Happy Happy Birthday to Carter

Happy Birthday to Carter! What a marvelous day - looking back over the last year, we can't believe it has only been a year. Yet we can't believe it has been one year. We have been through thick and thin and sometimes wondered if we would ever get to this point - and we did! We have laughed, cried, rejoiced, and marveled with our little boy. He is a joy to have in our family and we wouldn't trade him for anything. He received summer clothes and many toys to play with - but he mostly enjoyed the wrapping paper and balloons.

Opening presents

Trying out the cake - he didn't go for it - but he did like the blue frosting on his fingers

Carter's Birth Story (long story)

Looking back at this day one year ago brings back so many memories - some of them are hard and some are beautiful. One year ago at 5:00 in the morning I decided it was time to go to the hospital. I had been awake all night with contractions (and for fellow charter school readers I had been doing pizza orders from 1-4 a.m. because I knew I wasn't going to be able to finish them - and I didn't want to screw up pizza day for the kids). I was more than anxious to have my pregnancy over - but I was only 36 weeks along. I had gestational diabetes and was experiencing preeclampsia symptoms. I had twice as much amniotic fluid as I should have had and was heavy, swollen, puffy and downright miserable.

When the doctor came in to check me I had not dilated or effaced at all since my last appointment which made me mad because of all the contractions throughout the night. Aren't they supposed to do something????? But my blood pressure was really, really high and I was just laying in bed doing nothing. The doctor made the decision that it was time to end the pregnancy because things could get really bad, really fast. I honestly believe that I contracted all night because there was a reason I needed to go to the hospital when I did. I believe Heavenly Father was looking out for our family that night.

Carter was born just after 5:00 p.m. weighing in at 8 pounds even and 19 1/2 inches long. He was beautiful, round, short fingered and had a darling tongue he kept sticking out - all signs of what was in store. He was very floppy, couldn't breathe and we were scared. I held him for about two seconds before the nurses grabbed him. Alan watched him for a few minutes and then came back to me - later he would tell me that Carter was a deep, deep purple and he honestly thought that Carter was going to die and he didn't want to watch him struggle.



They took him to the nursery to put him in an oxygen tent. The on call pediatrician was called and she soon came in to our room and asked to see our hands. Weird we thought - but what she wanted to see was if we had a simian crease (characteristic of down syndrome - but also hereditary). She told us that she had called life flight and they were sending a crew down to transport him to PCMC. She explained that his heart was enlarged and he needed to be in a place with smaller equipment and a staff to care for him. We were now even more scared. We quickly called our two kids and Grandma and Grandpa brought them over so they could see him before he left the hospital. Alan asked the pediatrician out in the hall if she thought Carter had down syndrome - and she said that there were quite a few markers that would indicate he did have DS. A genetic test would be ordered at PCMC. I of course still had no idea what was going on. At this point I had been awake for about 36 hours straight. My doctor came to check on me later that night and Alan stopped him in the hall and asked him not to tell me about the DS until morning - he wanted me to have a good nights sleep before being told. What a sweet husband. Carter was on his way up to PCMC by 8:30 p.m. Alan went to PCMC at about 11:00 p.m. to check on our little guy and to see how he was doing, where he was, what was being done for him. It was hard to be in a maternity wing without a baby.



My doctor came in at 7:30 the next morning for a "talk." He asked me if I had noticed some different things about Carter when he was born. He then told me that a genetic test had been ordered because our little guy had several markers for down syndrome. He said he went back and looked at the 20 week ultrasound and there was nothing that indicated that anything was wrong. He then asked if I would have changed anything about the pregnancy if I would have known this before - and the answer was absolutely not. He reassured me that he wouldn't have done anything different in taking care of me during my pregnancy either. Our family was now headed down a different path than we had anticipated; but we knew we would go down the path with our little Carter no matter what.



After getting a "hall pass" the next day for four hours, I was able to leave the hospital to finally go meet my little guy. It was hard to see him laying there with so many tubes and equipment. We spent some time with him but then it was time for me to return to the hospital. The first few days and weeks are still blurry from lack of sleep and information overload. One day I will have to share more of his story. And so this day one year ago our journey began......




We have been blessed this year. We are blessed to have a strong and supportive family, many wonderful friends and neighbors. Many people gave of their time and resources to help us through so many things the first few months of Carter's life. We couldn't have done it without all of you. Thank you for all of your prayers, fasting, and time spent on behalf of our family. We could never repay all that has been done for us - but someday we hope to pay it forward. We are also grateful to all our new friends that we have met through IHH and the UDSF. Your information and know how is invaluable and we are glad that through this experience we have met you. It truly helps knowing that someone has walked in our shoes and has felt many of the same emotions we have on a daily basis. We love all of you!

Here is to Carter and a hope for many birthday's to come!!!