When my husband and I went to our 20 week anatomy scan we were more than thrilled. Our eyes filled with tears of joy as we heard the 3 words we had waited 5 months to hear... It's a BOY!
Our floating on cloud 9 did not last long as we were pulled into an exam room to be told our baby boy's ventricles in his brain were enlarged and we were being sent to a high risk Dr. The next 4 weeks were filled with high tech ultrasounds and testing for genetic and chromosomal disorders. All testing done came back normal, there was no cause or answers behind Christian's Hydrocephalus.
The day I went to my 24 wk routine ob appt I was not feeling well and had my OB exam me, to our surprise my cervix was OPEN. I was immediately admitted into the hospital where we were told our son could arrive to the world any day. Scared to death I would barely move out of the hospital bed which I laid in for 2 weeks. The day I turned 26 weeks gestation Christian entered the world on October 5th 2010 at 11:13 pm by emergency C-section due to him being in breech position. There are no words to describe the emotions I was feeling when christian was born and I heard nothing by silence.
Was my baby alive? Was he in distress?
This was not the moment that my husband and I dreamed of for so long. Christian was rushed to the NICU weighing 2lbs 2 oz 14 in long, a bilateral cleft lip and palate and fused right eye.
Christian had an MRI done the beginning of November that showed his severe Hydrocephalus. We were also told that Christian has a devastating neurological disorder called Semi-Lobar Holoprosencephaly which affects the mid brain and is the cause of Christian's midline facial abnormalities. Again we had all kinds of testing done for genes and chromosome abnormalities and all results came back normal. This was just something that happened and God was trusting us to care for such a special little boy.
On Nov 8th, Christian had a VP shunt placed, he was technically only 31 weeks gestation and weighed 3 pds. Christian has had 3 other major surgeries since then, all taken place before his actually due date, which was January 11th. He is still to this day in the hosp but has been graduated from the NICU to the PICU, we are hoping to take him home soon as he has been doing great despite the odds!
Christian's strength is amazing! Despite all he has been through he is always smiling and has great spirit. He loves to cuddle and is gaining a lot of weight and becoming a real chunker! Christian is such an inspiration to me and I love to get as much awareness about all the health conditions that have affected our family as much as possible. Christian has forever changed our lives and we know to never take anything in life for granted and miracles do happen every day as we are witnessing one!