Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Our Familys' Journey into the World of Spina Bifida

I started this blog because the only thing that has gotten me through the last couple of days is reading other blogs. Hopefully one day I will also help someone out there.

Let me start at the beginning of our story. My husband and I were married on Sept 9th, 2001. We knew we wanted to have a family but also wanted to take the time to enjoy our marriage and fulfill some of the goals we set for ourselves. Our three goals before we tried for a family were buying a house, finishing our educations and traveling. We completed all of those goals and in February of 2010 decided it was time to start a family. I went to the doctor's to make sure everything was good, I started taking my prenatal vitamins and made sure to continue a healthy lifestyle. Fast forward to December and all of our wishes came true. We found out I was pregnant. I will never forget that moment. My husband was in the shower and I started screaming. He jumped out, grabbed his towel and ran out to find out what was happening. It was one of the happiest moments of my life. I did all the things first time moms do. I bought all the books and started researching what baby items were a must have. I day dreamed about the nursery and the outfit I would bring him/her from the hospital. I tried to picture if the baby would look more like me or my husband. Well fast forward again to March 30th 2011 (week 19 of my pregnancy), the day of our first sonogram. I should have sensed something wasn't right. I kept asking the technician if everything looked okay and she just kept murmuring "too soon to tell". Finally towards the end she said the words that changed my life forever, "something is wrong with your baby's spine". She told us we needed to see a specialist the next day. I remember trying to remain calm on the examination table and keeping my tears to a minimum. As soon as I could get up from the table I ran to the bathroom, fell against the wall and started sobbing. I knew in my heart it was serious. We saw the specialist the next day and she confirmed our little boy has opened spina bifida. Words like paralyzed, catheters and termination of pregnancy were thrown at us. The next few days were like living in a nightmare and not being able to wake up. I couldn't eat or sleep. I was on the web 24/7 reading about spina bifida. When I wasn't on the web I was sitting in silence, crying and just holding onto to my husband for dear life. It has now been a full week since I got my son's diagnosis and I feel more at peace. After finding websites and blogs that show healthy happy babies I feel like this is all going to be okay. It is a different journey then the one I originally had planned for my life but it doesn't mean it will be a bad one.



3 comments:

  1. You are so right, it's not what we chose, but I assure you, it is amazing! HUGS!

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  2. Good luck with andrew and with blogging. It was one of the things that came me going late at night when I had too many thoughts running through my head and everyone else was fast asleep. See you over at Spina Bifida connection

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  3. I and my daughter suffers from spina bifida. We are living in Turkey.
    We also have problems in orthopedic and urologic.
    I wish you all heathful. We also have a forum on our website.
    http://www.spinabifidaturkey.com

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