Trisomy 18 Awareness Day - March 18, 2010

Today is National Trisomy 18 Awareness Day - as many of you are aware my sweet Aiden Mathew was diagnosed at 18 weeks gestation with Trisomy 18.  He was our third son and it was devastating to learn this.  I still remember lying on that table during the ultrasound waiting to find out if it was a boy or girl, then Tina, our ultrasound tech, said like the other 2 it is very obvious it is a boy.  Immediately my mind went to the old tv sitcom - My Three Sons.  It's amazing how quickly you find out the gender and start planning everything and in the next instant Tina has a look on her face and says he isn't flexing his hands like he should.  She looked more and sent her report to my doctor and said I needed to talk with him more it was probably something that could be fixed with surgery, she was being optimistic.  That afternoon, we saw my doctor and he said he was concerned it could be something more and that the High Risk doctor who only comes to NE Louisiana once a week would be there tomorrow and he wanted to make an appointment with him.
At that appointment, they performed another ultrasound and determined it looked like Trisomy 18 and wanted to do an Amnio to find out for sure.
I had never ever thought I would be laying there or going through something like this but I was.  We received the preliminary results and then the final results, everything came back positive for Trisomy 18.  I held out hope that it would be Mosaic or Partial, because those babies had a higher rate of survival, but we would not know that until Aiden was born.
Over the next few months, life was strained, hopeful, faithful, and chaotic, I planned it like this was any other normal pregnancy with thoughts of what would I do with his room if I could not bring him home always lingering in my head.  I felt him move very little but we had a heart monitor at home so I could listen to his heartbeat every night, I loved that sweet swooshing sound. 
During the last few appointments it was determined that Aiden was not gaining weight and if he was to have any chance he needed to be born sooner than later.  My doctor was afraid I would not get to meet him and he knew how much I wanted that.  So on Nov. 6, they performed a C-section because he was breech and delivery would also put undue stress/strain on his little body.  My sweet little angel was finally allowed to come home for his final days on Dec. 2, and on Dec. 8, he went to home to Heaven.  I held him and watched him take his final breaths, it was a bitter sweet moment.
I, at least, got to meet, hold, and love my sweet Aiden, many get their wings before they are born.

Trisomy 18 does not discriminate and shows no compassion.  So please say a prayer for those families that you know and those you don't that have a child in their arms or in heaven.

For more information - Trisomy18.org or SOFT.

But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God;

I trust in God's unfailing love for ever and ever.

Psalm 52:8