Just Mariska's Daughter (BOOK 1)

There's Always A Beginning

I was born in March of 1985. My mom had just turned 21 two months earlier. She always told me that she never thought she would be a mom at such a young age, admitting that she wasn't ready for such a huge change in her life. This huge change had came around at a bad time for her. Not only did she have a year left of college, had finally moved out of her parents house and moved into her own apartment, worked two waitress jobs, and was also striving to become an actress. Whenever she was given the time off, she would attend every audition she could, many of which she never made the cut, but she never did quit.

It had been about a month since my mom had moved into her new place when she found out she was pregnant. She became sick while working at a double shift one day, and when I say sick, I mean really sick. Dizziness, feeling light headed, and vomiting were her symptoms. Thinking that she got sick from work, she made an appointment with the doctor just to be sure. Bringing my grandma Ellen with her the day of her appointment was the day my mom said changed her life forever.

"You're nine weeks pregnant, Ms. Hargitay. Congratulations." My mom said she was shocked when she heard those words, but in her opinion, nobody was as more shocked than my grandpa Mickey Hargitay. He was more upset and disappointed than anything. For the first few months since he found out, he didn't speak to my mom. That had troubled her so much for they were very close. It came to the point where she stressed out everyday over it. It had affected her health and she had many trips to the hospital. After getting doctors orders to stay on bed rest at just 3 months into her pregnancy, my mom eventually ended up losing both her jobs and later had to drop her classes. For all she knew, even her dreams of becoming an actress was thrown out the window. Seeing the aftermath of all that my mom was going through, my grandpa reconciled with her and let her move back in.

Now you're probably wondering where my father was in all this mess. To be completely blunt, up until I was 13, I was wondering too. I didn't know anything about my father other than his first name, Alessio, and that he was Italian. I remember as a little girl I would always ask my mom to tell me more about my dad, but she would just change the subject every time, as if she never heard me. I would be confused and sad when she did that. I never understood why. Back then, I had never seen him in person or even a photo of him. Every time I was in front of a mirror, I would stare long and hard at my facial features, trying to see if I could find anything that at least would show me a little of what he looked like, but as many times as I tried my hardest to study my face from the top of my forehead to the very bottom of my chin, I always saw my mother's face. There was no way of escaping it. The only difference between her and I is that I have natural strawberry blonde hair and she has natural dark brunette hair.

As the months went on, my grandparents took the best care of their daughter, making sure she made it to all of her appointments, took her prenatal care medicine, and that she was fully rested. Soon my mom hit 8 months into her pregnancy and had been off bed rest for about a month. She was feeling much better now. The morning sickness had died down, along with the stress. At this point, they didn't know if my mom was having a boy or a girl only because my mom didn't want to know until she gave birth. Both of my grandparents wanted a boy, since both of my mom's older brothers already had girls as their first born. My mom didn't care which one came first. As long as her baby was healthy, she would be happy.

My mom told me a funny story about how I was born. On a Thursday morning, my mom was woken up from sharp pains in her lower stomach. She had never felt anything like it before. My grandma was the only other person home at the time when my mom had called out for someone to help her. The pain was increasing rapidly every 15 to 20 minutes by the time she arrived at the hospital. The nurses were having a hard time wheeling her down the halls by wheelchair, for my mom was screaming in pain and asking for epidural. She admitted that she even tried to grab another patient's IV, who happened to be passing by her, and tried to stick in herself in hopes to stop the contractions herself.

After a minute long fight with nurses to get her away from the IV, they were finally able to get her into a room and prepare her for delivery. The contractions were now 10 minutes apart and she was 8 cm dilated, so it was too late for an epidural. I was ready to come into this world! After another hour of pain and agony, the doctor finally came in already dressed and ready to go. My grandpa and my uncles Miklos and Zoltan arrived 30 minutes later and were waiting in the hall as my grandma Ellen and my aunt Jayne Marie were in the delivery room with my mom, who was ready to start pushing. My mom told me "I felt like I was going to die. The pain was too much for me; like my body was going to break."

After an hour and a half of pushing and screaming, the wait was finally over. A baby's cry filled the room as nurses began getting blankets and hospital tools ready. "Congratulations, it's a girl," the doctor announced as he placed me on top of my mom, who was crying her heart out. Deep down my mom wanted a girl as her first born and she was thrilled that her wish came true. A healthy 7 pound 3 ounce baby girl. My grandpa Mickey had the honor in cutting the umbilical cord.

After the doctor and nurses had left, the family had surrounded my mother and I. They were curious as to what name my mom would give me. "I always wanted to name my first girl after my late mother Jayne," she told them, "but I rather have that as her middle name." Everyone smiled.  "So what's going to be her first name sweetheart," my grandpa Mickey asked. My mom paused to take one good look at me. She smiled warmly and said, "I like the name Keira. Keira Jayne Hargitay. Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?"