, was born at 11:20 p.m. She is
normal and healthy, and weighed 10 pounds, 1 ounce, Mike and Linda Ackley said.
The girl and her mother were discharged from the hospital Monday afternoon.
Linda Ackley's sister, Rosie Konopka, 48, of Jackson, drove them, and stopped at the
Jackson County Courthouse, where Mike Ackley, 45, works as a security guard.
A stream of employees came to catch a glimpse of the girl. They called her
beautiful, admired her tiny features and cooed about her full head of dark
hair. Mike Ackley proudly carried her about the hallways.
"She is our miracle baby," said Linda Ackley, who never thought
she could have children. Two years ago, she had an infection and significant
abdominal surgery.
Her survival alone was a blessing.
When she first told Mike Ackley the news of their baby, her eyes were filled
with tears, her husband said.
It is good he was sitting, she said.
"I wish someone would have taken a picture of my face," Mike
Ackley said.
Calling the development surprising seems inadequate, he said. "That
doesn't even come close."
Last week, Linda Ackley went to the doctor because she had some bloating in
her abdomen.
Believing she might have a hernia, the doctor sent her to an Allegiance
Health facility for a computerized tomography or CT scan.
The scan revealed she was pregnant.
She would deliver in three to four weeks, medical professionals at first
told the Ackleys.
After a second ultrasound, however, the couple learned Linda Ackley had
carried the baby a full term, 40 or more weeks.
The hospital scheduled a C-section.
"I was happy and shocked at the same time, and scared," Mike
Ackley said.
He and his wife have been married for 24 years. They met at Jackson High School and became a couple when he
was a junior and she was a sophomore.
They never thought children were possible; they had not taken measures to
protect against pregnancy and the babies never came.
In February 2011, Linda Ackley contracted necrotizing fasciitis, a bacterial
infection that attacks soft tissue.
Mike Ackley thought she was having a stroke.
Her blood-sugar level was far above normal and her immune system was shutting
down, Linda Ackley wrote under the heading "Survivors" on the
National Necrotizing Fasciitis Foundation website.
She had diabetes, doctors determined, and she spent about a week in a coma
and on a ventilator. Some of the muscles in her stomach had to be removed.
Doctors did not think she would live, Mike Ackley said.
"God wanted me here for something," Linda Ackley said.
Looking back, she said she confused the baby's movements for expanding and
contracting muscles and twitching nerves caused by her surgery.
It never occurred to her she was pregnant, she said.
Her menstrual periods always have been irregular. She was not in pain and
did not notice significant weight gain.
At the hospital, she and her husband made phone calls, informing family
members of the pending birth of their first-born.
All were in disbelief. They called it a joke, Mike Ackley said. "Who
can make this up?"
Konopka at first thought maybe Linda Ackley hid the pregnancy, but Linda
Ackley is too honest to keep such a secret, to spin such a tale. Her excitement
would have blown it, she said.
"They always wanted children," said Konopka, who has two
daughters, a son and four grandchildren.
The couple is good with them and others. "So, I am so glad they have
one of their own," she said.
Just last month, Konopka and Linda Ackley, two of four sisters, lost their
mother, Sandra Linabury, to cancer, and Kimberly shares Linabury's middle name.
Her birth brings joy at what has been a sad time, they said, sitting near
the courthouse entrance.
As all the number of well-wishers dwindled, they prepared to go home for the
first time.
The apartment is not prepared; for years it has been occupied by only the
Ackleys and their pets, but plenty of people are offering help. They have been
getting donations and gifts from family members and others.
Kimberly was bundled Monday in a car seat given to the Ackleys by a cousin.
Clothing Carousel, a consignment shop on Franklin Street, donated two bags of
clothes.
There will be other adjustments, too.
"I got to get used to saying mommy," Linda Ackley said, and told
her husband how odd it felt to recently make an appointment for "her
daughter."
Kimberly already has a "mommy's little miracle" T-shirt.
Mike Ackley is feeling fortunate. There have been two extraordinary events
in two years.
"First my wife came back to me, and now, I have a baby girl."
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
Feb. 12, 2013: Mike Ackley, a security guard at the Jackson County Courthouse holds his new daughter, Kimberly. (AP/The Jackson Citizen Patriot, J. Scott Park)
