Child labor is arguably one of the most painful experiences in the world, and women who endure a few days of it are considered heroes. Going by this, a woman who went through 75 days of labor has got to be nothing short of super-human. I guess it goes to show how just much pain a woman would be willing to withstand, to save her babies.

31-year-old Joanna Krzysztonek was pregnant with triplets when she went into labor at just 21 weeks. When the first baby came out prematurely, it was too weak to survive. In a bid to save the other two babies, doctors at the neo-natal clinic in Wroclaw, Poland, decided to act fast – they stopped the contractions with medications and got Joanna to lie down on a tilted bed at a 30 degree angle, to avoid them starting up again. The umbilical cord was tied up and placed back in the uterus. What followed for Joanna were probably the toughest two-and-a-half months of her life. She had to remain upside down 24×7 with no break whatsoever, not even to use the bathroom. She wasn’t allowed to move one bit, and the hospital staff made sure she was bathed and fed everyday. “I had to be very disciplined as I was not allowed to move out of the bed for the whole 75 days,” she says. “This was very uncomfortable, but the staff kept me going.”

Joanna Krzysztonek

At the end of 75 long days, a world record for the longest a woman has been in labor, Joanna’s efforts finally paid off. The doctors decided to deliver the babies through a Caesarean, and she gave birth to a baby girl, Iga, and a baby boy, Ignacy. The babies are doing well, but are still being kept in incubators. Joanna makes visits to her babies every single day, although when she first left the hospital bed, she had trouble with her balance. She is happy, nevertheless. “I am feeling so elated that words can’t describe it. They are such good babies, they are really calm and sometimes they even have the gentlest little smile,” she says.

via Daily Mail