View all donors in our child's honorAn Unforgettable Birthday
March 25th, a birthday I will never forget. We were four months pregnant and thrilled to recently discover that we were expecting a precious baby girl, and our two year old son was so excited to find out that he was going to have a baby sister. Everything seemed to be perfect, but little did we know, our luck was about to change.
We had just completed our second round of routine blood work and had no worries, because she looked absolutely perfect on all of our sonograms. A week later, on my birthday, we received the phone call that changed our lives forever. I was teaching class when I recieved the call, and the results were in; we were at a high risk for Trisomy 18. This was a disease that we had never even heard of, so at first we were not extremely concerned. We knew that there was a chance we were going to have a disabled child, but we did not have a clue how serious this disease actually was. I knew it was a chromosomal disorder similar to Downs Syndrome, but I was completely unaware of the other chromosomal disorders and their defects. Our feelings soon went from little concern to devastation after the call from my doctor later that afternoon. I was in a meeting when I got the call, so I walked next door to my room to discuss with her further what Trisomy 18 actually was, and a close friend followed behind. Katy witnessed me fall apart as I heard those horrible words from my doctor, "...not adaptable to life." Thoughts immediately went rushing through my head, "How could this be?" "There must be a mistake!" Somehow I made it home to my husband, who just happened to be home early that day for my birthday, and a day of celebrating turned into a day of grieving. We just held one another and cried as the words trembled from my mouth.
It was a long two weeks afterwards, but it was confirmed....our precious baby girl had the full version of Trisomy 18. A level II sonogram detected things that could not be seen on a regular ultrasound. Allie had a major heart condition, some remnants of cysts on her brain, and a two vessel umbilical cord. Since these
conditions can also be present on normal pregnancies, they had to perform an Amnio to confirm that Allie did have T18. I had already denied having an Amnio done and had to go back to resign consent, because we had to know. There was still a slight chance that Allie just had a heart condition, and we needed to know if it was neccesary for a pediatric cardiologist to be present at birth or not. I made it clear that no matter the results of the Amnio, we were not terminating the pregnancy. God had given us this baby, and we were going to give her as much life as we could. We knew it was going to be a long and difficult road ahead, but we also knew we had to face the challenge.
The news was hard to bear, and the following months were extremely trying. After many, many nights of uncontrollable crying we finally realized we had to make a change. It wasn't fair for Allie's pregnancy to only be filled with sadness. We had to find ways to make her pregnancy as special as possible. Even though there were still many moments of sadness, we tried to cherish every second with her. This could not have been possible without the strength from God, and everyone's uplifting prayers. We were so blessed to have such a loving and supportive group of family and friends, and a wonderful church family.
Our parents, Steve and Sue Weldon and Kenny and Linda Brewer, were there every step of the way, and I don't know how we would have survived without them, especially my mom. We were grateful to have such a wonderful doctor and staff at the office of Dr. Lucy Ballard. Everyone was so wonderful and encouraging, and they made every moment as special as possible.
As I am writing now we are at thirty-eight weeks pregnant, a number we never expected see with her, and we are going to have to induce labor. As our time draws to an end, we are very emotional and can only pray that God will give us more time than we realize with our precious Allie. We want to thank everyone for their encouragement and prayers.
Allie is Home !! Tuesday, August 26, 2008
The power of prayer works! Our little Allie wasn’t likely to make it to birth, and now she’s a week old. She is truly a gift from God. Allie was born August 19, 2008, at 5:53am. She weighed 4 lbs and 5 oz, 16.5 inches long, and is absolutely beautiful.
The delivery went perfect. They removed all monitors so that I would not stress if I heard her heart rate drop, because they were still not sure if she would even be able to make it through delivery. Once she was born she was handed directly to me, and I fell in love. We were able to create many special memories with Allie. We had a professional photographer, who is also a close family friend (Jim Jarvis), come in to do portraits. We were also able to give Allie her first bath, dress her, snuggle and hold her, introduce her to her family and friends, and create many other special memories. She was not holding her oxygen level well at first, and she was very blue. Her heart rate dropped to 60 and we thought the end was near. As time passed and we held our "Little Angel" in our arms her color started improving. The next thing we knew her heart rate was back up and she was doing well. When I first asked about feeding, the doctors advised against it for the fear of her choking, but since she was hanging in there it was time to try. She would not nurse, but we were able to finger feed her using a syringe. The doctors knew how badly we wanted to take her home, so they allowed us to leave the very next day. She stayed in my arms the entire hospital stay. We chose comfort care for Allie, and The New Beacon Hospice comes twice a week. Her nurse, Mrs. Rheta, treats her like she is one of her own grandbabies. They are wonderful!
