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t m c ยป p u l s e | n o v e m b e r 2 0 1 6 20 SPOTLIGHT MOLLY HACKETT LaFAUCI always dreamed of being a mother. But her journey has been more painful and complicated than she could have imag- ined. Miscarriages and postpartum depression have driven LaFauci, now a mother of three, to speak out about her own struggles with mental illness. She hopes her story will help other women facing similar challenges. Q | When did you decide to start a family? A | My husband and I were married when we were 25. We got pregnant with our first child, our daughter, Caroline, very easily and quickly. I was sick during the pregnancy, but other than that it was a very normal, run-of-the- mill pregnancy. I ended up having a C-section, but she was perfect and had no issues. The childbearing process has been horrendous for me after that. Q | What made childbearing so difficult? A | When Caroline was three months old, I got pregnant and miscarried early on in the pregnancy. That was my first miscarriage. I had four more miscar- riages between our first and second children. The final miscarriage was a twin. I had no idea that there were two babies, but we were told the baby inside me was still thriving. We were blessed with a healthy second child, daughter Isabella, in April 2013. Q | Did you want to have more children? A | I did. I felt like I wasn't done and that our family wasn't quite complete after I had Isabella and I wanted to bring another baby into our loving home. But after everything we had been through, my husband thought that we had had enough and should take a break to enjoy our two healthy, happy daughters. I agreed with him that a break was probably best both mentally and physically. I had an IUD put in as soon as I could after giving birth, but 15 months later, I was unexpectedly pregnant. I think there is a .04 percent chance you can get pregnant with an IUD, so my husband and I were both very confused as to how I had man- aged to be one of the very few. We were obviously grateful for another baby, we just weren't prepared. There are a lot of complications that can arise when you get pregnant with an IUD. If you leave it in, there can be problems, and if you take it out, there can be problems. After a lot of prayer and discussion with our doctors, we decided to remove it. The baby made it through the first 36 hours so we felt confident we would be welcoming our third child months later. And this time, it would be a boy. Q | What was this pregnancy like? A | We had just moved from Houston Molly Hackett LaFauci plants a kiss on her youngest child, J.J.