Cecelia comes home!
by Peter Jakey–Managing Editor
In the Catholic Church, Cecelia is the patron saint of music. When Cecelia Joy Polaski came into the world three months early she let out a memorable squeak –- a divine note if you will.
It’s what parents Ken and Mandy Polaski of Hawks had been waiting to hear all of their married life. It stunned the staff in the operating room at Saginaw Covenant Hospital, because preemies usually don’t make sounds.
It was music to the parent’s ears and a climactic moment to a less than harmonious pregnancy well-chronicled on a Facebook page simply called “Cecelia’s Story.” The site had hundreds of followers and so many people knew about the resilient baby, well before that surprising first note.
It was a tough and long road for mother and child, but 10 days after Cecelia’s actual due date (June 12), both are doing well in Rogers City.
Mandy was making a hot meal for the family and when Cecelia started fussing, mother got a small bottle, held up that oh-so delicate head with neck muscles still developing and fed the infant.
“I love her blue eyes,” said Ella, Cecelia’s 6-year-old big sister. Ella is the adopted daughter of Ken and Mandy. The family was in the process of adopting a second child, but with
“Ella was adopted after many great trials of not being able to get pregnant,” said Mandy. “When she was about 3, we entered the process again and naively thought it would take only a year, because that is what it took for (Ella). And then, 3 years later, we were still waiting.”
This time around there were many other couples waiting to adopt from the same program. “I suggested to Ken that we were not getting any younger, so why don’t we try again on our own (with medications) before it is too late,” said Mandy. The couple has been together since 2001 and married since 2005.
(The complete story appears in the June 29, 2017 edition of the Advance)