Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Miracle Baby

It's been awhile!  Maddie Grace and I have been enjoying our last days together on maternity leave.  I'm headed back to work next week!  It's amazing how quickly time flies.  Believe it or not, I've been working on this post for over a week.  


Many people believe that to give birth to a baby with Down syndrome means that somehow the mother's body has failed them. But I don't see it that way. I'm so very proud of my body for carrying a baby that had a very high risk of miscarrying to term. I read a statistic the other day that said as many as 80 percent of babies conceived with trisomy 21 (Down syndrome) end in miscarriage or stillbirth. 80 percent! That's incredible. So if you ask me, my body did something pretty amazing by carrying Maddie Grace to term. 

And while I give my body a lot of credit for bringing Maddie Grace into this world, she needs some major credit. Maddie Grace is a fighter. I've always known she was going to be spunky. She thrived in an intrauterine environment that my doctors described as "less than ideal". She had cord flow issues starting at 35 weeks. But she passed every single one of her biophysical profiles and non-stress tests. And she had a ton; I was at the doctors office every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for almost a month before she was born. In fact, she showed off at most of her ultrasounds! She didn't gain an ounce from week 36 to week 37 and the doctors decided that it was time to meet her. She entered the world 3 whole weeks early screaming her lungs out letting the whole room know that she had arrived. And as Adam and I listened behind our c-section screen he softly whispered, "see she's fine, she's crying, she came out crying."  Adam knew one of  my biggest fears was that she would have major issues transitioning after birth and that she would end up in the NICU.  But she was such a fighter and came out strong! 



It's so easy to say "life is not fair," when you are given a child with a disability. But I was reminded last week how we are so incredibly lucky to have a healthy baby girl. We were at the Children's Hospital having an ultrasound done on Maddie Grace's hips and across the hall from our waiting room was the pediatric oncology wing. Just seeing those words written on the wall above the waiting room was incredibly heartbreaking. Those words should never be used together - pediatric oncology.  I'm constantly reminded that there are no guarantees in this life.  We are given one day at at time, we are not guaranteed tomorrow, we are not guaranteed health, and we are definitely guaranteed a perfect life.  But all of that said, we're a pretty happy family:


 I wrote the other day about unanswered prayers. But today I need to acknowledge that we had so many prayers answered.  Adam and I have a healthy baby girl. We prayed above all else that she would be born healthy. We prayed to avoid NICU time and we did. Maddie Grace came home with us after three days. We prayed that God would expand our family and now we are a family of four (yes we count our fur baby!). Finally, we continue to pray that God will watch over our sweet Maddie Grace.

2 comments:

  1. kayla...LOVe your writing. love it. love your raw honesty of fears and struggles and questions and doubts. please continue to be transparent as you write...im no where near the stage of life you're in, but it's encouraging to see im not alone with fears, anxiety, etc....even if they're about totally different things.

    can't wait to meet maddie some day!! and will continue to follow your blog.
    love
    katy

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  2. I have an AMAZING daughter in law! along with an amazing granddaughter! I am soooooo proud of you both! I love you more than more! Prayers for you always!!!!

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