To say that Muhammad was your classic reluctant immigrant would be to understate the matter considerably. In 2002, when he began working as an interpreter for the U.S. Army in his home country, he had entertained no thought of ever leaving the land where he had been born, grown up, and sired a family. Over the years, however, local security conditions had grown increasingly perilous—and would so continue. By 2017, his employers were urging him to take advantage of special U.S. immigration visas for those engaged in work like his. Packing up his non-English-speaking wife and three children, he landed here in mid-July 2017 as a mature man of considerable talent, but without U.S. citizenship or gainful employment.
In late July, a new consideration was added to Muhammad’s many challenges in a new society. At the emergency room where she had been taken suffering from severe nausea, his wife tested positive for pregnancy. During the next few weeks, her debilitating nausea continued unabated. Faced with the need to nurse her and care for the children while searching for a job that would provide them some income and some health insurance, Muhammad was barely able to cope with the family for which he was already responsible. He could see no alternative but abortion of his fourth child.
To help him find an abortionist, he called upon his friend John–who sent him, instead, to “A Best Choice Mobile Clinic” in Woodbridge for an ultrasound. “We don’t want to kill our baby,” he told the staff members there. “If we can find a way to get help with our financial problems, we will keep it.” After hearing Muhammad’s story, the dedicated staff there spared no effort in persuading him to nurture his wife’s pregnancy and promised to find him the help needed to make that possible. Well aware of where that help would be found, A Best Choice referred Muhammad to Tepeyac OB/GYN.
Meeting with Tepeyac’s patient advocate resulted in Divine Mercy Care’s providing Muhammad with the necessary financial help. As it turned out, due to the success of his job search, he only required three months’ worth of utility bill coverage. Although his wife’s nausea continued throughout her pregnancy, Tepeyac doctors worked to keep her healthy and stable. For each of her appointments, Muhammad had to take time off from work to accompany her as driver and interpreter. He was especially thankful for Tepeyac’s flexibility over his many late arrivals.
Springtime 2018 saw the birth of a lovely daughter for the Muhammad couple. Dr. Pereira delivered the baby, arranging for mother and child to stay at the hospital for three extra days. The justification was Mrs. Muhammad’s debilitation from the prenatal nausea she had suffered. For Muhammad, this accommodation was invaluable, allowing him to return to work rather than taking still more leave in order to care for his wife during her first few postpartum days.
Throughout our recent interview with them, the Muhammad couple’s joy in their baby girl was evident. Proud to acknowledge that she’s a little beauty, they were eager to express their deep gratitude to “A Best Choice” and to each Tepeyac doctor and staff member for helping them to give birth to this fine American-born daughter. We, in turn, are pleased to claim them as some of our newest Americans—and to give them all due credit for their commitment to life, to work, and to assimilating into their new country. Both Divine Mercy Care and Tepeyac feel glad to have helped save the latest-born Muhammad family member from abortion and to have assisted her parents and siblings during their time of need.
