U.S. Rep. Duckworth announces she’s pregnant

tammy (1)
(AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

CHICAGO (AP) — U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq war veteran and double amputee, said Monday she’s pregnant and expecting a baby girl in early December.
Duckworth, a Democrat from the Chicago suburb of Hoffman Estates, announced the pregnancy on NBC’s “Today” show.
“I am so thrilled that I’m going to be a mother,” she said.
The announcement was part of a segment about four amputees from the Iraq War who have recently had babies or are pregnant. Duckworth said the women were there for her during “the greatest pain and the greatest trauma in my life” — when she lost both legs after the Black Hawk helicopter she was co-piloting was shot down in Iraq in 2004.
“Now we get to be together for the time of greatest joy,” she said.
Duckworth, who was first elected to Congress in 2012 after an unsuccessful 2006 bid, is running for re-election on Nov. 4. She faces Republican Larry Kaifesh of Carpentersville, a fellow veteran.
The 46-year-old said she went through several cycles of in vitro fertilization before becoming pregnant. She told The (Arlington Heights) Daily Herald that she and her husband — a U.S. Army major — tried for five years to get pregnant.
Duckworth said the pregnancy is considered high-risk and doctors believe there’s a good chance she will be on bed rest in November. She said it’s likely she will have to remain in the Chicago area as her due date approaches.

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