Well, hello! Here we are starting our blog. I never thought the day would come that I'd be a blogger, but here I am! This is what led me to write...
We found out we were expecting our second child around the end of August. [Yes, we got pregnant on our 3 year anniversary trip! Whoop! :)] I had been feeling so sick and tired for about 2 weeks, sent Harry to Walgreens around 10pm one night, and there it was, 2 POSITIVE pregnancy test! We were surprised, but nonetheless, excited! We were going to be parents again and Anniston was going to be a "Little Big Sister" as her Daddy likes to call her.
I called my doctor's office as soon as I could to schedule an appointment. On September 8, I had my first appointment which was just with the nurse [Heather] to, of course, confirm I was actually pregnant, then to do all my paperwork. She gave us an estimated due date of April 26, 2015. My appointment to see my doctor was scheduled for September 25 at 9:30. When Dr. Million [my obgyn] came in, she said something like "welcome back!" [Haha!] Anniston is only 11 months old, so it came a little soon for all of us! She did her routine of questions, medical history, the norm. I know not all doctors do this, but Dr. Million always does an ultrasound at your first visit. And that's when our roller coaster began.
While doing the ultrasound, she began to say, "I hate to even say something...", "It could be nothing...", "I don't want to worry you guys...". She said our baby's head didn't look like a nice pretty oval shape like it should. She said it could be a few things but she would feel more comfortable if we saw a "specialist" just to be sure. The specialist has more advanced equipment and can get a clearer picture of our baby. The specialist was in the hospital, just one floor below our doctor. Dr. Million called to see if we could be seen that day. We were able to get an appointment at 2:00 that afternoon. We left the office and as soon as we got on the elevator, tears began to flow. What? What is going on? What could be wrong? Maybe it is nothing. We went and had lunch, ran a few errands, and back to the hospital we went for our appointment with the "specialist."
We sat in that waiting room for what seemed like forever. Harry and I not really saying much to each other. They finally called me back, got my vitals and put us in a room. In came an ultrasound tech to take some pictures. She would say, "there is an arm", "there is another arm", "here are the baby's legs", and when she started taking pictures of the head, she didn't say anything. Not a word about our baby's head. She was as sweet as she could be, said her job was done, the doctor would review the pictures and come in in a few minutes. I promise, not even 2 minutes later, here she came. Dr. Fareed [short for, Fareeduddin], the sweetest, most kind and compassionate doctor I've ever seen, besides Dr. Million. She asked us why we were sent to her and we proceeded to tell her that we had our visit with Dr. Million this morning and she didn't think the head was a "nice, pretty oval shape" and wanted us to see you to get some better pictures to see what was going on. Then it came. She paused for a second and said these words that will forever be pierced in our hearts. "Unfortunately, your doctor is spot on. Your baby has a fatal abnormality, called 'acrania.' Your baby's skull didn't develop. Please know that this is nothing you guys have done." I felt like the room was spinning. I had no clue what to think or really had no clue what she just had said. Harry & I both began to sob. She explained a little more, gave us some options and commended Dr. Million for catching this so early. She hugged me, comforted me and reassured us that this was not our fault. She stepped out of the room to call Dr. Million and gave us a few minutes to ourselves. When she came back in she said that Dr. Million wanted us to come up and see her right away. We thanked Dr. Fareed and she walked us out the back door so we wouldn't see anyone in the waiting room.
We went back upstairs to Dr. Million's office. The nurse [Erica] lead us to Dr Million's office where we would wait on her to come talk to us. She came right in and tried to comfort us as best she could. She also explained a little more and gave us our options. We left her office heartbroken and shocked. We weren't really sure what just happened. We called our family and headed home to see our baby girl, Anniston. [As I mentioned before, I cannot put into words how wonderful both doctors and all the nurses were to Harry and I that day. We absolutely love North Florida Women's Center!]
This all took place on a Thursday. We spent that weekend processing, researching and praying. On Monday, we went back to see Dr. Million and ask a few questions. We wanted to know more about acrania and what she could tell us. The very next day, Tuesday, we went back to Dr. Fareed's office to do the same thing. Once again, they couldn't have been more wonderful to us during one of the most difficult times of our life.
I'm sure you're all wondering what our options were and what decision we made. I'll share what our options were and more details later. Harry and I made our decision, as husband and wife, as a family, that we could continue the pregnancy and trust God.
We created this blog to keep our family and friends updated on our sweet little angel and to bring honor and glory to Jesus. We desperately covet and appreciate your prayers for us and our family. The past month has already been a whirlwind of emotion and we wouldn't have made it without God as our rock. We know that the next 6 months will also be difficult, and the days after, but we believe in the power of prayer so we ask you to join us in praying for our baby and our family.
With Love,
Kristen and Harry