We would like to thank all the staff at Regional Medical Center in Anniston. During our stay we were treated with the utmost care and compassion. Special thanks to Dr. Lucy Ballard, Sharon Lackey, Dr. Charles Sabens, Kim, Pat, Jennifer, Tiffany, Brooke, Julie, Amy, Krista, and all the other nurses and staff that took care of us while we were there.
You cannot imagine how elated we are to have Allie home, and to hold her and love her. She would not be here if not for everyone’s thoughts and prayers. We have been so encouraged by all of the testimonies that we have heard or read on her guest book. It is unreal how quickly her story got out, and our local paper even wrote an article about her. She has touched so many lives, and continues to strengthen people's faith and bring them closer to God. I have told people that I know one of God’s tiniest workers.
Allie is doing well. She is eating a little more and getting stronger everyday. We are in the process of getting rid of her jaundice, and it is improving. Allie has only left my arms for brief periods of time. I guess I have to share her with her Daddy every once in a while. I didn’t sleep at all the first two nights for the fear of her not being with us the next morning. Finally, Michael told me that we had to get rest so that we could take care of her, and just leave it in God’s hands (and I realized that it is physically impossible to never go to sleep again). After a lot of crying and praying hard, I took short naps between feedings, changings, etc.
September 2, 2008:
Today is Allie's two-week birthday! We were scared that she wouldn't reach this point. Yesterday was a really tough day for Allie. She quit breathing 5 times, and we had to perform CPR the first 4 times. Our wonderful neighbor Jennifer, who is also a nurse at Children's Hospital, came over to revive Allie the final three out of four times. It was not part of our plans to perform CPR, but as parents it is instinctive to try everything to save your baby. We know that if it becomes too much for her, then we will not be able to continue CPR. She is still struggling some today, but she is a fighter and we are so thankful for this extra day that God has given us with her.
After that horrible Labor Day, Allie turned around. She started improving a little everyday. She is absolutely an amazing little girl, and even the doctors are amazed. God is in control, and we are so blessed to be a part of this wonderful testimony of faith. We want nothing more than to give Allie as much life as possible, because there is just no way of knowing how long she'll be with us. Unfortunately, she's not just a child with a heart condition. The diagnosis of T18 looms over us everyday. Let's face it, there are not many 30 year olds walking around with it. There's a reason they say it's not adaptable to life. So we have tried our best to let her LIVE. We have taken her to the mountains, to the beach, to church, visiting relatives, and even to the Pumpkin Patch. She has been able to enjoy so many life experiences with us, and we pray that we can continue to give her even more. Every day is a gift, and we cherish every moment with our angel from God.
Our Little Angel's Wings Have Spread:
Allie's wings are no longer tucked in, but instead have spread for her to be one of God's most perfect Angel's in Heaven. Allie put up a good fight, and we had such high hopes that she would be one of the few to live past the age of one, but she was tired and weak and gave up her fight on January 14, 2009. She now smiles down from Heaven while she dances with the Angels. Oh, what a blessing she was to us and many others. She has touched so many lives, and I will be forever changed because of her. Our grief is still tender, but with Hope we know our Little Angel will be the first to greet us in Heaven. My arms ache for her, and most days I feel as if I am on an emotional rollercoaster, but how thankful I am to long for her because it only means that I was given the opportunity to know her. God is so good in all things, and we continue to depend on him for strength to make it through everyday without our precious baby girl. We are eternally grateful for the time we had with Allie, and we pray that Allie's story will provide hope to others and continue to touch people's lives. Thank you for allowing us to share her story with you. Please feel welcome to leave comments, because we still check her site daily and we love to hear from you.
If you would like to read updates about our family, feel free to visit our blog at: http://michaelandsusanbrewer.blogspot.com
or if you have questions and would like to contact us you can email us at: alliesparents@gmail.com
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