What a week it has been. As most of our dear friends and family know, we received some majorly devastating news last Monday at the perinatologist. Our baby Cole's femur and humerus bones were measuring in the 4th percentile. This worried our regular obstetrician, who sent us to Dr. Christian Briery, our perinatolist. We also found out that aside from his long bones measuring so short, his right femur (thigh bone) was curved, and my amniotic fluid level was higher than normal. All 3 of these things put together meant only one thing to him-our baby had some form of skeletal dysplasia. What, you ask, is skeletal dysplasia? I have been on the internet for a solid week researching it, which is the one thing that he (the doc) told me not to do but i'm a mother-you can't tell me something is going to be really wrong with my son but nothing else. There are over 200 forms of skeletal dysplasia's-the most common forms of dwarfism are achondroplasia and diastrophic dysplasia-which accounts for 80% of the cases of dwarfism. Also a quick did you know-85% of dwarfs are born to average height parents. So, we were sucker punched after 7 months of being pregnant, thinking I was carrying around a "normal" healthy child, and now this. It has been a hell of a week. We visited with our preacher Dr. Day which really helped alot. He explaind that all of the emotions I was feeling are completely normal, and he would be more worried about me, us, if we weren't experiencing the anger, uncertainty, etc. He also focused on the miracle of our child, and how we had each other, Parker, our friends, families, each other, and most of all, a baby which is so much more than so many people. The most poignant thing he said to me was that it was up to us to make the choice. We could chose to take this news and make the best of our situation and the rest of our lives, or we could chose to let it ruin us...well of course you know what we are going to do. So with Cole's due date only 6 weeks away, we are left not knowing ANYTHING other than the fact that our child has a severe disability. We go in tomorrow for an amniosentisis. This is a procedure to withdraw cells from the fetus (Cole) and send them off to test for Downs Syndrome-which they have not ruled out-and to test for certain types of dwarfism. Our hopes and dreams are that Cole will be a healthy baby boy, just a little person. But until his is born, we won't know if he will have so many of the common problems associated with dwarfism-brittle bones, etc.
This has been the hardest week of my life, and I couldn't have done it with out my husband, my son, my family, my church, my co-workers, my friends, and my new found support group and the friends I have already made there. I joined a support group called Parent's of Little People and have already me 3 girls in Louisiana with little people-they have done nothing but show me the joys of their children, the blessings that have come from a life shared with these children, and the strength and support that I need knowing I am not alone in this. Bryan and I are sure that we will love and support Cole to the best of our abilities, and raise him to have the most normal life he can. Please pray for the best-a healthy happy little man!
