The First Post (From March 11th)

Our Pregnancy This Far... 

-Saturday, October 26th: The faintest positive pregnancy test!

-Wednesday, November 27th: We started telling our family and friends.

-Friday, December 27th: We shared our exciting news with all of you!

-Friday, January 24th: We thought we lost the baby, but thankfully they are a fighter.

-Monday, February 17th: We hit the half way mark!

-Thursday, February 20th: We had our anatomy scan where we learned our little love has a complex heart. We also were encouraged to do a NIPT blood test to screen for any genetic abnormalities in relation to the heart defect.

-Friday, February 28th: We learned our little love’s heart, while complex, is repairable.

-Monday, March 3rd: Our NIPT test results came back for an increased risk of Trisomy 13, and an urgent referral was sent to Madison for an amniocentesis and in-depth scan.

-Friday, March 7th: We went to Madison, got to see our sweet baby. We saw their beautiful face, the feet, and everything seemed perfect. In our meeting afterward, our world turned upside down. We learned our baby has many physical markers of Trisomy 13. In this same meeting, we talked about the birth of our baby, and the death. Words like “incompatible with life” and “palliative care” were said and continue to ring in my head. We also agreed to go forward with the amniocentesis.

-Today, March 11th: We got the call from the doctor and Genetic Counselor that the first of the tests from the amniocentesis confirms, our sweet little BOY has Trisomy 13.
There are no words that can describe the heartbreak that goes with being told your child, that you so badly wanted, has a genetic disorder that is likely to end in a still birth or death shortly after birth. This weekend has been spent reading countless blogs, stories, Facebook pages, and talking with loved ones and friends about our world turning upside down.
As we go forward, I’m keeping two things close to my heart. Knowing what we know now has given us the gift of time. We are going to go forward with trying to celebrate, and cherish our time with this sweet boy of ours, while acknowledging we need to take this one step at a time.
We have been so grateful to find many stories of children with T13 who have survived birth and beyond what any statistics currently state. We are going to remain optimistic, and hopeful that this strong little boy, who has defied many odds already will continue to grow and let us meet him earthside. We are going to continue to foster a relationship between him and his brother and sister so they get to know him in every capacity possible. We are going to show him love for every single day we get to even if our hearts are breaking.
As we continue to move forward, we will be creating a way to update everyone about Baby R, so please stay tuned.
Please keep our little guy and our family in your thoughts as we navigate this difficult journey.
A huge thank you to all our friends and family who have been supporting us over these last few weeks.
Lastly, March is Trisomy Awareness Month, and this Thursday, March 13th is Trisomy 13 Awareness Day. If you’d like a simple way to show support for our little love, we invite you to wear any/all of the T13 ribbon colors: Green, Yellow, and Pink. Each color symbolizes a different meaning: yellow is joy, pink is love, and green is life. 💛🩷💚
We really appreciate you being in our village.

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