Parker Aaron the Incredible True Story

 

When I found out Ashley was pregnant I was shocked, surprised, and most of all happy. I still remember the amazing feeling it was to see that first ultrasound. My happiness turned to fear, sadness, and anxiety when the doctor noticed a small spot on his lower abdomen wall. Our family doctor referred us to an office that specialized in birth defects. We made an appointment for that following week.

            What seemed like the longest week of my life the day had arrived figure out what this spot was. During the ultrasound they confirmed my worst fears that he had what was called an omphalocele. Which is an abdomen wall defect where part of his organs remained outside his abdomen (this visit they told us that we will be having a boy). There are three types of genetic syndromes that can cause an omphalocele. One is Down syndrome which is the best of the three. The others are called Edwards syndrome, and Patau syndrome. These syndromes both would result in loss of pregnancy. There was a 70% chance that he would have one of these syndromes most likely one of the two bad ones. There was also a chance that he could have something wrong with his chromosomes, which are called trisomy 13, 18 or 15. Two of the three chromosomes defects would cause death either in the womb or shortly after birth.  Ashley had to go in and get what is called an amniocentesis. This procedure takes a long needle which is inserted into the womb and gets the amniotic fluid so that you can test for these and other genetic defects. The doctors told us it would take up to five days to return the results. This week was the longest of my life so far. I was at work it was a Tuesday around 4:30 my phone rang it was Ashley. She told me the test results were back, and he was cleared of any genetic syndrome. I jumped in the air high fived all my coworkers and stepped outside and hit my knees thanked god and just cried.

 A few weeks later we went for a routine ultrasound (we never have one of those). The doctors spotted what was believed to be a heart defect. Heart defects are very common with omphaloceles, and like everything else we have faced, the defect could be fatal to the baby. We scheduled a detailed ultrasound with another specialist in the office to check on the heart. This appointment would be in five days. Chalk up five more sleepless nights for mom and dad. Finally the day had come to look at the little boy’s heart. The ultrasound started, and they checked his growth, legs, brain, arms, and finally his heart. The doctor turned to us said everything looks normal and he could find any sort of defect anywhere on his heart. I asked if he checked twice just to make sure he assured me that nothing was wrong. So once again God had answered so MANY prayers. Fast forward to 1/9/2013, the day of the C-section.  Because of his defect he would be delivered by C-section which was ok because we could plan for him. For the first time it seemed, something went to plan and he was born at 1:32 on the 1/9/2013. He did great, mom did great and dad was just along for the ride.  

After delivery the doctors detected a small heart murmur which could require heart surgery if it didn’t go away. Less than 24 hours later the doctors could no longer hear the murmur and all was well again. Now doctors and surgeons all said that recovery would be slow and it could take up to a week before they could operate on him to replace the organs that were sticking out of his abdomen wall. He would be staying in the NICU were nurses will monitor him 24 hours a day.  Well at 5:32 the next day he was on his way to the OR to get his omphalocele placed back into body. At 6:45 the surgeon returned to tell us all is well and he did better than expected and was recovering back in the NICU. Parker was hooked up to IV to get his required fluids, and doctors told us that it may take a few days before he would be able to eat from a bottle and get circumcised (ouch). Less than 24 hours later he was feeding from bottles and recovering from being circumcised. The doctors say that he would have to wait until he could be dressed in clothes. He is currently enjoying all the cute clothes that all his loved ones bought for him.  The doctor told us that Parker could stay in the NICU for two months. If he continues to feed from a bottle as well as he is he could go home as soon as the beginning of next week. Parker Aaron has been stronger in his first week of life than I have been for the 24 years on this earth and I am so proud of my little trooper.

Ashley Parker and I would like to thank everyone who has prayed for him. God has a answered those prayers and more in our life. God is good and has watched over us and answered so many of our prayers. We would also want to thank all the doctors and nurses for their being so professional and just watching out for Parker. We would like to thank Candice for everything she does for us. The nursery would be so disorganized if it wasn’t for her. She never stopped just loving us, and I don’t know how I would have gotten through all this without her. We want to thank all of our family and friends for their support and prayer for the little fighter. Please keep us in your thought and prayers as we continue the long journey of parenthood.